- Site Navigation
|
|
Independence came just a little early. Freshly painted Q-vert was brought home on July 2, 2009. The entire "body shop jail" ordeal soon faded into a mere unpleasant memory.
The first task was to get the car off the rotissery and onto jack stands and then onto its new suspension. The rear axle was all ready to install by the time Q-vert came home. The axle housing is powdercoated a semigloss black. The differential (or "pumpkin") was rebuilt with 3.25 Traction-lok gears, as original. Everything was ready to go, including the brakes, rear brake lines, leaf springs and tires. Just needed to roll the assembly under the car and bolt it on.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Next up was the front suspension. This is a little more work since the coil springs must be compressed to install. The upper and lower control arms bolt on easily, followed by attaching the strut rod to the lower arm and frame. The spindles and disc brake assemblies were prepared ahead of time and then torqued to the ball joints.
 |
 |
 |
 |
At this point, Q-vert returned to sitting on her own four paws for the first time in over two years.
 |
 |
Reassembly can take many different paths. I decided to install the gas tank and fuel lines next, followed by brake lines.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
I figured that as long as I was working in the area under the front fender with the brake lines, I might as well go ahead and install the vacuum reservoirs for the air conditioning (rear fender apron) and the tilt-away steering column (front apron).
 |
 |
Finished off the first phase of reassembly with a little bling, installing the tailights, bumper and other shiny stuff on the rear of the car.
 |
 |
Follow as the reassembly continues on the next page or go back to the...