Drive train and suspension

Progressing.......

As you know, if you have been following my posts, I pulled the trans and was going to have it gone over.  I dropped off the trans to a local transmission specialist for a thorough inspection, I picked up the trans Friday and it passed with flying colors.  Some slight wear on the reverse gear, but that is normal and it was well within spec. They noted that who ever last worked on it, used RTV and not gaskets.... The shop corrected that, so now it looks a lot better and will not leak.  They cleaned it up as well. 

Before       

                                             

After

The next large item to address is the rear end.  Since the rear end was rebuilt the same time as the trans, I am even more optimistic that it wont need any repairs, maybe new axle bearings, but even that isn't a big deal.  I have been spending a lot of tile playing detective, under the car, as I go over it from front to back noticing items either missing or in need or repair or replacement.  It pays to have an assembly manual or the link to an online version.  The assembly manual shows where everything should be and how it is put together. 

When I was driving the car (late 90's), I remember when the car hit bumps and the suspension was really working, I would always hear a loud noise, sounded like the suspension was bottoming out.  That has been on my mental checklist to figure out.  As I was looking over the suspension and checking suspension parts in my parts catalogs (Danchuk and Lutty's chevy) I noticed they listed upper and lower rear axle bushings.  I consulted the assembly manual to see the drawing of their location, I quickly realized I was missing them.  The noise I always heard was the rear axle hitting the underside of the frame.  The bushing prevent that from happening!

http://www.trifive.com/garage/55%20Chevy%20Assembly%20Manual/4-4.gif

 

 

If you want to take a glimpse into how a 1955 Chevy Bel Air is put together, follow this link, it is the full shop assembly manual.  It is an absolute must have when restoring one of them.  Consider it the cars bible!!!

 

http://www.trifive.com/garage/55%20Chevy%20index.htm

The bumpers and their brackets are missing from my rear end.  The bumpers should be on either end of the axels next to the "U" bolts. The "U" bolts hold the bumper brackets to the axle.

 

I am also going to replace the sway bar links that connect from the frame to the ends of the sway bar.

Mine are a little tired....

When I test fit the rear break calipers (92 Chevy S-10) I realized that the disc brake conversion kit required a little hump in the casting to be ground flat.  That only took be a few minutes with a grinder



Moving right along

I was thinking about the last three months, the progress made and what is left to do. I feel great about what I have accomplished. Going into this, I had my moments of doubt..... Could I handle the work? Could I get things done working solo? Could I do quality work? Would i feel that my dad would approve and be proud of me? I can honestly say yes to all those questions.

I have now gotten to the point where I have to decide if I am going to make any changes. With the rear end out, there are parts that need touched up. Do I keep the color matched parts as is, or do I make color changes. I am thinking of painting some of the suspension pieces black. Now is the time to do it since everything is out and easily accessible. I hesitate to make changes because the car sits the way he wanted it done. Hopefully he will send me a sign.

I was always under the impression that the 4 speed was a Muncie M22 rock crusher.  The M22 has a distinctive sound, a whine, when running. I never remember hearing that sound, so i decided to find out once and for all. With the trans out I researched how to decide the VIN. Here is the VIN and how it decodes.

VIN = P9R28A
P = MUNCIE PLANT
9 = 1969
R = OCTOBER
28 = 28th
A = M20

Not a disappointment, but the trans is a M20 not a M21 or M22.

I took time to tally some numbers. Keeping this budget tight is very important. This is a very important project to me, but it is equally important that it not take time away from my family or become financially burdensome. The biggest saving is labor cost. Shops average 70.00 per hour.  For example, to have a hot rod shop do the work,  it was $10,000 to $15,000 and $8,000 was just labor. Since I started work in October of last year, doing the work myself, I have saved over $3,000 on labor. The only work I will not be able to do myself is the engine installation. I am leaning towards a GM Crate motor. It will need to be installed my a certified GM mechanic according to the warranty.

Drive train removal

2016 is here and what better way to bring in the new year than to drop the drive train for inspection!

Besides the engine, the trans and rear end are the last of the big items to get the once over. Everything went well, removing the necessary items to drop the rear end, was straight forward.

Sway bar 

Rear shocks

Leaf Springs

The '55 has a disc brake attached to the drive shaft, as the parking brake, instead of attached to the rear brakes.

