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Canyoneagle's 1979 245

dang that is one clean trailing arm!

:) yeah - grinder/drill with many wire brush styles. I'll need to get the dremel for some tight spots.
It is too humid to paint at the moment, so the trailing arms, panhard and a-arms are all sitting naked in the shop.

In the mean time, I snagged one of these even though I have no immediate plans to use it. I had been imagining cutting a K-jet intake manifold and having a custom manifold made for webers/mikunis.
So, this is heading my way from Sweden:



It doesn't look like it has ports for vacuum - this will be a future project, so not worrying about details for now.
 
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Suspension time

While my wife is out of town (and I have use of her car) I'm doing the teardown and rebuild of the tired old sussy.

I've been refurbishing the bits from k-jets and now have an assortment of shiny things to install.

Konis (thanks to the killer IPD sale), springs (might regret the blue IPD punishers), bushings (all poly, despite the trend to do rubber front trailing arm bushings), tie rod ends, ball joints, and a new set of wheels to spruce things up. As I understand, these MSW's have made their way from local TB'er Impolvo to Florida (wgusler), and back to Chapel hill.

A timely sale at Pepboys enabled getting these rims shod in Falkens for stupid cheap. Here's a shot of dry fit while the car is up for sussy work. I like 'em. I'll be refurbishing the style 42's and selling them on. Just sayin'



I removed the bushing sleeves from the control arms and trailing arms this evening using the handy hacksaw and discretionary socket/hammer/ghetto press.





Otherwise, new tie rod ends are on and I'm into dremel stage getting the sussy bits ready for paint. High humidity (despite enticingly cool temps) kept me from priming tonight.

They wait patiently....... (control arms still need final cleaning)



I have some dremel work to get the tight spots, but 50% humidity tomorrow and glorious fall temps should prove for good painting.
 
How do you have so much patience to get all that paint off? :omg:

I'd simply get them sandblasted and powder coated.
 
How do you have so much patience to get all that paint off? :omg:

I'd simply get them sandblasted and powder coated.

I'm not sure if it is patience of stubbornness :)

I had certainly given though to the sandblasting/powdercoat thing, but I'm trying to keep it cheap. I guess I might have $35 into it with the cost of wire wheels/brushes, primer and paint.

I think I get into a groove, and then I keep going until I'm happy. Probably not the most efficient way to go about it, I'm sure :cool:
 
I finally got the suspension bits done and painted earlier this week. Kinda shiny. I brought them inside to cure in the conditioned (heated) air while the temps outside approached dew point - not good for painting.
I knew I took a risk by starting to prime as the evening temps dropped and humidity rose. The paint took a few days to dry fully. Grr. I was stuck with waiting until the next day (and having to address overnight scale) or getting them coated immediately after finishing the cleaning.





I put them out in the sun today after having been inside for a couple of days - it was 70 degrees and gorgeous out, with somewhat lower humidity than previous days. The parts baked in the sun for a few hours.

After an epic night last night, helping TB'er Bitterbuffaloh change out his lower Trailing arm bushings and springs, I went and picked up my driveshaft which I had balanced at a local specialist.

This evening I got the driveshaft back in, cleaned up bitterbuffaloh's old TAB sleeves (for my poly bushings), and got the poly bushings pressed in to all of my stuff (TAB's excepted).

Tomorrow will be rear teardown, TAB replacement, new brake lines, then I'll start to put it all back together.
A flush/bleed will then allow me to get o'l Rosa on the road again in DD capacity before my wife returns from her trip.

With the manifold on its way from Sweden, I'm already thinking of ejecting the K-Jet and going with Mikunis (or motorcycle carbs) and a cam. :oogle:
I've started doing some very basic research on that.

In the process of doing the suspension overhaul, I've realized my brake calipers and rotors are on the edge of needing replacement. If I had not already spent all of my money on blow and hookers and squandered the rest on the suspension stuff, it would be an ideal time for me to do calipers and rotors now.
Oh well......

Oh yeah, and I will finally get around to resetting my brake junction block during the flush/bleed this weekend, so the stupid "brake Failure" light can take a break.
 
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Suspension is DONE

After weeks of preparation, cleaning, gathering parts, and planning, I took advantage of a week when my wife was out of town and put the car up with the intention of tearing out the old suspension and putting in the new. This included:

  • Replacing all bushings with poly
  • Installing refurbished Control Arms, Trailing Arms, Panhard rod and Torque Rods
  • Installing new Koni Sport dampers
  • Installing IPD Sport Springs
  • replacing strut mounts (OEM)
  • installing IPD anti-sways (25/23) (used) and end links
  • Installing new ball joints and tie rod ends
  • Replacing all 6 rubber brake lines
  • removing rust, prepping and painting diff cover
  • Mounting MSW meshies

During this time, TB'er Bitterbuffaloh brought his wagon over and we replaced his lower TAB's, strut inserts and new springs all around. It was great to have him here and do some "guy time" wrenching. good times.

There were some late nights, opportunities for creativity (ahem), cutting, grinding, music and beer. And coffee. Lots of coffee.

