Rocky Start Resto..
It has been some time since I last posted.
I find working on the car a couple of hours a day to be great therapy and fun since I can do it with my kids.
I have been asked more than a few times that I must have a boatload of special tools to do this rebuild but the answer is no. I have a 3/8ths and ½ socket set. A breaker bar and a torque wrench. A C clamp for pressing bits in and out. A tiny compressor with paint gun (it will not push wrenches), a tiny hydraulic jack that I bought in 79 (it has lost its rear wheels) and a bench grinder. I also have a hand grinder. Other than little stuff, this is it. We have also rented a sand blaster and an engine hoist. Oh, just bought my self a 15 dollar pipe flair tool. I wish we had all the cool tools but this is a budget rebuild.
The Mazda seats. I had a plate welded to the bottom of their sliders and that is when I found that both tracks were going in a different direction. After trying to fab this difference out, I gave up and ordered a set of generic seats. They should be here this week.
Calum and I sent a couple of hours where we were over on the Island during our vacation trying to sort out the mess. We made a lot of progress but havent installed it yet.
We are still having major problems with the brackets to attach our alternator and p/s pump on to the 360. I have fabbed brackets for the p/s pump and a FABO member from Nova Scotia is valiantly searching for the alternator brackets. Soon I hope.
To get a bit more room for the car, we turned it crosswise ..I think it worked.
I finished the rebuild of the front suspension so we attached the engine to the transmission then bolted that to the suspension. We discovered the concept of headers. Wow. Beautiful to look at but a bugger to install. Tolerances to the starter and p/s had me concerned but it is a budget build and I figured that it would be years before the starter conked out. We were missing the dust cover for the transmission but we figured we could pop it in w/o any problems. We put the whole unit on a cart lifted the front of the car and slid it in and attached it to the car. The next day, we got the dust cover the starter has to come out. Ouch. We tried to do the change in the car but no luck. We had to pull the unit again..disconnect the suspension..take the headers off..pulled the starter and replaced it with a dak mini starter after the dust cover was put on . Then we did everything again and back into the car.
To save money, we decided to use my old mustang rims. They fit on back perfectly but hit the upper control arm on the front..and I could not ship it out with the existing hubs to see if it would work so I took the caliper, etc off the front wheel and pounded out the studs. I replaced with ½ bolts ..I put 1 plus inch washers on then put the rim on took a jack and raised it up and down it is a happy fit. Ruined all the studs so had to put new ones in.....The adapters should be here by Monday.
So we installed our torsion bars . Again..much more fun with the headers. These puppies just dont install easily..the moon has to be properly aligned with mars and you water bill has to be paid up so these will slide in..but done.
I need to do a bit more painting but need an air brush..I have a Binks but I cannot find the right adapters to attach to my compressor this is for really small places..maybe I should have removed the windshield but that is far beyond my ability.
With the help of another FABO member, I found a drive shaft to fit our set up. With the right bits, it fit in quite nice.
So we decided to do something easy .. the PO bought a custom X exhaust..we figured easy peazy..ah, no. Nothing fit and none of the attachment points lined up with what we had. Plus there was a big mistake in the instructions. Anyway, after a major amount of fabrication , it is now in and looks good. We can now say we actually do have a custom exhaust J Ithik we will have it tacked together when we have the car aligned.
I installed the gas line today and have some of the brake lines done actually, about 20 feet of them.
Hope I haven't missed too much. So much more to do but we think we can see the light.
Some pics:
Starting to join the engine, trans and front suspension with my son, Calum.
Getting ready to push the "unit" under the car..
Engine out again...there really is a starter in there...
New vs the old...size does count with this set up...
Engine in, again...
Got to love that fit !
Some of the bodges...but I gather, this was done by the factory, not the PO
Exhaust laid out on the grass (minus one muffler)
Exhaust is on !
Torsion bar and headers
Mufflers just beyond the X pipe..
