Bringing it back to factory specs!

[resq302]

You can get Evapo-rust at O'Reilly's, Advance Auto Parts, Summit Racing, Pep Boys, pretty much any auto parts store can get it now. Amazing stuff! Wont harm rubber, aluminum, etc. Although they say it is safe for skin, it does stain your skin a yellow color and makes it look like you have jaundis unless you wash it off your hands really quick. lol.

 

[resq302]

While cleaning up the backing plate for the right front wheel, I came across some more inspection marks. A yellow dab at the 6 o clock position and also a white dot which will not be seen once the spindle is mounted to the backing plate.





Also found this yellow mark on the inside (drum side) of the backing plate.



Also got the left lower control arm degreased and found a couple inspection marks on that. I was actually surprised when I was cleaning it off as there was still a good amount of cosmoline left on the lower control arms. What I thought was surface rust was mostly cosmoline still.

Light blue inspection mark on the torsion adjuster ear. Also a light tan stripe going across the adjuster ear more inboard towards the torsion bar.







I also got a lot of pieces of hardware RPM'd but there is no real visual difference so I did not take any pics of the before and after with the RPM treatment.

 

[resq302]

Got some more things done the last time I was at Dad's house. Its coming alone nicely! Just have a few more things to install and the front end is done!

Alignment access plates appear to have been originally a flat black color. Screws were a silver cad or zinc plating.



Torsion bars all restored with paint daubs in same spot.





Driver side backing plate with spindle and lower ball joint removed. Original closed cell gasket. I was lucky enough to have some of this stuff from some packing material that someone had sent me over the years and I was able to reproduce it and haveit appear as new!



Driver side brake assembly prior to disassembly and cleaning.



Left side torsion bar.... prior to restoring it.





Right side...











Original wheel cylinders still on the car!







Pass side brake assembly all cleaned up and ready to be bolted back up.



Original factory installed bumpers (upper and lower)





Hardware all cleaned up with Evapo-rust and treated with RPM.





Power steering box had been painted silver at one point.....



correct date coding for our car too! Yet another original factory installed part!



Power steering box all cleaned up and repainted in the correct sheen black.



Inspection marks located on front backing plates and restored. Yellow brush mark at the 6 o clock position and a white dot that is behind the spindle.



Pass. side upper and lower control arms and strut installed.







K-frame all cleaned up and repainted in satin black.

 

[Steve]

Cracking thread,keep them pics coming

 

[resq302]

Well, the front end is officially finished! Dad had the car aligned yesterday and ran into a brake issue which ended up just being some air in the rear brake lines which I apparently did not bleed out enough with the pressure bleeder. Anyway, here are the finished pics. Also take special note of the zerk fittings. They are the factory correct break off style which I picked up from Frank Badalson. A nice touch for that OE look. (some pics do not have the sway bar installed, since those pics, it has been reinstalled.)



















Also came across a nicer inspection cover which I installed.









Engine compartment all finished too!



Original condensor and new correct green letter ignition coil.

 

[resq302]

We will have the car at the Slate Belt Mighty Mopar show tomorrow in Wind Gap, PA for the all Mopar car show for anyone who wants to stop by.

 

[Big John]

Will the car be at Carlisle?

 

[resq302]

John,

Unfortunately, no it won't. Not this year at least. We will be too busy trying to get the National Chrysler Products Club show squared away as our region is hosting it this year in Budd Lake / Mount Olive, NJ and it is the week after Carlisle. If anything, Dad might go out just for a day to try and get some parts we are looking for.

 

[Budnicks]

car is looking really nice, great job on the front suspension

 

[resq302]

Thanks. I've taken a little bit of a break and had to focus on some things at my house and also had some major issues that came up with my daily driver truck. Needless to say, my old 2007 Ford F150 is gone and a new(er) 2012 Ram 1500 Crew cab Laramie is in the driveway. As soon as I get caught up home, I will resume the work on the rear axle and rear suspension and get the car finished! Stay tuned......

 

[Budnicks]

Life has a tendency, to get in my way too

 

[resq302]

So after a few months of driving the car around and having fun with it, I started back on getting the car completed. Anyway, here are pics of the rear axle with the resto. I gotta say, I can honestly say that this appears to have never been apart as the wheel cylinders still have the white closed cell gasket material on it. The markings I am finding on the car are ones that I have NEVER seen before on other original cars that I have looked at!

u bolts and rear rubber flex brake line bracket all degreased



rear leaf springs.....









pinion snubber with TONS of grease on it. Once it was cleaned off, the rust seemed minimal and most likely will be pit free! (currently soaking in evapo-rust!)



original rubber bushings for the shackles...



hard to see but appears it was a yellow 4 on the third member a the 12 o clock area.



original rubber flex rear brake line...



hardware....



some yellow mark on the underside of the rib where typical area for the stamped date code would have been.



heart shaped yellow crayon mark to the left of the 2



orange mark at the 6 o'clock rib, most likely for or part of the axle ratio



yellow paint mark on the saddle of the driver side axle tube



another yellow paint mark on the pass side axle yoke as well as a baby blue dot (with splatter)



paint markings found on pinion yoke. red where the caps are and white closer to the nut





more paint markings on the driver side axle tube. markings were put on with the axle flipped 180* so the carrier was facing rear ward as shown by the paint runs from the inspection marks



original wheel cylinder still has the factory white closed cell gasket material! (how often do you see this!)





factory installed u-joint straps (previously pictured earlier in the thread but the picture turned out blurry)





yellow inspection mark on top of the axle tube and went UNDER the brass t block for the rear brake lines. vent bolt put back in place to prevent dirt from entering the axle.



factory gray dip tank primer where the front hangers were bolted up.





factory red oxide primer in the wheel wells where they missed with the undercoating.













bronze paint over spray in wheel well and also area where the lower black out got over sprayed







reference pics for when I put the brakes back together!



axle u bolts all cleaned up which revealed white inspection paint marks on the top of each u bolt!

