Jamie's Cordoba progress!

J

Jamies440

Divorced Bird
Hey all,

Got started on my '83 Cordoba today. I got it from a friend of mine for $200. The car had been ditched and the front wheel sat like this "/" Angled down really bad! It also bent the rear axleshaft. But it ran and drove and I'd be able to fix it no problemo.

My original assessment was that the shock tower which bolts to the K on these cars took the hit. Jacked it up switched it, and jusdging by the rotor it wasnt bad. Wrong! Still messed up. Tried moving the UCA toward the engine, nope. I then started poking around and while the LCA appeared straight I wasnt sure.

So, I backed off the T-bar more and proceeded to tear the caliper off the rotor. Then I noticed the relationship of the outside of the rotor to the caliper adapter. Majorly off kilter! So, pulled the rotor off (the grease was hardened and sticky) and there she was, a bent spindle! I've never heard of one bending, I thought they'd snap if impacted like this one was.

I've got one out back since late B-Bodies interchange. Parted a Cop Car '78 Fury and its coming from that subframe assembly.

Once thats done I'll need to swap the axleshaft which is no big deal either because my friend Stan bought back his old '86 5th to part and scrap out. Then I'm going to have to replace the alternator (MIA!), and the bypass hose because the latter has a hole in it. The motor runs hellish rich so I'm going to probably haved to ditch the lameburn and go electronic with a 70s 2-v carb and such.

Other than that, the brakes need some attention, and she's ready to roll. I'm going to try and get pics when its back on all 4s. Might work on it tomorrow PM.
 
Well, its now down on all 4s. I replaced the spindle this AM and went to put the tire on to be sure that it was fixed! Nope! Damn, tire still slanted, though not as bad. So, I get to inspecting the lower control arm and noticed the bushing at the K member was loaded wierd. Then I noticed the through bolt that hold the LCA in place was bent. Damn!

So, I pulled the control arm loose (the torsion bar bolted to the top was a pain in the ass), and I hoped the bushing was okay but the sleeve was broken out.

So, after pulling the arm from an unfinished Volare Duster project, I put it back together in a not so short order. I fought with that damn T-bar the whole way! It probably took me an hour to get that damn adjuster bolt to turn past a certain point.

Then I replaced the bypass hose on the motor an took it around the block.

The motor runs hellish rich so I'm going to ditch the lameburn as said earlier and go with an earlier electronic. Someone already pulled the cats for me so that was a plus. Gonna also get rid of the smog pump while I'm at it. Going to do the engine at one time, de-smog and pump as well as do the EI conversion and install a good alternator I had on the shelf.

I still have to do the axle but that shouldnt take too long anyway.

So, theres an update! pics to come!
 
A Jamie progress post is a rare thing.

J/K Really it is good to see. GITTERDONE JAMIE! :bravo:
 
Yeah yeah yeah, I know. Was going to take them today but the damn batteries in the camera died. SOB!

Anyway its up and running now, de-lameburned. Swapped the Carb for a standard BBD and disty for an advance Electronic one last week and pulled all the vac line crap offa the motor. Then started making my harness but had to stop because of the heat and I had other things going. I picked up on it yesterday (Fri) AM and finished it.

Damn thing fired right up! Carb isnt half bad for an unknown mid 70s BBD and it runs out pretty good. a lot more power than is used to have thats for sure! It has 225/75/15 tires on 15x7 rims and it will light the rt. rear up without hesitation! Thats with 2.2-something gears in that little rearend.

I still have to tape up the harness (left it undone in case I screwed something up), put the alternator on it and then the new belts I bought today for it. Then it gets trailered to the alignment shop to get aligned and she's ready to rumble. Maybe later I'll put a dual exhaust setup on it and some big ass 11.75 rotors along with a cop sway bar and a cop steering box.

Pics coming soon as soon as I get the camera fired up with new batts.
 
No pics yet, may take some after a bit even though its now only on two wheels.

Well, today I decided to swap the axle. I had a dry area in my drive so I moved the car over and went to work. Jacked it up, jerked the tire and confirmed that yes, the axle was indeed bent. I had another shaft for that side so it was no big deal, or so I thought.

Pulled the cover , that went pretty smooth, someone had been in there before as there wasnt a gasket, only orange sealant. No biggie, it didnt leak. Gear oil was pretty good, didnt smell at all and wasnt dirty.

