Slacker's Guide to Fixing Up the 68 Notch
Well I am back for awhile. I have been dinking around with the car here and there throughout the spring but don't have much to show for it. I aim to catch up with my documentation of the suspension dismantling with the next few posts.
Yep this is not the Barracuda. I got sidetracked on a small project for my 1963 Starcraft 12 foot aluminum fishing boat. It had a few small leaks in the bow that have been bugging me so I worked on waterproofing all the rivets with a product called Gluvit, a specialized epoxy for boats. After that I noticed the wood seats needed refinishing, then remembered I needed to install new wheel bearings in the boat trailer, and then I remembered I better go fishing to test if I stopped the leak..... Well it did stop the leak and I caught a few rainbows.
And then hell arrived in Phoenix! This was the temp in my garage yesterday afternoon. It actually got up to 119 outside at my house this week. Anybody remember the song "Summer in the City" by the Lovin Spooful? It's lyrics start out as "hot town, summer in the city
back of my neck getting dirty and gritty". Well after about 3 minutes spent in my garage my neck and few other parts of my anatomy get dirty and gritty alright. I am used to Arizona's heat, but I wouldn't complain if it was a bit lower than 110 while I am wrenching on the Cuda.
Continuing on with documenting the dismantling of the front suspension my next job was removing the upper control arm which is simply removing two bolts and nuts and pulling it off. They require a 3/4 inch socket or wrench. I marked the eccentric washer and frame with some white paint to help me get it close to original alignment during reassembly.
Here is a close up of how I marked the eccentric washer and frame. I plan to use the Moog offset bushings so this marking may not be of much use. After I removed the bolts I also marked them as "front" or "rear" with a grease pencil.
Once the control arm was off the car I removed the two bushings using my American Muscle kit tool. The tool worked great and the bushings came out easily. During the removal I thought the metal cylinder shown inside the red circle in the pic was actually just part of the rear arm but it was not.
Turns out it was is a separate piece (I am just holding it next to the rear arm hole). After doing a little research on FABO and in my service manual it is termed a "support sleeve" that is occasionally found on various Mopar vehicles and has dubious benefit. Some guys on FABO have not reinstalled them and have not seen any difference in handling etc. My factory service manual indicates it was found on heavy service vehicles such as taxis and police cars, but that is obviously not the case with mine. Guess I am just special.
After removing the bushings I just attached the bolts, nuts, and the "support sleeve" to keep from losing track of the parts and threw it up on a garage shelf for future work.
This week I pulled the control arm off my garage shelf and here you see the results with a degreaser and wire brush plus a soak in Evaporust. I didn't clean the bolts yet because I did not want to lose my paint marks. I need to get some sort of scribe tool or similar to make a more permanent mark. If anyone has a good tool for scribing marks please let know.
Well I am back for awhile. I have been dinking around with the car here and there throughout the spring but don't have much to show for it. I aim to catch up with my documentation of the suspension dismantling with the next few posts.
Yep this is not the Barracuda. I got sidetracked on a small project for my 1963 Starcraft 12 foot aluminum fishing boat. It had a few small leaks in the bow that have been bugging me so I worked on waterproofing all the rivets with a product called Gluvit, a specialized epoxy for boats. After that I noticed the wood seats needed refinishing, then remembered I needed to install new wheel bearings in the boat trailer, and then I remembered I better go fishing to test if I stopped the leak..... Well it did stop the leak and I caught a few rainbows.
back of my neck getting dirty and gritty". Well after about 3 minutes spent in my garage my neck and few other parts of my anatomy get dirty and gritty alright. I am used to Arizona's heat, but I wouldn't complain if it was a bit lower than 110 while I am wrenching on the Cuda.
Continuing on with documenting the dismantling of the front suspension my next job was removing the upper control arm which is simply removing two bolts and nuts and pulling it off. They require a 3/4 inch socket or wrench. I marked the eccentric washer and frame with some white paint to help me get it close to original alignment during reassembly.
Here is a close up of how I marked the eccentric washer and frame. I plan to use the Moog offset bushings so this marking may not be of much use. After I removed the bolts I also marked them as "front" or "rear" with a grease pencil.
Once the control arm was off the car I removed the two bushings using my American Muscle kit tool. The tool worked great and the bushings came out easily. During the removal I thought the metal cylinder shown inside the red circle in the pic was actually just part of the rear arm but it was not.
Turns out it was is a separate piece (I am just holding it next to the rear arm hole). After doing a little research on FABO and in my service manual it is termed a "support sleeve" that is occasionally found on various Mopar vehicles and has dubious benefit. Some guys on FABO have not reinstalled them and have not seen any difference in handling etc. My factory service manual indicates it was found on heavy service vehicles such as taxis and police cars, but that is obviously not the case with mine. Guess I am just special.
After removing the bushings I just attached the bolts, nuts, and the "support sleeve" to keep from losing track of the parts and threw it up on a garage shelf for future work.
This week I pulled the control arm off my garage shelf and here you see the results with a degreaser and wire brush plus a soak in Evaporust. I didn't clean the bolts yet because I did not want to lose my paint marks. I need to get some sort of scribe tool or similar to make a more permanent mark. If anyone has a good tool for scribing marks please let know.
