28 Sept 2016 - Front bumper

I have been working on the front bumper mounting brackets and hardare since the 26th.  So far I have the four brackets painted and drying.  The mounting hardware is also painted and drying/curing.  I also attempted to deal with the rust on the inside of the bumper and the rust on the chrome hardware.  I wasn't sure if the Evapo-Rust would damage the chrome mounting hardware but I thought, what the hell, might as well see what it does.  So I soaked the chrome hardware for about 4 hours and the rust is almost completely gone and the chrome looks like its intact!?!?

I left the idler arm mounting hardware on the bench and kinda forgot about it.  It rusted and is now soaking in Evapo-Rust...

26 Sept 2016 - Front bumper / mounting brackets/hardware

I had some free time...so I took apart the front bumper mounting brackets/hardare.  I cleaned up and painted all four mounting brackets.




The washers/bolts/nuts are still soaking in Evapo-Rust and should be ready by Tuesday of this week.

mounting hardware for all four front bumper brackets

 Here are the parts, painted and drying

26 Sept 2016 - Front passenger brakes

The brake wheel cylinders and front brake shoes arrived today from WCCC.  I went a head and installed the hardware/shoes for the passenger side front spindle

Here is the passenger side front brake spindle ready for installation.

Here is a part number on the box of the front drum brakes I ordered from WCCC

Same box, front

26 Sept 2016 - Passenger side front brake

 Here is the passenger side front spindle / brake before I removed the hardware.

Here is the driver side front brake for reference

Here is the driver side front brake for reference

Here is the driver side front brake for reference

26 Sept 2016 - Front Bumper mounts/brackets

While I was waiting for the paint to dry on some of the suspension hardware,  I thought I would clean up the front bumper mounting brackets/hardware.

I removed the four front bumper mounts from the bumper and cleaned them.  After taking a closer look, I found rust all of the pieces.  So I stripped and painted three of the four brackets and painted them.  The fourth bracket could not be finished, as it started to rain.  Right now the mounting hardware/pieces-parts are soaking in Evapo-Rust.

25 Sept 2016 - Front Suspension

I cleaned up and painted the passenger side shock area/upper & lower control arm mounting points.  I also cleaned up and painted the frame area below the shock tower.

The passenger side drum/hub and spindle was cleaned up and painted with VHT chassis and roll bar black.  I am kinda concerned about the temps generated by the drum so I will paint the driver side with caliper paint, that can handle temps up to 500.

passenger side drum outside

passenger side drum inside

24 Sept 2016 - front suspension

Didn't do much today except clean up the garage to make room around the car to begin front suspension work.


I did clean and paint the front sway bar.  Looks pretty good, but it really didn't look too bad to begin with even tho its 40+ years old.

I also cleaned up the inner shock tower area of the passenger side.  I painted it with a rust converter in areas that needed it then topcoated it with VHT chassis and roll bar black.

Looks like the frame area under shock tower needs to be cleaned and painted.

I painted over areas with the tar like undercoating.  I did remove some to see if there was rust, but there was none.

 

Looks like that bottom area did not get coated...I will redo that and take another pic.

23 Sept 2016 - Front Suspension/steering

The front suspension/steering components arrived yesterday.  I checked the parts and they are in good shape.  There are a number of scratches and marks on the upper and lower control arms(enough that I should probably do some paint touch up).  I guess thats how it is when you ship so many metal parts.  All of the parts were wrapped very well too.

I am still waiting on a few more components to arrive.  I ordered a lower control arm eccentric eliminator kit, sway bar mounts with bushings and a sway bar end link kit.

Even after those parts arrive, I will need to have both front drums turned, replace the bearings, seals and races for both front wheels.

I will also be cleaning up and painting the driver side spindle/hub assembly.

I will be rebuilding both from brake drums with rebuild kits.  All the springs, adjusters and hardware and wheel cylinders for both front drums will be replaced.

Comparison of new "lowered" springs vs. OEM

  

 

21 Sept 2016 - suspension parts

Looks like the suspension components I ordered from Virginia Classic Mustang will be here on the 22nd of Sept.  The front wheel cylinders and brake shoes from WCCC will arrive on the 26th of Sept.

Until those parts arrive I will do what I can, to clean up bolts/fasteners/hardware needed for the front suspension rebuild.

Currently I am re-conditioning the lower control arm camber hardware.  I may just buy a camber adjustment kit.  That kit provides for better alignment than the stock hardware.

19 Sept 2016 - Parts

I ordered front driver and passenger side wheel cylinders and brake shoes.  I have already cleaned and painted the passenger side spindle and hub assemblies.

I also ordered a front suspension rebuild kit.

While I wait for the parts to arrive, I will be cleaning up the passenger side wheel well area and then paint it.  I am considering painting the area with truck bed liner.

18 Sept 2016 - front brakes

Continued with working on front brakes.  The local parts stores do not have the correct drum brake hardware rebuild kits even though their listings indicate they will work.  Also the installed front paasenger side wheel cylinder is larger than the local parts store.

I'll have to remove the driver side front wheel and compare parts.

9 Sept 2016 - suspension - passenger side

Continued with removing the passenger side suspension components.  I was able to loosen the strut rod, tie rod, sway bar, lower control arm and upper control arm.  I also was able to loosen the brake line flex hose from the spindle assembly to the frame.  I then seperated the components and put them aside.

The upper control arm has a 4 bolt ball joint.  The shaft assembly barely moved

The lower control arm has a 3 bolt ball joint.  The rubber/metal bushing assembly of the lower control arm was being pushed out of the pivot point.  The spring perch mount was in bad shape.  The rubber bushing on one side was completely crushed and in pieces.

The strut rod assembly looked ok but needs to be replaced.  The rubber bushings have dry rotted, just like the other rubber pieces of the suspension.

The coil spring looked ok, but will get replaced.  The coil spring insulator actually looked the best of all the rubber pieces of the suspension.

The spindle assembly looks pretty rough.  I am considering taking it apart completely and replace all of the hardware.( all brake components, wheel bearings...)

passenger side -reference image

passenger side - reference image

passenger side - reference side

   

8 Sept 2016 - Front suspension - passenger side

I picked up a coil spring compressor at the local parts store today.  Its the type that is situated inside the coil.

I used that tool and removed the coil and that took about an hour!

After that I started removing cotter pins from the spindle assembly and removed the castle nuts.  I think I am just going to completely replace the upper and lower control arms and make sure they come with ball joints!

thought seriously about removing the spring perch...but then I woke up and just decided it gets replaced with a new upper control arm assembly

 

7 Sept 2016 - Front suspension

I started the process of replacing front suspension hardware.  I have had this car since 2003 and have not replaced any front suspension components.  The passenger side tire has even wear but the driver side does not, it has excessive wear on the inner tire area.

So I will just go ahead and replace all of the front suspension hardware.

I need to replace;

upper control arms with ball joints, inner tie rods, outer tie rods, center link, lower control arms with ball joints, strut rods with bushings.

I can't seem to find an online vendor that has all of the components in one kit. 


I will clean up ball joint areas top/bottom before doing anything else at this point.  Have to get a spring compressor so that I can take things apart and determine what it takes to remove ball joint from upper control arm.

Just removed the idler arm, PB Blaster is awesome!

passenger side tie rod to center link - not looking too good after 40+ years

Driver side tie rod to center link

passenger side flex brake hose - need to soak that with PB Blaster for sure...

upper control arm ball joint

lower controll arm ball joint