Well... back to the car.
I was able to get the rebuilt trailing arms on the car. It was fun doing that by myself without a stand. I used some wire to get the thing in place while I but the bolt in. Kept having issues with the Energy Suspension bushing wanting to come apart, but it finally went together.
Once the trailing arms were on, I was able to finish up the parking brake that I actually bought in 2011! And that's when I started putting on the new Shark Bite rear coil over conversion. This is a very interesting system that eliminates the leaf/mono spring. Essentially, there's a series of metal brackets that you attach to the trailing arm, differential, and rear cross member. A strut bar connects the differential to the bracket that attaches over the rear cross member's bushing. This bracket also serves to re-enforce that cross member. VBP and Van Steel sell a billet piece that does this as well (I ordered it before I realized that the Shark Bite did it for you...).
I did discover an issue with the Shark Bite system. Anything with threads tapped in it would not allow the bolt to go in straight. As a result, two bolts and one of the support struts got ruined and I had to order replacements. The reason the threads were bad was because they were powder coated after the threads were tapped. To fix it, all I had to do was pass some rethreading taps through the holes. After that, the suspension went on quickly and easily.
After putting the new sway bar on, I did the Smart Strut system and then put the parking brake cables in. With the parking brake back together, I could put the brakes back together. While doing that I coated the pads in anti-squeak compound. Everything went back together smoothly on the rear brakes. Since I did the coating on the rears, I decided to do the fronts as well.
When I went to put the front pads back in, I was surprised by brake fluid squirting out of the new powder coated calipers. Ok, they're just under 2 years old, not brand new... But they have less than 100 miles on them! I contacted VBP (the company that rebuilt them and sold me the kit), and they told me that their brakes have a one year warranty. At first they said I was going to have to pay $46 per caliper to rebuild them, but after some talking they agreed to rebuild them if I just paid for shipping. Still a crock, but it's better than nothing. Shipping was freaking $50 though!
Anyway, rather than rely on updated 70's brake technology (stainless pistons with o-ring seals is the updated part) that seems to fail quickly, I decided to get different calipers. Even with these calipers rebuilt by VBP, how can I trust them? They couldn't be rebuilt correctly the first time. Anyway, after much hemming and hawing, I decided to abandon the original style brakes for Wilwood aluminum bolt-on calipers. Yes, it's a lot of money for the upgrade, but they give much more confidence in the brakes. I'll have to sell these powder coated ones so they're not a complete loss...
Wilwood brakes have a lot of benefits as it turns out. They're aluminum so they're not only lighter (about half the originals weight), but they better at cooling the brake fluid. Since they're aluminum you also don't have to worry about pitting and rust. The front calipers are 6 piston instead of 4 so the pressure is applied to the rotors more evenly. The biggest benefit though is the piston itself. It's no longer the loose two piece with a leaky seal. In these they look more like little cups, which means the seals shouldn't go bad like the originals!
While I was waiting for the new calipers to show up, I decided to have the rotors checked out. Unfortunately, the rotors were too run down to turn. So I had to replace them. I'm waiting to receive new premium Centric high carbon rotors from Rock Auto. I decided to go for premium flat rotors instead of the slotted and drilled because they not only last longer, but the pads will last longer as well.
It turns out the rotors were the originals. Pretty good for rotors to last 35 years, but that means I had to drill the rivets from the front spindles. Once I got the spindles free and cleaned up, I decided to replace the bearings even though they still looked pretty good. Replacing the outer races for the bearings was quite a pain. The spindles are now completely back together and I'm waiting on the rotors to get the brakes back together.
Also started back on the interior. I was able to get the tachometer and speedometer back into the car and get the A/C duct work together. This is the third time I've had contact Vintage Air about things that just don't fit in their "Sure Fit" system. Their response was basically just that some models things don't fit and they haven't gotten one in their tech department yet. I think they designed it on a single model... This time I had to modify the duct work. I did it after instruction from Vintage Air. I was NOT going to modify the car structure for duct work... After wrestling with the duct work, I finally got it done. It blow my mind that the they couldn't even get their own duct work to fit. Some ports were WAY too tight, while other were way too loose. I just don't understand...
My brand new Retrosound Zuma radio had sticking buttons, but after a quick call to them, they sent me a new face. It was a very simple swap and all was good. However, it did take me about 3 hours to get the radio attached and properly adjusted. It does look very good though.
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