Until next time .
It has been some time since I last posted.
I find working on the car a couple of hours a day to be great therapy and fun since I can do it with my kids.
I have been asked more than a few times that I must have a boatload of special tools to do this rebuild but the answer is no. I have a 3/8ths and ½ socket set. A breaker bar and a torque wrench. A C clamp for pressing bits in and out. A tiny compressor with paint gun (it will not push wrenches), a tiny hydraulic jack that I bought in 79 (it has lost its rear wheels) and a bench grinder. I also have a hand grinder. Other than little stuff, this is it. We have also rented a sand blaster and an engine hoist. Oh, just bought my self a 15 dollar pipe flair tool. I wish we had all the cool tools but this is a budget rebuild.
The Mazda seats. I had a plate welded to the bottom of their sliders and that is when I found that both tracks were going in a different direction. After trying to fab this difference out, I gave up and ordered a set of generic seats. They should be here this week.
Calum and I sent a couple of hours where we were over on the Island during our vacation trying to sort out the mess. We made a lot of progress but havent installed it yet.
We are still having major problems with the brackets to attach our alternator and p/s pump on to the 360. I have fabbed brackets for the p/s pump and a FABO member from Nova Scotia is valiantly searching for the alternator brackets. Soon I hope.
To get a bit more room for the car, we turned it crosswise ..I think it worked.
I finished the rebuild of the front suspension so we attached the engine to the transmission then bolted that to the suspension. We discovered the concept of headers. Wow. Beautiful to look at but a bugger to install. Tolerances to the starter and p/s had me concerned but it is a budget build and I figured that it would be years before the starter conked out. We were missing the dust cover for the transmission but we figured we could pop it in w/o any problems. We put the whole unit on a cart lifted the front of the car and slid it in and attached it to the car. The next day, we got the dust cover the starter has to come out. Ouch. We tried to do the change in the car but no luck. We had to pull the unit again..disconnect the suspension..take the headers off..pulled the starter and replaced it with a dak mini starter after the dust cover was put on . Then we did everything again and back into the car.
To save money, we decided to use my old mustang rims. They fit on back perfectly but hit the upper control arm on the front..and I could not ship it out with the existing hubs to see if it would work so I took the caliper, etc off the front wheel and pounded out the studs. I replaced with ½ bolts ..I put 1 plus inch washers on then put the rim on took a jack and raised it up and down it is a happy fit. Ruined all the studs so had to put new ones in.....The adapters should be here by Monday.
So we installed our torsion bars . Again..much more fun with the headers. These puppies just dont install easily..the moon has to be properly aligned with mars and you water bill has to be paid up so these will slide in..but done.
I need to do a bit more painting but need an air brush..I have a Binks but I cannot find the right adapters to attach to my compressor this is for really small places..maybe I should have removed the windshield but that is far beyond my ability.
With the help of another FABO member, I found a drive shaft to fit our set up. With the right bits, it fit in quite nice.
So we decided to do something easy .. the PO bought a custom X exhaust..we figured easy peazy..ah, no. Nothing fit and none of the attachment points lined up with what we had. Plus there was a big mistake in the instructions. Anyway, after a major amount of fabrication , it is now in and looks good. We can now say we actually do have a custom exhaust J Ithik we will have it tacked together when we have the car aligned.
I installed the gas line today and have some of the brake lines done actually, about 20 feet of them.
Hope I haven't missed too much. So much more to do but we think we can see the light.
Some pics:
Starting to join the engine, trans and front suspension with my son, Calum.
Getting ready to push the "unit" under the car..
Engine out again...there really is a starter in there...
New vs the old...size does count with this set up...
Engine in, again...
Got to love that fit !
Some of the bodges...but I gather, this was done by the factory, not the PO
Exhaust laid out on the grass (minus one muffler)
Exhaust is on !
Torsion bar and headers
Mufflers just beyond the X pipe..
Until next time .
