Gramma's Car: the new project!

[9999]

That sounds more reasonable, also sounds pretty cool. It's not too hard to set the lash?

[njsteve]

I stopped in at the chassis shop today and they already had the rear all finished. That was quick - dropped it off Monday, picked it up Wednesday.

Ended up costing $250 to set up the gears and an additional $100 to replace the axle bearings. He found that the small retainer bolt that holds the center pin into the carrier, was sheared off. The portion of the bolt head with threads was holding the remaining portion of the retaining pin in place. He said the broken piece came out with a thin magnetic probe. He indicated that this was a common problem he has encountered over the years. Whew!

The rear is back home now in the garage. That gives me something to start cleaning and painting now.

[njsteve]

Getting ready to paint and reassemble the rear. I had the chassis guy who set up the rear, sandblast the backing plates and rear cover. Looks like the tubes and backing plates were originally painted black but the center section was natural cast. There is a remnant of the orange "E" on the top. Not much on the bottom. There are orange paint daubs on the bearing caps, where the tubes join the center section and underneath the mating surface of the spring perches.

[njsteve]

The new leaf springs arrived today. Dayton Spring 80-335 was on back order all over the country (this is the 1970-81 Trans Am specific leaf spring with 4 leaves). I was able to order them through Stengel Brothers Spring in Pennsylvania. They had them on sale for $104 per side. Rock Auto just got some in and they show $145.79 each plus shipping. I was able to pick up my springs directly at Stengel Brothers and save the shipping costs. I bought this same set five years ago for my 1972 black Formula and the car sat nicely with them.

http://www.stengelbros.net/80-335-Po...y-_p_2927.html

Now I can replace the old, worn out 5-leaf set up in the car that had too tall of a stack for the perches on the 1980 T/A rear. The lower shock mounting plate got all bent out of shape from being tightened around the 5 leaves. Luckily I was able to use my hydraulic press and get them flat again.

[Zman1969]

Originally Posted by njsteve

The portion of the bolt head with threads was holding the remaining portion of the retaining pin in place. He said the broken piece came out with a thin magnetic probe. He indicated that this was a common problem he has encountered over the years.

I have had good luck with a mechanics awl and "unscrew it" - it usually leaves 1/2 of a thread on what doesn't come out, just takes patience! some tool truck guys sell a kit to drill and use easy out, its a Allen head cap screw with hole drilled in it and a long bit both will work FYI
nice car Steve!

[njsteve]

I got the new four-leaf, Trans Am springs installed yesterday and the 3.08 geared rear end back in the car, today. The new springs fit the perches a lot nicer than the old five-leaf setup did. This 1980 T/A rear end was made for a four-leaf spring pack. I installed a pair of KYB GasAdjust shocks to match the fronts. Everything is hooked back up with the exception of the rear brakes. I bought a new set of ProThane rear sway bar bushings for the 9/16" bar but they don't make the correct large bushing for the one-bolt sway bar drop links (only for the 1970-73, two bolt/two-piece), so I had to re-use the original large bushings. For some reason they make the large bushings for the 5/8" and thicker rear bars in the one-bolt version but neglect the 9/16" bar???

I have a new set of brake shoes to go in and had a pair of new wheel cylinders sitting around so I used them since I noticed that the originals were leaking.

Tomorrow the brakes and the new speedometer gear get installed.

Here's how she looks now.

[njsteve]

I got the car on the road today after installing and bleeding the brakes, installing the new speedometer gear and housing, and doubling checking all the bolts. The vintage GM 3.08 gears are silent - no whine or howl. Very nice. And it is now 2,400 RPM at 60 mph, verified by the GPS.

While finishing up the brakes, I thought this was kind of neat: the original rear brake drums, still with planty of meat left on them. Dated "F 8 75".

[njsteve]

It was a busy weekend!

I sanded and repainted the top of the radiator support with black epoxy paint to get rid of the original "survivor" surface rust look.

I bought a set of the InlineTube reproduction fender to rad support bars and installed them.

I installed the shiny new repro brake booster and bled the front brakes.

I adjusted the parking brake which had been too loose after the rear end installation.

I also pulled the grills, sanded and repainted them using wheel paint sprayed from about a foot away so it gave a nice dry, sparkly finish like the original.

I cleaned the signal lenses and polished the chrome bezels, too.

And yeah, I added an old leftover "455HO" decal I had sitting around. The air cleaner looked too bare and needed something to spruce it up. And technically, the 455 does have the rods from my old 455HO in it... ;-)

After all that I put 5 gallons of aviation fuel in the tank to give her a treat.

I ordered a new ColdCase radiator which should be here tomorrow. Then the shroud comes out and gets refinished, too, during the installation process.

After all this work, I noticed that one of my AC/Delco spark plug wires was not working right when I checked them all with a timing light to chase down an intermittent miss. I checked my old receipts and it turns out that they are guaranteed for life, so Rock Auto is sending me a new set for the ones on the car that I bought in 2008!

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

TLC X100 :-)

Your cars have a good life:-)

Ryan

[njsteve]

Hey you gotta have something to play with. Gramma's car really handles nicely now. I may upgrade to some larger sway bars like a 1-1/4" front and 3/4" rear from a Trans Am/Formula since what is on the car was the luxury cruiser version with a 1" front and 9/16" rear sway bars.