After that, the unit dropped out

Next was the transmission. After a few hours of wrenching, I was able to get it out. All together,  I worked from 9am to 3pm, and boy was I exhausted. Working solo can make it rough, but very rewarding. I have my fingers crossed that the rear end and transmission just need fresh fluids and minor TLC. I will be dropping each of them off to be serviced. 

Having the peace of mind, that my drive train will be reliable and fresh, will make driving the '55 even more enjoyable.

Give me a brake

Regrouping from the setback with the new brake parts, I continued with my decision to put everything back together and clean the calipers. The grease in the rotor bearings had turned really thick, so I replaced in inner and outer bearings and grease seals on both front wheels. I started by installing a new outer bearing race on the driver's front rotor using a bearing race set tool.

Next, I packed the new inner and outer bearings, for both front calipers, with grease

After the inner bearing was installed, next came the grease seal.

Fresh bearings and grease.

I still need to flush the calipers, but that didn't stop me from installing the rotors, washers, castle nuts, and cotter pins.

In order to button up the brakes I still need to flush the calipers, install new hard lines, and get a power brake booster/master cylinder. I may shift that towards the end, when I have the rear end, tranny, and engine out. With those items out, I will have more room to work.

I took the fuel filter apart to get the size of the filter element. I expected to see a dirty filter, as I still expected to see varnished gas. There is no way fuel stabilizer kept 15 year old gas in good condition.... Wrong again, the filter element looked brand new and the inside of the filter case was spotless.

With such great results, I know the fuel pump is in as good a shape as the filter

One step forward – Two steps back – One step forward

“THE GREAT ROTOR RECOVERY”

I was very excited to get back to work on the ’55 this past Saturday the 12^th targeting the brakes. Here is a back story on the brakes.  The fluid is bad, developing a lot of particulates that has infiltrated everything… master cylinder, hard lines, all the way down to the calipers.

 

 

I decided to replace everything in order to start fresh. I sourced all the parts with the exception of the hard lines and master cylinder, I can do them later. Most recently I got new rotors going off the information that the other front brake hardware was from a ’72 Camaro. So Saturday, I sit down all excited ready to put everything on and.......

NOTHING FITS!  The rotor hits the backing plate, the caliper pins are on an angle as they slide through the mounting holes, and the stock grease seal is smaller.

The calipers shocked me, because the originals have the GM casting numbers and those numbers were used to get the new ones.

As I sit there completely deflated, I immediately think… “What’s plan B?”  I say to myself, lets try and put the original rotor back on and see if the new caliper clears the rotor……CRAP!!!!!! I left the original rotors at Advanced so they could dispose of them!!!!  To put this all in perspective… the braking system only has 4,500 miles on it and all the components are mechanically sound.  The calipers have the particulates in them from the fluid; the rotors have 15 year old grease in the bearings.  I have new bearings and grease, and I just found out yesterday that I can clean out the calipers.

What it all boils down to is, if I had the old rotors, I could just put new bearings and grease in them and then I could flush out the original calipers.  I can return all the new parts and get my money back…. Oh no, I don’t have the original rotors, I left them for scrap.  Now the other options are,       1) keep going back again and again returning and re-buying new calipers and rotors until I stumble across a match or 2) spend another 1,500 dollars a buy a new disc brake conversion kit and start fresh.

I decide to call Advanced and see if they still have the rotors, praying for a miracle, asking my dad to help me out….. I call and they said that the guy that scraps them is out on parts run and they will ask him when he gets back, then call me.  20 minutes later they call and say the rotors are not there…. My heart drops!!!  15 minutes later they call again and say another employee may have them and she will be back in non on  Sunday afternoon.  I was feeling a little better; there is still a chance I won’t have to drop 1,500 bucks!  To my amazement and relief, at 12:05 on Sunday the 13^th, I got the rotors back!

What went from a very expensive mess up on my part,  has changed to replaced four bearings and flushing out four calipers. Also on a bright note, the money I’ll be getting back on the parts can go to other items.  My Budget says THANK YOU!!

 

Since I couldn’t go forward with the brakes, I decided to turn my attention to the fuel system.  When I drained the gas tank a few weeks ago, the gas was still good even though it was over fifteen years old – thank fuel stabilizer.  When the car was restored in ’97 we installed an external fuel filter and electric fuel pump. 

 

 

Since both of these are outside the tank, I expected the gas in them to be bad.

