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XT coupe air struts.


Giles
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Evening Sparkyboy.

Great pics!

Your  back on the road with her?

love the colour.

can I see the interior please?

You have Ac?

Where are you in the States, good warm climate?

Here in Swansea it’s the wettest city in Uk!

Im on the job daily here ( after work) the rust looks worse than it is..

 

I’ve booked my ticket for Japan!

Lets go!!! Haha!

 

 

Edited by Giles
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22 hours ago, DaveT said:

How many miles are on it?

What kind of weather has it withstood?

Evening DaveT

63,000 original miles, only 4,000 since 2001

British weather is warm in summer, but very wet in winter.... especially here in Wales on the Atlantic Coast.

( beautiful scenery tho)

thanks for the interest 

 

Giles.

Edited by Giles
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Ok, as far as seals and bearings,  that's baby miles.  Seals are getting old, but they won't be as bad as if they were in a desert like climate.   The driveline bearings olin mine usually have made over 200k miles.  The timing belt idlers and belts, those you change every 50k miles to reduce the chances for rude surprises.  All 7 cooling system hoses should be replaced if they are over 10 years.  Check the condition of the radiator fins.  All of the fine fins should be there and attached to the tubes.

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Nah keep the original axles. The originals are robust and can last the life of the car if regreased and rebooted.  New axles such decaying trash.  Problems all the time. 

Timing pulleys replace at regular intervals.  They’re ancient and lack grease and will strand you if they fail.   I use a needle fitting and pump them with new grease in XT6s where pulleys aren’t available ,  if you can’t get parts.  

 

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Morning guys.

i will keep as much as I can.. original components..most rubber is excellent. 

i have new cambelt ‘kit’ and fan belt. I’ll fit when I reach that area of car.

what I mean, I’m working back to front on car.

Biggest jobs first.

structual rust is around rear subframe mounts to car body.

i took off entire rear suspension yesterday..that was a fight with rusty botls, but I managed with plenty of penetrating oil, heavy hammer and 4 ft socket handle extension!

its almost down to individual components.

hubs i’ll strip today.

ill rebush the entire back end... I hope the are all available.. ( advice please)

ill acid dip and galvanise the subframe,  trailing arms and  ‘T’ piece.

ill electroplated all nuts and bolts too.

and epoxy paint the rest.

ill paint diff too.

Here are some pics.

 

 

 

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You work fast Giles!!

As for suspension bushes - I’ve always used Nolathane (schpelling?) bushes. They’re the red polly bushes from memory.  I go for the three piece units for ease of fitment once the old metal “cage” of the original bushes are out. 

Since doing the rear bushes in Ruby Scoo back in 2008, I’ve has to do them again in 2016 after many many kms and off-roading trips! So I’m happy with them!

Cheers 

Bennie

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Hooray for air shocks!

Wow man solid work! That's elbow deep with the elbow grease!

To answer your question, no unfortunately ghost is still languishing at my parents but I'll get you those pics of the inside! I need to see her and she is a perfect distance to walk my dog on this beautiful Colorado day! She's coming out soon, after about 9 months, poor girl! She's with the family project, a beautiful 53 bel air...been back there 17 years!!:angry:

It makes me mad I've been ready to restore her, she runs and drives! my dad is retiring soon and my bro is at a good place with his projects so what's up?

@Giles would you mind getting a close up pic of your trunk lid? I am curious if i have to slightly flatten the holes for the luggage bars...would you be interested in those? Where is your spoiler? If you 3d print your front emblem, maybe I can try my hand at fiberglass molding my spoiler for you! I hope its a moot point cause you have the factory one!

Cheers mate keep up the good work!

53 Chevrolet bel air "Belle" All original 235 inline six, and powerglide trans (2 speed auto) She did not come with the optional 12 volt electrical system or seat belts!

 

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Edited by sparkyboy
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I've had the best luck with a flat faced punch or bar stock,  at least 1/4" in diameter.   Hold it perpendicular to the flat face, give it a couple of good raps with a mid size hammer, and it should get loose.  It is a cone washer.  Don't hammer on the end of the axle.  When I put them back together, they get anti seize. 

Edited by DaveT
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Got it out the little bas***d!

can you advice on rest of strip down please.

as I want to get the trailing arm off..

something is stopping the trailing arm coming off, there is 1-2 mm of lateral play before it hits something both ends and stops me pulling the trailing arm off the driveshaft...

I’m nearly there!

 

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Edited by Giles
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There should be a roll pin through the axel, holding it onto the stub.  The axle stub has tapered roller bearings, held in by a special nut on the backside of the bearing housing.  There are a couple of threads with details of the wrench, etc.

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2 hours ago, Giles said:

Thanks DaveT..

i not want to repeat available information..

last question ( for now) can you send me link please.

Thanks

G.

https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/168698-rear-wheel-bearings-ring-nut-tool/

IF the outer CV cup is stuck on the stub axle, there is a way to get it loose without destroying the CV.

You'll need access to a 20 ton hydraulic press with stout press plates & a large clamshell bearing separator.

Wait a bit & I'll get a 'How-To" post up.

Here ya go...

https://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/168762-saving-rust-seized-ea-rear-axle-stubs-cvs/

 

Edited by czny
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Morning boys.

thanks for the information and links provided by you both yesterday,

i naively assumed to axle was a one piece unit from diff. to wheel and the trailing arm would pull off

now I realise it’s a little moe complex.

ive taken than pin out now I need to pull the housing from the shaft..

that could be a problem...

i don’t want to hammer and hammer...

