Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress

Can't remember if there was a boot, but with no grease joint is a boot necessary, maybe to keep the moving part above clean?

Mine is actually pretty close to that, but it has the shims to get it there, I'll remeasure tomorrow.
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
Can't remember if there was a boot, but with no grease joint is a boot necessary, maybe to keep the moving part above clean?
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I'm not sure I follow here. The part of the pitman arm above the steering link is a ball joint, just like a tie-rod end. In fact, it should have a grease fitting on the top. It absolutely needs a boot; that's why the factory installed one and every aftermarket pitman arm in the world comes with one whether or not it's greasable. I can't even think of the last time I saw a non-greasable replacement pitman arm, but even that came with a boot.
 
So I just looked at 100 pitman arms, almost all had grease fitting & boots, finally found a dorman (not even sure if for my car) but no grease fitting & it did look like it had a boot!
 
I saw one boot in a bag of plastic/rubber old parts hope it fits because I threw away all the old boots after I put the front end together not knowing they would be crap!
 
The dig was a bust, they were not in the bag, I was cleaning out & chucking at the time, I even dumped out my big trash bag, hoping it was that recent, well no luck there either, just seems the way of things with this car & my fried old brain, chuck what might have been used & find brand new stuff right after you buy it again!
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
,,,,, just seems the way of things with this car & my fried old brain, chuck what might have been used & find brand new stuff right after you buy it again!
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It's always nice to keep clutter to a minimum. But I usually try to keep the "leftovers" near until the project is finished. Put all the (hopefully) unwanted's in a big box until the projects finished. I'd bet that you'll return to that box many times.
 
I had done that, when I started cleanout it was mostly 73 parts, now I have 2 boxes growing, decent used parts that are already on the car & the new parts I somehow managed to end up with.
It couldn't have been more than a week ago when that boot went away.
With a bunch left to go thru I will be more careful!
 
So frozen fingers & all I managed to make a few baby steps forward & 1 major screw up.

Started with the hood bumpers, not even that went easy, the new parts fit the original pass. fender fine, noticed a few things that are off on the drivers side AMD fender.
The nut for the front hood bumper is about half as thick as the orig, the screw actually wobbles when in through the provided threads, the holes for the spring bumper were in the wrong place & the rear drop off is twisted way in the back, not sure if shims will bring it out enough?
Managed to get new holes drilled, was really tight with the hood on for the rear one I had to switch to Philips chuck (much shorter) & stole one of the short self-tappers off the cowl screens to make that hole, then tapped them for the new screws!20231219_133046.jpg20231219_135017.jpgSo I was trying to start the fender adjustment with the hood line, started out ok, but soon I was in trouble, noticed the fender was too close to the door, laid down to loosen the bottom nut & realized I needed a deep socket, they are in the car, well this dumb dumb gets up & opens the darn door!, scrunch, managed to chip this door tooooooooo!20231219_141619.jpgIt's close if all holds when I put in the header panel & try the other side??? 20231219_145623.jpgSo hood bumpers done, I moved the hood release cable to the proper hole, then went out back & put in the shock tower plugs & stuck in the lug wrench, that new spring is off, had a very hard time getting everything to snug down, I don't remember that being a hassle with both my other 'Cudas! 20231219_144303.jpg20231219_144254.jpg
cept for the marker lights trunk is done! 20231219_144320.jpgthen I moved inside, tested the new A/C duct, it's close but I can't get it to pop over the dash vent, got some vice grips on the opening trying to straight out some of the lip?

