Random update time
(JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2012)
Finally got around to installing the bell housing and mounting it on the car. One less thing to trip over.
Because i need a primer pump to build pressure in the fuel rails before the belt drive pump kicks in, i welded a bung onto the fuel filter head (sorry, forgot to get a finished one. I'll snap it later). Basically i hit the primer pump to get me the 40psi for the injectors until the engine fires and normal pressure can be maintained with the belt drive
View of the cramped "work space" I really need to replace the bench- it's definitely going to collapse on me one of these days. I really need to clean it up too. lol.
Well, I FINALLY got around to finishing the firewall (for the most part). only took a year. haha.
The explanation- the aluminum panel holds the air filter which is crammed in the space created with the above picture.
In the above picture, you see the air intake holes by the windshield? This is a view down it. Low drag air inlet at high pressure zone.
A view inside:
I did the same thing with the driver side:
I had to cut this little piece out as it was folding over on itself. I was just using my knee, a beater bag, and a hammer. I just patched it up afterwards.
Since I wont be needing a speedometer drive anymore, I made a blockoff plate using the original (going to pick up a GPS unit one of these days)
Cut everything off, tap the hole, then lather a bolt with thread locker and sealer and torque it in there. Simple and free
Then I hauled in the rear end to get some new brackets welded on, and to give it a once-over
These are the original lower control arms for the diff. They have to go
Then....i proceeded to measure and chop off all the brackets (LCA, Shock, Spring)
Whatever welding rod GM used in the 70's is hard as heck. it took forever and a half to grind all of those down
All done
Then I took the measurements from the stock LCA mounts and transferred them back on for the new LCA mounts
Tacked on
Then proceeded to weld an inch, wait a half hour, weld another inch, etc. Took a whole weekend
Because I couldn't weld on the shock mounts yet (havent come in), i took the diff cover off to have a look. For anyone who doesnt know, cadillac in the late 60's-70's had their own specific diff. It's some sort of cross breed between a 10/12/and 14 bolt. For now, I'm just going to give it a once over to check it out, then throw it back in. I just need something to get me moving until i can get back to the rear suspension. I'm mad because i definitely can't use a spool from anything else for the time being.
what amazes me, is it's only 26 spline axles. I can't even get a mini-spool for it, unless the 26 spline 10 bolt one will fit. I need to call someone up and see if they'll measure
Then i completely yanked it apart, taking measurements of everything single thing i could to hopefully find parts that interchange
After that, i welded the tabs on for the rear sway bar (in case i need/want one later), and also finished the welding on the LCA brackets since the brake backing plates were in the way of the outside braces
Finally I caved, and after 2 months of getting no where with the lower control arms, I broke down and bought a press and tubing notcher. I should have done that months ago
First test notch, it fits the ball joint cup perfectly
With that being said, I was able to crank out the lower control arms this past saturday with no problems at all
My limited welding ability with the tig
I also made a cross bar that connected where the shock will mount
I'm kicking myself for not getting a notcher sooner. No way could I have done this with a grinder (all i was using before)
The finished arms. The only "oops" that came out of it, was that welding the cross bar in pulled the bushings in just a bit, so its a tight fit on the body now. but it fits. Just takes some finesse with a hammer.
And installed on the car (I had to make new inner sleeves since the tubing that came with the poly bushings was for 9/16" bolts, and i'm using 5/8". So I took some 3/4" CM tube and drilled it out to fit (didn't need much)
Now I can finally work on getting the coilovers mounted
After this, since I needed a change of pace, I pulled out the ring gear and pinion, since i also want to change the pinion flange to a normal u-joint pinion (12bolt will fit with slight modification)
As of now (3/5/2012) im waiting on a 3-3/8" holesaw to come in, so i can open up the shock mounts to fit the housing (3-3/8"od tubing), then I will weld those on. Johnny joints should be in this week for the LCA, so I will mount the diff in the car, measure it up, and crank out a set of arms for the bottom. After that, hopefully I can get a new pinion in, which will allow me to finally measure and order a driveshaft. Unfortunately I have a feeling i'm going to need a 2 piece, and the initial eyeball measurements puts it near 80" in length. We'll see.
The other major task is the front coilover mounts because it interferes with upper control arm mount. I have a set of adjustable mounts, but we'll see if i even need those. I'll have to get creative to figure it out.