 

 

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Take joint pin out from diff end & see if you can pull the joint off the diff stub. You'll have to collapse the drive axle some & it may take some hammering on the joint cup to free it.

Don't worry about hammering on the joint cups. Those cups are really tough steel alloy. They have to be to survive all the action going on while propelling the car. 

Once you get axle off at diff end, remove boot cover, band clamps & boot then fish for wire retainer at top edge of cup. Pry it loose with small screwdriver then innards with come free.

Tapping the stub out won't take too much hammering if you use that square head sledge but protect the stub end with a block of wood.

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Evening boys.

i gave up on taking off the rear trailing arms. But thank you for all the information.

I cleaned off the rust and now they are bathing in acid to remove the rest.

As the acid does it’s magic I’ve moved on to the wheel arches.

Im going to cut  one rear wheel arch off and back of sill ( rocker?) tomorrow. I’ll make templates first.

i hope to leave in place inner arch and cut around 25 -50 mm of the circumference wheel arch on the wing ( fender)

Ill make new arch to weld to fender.

i have a question.

my rear wheel arch has been bodged so I don’t have any accurate  lip information.

can someone measure thier lip and tell me how wide is it and is it at 90 degrees to the wing ( fender) all the way round. Or does the angle change towards the front...

pics be great too!

What  about new bushes?

i want to replace all the bushes. Even the body to subframe ones..17 in total I think.

any body done the same?

thanks.

G!

 

 

Edited by Giles
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  • 4 weeks later...

Hay Sparkyboy!

Thanks for the message and the pics.

love the light blue colour and the dog!

you have work to do too,  I see.

All going well here.

back end suspension all stripped being refurbished. All New bushes except 2!

I’ve acid dipped and epoxy painted rear diff and trailing arms. Stainless steel rotor covers replacing rusted steel ones.

rear subframe been galvanised and antiroll bar. All nuts bolts etc been electroplated

petrol tank gone for professional repairs.

brake callipers stripped epoxy painted and rebuilt with new seals etc. New copper brake pipes and fittings. No rusting!

i started welding today the box sections on chassis.

most rust now cut out and/ or acid dissolved on rear of car 

lots still to do, I’m working on right side. ( my drivers side)

Moving forward to front of car.

I’ll send pics over the weekend.

 

I have a lot of new parts coming from Subaru USA.

plus 3 brand new ( old stock) front struts, all left side. But I can modify for right hand side. Bargain price of $99 each! Getting them to me was expensive tho...:-( they arrive Tuesday 

im looking for new rear air struts now any contacts and a front right side fender ( wing)?

every day I’m in the garage.

im loving it!

pics will follow over the weekend.

im doing all work myself apart from plating, making brake pipes and refurbishing petrol tank.

G!

Edited by Giles
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Giles, I’d love to be going to extent and speed at which you are with some of my builds - but I feel that one must have deep pockets to do so. Is this the case? I know it helps and I’ve got nothing against those that do! I just wish I was in the same position!! 

Keep up the good work and I look forward to the pics! 

Cheers 

Bennie

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Good morning Guys.

Bennie. 

Your right I'm going as quick as I can. 

But I only have this one project on the go.

I give all all I can, this is normal for me.

Im lucky that I don’t worry about what I’m spending on the car. But I have a budget and hope to stick to it. £2-3,000. Not a huge budget. I crawl all over ebay daily.

All labour is free of course. I’ll even spray the car myself, I’ve done it all before but with my Alfa Romeo. I wasn’t happy with ‘professional’ spray job, so I learnt to do it myself.. via YouTube. All takes time.

what projects have you got?

sparkyboy... are those digital dash pics of

your car? 

I’d love to fit one in my car... but I believe it’s not as easy as you’d think.... :-(

anyway.. I goto work.. ( my proper job) for a few hours... then I’m back to garage try and improve my poor 1st day welding skills! 

Have a good Easter guys!

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Hey Giles, thanks for replying! I thought after it - geez that was a bit rash of me to ask about how deep your pockets are!! 

I’ve got too many projects! Some of the small ones are: - fitting an auxiliary tank to our NP Pajero/Shogun (new to the family, love this car!).

Other ongoing projects are - and you’ll probably recognise these: Ruby Scco: my off-roader.

HwAp96.jpg 

Redback Brum3y: (power windows, six gauge “long” analogue dash, rust repairs, respray someday and an EJ conversion at some point)

b4V5eU.jpg 

^ she’s already got AC and I’ve fitted PS and some nicer seats from a Honda Integra DA9.

This is my ongoing project, I just want to get it going - need a good engine! This is a Subaru RS Liberty turbo. Can’t wait to have this going, get it on club reg (this year is the plan!) then start tidying her up while we enjoy driving her. 

szDFwo.jpg 

Thise rims are now on my sister’s Gen3 RX liberty wagon that I maintain. It’s a very nice car to drive and recently clocked the 400,000km.  I also look after my mother inlaw’s targa brumby “Sunnie the Burmby”. He’s got the long dash, electric windows and basically everything I want in mine except the EJ and a respray... 

fRUVzA.jpg 

So just a few on the go! Glad you asked?? :P  I’d love to be giving the RS and the brumbys the same treatment your giving this vortex. And your budget is pretty reasonable. That’s about $AU6,000 (roughly). 

Keep up the garage time, I can’t wait for mine to kick in regularly again! 

And a happy Easter to you too mate! Now at dinner in a little town called Maldon for their easter fair and street dancing that starts in a couple of hours. It’s always a ripper night!

Cheers 

Bennie

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