Joined
·
237 Posts
The '68 is trying it's best to be a money pit!
Right Stuff Detailing LCA6472 - Right Stuff Detailing Tubular Control Arms.
Hotchkis would have been nicer, but the car would have had to sit for a couple of months while I scraped up funds to pay for them.
It's my only running car at the moment, so has to be fixed NOW.
Brakes were poor, so started in on fixing them.
Drum brakes on all corners.
Expected to need shoes and wheel cylinders, not very expensive.
Nope, all drums were bad, getting expensive.
This deep in, replace all front wheel bearings and seals as a precaution
Definitely getting expensive, another $100.00
Start putting it together, WHAT'S THIS?
Look close, crack in the lower drivers side "A" arm!
If one is bad, I don't trust the other either.
Price them out for new reproduction parts, hmmm, only a little more and I can get Right Stuff Detailing LCA647 parts instead.
So that's what I did, into this for enough now I went ahead and got the uppers too.
I would have wanted to complete the set eventually, why pay for two alignments?
Beside, I am not fond of the spring compressor hassle, so only want to do it once.
Oh yes, new springs too, somebody cut the old ones and the car sat too low, bottoming the frame on driveways is no fun.
At this point I'm into this way deeper than intended.
So I go to put the spindle/brake assembly on.
Not.
Won't fit without dismantling the backing plate from the upright!
OK, so I take the first of those all apart.
If it's apart it gets cleaned and painted.
Bead blasted the backing plate, now I can really see the wear on the contact pads the brake shoes slide on, they are shot.
No local stores carry them, OPG etc have them, at about $80.00 each.
That's the last straw, found a complete set of NEW but for fifty miles use 11" vented cross-drilled and slotted single piston disc brakes with 2" drop spindles on the local Craigslist, $350.00.
Have one side all buttoned up now, and the disc setup is a LOT less work than the $#@&^! drums.
The Right Stuff Detailing "A" arms went on fairly well, a little tight getting the lowers into the mounts.
But I found one thing I consider very dangerous!
The Right Stuff Detailing hardware is all loose on delivery.
No big deal, just tighten everything up.
That went fine, except for the four bolts holding the upper ball joint.
They were so soft I broke two even before they were fully tight!
They are some sort of junk grade metric, they take a 10mm wrench.
To say I was unhappy would be an understatement.
Fortunately, 1/4-28 grade 8 fits as a replacement, good thing I have a hardware store a block away.
Hope to get the other side together on Sunday.
Then I get to turn the car around and do the rear.
Sadly they HAVE to remain drums, I'm tapped out.
Now I have to see what I can do about recovering some of what I wasted on the drum fronts.
Not sure what parts I can return, if any, as I always detail new parts before install.
Have to get it on wheels by Wednesday for alignment.
These arms are supposed to have a 5º improvement to the alignment of some sort, but since they come with no instruction of any kind I hope I can get details on-line.
Right Stuff Detailing LCA6472 - Right Stuff Detailing Tubular Control Arms.
Hotchkis would have been nicer, but the car would have had to sit for a couple of months while I scraped up funds to pay for them.
It's my only running car at the moment, so has to be fixed NOW.
Brakes were poor, so started in on fixing them.
Drum brakes on all corners.
Expected to need shoes and wheel cylinders, not very expensive.
Nope, all drums were bad, getting expensive.
This deep in, replace all front wheel bearings and seals as a precaution
Definitely getting expensive, another $100.00
Start putting it together, WHAT'S THIS?
Look close, crack in the lower drivers side "A" arm!
If one is bad, I don't trust the other either.
Price them out for new reproduction parts, hmmm, only a little more and I can get Right Stuff Detailing LCA647 parts instead.
So that's what I did, into this for enough now I went ahead and got the uppers too.
I would have wanted to complete the set eventually, why pay for two alignments?
Beside, I am not fond of the spring compressor hassle, so only want to do it once.
Oh yes, new springs too, somebody cut the old ones and the car sat too low, bottoming the frame on driveways is no fun.
At this point I'm into this way deeper than intended.
So I go to put the spindle/brake assembly on.
Not.
Won't fit without dismantling the backing plate from the upright!
OK, so I take the first of those all apart.
If it's apart it gets cleaned and painted.
Bead blasted the backing plate, now I can really see the wear on the contact pads the brake shoes slide on, they are shot.
No local stores carry them, OPG etc have them, at about $80.00 each.
That's the last straw, found a complete set of NEW but for fifty miles use 11" vented cross-drilled and slotted single piston disc brakes with 2" drop spindles on the local Craigslist, $350.00.
Have one side all buttoned up now, and the disc setup is a LOT less work than the $#@&^! drums.
The Right Stuff Detailing "A" arms went on fairly well, a little tight getting the lowers into the mounts.
But I found one thing I consider very dangerous!
The Right Stuff Detailing hardware is all loose on delivery.
No big deal, just tighten everything up.
That went fine, except for the four bolts holding the upper ball joint.
They were so soft I broke two even before they were fully tight!
They are some sort of junk grade metric, they take a 10mm wrench.
To say I was unhappy would be an understatement.
Fortunately, 1/4-28 grade 8 fits as a replacement, good thing I have a hardware store a block away.
Hope to get the other side together on Sunday.
Then I get to turn the car around and do the rear.
Sadly they HAVE to remain drums, I'm tapped out.
Now I have to see what I can do about recovering some of what I wasted on the drum fronts.
Not sure what parts I can return, if any, as I always detail new parts before install.
Have to get it on wheels by Wednesday for alignment.
These arms are supposed to have a 5º improvement to the alignment of some sort, but since they come with no instruction of any kind I hope I can get details on-line.
