John S's Journal

Wednesday

As in, stripping the front suspension that I dropped out of the GT. While the other crossmember and assorted front suspension pieces are off to be blasted and powder coated, I spent some time today completely disassembling the one on the garage floor. Both front swivel assemblies complete with hubs, rotors, and calipers will be reused as most of it was recently refurbished so they are now in the save pile. The only other bits I plan on using are the wishbone pivots and I dropped them off to join the other stuff that I deposited yesterday. Looking forward to seeing them all cleaned up and powder coated. I pressure washed the crossmember and that will join the few remaining larger items leftover from the wrecked ‘70 that I hope to find a home for otherwise it’s off to the scrap yard along with some other metal bits like the old exhaust, old rotors, pressure plate, etc. Maybe even the old 4 sync gearbox.

I’m hoping to clean up the steering rack and sway bar tomorrow if time allows. I put in an order to BPNW and as they are close by, I should see that stuff arriving soon. I’ve also got to crawl under the GT now that the crossmember and steering rack aren’t in the way and do some clean up/touch up and figure out if I want to spray any undercoating anywhere.
Not much accomplished but still inching forward.

Thursday

Not enough done today to warrant a separate journal entry but I did make some progress. The steering rack was needing some attention as both boots were torn. It sat in a garage for three decades so it’s no wonder.
I ordered some silicone boots from Napa as I read good things about them and they had a 20% off code so I saved some coin. A pair for a shade under $32 bucks with free delivery next week. I stripped off th3 old ones and after masking off the internals, I got the drill and rotary wire brush out and stripped it down to the bare metal. Why? OCD kicked in again. I decided to mask off the cast parts as I think they’ll add a nice contrast against the gloss black of the other suspension parts. I might give them a coat or two of clear to keep them looking hood. I like the look of the bare metal especially when the patent and manufacturers information is visible. That kind of stuff tends to disappear when it’s covered in black paint and grime. I hit the main body and the steering arms with some Rustoleum Rust Stop and did the same thing to the sway bar after pressing out the bushes and wire brushing the whole thing. I might get a small can of POR-15 and topcoat the rack and sway bar surfaces that I primed. Once that’s done then it’s a matter of waiting for the boots to arrive next week, filling it up with some 90 weight and threaded on the new tie rod ends.

Got a notice that the parts I ordered from BPNW yesterday are arriving tomorrow so that will be nice. A few front suspensions bits and pieces and some needed misc. parts. And some candy that they always throw in the box! Good prices, quick delivery and candy is a good combination. They’re just up the road so it always ships fast.