Weather, schedules and lack of parts have kept us from getting much done. We have continued to clean up parts, paint or powder coat, and try to be prepared for a break in the weather and our lives.
That break came today.
We had already put the Upper Control Arms in a few nights before. Now it was time to reinstall the original springs which we had cleaned and powder coated along with the spindles.
We use ColorFast Coatings for all our powder coat. Clay and Jay Ridley are good friends and their facility is next door to Kimray. They do a spectacular job and they are just fun to work with.
We borrowed the spring compressor from Auto Zone again and got to work:
It was a little tricky getting the springs in. The new Upper Control Arms are slightly different and we had to put the top of the spring in place, then slower jack up the control arm to kind of push the bottom of the spring into position. It worked and soon we had the springs and shocks in.
Next we installed the Lower Control arms using the new positioning bolts.
Then we mounted the spindles.
The we put the Sway bar and took a brake before putting on the brakes….
Next we began mounting the new disc brakes and rotors from Chockostang. First we put on the brake caliper mounting brackets and the shields.
Then we packed all the wheel bearings and installed the seal in the rotors.
Finally we mounted the rotors.
And then installed the brake calipers.
Finally, we put the wheels back on. However, without the Strut Rods in place, the Lower Control Arm is free to move toward the front or toward the back of the car. When we put the car down on the wheel, the wheel moved back until it was agains the wheel well. We finally decided to leave the jack stand under the car supporting most of the weight.
We got a lot of good work done today. We also have a lead on a paint on body guy.