 

[quikbird]

once again great pics

 

[resq302]

thanks! aiming to have the car finished for the Mopars @ E-town on 8/23

 

[mahoney0_00_3]

all mopar conv are built in st Louis--the right paint is call sweade paint for dash look it up AL

 

[resq302]

all mopar conv are built in st Louis--the right paint is call sweade paint for dash look it up ALView attachment 7382

True, however, the suede paint is no longer made. I think it had something to do with the talc powder being in the paint and EPA regulations now. You can achieve the same results though if you put the first two coats on and then fog (pull the gun back further away and almost "mist" the paint on) the last coat. This gives it that textured finish similar to the original suede paint. The trick also works with trying to replicate organisol.

 

[resq302]

Some more pics I came across while cleaning up the rear axle and freshening up the undercoating.



factory masked off area where the front spring hanger bolts up. factory gray dip tank primer still there!



reference pic of how the rear shackles were installed.



pass side shackle



under coating pattern





notice the bolt where the stud should be. Its unknown if this stud broke off at some point in the life of the car or if this was installed by the factory since it still had the correct captive washer nut on the other side. funny thing is this was the only one like this!



markings on the rear axle



lookie what I found under the brass rear line brake T





assembly part code under blue paint markings







pinion yoke markings

 

[resq302]

Lots of progress today! Rear axle housing is painted with epoxy semi gloss paint and awaiting its stampings and paint markings, backing plates are all cleaned up, inspection marks reapplied, and coated in RPM, rear shocks painted, e-brake cables all evapo-rusted, RPM'd, and ready to be reinstalled as well as the pinion snubber that still has the original rubber bumper in pristine shape.





original wheel cylinder all cleaned up, rebuilt, and RPM'd on the outside.



all hardware evapo-rusted and RPM'd!









flex line support bracket.



brake shoe side of backing plate



and outside view of same.



left backing plate side.





pass side e-brake cable











brass T all cleaned up as well as he rear hard lines











driver side e-brake cable





Rear 8 3/4 axle casing all cleaned up, paint stripped, and repainted!







Today I also soaked the rear leaf springs in a homemade solution of de-ruster. I forgot that the original zinc interliners were in there and the solution disolved them. Thats ok as I have the new interliners in the new rebuilt kit I have. The bushing part of the leaf spring revealed some baby blue and cream brush stroke markings as well as some baby blue and white brush stroke markings on the other leaf spring eye. Under these paint markings you can still see the black paint where these springs were dipped in the black paint at the manufacturer.










still has the original rubber DCPC rubber bushing!



shocking! lol

 

[resq302]

So I got some more parts cleaned up and stripped down the other day. I attacked the rear shock mounting plates (also bolts up to the underside of the leaf springs) and let them soak in Evapo-rust for a good day and a half. After they came out from the solution, a little brushing off and hosing off, they were ready for the RPM treatment.









Next was the rear leaf springs. At some point, someone had painted the rear axle and rear suspension with some cheap black paint. Knowing that the rear leaf springs could have come either dip painted in gloss black as an assembly or natural heat treated spring steel, I took precaution in cleaning them. Since I did not have enough of the Evapo-rust to fill a black corrugated tube, I chose to use something called "The Works" which can be picked up at Home Depot or Lowes for just over a dollar a bottle. It essentially works the same as Evapo-rust however, is a little more caustic to the skin. It does, however, leave the paint on the parts and only dissolves the rust like the Evapo-rust stuff with the only draw back is that once the parts are removed and washed clean with water, the parts almost immediately flash rust. Here are some pics after I removed them from the dip and started the disassembly and rebuild process.







When I removed them from the dip, I found some factory paint markings on the eyes of the springs where it bolted up to the hangers.

baby blue and cream colored yellow



baby blue and white colors (blue appears to have been applied first, then the other color second on both springs) Both springs had black paint under these paint markings indicating that they were dipped in the black paint prior to having the paint markings applied. If there was no evidence of black paint behind these paint markings, that would have indicated they were natural and unpainted.





driver side springs





pass side leaf spring all reassembled and sprayed on heavy to duplicate dipping. (paint markings still need to be applied)

 

[resq302]

springs hung!








pass side shackle installed and natural steel color like the assembly did it (treated in RPM to prevent rust of course!)



assembled pass side leaf spring with paint markings









rear housing all painted and some (not all) paint markings applied that were revealed during the clean up. Still awaiting the rubber stamp numbers to do the rest of the paint markings.









driver side shackle...



driver side hanger.....









Rear just temporarily in to see how it looked....... and it looks GOOD!