It all started with stuffed rear shocks and my plan was to replace the shocks and clean up the rear end. Sounded like a great plan and like all projects the dreaded scope creep commenced before I had the cage lowered.

So here is what I have done so far:-

Diff rebuild
New bearings and seals. Oh and 4.09 gears. I am still waiting for the spacer for the carrier, was shipped yesterday so should have diff back in about a week. I’ll post pics when I get back. I bought a 4L60e to overcome the lower diff (not rebuilt yet I’ll do that later).

Drive shafts balanced with new universal joints. Hub carriers blasted, new wheel and fulcrum bearings.

Cage powder coated. LCA powder coated and new inner fulcrum bearing, tubes and seals. Raduis arms powder coated and new bushes.

I cut some rust out of the LH rear buttress and welded in a new piece. I ended up doing this 3 times before I was satisfied. I cut whole thing out made up a new bit of channel and welded it back together.

I stripped the underneath and repainted with stone guard and chassis black. I also used stone guard on the lower part of the lower rear. Cleaned the under cage heatshield and painted with high temp paint.

And a new set of Bilsteins installed in the original springs, note my home made spring compressor, worked a treat.

 

just what i'm doing this winter to my 89 marelli and abs =)

i loved that spring compressor

 

More toiling away at the underneath. Painted in chassis black and ready for the rear end to go back in. Hopefully I have solved the leaks into those rear lower quarters. I'll hit it with the hose next week after the paint has cured.

Worst part is now I know how much work was involved in stripping the rear undercarriage and I still have the rest of the car to do.

 

Next time I am using a rotisserie doing this on your back on a garage creeper sucks.

Still waiting to get the diff back kinda held up until then. So what do you do in the spare time repaint the underneath. I'll tackle the trans tunnel when I drop the tranny.

Before during and after pics

 

i did use a rotessorie for my rebuild,so much easier.
and you just do better work when working down on somthing ,,instead of up, with all the slag dropping on you.

plus you can turn body on its side so as to do other work at your lesure.

yes if your gonne do a complete rebuild a rotessorie is best.

 

Your not wrong I have already welded the bit I cut out of the chassis rail. Welding upside down has knobs on it. But it started as just repairing what was needed ie the shocks and just grew from there.......I should have known

She looks good underneath now. I still have the trans tunnel to do and I will tackle that when I drop the tranny for the 4L60e swap, next on the todo list.

 

Can I ask, have you swapped in an OD tranny to run 4.09 gears? I'd love to drop my ratio but not keen on a tranny swap. In my '61 T-Bird with a C6, I went from 2.88 to 3.23s and it made a nice difference and still kept my highway rpms under control.

I don't need to do 160 but I do want a nice, normal, efficient cruise at 70.

D

 

Never mind, just reread your last sentence there.

 

Yes 4.09 gears have been installed. I am concerned I have gone too short as with the engine rebuild I am looking fir 500 to 600hp

 

well i changed my final drive ratio from factory 3.07 to a 3.73.

then i installed a 700R4 with 4 gear overdrive, been 15yrs no problems,

much better acceleration, cruise in overdrive with 2.60 final ratio.

the best of two worlds!

but if i were to do it again , id go with a 6speed manual with 4.09 and double overdrive,

OH YES, that would be the best of a three generation world.

and you should think about a single piece driveshaft, and HD joints, my shaft is Aluminum lighter weight, again 15yrs no problems.

 

What kind of highway mileage are you getting?

 

i can get around 16-20MPG depending on driving style, at cruise.

but the payoff is on acceleration, and passing. MPG not so good tho.

THX for the interest, Ron

 

Which Bilsteins are you using. I'm planning to send mine out for rebuilding and wondering whether I should change the valving if the car is 400-450 pounds less than stock. And should I change the springs?
I keep telling myself ...do not remove AC.

 

I am using Be3-2446, I have kept the stock springs at the moment. Once I get her back on the road I will evaluate if the springs need upgrading. I do not want to lower it as I am planning on 17x10 with 275/40 so I think any lower and I will have clearance issues.

I have a 4L60e to go in (electronic 7004R) I have calculated my cruising RPM will be roughly the same as the old 2.88 and T400. I wanted 3.73 but was unable to find them here in Aus I am just hoping I have not gone too low and end up with a smoke machine.

cheers
Warren

 

I am planning on installing a gear vendors behind the 4L60e with a megashift controller. This will effectively give me a 7 speed sequential. With lockup TC on all gears it should perform as good if not better than a T56.. We'll see, I still have a bit of R&D to do, and that will be a job for the new year.

 

why did you knock these off and how did you weld them back on, did you drill holes in their skirts, to weld through?

How was your metal under them? Mine, I had to replace entire frame sections, on both sides.
BTW, amazing work, especially with no lift, you must have spent weeks on it? How is your back feeling?

 

i'm guessin the sheet metal around them was rusted thru(mine were).

cut them off, fab new sheet metal boxes, make sure the threads are usable, weld them back in place with weld holes and weld around the outer edges also.

some of these cars that spent winters in snow and SALT, are pretty bad condition.

best way UK found for rapid recycle, was to mix pool acid into the salt for roads, was great for roads but cars detieriated quickly.

unusual, stay in business, plan.

 

I took me weeks to strip the underneath, but I had water ingress into the boot, in the lower rear sills on the outside of the muffler tunnel both sides. This only happened when driving not when the car sat in the rain, so the water had to be coming from underneath. I eventually found it was coming in at the top of the wheel arch where the inner and outer guards are spot welded. I might end up cutting the inner guard out and putting a new piece in, this will serve two purposes as I want to run 17x10 rear wheels I can widen the inner.

I cut the cups off because I had a bolt snap in one of them. The bolt had to drilled out and the cup re-tapped. I also wanted to take a look at the metal underneath, fortunately it was all good no rust in the body.

I have not welded the cups back on yet as I need the diff to line everything up.

I inadvertently cut through the chassis rail on the right so had to weld a new piece in there. So I thought I would strengthen the radius arm mount. The cups will be welded to 2mm plate which will then be fixed to the car with rivets and welded.

You can see the new plate I made in the pic, the self tappers are temporary to hold it in place they will be replaced by rivets.

 

Still waiting for the diff to come back been 2 months now, the guy who machined the spacer has done it wrong twice so third time lucky.

Used the time to build my homemade trans/diff jack from an old trolley jack. The plate on the top is adjustable with 4 bolts so I can fine adjust to line up the bolts.

Ok the can of WD40 is my anti-spatter spray - works really well does catch fire though, it was a tip from my local welder as my glassless MIG spatters like crazy.

 

what trans are you gonna be running? also what performance mods so far?