Got back at it again. Nothing really picture worthy, but accomplished a fair amount. Anyway, installed the new oil pan and windage tray that Cody recommended that I got from Jegs. Nice not to have to use any gasket cement. Put the engine back on the K-Frame and with the help of my wife (she worked the lift and handed me tools when I was under the car) got the engine and trans reinstalled.
Sanded and painted the torsion bars. Again, with my wife's help installed and aligned the steering column. Adjusted and hooked up the trans linkage and Z bar linkage and lot of other small stuff that needed to be done. Ordered some parts for the Z bar linkage that didn't come with the rebuild kit??? The radiator developed a small leak at the lower hose fitting so I removed it and will take it in to the radiator shop to have it soldered. Got a text from my body man that we might be able to get the car in to the shop on Monday for final paint work so I'll gathered up all the small parts that will also need to be painted along with the larger body panels. I media blasted the small parts and then painted them with primer/sealer which included the driver's side remote mirror. I know my car came with a passenger side mirror, but I'll be darned if I can find it. :headbang: Hopefully when we move all the body panels out of the storage room it will appear. It's been five years since we did the initial paint work so I'm super excited to finally get the paint work finished.
I also installed my new to me QA1 shocks that I purchased from another forum member. Fronts went on with no problems but since I was installing the rears on traction bars (the car came with them and I like the nostalgic look) I had a problem fitting them. The old bolts on the traction bars were toast so I had cut them off and replaced them. Problem was the bottom fitting on the shock is the correct size for the original leaf spring retaining plates, but they're an old ball size for any bolts at the store. After going to two stores I found finally some sleeves that fit perfectly with 1/2" hardened bolts. The bolts are a little two long so eventually I'll replace them with shorter ones.
Today, I installed the torsion bars and new dust boots. What a pain they were, both the boots and torsion bars. I've removed and installed the torsion bars at least a half dozen times since I've had the car and they were never a problem. Today, I couldn't get the LCA torsion bar fitting in the correct orientation to get the bar to slide in?? :verymad: Anyway, after a lot of playing around I got the passenger side in, but the driver's side just was not cooperating no matter what I did, even after I undid the shock and the upper control arm. After using a ratchet strap to pull the suspension down another 3/8" I got the bar in. I also discovered that the driver's side torsion bar hits the TTI headers. That may be why it was such a bear to get in. :notsure: I followed some suggestions I found on Google about stretching the rubber dust boots over sockets and then slipping them off the socket over the knuckle on the torsion bar. It worked for the passenger side. However, when doing that for the driver's side I ended up tearing the boot.
I had read where one guy cut his and glued them back together so since I wanted to get the bars installed before they take the car to paint, I put it on anyway and will try gluing it when it comes back. Anyway, like I said, nothing really picture worth, but I got a lot accomplished. Now I just need the body shop to come through and pick up the car tomorrow.