So, onto the cross shaft. I has to come out so the axles can slide in and I can get the C-Clips off. unscrewed the bolt and only half came out, WTF? Yep that little SOB was broken! Dammit! So, that meant only one thing, the whole freakin rearend has to come out! Shit! What am I going to replace it with?

I know a yard with several F-M-J bodies in there but it wasnt easily accessed and was probably very wet with all the damn rain we have had. So, I got to thinking, I have a '69 B-Body 8 3/4 out back minus center chunk and the hardware for the axles. I've also got a Truck 8 3/4 loose with 3.23 open gears complete wheel to wheel.

I think you guys can kinda see where I'm going with this. I'm going to put the B-Body 8 3/4 together and use it for this car. The Truck axle is going to donate the brakes (10s, I know, oh well), center section, and the hardware.

I'm probably going to modify some '73 Dart 7 1/4 shock plates and use earlier shocks on this car. I'm also going to have to get two new locator pins as I need to deep-six the iso-clamp bullshit as well. Dont know about the driveshaft but if it needs shortened I can get that done.

Should be a peppy little car when I'm done. With the 8 3/4 I'm also not limited on power like I was with that little POS rearend. If I want to upgrade later on in the engine compartment I can.

So, one step forward and two back but it will be worth it in the end!
 
Jamies440 said:
No pics yet, may take some after a bit even though its now only on two wheels.

Well, today I decided to swap the axle. I had a dry area in my drive so I moved the car over and went to work. Jacked it up, jerked the tire and confirmed that yes, the axle was indeed bent. I had another shaft for that side so it was no big deal, or so I thought.

Pulled the cover , that went pretty smooth, someone had been in there before as there wasnt a gasket, only orange sealant. No biggie, it didnt leak. Gear oil was pretty good, didnt smell at all and wasnt dirty.

So, onto the cross shaft. I has to come out so the axles can slide in and I can get the C-Clips off. unscrewed the bolt and only half came out, WTF? Yep that little SOB was broken! Dammit! So, that meant only one thing, the whole freakin rearend has to come out! Shit! What am I going to replace it with?

I know a yard with several F-M-J bodies in there but it wasnt easily accessed and was probably very wet with all the damn rain we have had. So, I got to thinking, I have a '69 B-Body 8 3/4 out back minus center chunk and the hardware for the axles. I've also got a Truck 8 3/4 loose with 3.23 open gears complete wheel to wheel.

I think you guys can kinda see where I'm going with this. I'm going to put the B-Body 8 3/4 together and use it for this car. The Truck axle is going to donate the brakes (10s, I know, oh well), center section, and the hardware.

I'm probably going to modify some '73 Dart 7 1/4 shock plates and use earlier shocks on this car. I'm also going to have to get two new locator pins as I need to deep-six the iso-clamp bullshit as well. Dont know about the driveshaft but if it needs shortened I can get that done.

Should be a peppy little car when I'm done. With the 8 3/4 I'm also not limited on power like I was with that little POS rearend. If I want to upgrade later on in the engine compartment I can.

So, one step forward and two back but it will be worth it in the end!
Click to expand...



Dude, fish the broken bolt piece out and replace it. :doh:

If it don't come out swap the 8.25 gear carrier from a donor car and stick with the 8.25 thats bolted in there right now. :toot:
 
OK so it might have been an 8 1/4. Fine by me, I'll save it for another build.

Anyway the 8 3/4 housing is semi-mocked up in the car. The spring perches are about a quarter off on each side, half at most. Thinking I can either pull the springs out that much or get new perches. I've already got a set on order along with my U-Bolts just in case.

Since my centering pin is out and I have an extra pair of A-Body springs hanging loose I may add a leaf or two and go from 4 to 5 or 6, depends on my mood when I put it together, hopefully tomorrow.

I think the damn thing is fixing to snowball. I pulled the trigger and took an extra 360 crank in to be turned. Going to be building a streetable 349 (318 with 360 crank) since I have a buttload of 318s laying around and I think I can build it on the cheap. Thinking that may go into the car at some point. But thats way in the future, maybe late fall. The main thing is to get it rolling with those 3.23 gears and see how she does. Should wake it up over those 2.94s.

Still planning on driving it as well before and after the swap!
 
if its that close ya just pull the springs out a tad and bolt her up...been doing that for several years when putting b-body rears in a-body cuda's
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

SiteLock

SiteLock
Back
Top