For a quick before and after, here ya go:

BEFORE - "vulnerable doe tentatively taking a dump while watching for predators"


AFTER "grrrrrrr"



I have the rear center caps, but need to do some work on the center bores / caps to improve the fit.

I LOVE the way the car drives. The Konis and IPD springs seem very well matched out of the box (from my driving thus far). I've been driving a variety of roads with different surfaces, seams, cracks, bumps, etc to see how it does, and so far, the car stays planted no matter what I throw at it. I'm really happy with the setup.

Now some more project photos of the past week:

The weekend scene with Bitterbuffaloh's ride up for work



Control arms, old and refurbished (I only cleaned the bushing buckets)



Front ready for wheels




rear complete



Of everything the only disappointment was the fact that I had to retain my lower TAB's. Fortunately they felt extremely solid, despite being fugly as hell.
After 6 PB blaster soaks, I broke the beautiful factory tool - the center bolt snapped as I put the torque on it. I'll be replacing that bolt :oops:

Axle refurb is now on my "to do" list

 
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I bet it drives like a totally different car with all that work.

Which primer and paint did you use on the suspension parts? Those turned out really nice, and I may take a similar approach.
 
I bet it drives like a totally different car with all that work.

Which primer and paint did you use on the suspension parts? Those turned out really nice, and I may take a similar approach.

I used Krylon "Rust Tough" enamel - it will be interesting to see how it holds up, especially with me painting in humid conditions. So far, so good, though. The parts seem to have stood up to miscellaneous shop dings and so forth (pressing bushings, fitting and torquing, etc). I'm hoping these will be easy to spray down to keep clean. I know these are hardly visible, but it really feels good to know that these are fully rust free and ready for many miles more.

And yes - the driving experience is TOTALLY different. MUCH better. I'm very happy with it. Now for a mikuni conversion and cam..............:)
 
I used Krylon "Rust Tough" enamel - it will be interesting to see how it holds up, especially with me painting in humid conditions. So far, so good, though. The parts seem to have stood up to miscellaneous shop dings and so forth (pressing bushings, fitting and torquing, etc). I'm hoping these will be easy to spray down to keep clean. I know these are hardly visible, but it really feels good to know that these are fully rust free and ready for many miles more.

And yes - the driving experience is TOTALLY different. MUCH better. I'm very happy with it. Now for a mikuni conversion and cam..............:)

Enamel will hold up for a good while before it needs to be touched up. I am going the same route with my wheels as well.
 
You now have a great looking wagon. You've really done an awesome job with it.

:) Thanks!

I'm in love with the way it drives. The short commute on the narrow, winding road through the woods was an absolute blast. The car just feels planted.

I'm holding off on an alignment until I get the rear rods set up with adjusters. It goes dead straight (no pull) in driving and braking, so yay for measuring tie rod offset correctly.
 
:clap:
Sorry for your luck with the rear trailing arm bushings. Dumb question, but you were pressing them towards the diff correct? They are tapered and only go out one way.
 
:clap:
Sorry for your luck with the rear trailing arm bushings. Dumb question, but you were pressing them towards the diff correct? They are tapered and only go out one way.

Yup.
We changed Bitterbuffalohs last week, and they came out OK.

I think I will burn the shell and pop the inner bushing, clean everything up, paint it, then put the polys in. I will need to remove the e-brake cables beforehand (and probably the hard brake lines) to keep from incinerating everything. A job for another day.....
 
You gotta get some good pictures of the wagon up here now. It looks GREAT!

My brake bleed kit comes today, think I should be able to bleed the system myself with all the guidance provided by you this weekend. Then aligment, then I'll be back on the road!!
 
You gotta get some good pictures of the wagon up here now. It looks GREAT!

My brake bleed kit comes today, think I should be able to bleed the system myself with all the guidance provided by you this weekend. Then aligment, then I'll be back on the road!!

Gotta do a nice wash and finish compounding / waxing that paint. I would not mind getting a respray in the original color soon - the clearcoat is flaking in many areas and the paint itself is beginning to peel on the driver's side.
I want to get under the car soon to address the few rusty areas (drivers side butcheek, primarily) and get primer going just to keep things in check.

The fuel injection, which was on my near term to do list, has suddenly woken up. I had put a high concentration of Techron in (full bottle on low fuel), and perhaps letting the techron-rich fuel sit in the system for the week or so that I had the car up allowed the varnish to dissolve. Regardless, it is driving GREAT.

It was fun to have you over and to get your ride all spruced up. :cool:

I need to do a re-bleed soon as well. As I've been driving it, the system seems to have balanced itself nicely. Hell the "Brake System Failure" light went out for the first time since I've had the car. I've not bothered to reset the little piston in the junction block. Anyway, it is nice to not have the big red light on.
 
Installed a very nice vintage Momo (courtesy of Impolvo). Not sure if I prefer it with or without the wood center piece. I am looking into getting brown seat covers (or sheepskin).

Here is the state of the interior as it sits now. I'm dreaming of a refurbished R-Sport cluster :cool:

Black floor mats are on my list......
I also need to source a Momo cover for the hub.

I love how much better it feels without the bus-sized steering wheel. The car is driving fantastically, and the interface through the steering wheel is icing on the cake.

Without the wooden cover



And with the cover

 
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