Project Black Betty

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Your welding looks just fine.
How do your tubes line up? Bent tubes from curb hits and roll overs etc are common and not detectable by eyeball.
 
It looked pretty good. Everything lined up nicely! I'll be sending the bushings back Monday fyi.
 
Got the Trak-loc rebuilt with the Carbon fiber clutch packs...the old ones were worn to hell!

Now I'm playing with the pinion depth and carrier shims to try to get the optimal gear pattern...didn't realize what a pain it was to keep changing the pinion shims!

I almost have everything I need to upgrade the Suspension/Brake systems!!! I just ordered the spring sliders and relocation boxes,and I also ordered the Eastwood brake flaring press and tubing straightener, which I'm excited to use!
 
I got some goodies in today! Spring perchs came in a few days ago.
 

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Shimming the diff can be a pain. Lots of fiddling. Looks like you're collecting some nice tools.
 
I finally got it where I want it. Just need the put the new pinion bearing on and tighten it all down.
 
Got my sliders today! Also put my pinion bearing on as well.
 

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Let us know if the bushings fit the spring eyes.
 
Idaho said:
Let us know if the bushings fit the spring eyes.
Click to expand...

I'll check the when I go to the garage later. BTW Idaho how much did you lower the car when you put the sliders in? I know you notched the frame for them...did you lower the front leaf eye as well? Or just stock position but 3/4" back?
 
I kept the holes as high as I could in the boxes with the idea, I can drill a set of lower holes if the car is too low. I can't recall how much higher than factory the holes are, and I don't know how much lower the car is than factory. Sounds lame but I didn't really care about where it started, just the end result. I wanted it as low as I could go with the limiting factor being diff to frame clearance, then bring it back up some if necessary.
 
"Group pic"

Still got to get a few brake hoses, rear calipers, brake line.

I'm hoping to have most of the bare metal parts painted with Por-15 tomorrow.
 

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Ok didn't get the parts painted...prep is such a necessary evil.

I did get my steel wheels for my winter tires blasted. I had dropped them off on Wednesday and told them no rush...they called me yesterday and said they had them ready. Turns out they had some down time between big jobs and they only charged me for a half hour instead of their normal full hour minimum! :glasses7:
 

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Spent the day painting yesterday. The steelies have primer and a first coat of satin black on the sides and back, the fronts will be painted anthracite grey. Some of the pics are with the first coat of POR -15. Still have to paint calipers and a couple of parts I forgot. Starting Saturday I start my week long "vacation" that I'm taking to get this project finished!
 

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Well boys and girl, tomorrow it begins! I took a week off from work and I hope it doesn't take longer than that! I'll be updating with pics as it progresses.
 
Looking forward to seeing your progress.
 
Well I have a few things left to remove:
master cylinder
brake lines
lower control arms
upper control arms...those freakin upper control arms arm the bane of my existence! Seized into the bushings with this one too. I snapped one nut off and tried cutting the other end off but the hardened cam bolt is dulling the **** out of my metal cutting sawzall blades. :banghead: Hopefully I can get them off tomorrow!

My car looks like a hovercraft right now. Lol :burnout:

This upgrade will make this a whole new beast! The old shocks can be compressed and remain in that position. The ball joints and tie rods were extremely sloppy. Bushings weather cracked. Some things were a lot worse that I thought they were.
 
mrhollywood said:
the hardened cam bolt is dulling the **** out of my metal cutting sawzall blades. :banghead: Hopefully I can get them off tomorrow!
Click to expand...

Is there room to get a 3.5" or 4" abrasive disc in there? They are good cutoff tools, iF you have the room to use them.


Good luck...:blob:
 
Progress update

Upper control arms are out! Lower control arms, brake lines, master cylinder, leaf spring bushings, lower controle arm pivot shafts are all removed.

We'll I realized that the leaf spring bushings had two options one for the slant and one for the V8... the difference is the the eye diameter and bolt size. The problem is the spring relocation boxes have 5/8" holes and the ones I have are 1/2" . So I'm thinking of welding a thick washer on each side, at least until I get new springs, then I'll grind off the washers.

My winter tires came in today and I had them mounted. Also wire brushed the springs and gave them a coat of flat black paint which looks a hell of a lot better the rust. BTW Rustoleum Professional flat black paint is a awesome product, it lays smooth no matter the paint conditions.
 
Progress update

Started to cut for the relocation boxes. It snowed today so it took way longer to get around town this morning to bring the lower control arms to the sandblaster and some of the old parts and wheels to the scrap yard. I spent some time cleaning up around the front wheel wells.
 

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Progress update

I welded in the relocation boxes today. It was harder than I expected, not to mention that I ran out of welding gas on the second one. It was extremely cold today, I have space heaters in my garage but I had to have the garage door open a little bit for light and ventilation. ..the space heaters couldn't compete with the 17° temps. I piced the worst week to do this! Lol **** happens

I got my lower control arms back from the sandblaster. ..forgot to take a pic today.

I picked up new leaf spring bushings and got home and realized they're the wrong ones...somehow there is a bushing smaller than what I need. Hopefully I can find the ones I need quickly. ..or this project is gonna be held up by these stinkin little parts!:banghead:

Also waiting on my shock plates to come in,I was going to make them from scratch, but the metal yard has a minimum order of $100 and I'm not gonna buy 8' of 3/8 plate for a project that needs no more than 12". I could of used the ones that came with the 8.8 rear but they were in rough shape and the shock mounts hang low. So I have some coming from Ruff Stuff Specialties and I'll cut off the original mount and merge it with the new plates like Blue missile did on his project.

I also started turning down the aluminum slider bushings since they are bigger than what I need.I hope tomorrow to have the sliders installed. Tomorrow is supposed to be colder.......:wack:
 

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Are you planning to beef up the lower control arms? Stock they are kinda loosey goosey. Its a fairly simple DIY for someone who can weld.
 
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