Well, I've started diggin' in and thought I would tell you guys how it was goin'. I had a thread last week that you might check out....asking you grizzled veterans of the front end, for advice.
Here are little conversations I had with myself as I delved into the project:
1. "Wow. It's pretty greasy and gritty under here. How did I let it get this bad?"
![Image]()
2. "Hey! That came off pretty easy. This won't be so bad."
3. "Hmmm. Now THAT's on there pretty tight."
![Image]()
4. "What the hell....why didn't I shoot all of this stuff with penetrant every night for a week before starting?" (I did give a few things 1 courtesy squirt)
5. "Crap. This is going to take forever. How did I fool myself into thinking I could be driving it by Friday night?"
6. "This is the dirtiest, greasiest job I've ever done on my car. I hate it." (this coming from a guy that LIVES to get dirty working on cars)
![Image]()
7. "Thank goodness I'm replacing EVERYTHING and that I went with polygraphite, cuz I'll be darned if I do it again."
8. "Geez, I can't believe I thought I could do this in my driveway by myself. Thank heavens for fellow TC'er jmhardin....and his shop."
![Image]()
9. "Ok, it's Friday and I've only got 1 side tore down. I'm like 25% into this."
10. "How can my brother do this for a freakin' livin'?"
AND so on. It's been pretty labor intensive. I had to drop my passenger-side header to get the rear lower A-arm bolt out. Never saw that one coming. The driver's side lower shock mount holes were stripped out and had a nut and bolt holding it on (which I hear is actually pretty common). The passenger side upper A-arm had the rear bolt completely missing (that screws into the upper cross shaft).
One bright spot is that despite me not being able to afford the manual disc swap...my passenger side drum brakes look mint. Hopefully the driver's side will be good as well.
I've gotten the lower A-arm and coil spring sandblasted and painted. Got the bushings and lower ball joint pressed out and the new stuff is ready to go in. Still need to grind the rivets off of the upper ball joint and then get the upper A-arm cleaned, sandblasted, painted and prepped tho.
This is going to take forever.
Here are little conversations I had with myself as I delved into the project:
1. "Wow. It's pretty greasy and gritty under here. How did I let it get this bad?"
2. "Hey! That came off pretty easy. This won't be so bad."
3. "Hmmm. Now THAT's on there pretty tight."
4. "What the hell....why didn't I shoot all of this stuff with penetrant every night for a week before starting?" (I did give a few things 1 courtesy squirt)
5. "Crap. This is going to take forever. How did I fool myself into thinking I could be driving it by Friday night?"
6. "This is the dirtiest, greasiest job I've ever done on my car. I hate it." (this coming from a guy that LIVES to get dirty working on cars)
7. "Thank goodness I'm replacing EVERYTHING and that I went with polygraphite, cuz I'll be darned if I do it again."
8. "Geez, I can't believe I thought I could do this in my driveway by myself. Thank heavens for fellow TC'er jmhardin....and his shop."
9. "Ok, it's Friday and I've only got 1 side tore down. I'm like 25% into this."
10. "How can my brother do this for a freakin' livin'?"
AND so on. It's been pretty labor intensive. I had to drop my passenger-side header to get the rear lower A-arm bolt out. Never saw that one coming. The driver's side lower shock mount holes were stripped out and had a nut and bolt holding it on (which I hear is actually pretty common). The passenger side upper A-arm had the rear bolt completely missing (that screws into the upper cross shaft).
One bright spot is that despite me not being able to afford the manual disc swap...my passenger side drum brakes look mint. Hopefully the driver's side will be good as well.
I've gotten the lower A-arm and coil spring sandblasted and painted. Got the bushings and lower ball joint pressed out and the new stuff is ready to go in. Still need to grind the rivets off of the upper ball joint and then get the upper A-arm cleaned, sandblasted, painted and prepped tho.
This is going to take forever.