 

 

 

 

 As I lay under the car, ready to disconnect the fuel line and see black tar pour out, I was amazed to see clear, good smelling gas drain out of both. My dad must have put fuel stabilizer in the tank while the motor was still running and not after the motor blew and it sat in the garage.  Safely, I did a burn test on the gas, it passed. This is a great help since a fuel pump and fuel filter are around $150 to $200 each.This also means I do not have to replace the stainless steel fuel line.

 

In order to get the fuel filter out, i had to pull the trunk carpet up to get to the bolt heads (something i need to change). In order to do that i needed to remove everything from the trunk. I took the opportunity to organise everything that went back in.

 

 

 

I was able to get the heater box reinstalled. I also installed new control cables, the original ones were sticking and binding.  The upgraded control cables are inside a plastic jacket that is lubricated, they slide very nicely now.

 



 

Starting her off right!!

I was looking at some older pictures and came across this, a picture of my daughter at her first car cruise. My family and I go to a car cruise every year,  held in Wexford Pa on rt. 19.  It always draws a large crowd.

Gemma, as you can see, is enjoying herself.  This was taken as a car drove by with a loud exhaust.  She loved it, but had to cover her ears!

Every time we go, we play a game where we guess how many '55s we will see, so far Gemma is in the lead. She is starting to get better at telling cars apart.  For example, she can tell us which cars are Mustangs and Corvettes. I have been teaching her the differences between the Trifives, she is catching on. 

Not car related, but she is developing a love for 80's music.  She loves to sing along to Bon Jovi, Huey Lewis, and Guns n Roses, especially when we are driving.

If that weren't cool enough, she is completely addicted to STAR WARS and Ghostbusters. At least once or twice a week she wants to have "Star Wars" night, where she pics from my collection and we watch one of the movies.  She also loves to look at my star wars bible, "The Vault"

We also have a separate Christmas tree dedicated to Hallmark ornaments, she loves to press the buttons and listed to the sounds...especially all the movie related ones.  Star Wars is represented.


MERRY CHRISTMAS

Let's get to the core of it

I was able to squeeze in a few hours on Sunday, but wasn't able to get as much done as i would have liked.

I First on my list was the radiator and overflow tank.  They went back in as easily as they came out, just a few bolts.  Here is a before and after, as i mentioned in an earlier post, the vendor that pressure checked it for me, put on a fresh coat of black paint.

                         Before                                       After

 

The heater box was another animal all together. Getting the core back inside and putting the box together around it wasn't that hard, stuffing it back under the dash was the issue. It took several hours. I was able to get it in place and get one of the two bolts installed, that hold it in place. The second bolt is a two person job, so i will need to find an extra set of hands.I also took the opportunity to upgrade the control cables for the heater, i installed a set that has internal lubricant so the controls slide real nice .

 

Next were the brakes. i was going to install new bearings and repack everything with fresh grease, but i noticed that the inside lip of the rotor, that holds the bearing race, was chipped. Looks like the guys that installed the disk brake conversion kit, buggered it all up. That makes the rotor a lost cause and it will need to be replaced.

 

Since that was a bust and i was already under the front end, i decided to shoot some new grease - upper and lower ball joints, steering linkage, etc. I hope that once the car is running, those areas will function properly.  I have noticed that the grease is thick, to be expected after sitting 15+ years, but might begin to loosen up after some suspension travel. 

 

I am having a wonderful time doing this, getting my wrenching MOJO back. It is also helping me to keep my fathers memory alive. I feel like he is by my side helping and guiding me.  I actually asked out load for his help when the heater box did not want to go back in, IT WORKED!

 

Even though this is not a cheap project i am saving 70.00 an hour doing the work myself and spreading the work out over the winter months, helps. I have to say thank you again to my wife who is behind me, supporting me all the way. She understands just how much this means to me and just how much enjoyment we will all have cruising in the 55. She truly is a wonderful wife, mother, and support system.

 

My mother, a wonder person, has amazed me more over the past 12 months than i ever thought was possible.  Her strength and generosity is truly inspiring. When the car is done, one of the first things i want to do is pick her up and drive around her town, blasting "locomotion" by Little Eva, my dad's favorite song! The story his cousin told at my fathers viewing, of my dad cruising his 55 around  town blaring "Locomotion", was so funny!