Progress Thread 93 'vert redux

derek1993

Active Member
Sep 13, 2020
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Thompson's Station, TN
All parts are in time to get started on putting it back together..
New bushings and hard lines started.
Fighting with the stainless line retaining clips any tricks to get these guys seated?
 

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Been a little bit since an update, some progress made in a number of areas -
Rear end is back together, new hard lines run and stainless steel lines at the calipers and 3rd brake line. Snapped a banjo bolt, new ones just arrived today so that will go in tomorrow.
R1 Rotors and pads (slotted/cross drilled 13" and 11.6" respectively.
Stock UCAs but boxed and painted, MM HD adjustable LCAs
new pinion snubber
kept the B springs but put new isoaters on them (guy had heater hose up top and garden hose :fuss:on the spring coils..)
Bilstien HDs
New parking brake cables (awaiting clamps to pull them back, too close the wheel right now).
Also cut the old janky round subframes out.. that was.... fun.. even with the car up as high as i could go on truck jack stands.. Either way, got them out and ground down the metal i wasn't able to cut out.. MM full length will go in their place soon.
Everything is torqued and just awaiting a new bolt for the 3rd brake line as well as clips to hold the parking brake cables in (not sure what happened to mine, or if there were any to begin with).
Remainder - PHB to be installed and have to get the old sway bar hooked back up, this week hopefully or the weekend.
Once complete, onto the front..
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Also, took a detour to go ski with my son, make up trip from the one we had to cancel last year. Did some sledding for fun, got pulled up the course in this jeep. Owner let me drive it around the main landing, treads are a bolt on kit.. they can take them off and use it as normal in the summer. Truck was something being worked on as well. hit it the weekend they got 14" of snow.. great time.
 

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buttoned up the rear today, banjo bolt for 3rd brake line, clips for the parking brake cables.
Everything i torqued down, rear sway bar re-installed and pads in the calipers.
Still looking at getting the clips that attach to the control arms, but truthfully it doesn't seem like the cables are long enough.. Is the routing different on a convertible vs. non? Will see what i can do to get some length out of them, but they're tight to the tires right now, making the desire to go to a 10" wheel questionable until i get it figured out.

Got the front control arms back in, hubs on spindles and starting to swap out the rubber lines for the stainless lines. Slow progress, but it's still progress.
Planning a few more hours on it tomorrow. (spindles were installed after the pics, more to come.)

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have the front back together, but need some input/advice. The Bilstein struts up front, how much do you torque them down? Should i wait until it's back on the ground then torque or? seems like when i was jacking up the lower control arm, the strut shaft had play up top. I have the spacers as recommended, so wasn't sure if i had overlooked anything. Also thanks to @General karthief for an assist on a front sway bar bracket to replace the bent one. painted and going on soon.
 

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been a little bit since i've been able to do any significant work as of late, but have the booster and MC out to be swapped. replaced the steering shaft with a MM version and aluminum bushings for the steering rack. Also hit a JY and picked up a couple of brackets for the parking brake that attach to the rear LCA, although they stick out a bit more than i expected. Work for the 9" i have on the rear now, but when i go to a 10" will see where the cable is related to the wheel/tire.
x-brace off for cleanup and just cleaning things up under the car, new endlinks and sway bar bushings go on here in a few as well, then button up the brakes..
will put the k-member brace on tomorrow probably as well, depends on what my son has planned for father's day..
Oh, and Happy Father's day to all of you guys out there!
 
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I will update pics here in a few, but little more progress as of today. X-brace painted and re-installed, k-member brace installed, endlinks and sway bar bushings back in (along with sway bar). Tackled the booster today, standing on the shoulders of those who provided advice. trimmed about 1/4" or so off of the two inner bolts on the booster, and enlarged the holes (actually did all 4, but only a smidge on the outer two). Booster is back in with some blood, lots of sweat (it was 92 here today) and no tears (or cussing)..
need to bench bleed the MC next, all setup for that over the next couple of nights.
One issue - could not for the life of me break the union free to get the proportioning valve installed, ended up having to cut the lines as the nuts were getting rounded.. for that line are they 3/8--24 for a 3/16" line?
fighting with the lines to the underside of the dist block as well. might just gut it and put a new plug vs. the eliminator kit i have from MM.
 
This is what has been taking up most of my time.. working on it with my son before he leaves for college -

did a wire tuck on passenger/driver, relocated the battery/re-wired as it was in bad shape. Moved a distribution block and relays into the passenger footwell, will be building a cover for it and carpeting soon.
Installed a master cut off switch, and jumper lugs (can't access the battery under the floorboard).

Retrosound stereo head unit, 2 3.5", 2 6x9s and a 10" sub for the sound (all new wiring).
and finally got the wheels we've been waiting on from Boyd Coddington.. took 2 months
We need to set the rear end down about an inch and i have to mess with the front wheel backspacing so the wheels sit equal under the front fenders (looks like whomever built this didn't have the front end clip centered, more evident now with the current wheels..


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Few more updates -
Proportioning valve installed, had to cut and re-flare.. some practice and patience and it's in.
Also had to cut one of the lines heading up to the distribution block, frozen in.. had the MM kit so that is all set.
MC bench bled and installed, all lines plumbed and tightened.
bled brakes today, 2x, probably once more to get fresher fluid to the rear, front looked good while back was still darker.
STB installed (need to figure out a better way to address the vacuum tree, it's re-installed but ii'm not thrilled with it.
broke the front control arm bolts loose, wanted to ensure i torqued them down under load (i wasn't 100% sure, so better safe/sorry)
painted drive shaft (will get an aluminum one in the future)
painted mufflers (thanks for the idea @Rdub6
cleaned/painted wheel wells (tacking fuel tank tomorrow)
cleaning and touching up chassis (awaiting paint)..
one door panel and vapor barrier re-installed, the other tomorrow..
when it's all back together, alignment time..
getting close..
 
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parking brake installed and adjusted last night, still need to mess with it a little more. Mechanism was out of whack on that (engagement gear was flipped around for some odd reason, trimmed spring tab and able to set/adjust now). Used the recall bracket vs welding, works nice.
Also found that the tabs/bracket the parking brake cables attach to in the trans tunnel were bending down when PB was engaged.. looks like the tabs they were welded to broke at some point earlier in it's life, re-anchored those and looks to be fine.
drive shaft re-installed, cleaned up and looks nice.
gas tank cleaned up/painted with rustoleum trim paint
finished the underside of the car, not perfect by any means but looks a heck of a lot nicer than it did.
exhaust and a once over, wheels on the front and lower it to the ramps so i can torque the control arms under load..
some interior work and will hope to start her up tonight again for the first time in 6 months..
 
You're gonna get a ticket from the pic police :stick:
just a few, will get pics of the door panels, etc. tomorrow.
Still have to get it aligned, subframes installed and panhard bar installed.
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Finally back on 4 wheels

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Undercarriage touch up, again wish I would've done it prior to rear end/suspension reassembly but came out ok.

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Exhaust re-installed, mufflers painted, etc.

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Tank touch up

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Wheel well touch up, with rustoleum trim paint (pretty happy with finish, stinks like hell though). Touched the frame as well. Did most of this after it was reassembled, wish I would've thought about it prior.
 

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Little bit of a delay, but got the panhard bar installed. Had to drop the driveshaft as the threaded rod for the parking brake was dragging against the driveshaft. Trimmed that and should be good now. Need to get it to an exhaust shop, panhard bar frame? Is hitting the driverside exhaust pipe, need to add just a smidgen of pipe to clear it. Last thing to do is subframes then enjoy it a bit until winter. 20210911_140955.jpg
 
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