What holds that in??? 20231219_144805.jpg
& finally messed with the pass. side carpet, I think I can live with it, still have my 25lb weight on that crinkly part20231219_152621.jpg
 
Wow, this car is haunted, absolutely nothing is easy.
Went to put the new antenna on so I could call the fender ready to set & bam, the thing won't fit in the fender hole.20231220_132414.jpgSo I drag out the files the drill & the burrs, was just about to start screwing with the fender when something stopped me, averted a pending disaster, took the flange inside & started grinding away on the posts, finally got it to the point it would slip in! 20231220_134137.jpg
after more aggravation I finally have an antenna! 20231220_134648.jpgSo I put in all the u-nuts on that side & snugged down that fender, not sure if I'm there yet but door gap looks ok, barring my BIG CHIP! 20231220_145852.jpgSo back to the hood, got the header panel mounted after chasing down missing hardware AGAIN, the hood had to go back some, of course working alone it went back too far & cocked a little.
also may have a sprung spring.
When I close it the pass. rear is up, 20231220_145742.jpgpress that down on that & its nice............20231220_145750.jpgbut the drivers front pops up! 20231220_145758.jpgStarting to get cold so I packed it up there for the day, this is not a one man job I need eyes watching & hands holding, Of course I ended the day on a wonderful note, put the tool in the car & managed to chip the drivers door AGAIN!
So it's a bit far back & cocked a little, hopefully that part won't be too bad20231220_155403.jpgSo far the header panel & fenders have survived me. 20231220_155535.jpgOh yea while hunting hardware I stumbled across that boot, I had just moved it to another bag! 20231220_150155.jpg
 
today was get that fender off the door, I actually remembered to go in the passenger side to get the tools, took 2 shims on the back bottom bolt & then pulling in the front bolt to get it close, the contour of the new fender just a tad off that of the door, but I have a decent gap , but I think the door is low, fender is pretty much bottomed out!
Mann I am really dreading messing with that door again, it's gonna mess up all that window aligning we did! 20231221_144409.jpg20231221_144430.jpg
 
Back to the hood, after many slight adjustments in about every piece on the front end I got it pretty close, just a tad tight at the front of the passenger side, but somehow the sprung spring thing went away!. it's just a tad high, a fender shim should fix that! 20231221_144334.jpg20231221_144350.jpg
Fender is pulled to the max left.
20231221_144357.jpg
 
Brought the grille up from the basement, last part down there. I picked this up some 15 years ago, started cleaning that up, gotta hit the chrome with some wax to see if I will save them or put the new ones on? 20231221_163920.jpggarage is slowly getting cleaned out, one more big part hanging, still quite a bit on the shelves though. 20231221_164113.jpg
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
have to take the links apart
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Link, singular, just knock that end off the pitman arm and you're gold.

I'm impressed with your care for detailing parts that are underneath the car and going to be ugly no matter what you do. Kind of like your battle with the carpet.

My style of detailing would probably drive you nuts. For example, I wiped the k-frame down with grease remover until it was mostly clean, then brushed rustoleum satin black all over it. Yes it's not real pretty, and no I don't care. I would've done nothing, except it's out of the car so I could sit down and paint. :D
 
Will that drop past the stud without taking the other side apart, doesn't look that flexible?

I'm just trying to delay the re-rust process as long as possible.
How long were those links on, 2 or 3 weeks, I know they wouldn't hurt anything for 50 years but that color is something I never want to see again!

Moved my 25lb weight around a few times since I moved the carpet up, it is looking a tiny bit better!
 
It would be no different than replacing an idler arm and you don't have to drop the center link from the pitman to do that.
 
Not a lot of car time today, but I have to try & remember or figure out the order of assembly for the front.
So I did a quick test fit & looked around, already short one of the insert clips that goes in the header panel, rest of hardware still to figure out! 20231222_161844.jpgSo I finished cleaning out the crud in all the black slots & polished one of the existing chrome trims, then compared to new, since I already paid for them & there was a noticeable difference I put them on. 20231222_164439.jpgReady to go on!20231222_171646.jpgNow I'm pretty sure the bumper filler attaches to the grille, but my grille has no provisions for it, might be a 72 grille?
anyway I'm hoping without the big support in the bumper I could get away without it, which would also mean I threw away another 100bucks or so! 20231222_172615.jpgAll the holes in the filler match up to supports on the grille?20231222_172532.jpg
 
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