Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress

[RUSTY Cuda]

Since my search for the exact LCA bump stops showed none like orig. & none even had a set pin I decided to drill a new hole in mine & use the ones that came in the kit at least they had a pin!
put a drop of yellow paint on the pin to mark my spot.
Got those on...............
Then started hunting for the tortion bar adjustment blocks & bolts, well an hour later & the last box I opened there they are!
Did find some emblems, but these were off the 73 & some speed nuts which actually helped, I had 2 posts on the hood scoops that the bigger ones wouldn't grab, 2 of these did the trick!
LCA's are on, it's nice to finally get some boxes emptied & parts on the car!

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Think I need new torsion bar boots!
Dug out the old manuals to start looking up torque specs..........
pulled out the new steering links, at least they came with the beefier bars.
One has a pretty good angle to it I think it's the outside one, looks even more angle than the old ones??

Question time, if you noticed the first pic, the old one that is extended way out was on the drivers side, gotta be an inch or more longer, probably because of that damage I fixed on the drivers inner fender, how worried should I be, if I remember correctly the car did track straight?

the angle ones are the outers correct?

again on the old drivers it seems to be way more cocked than the pass. side (bolts point in more angled directions)

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Rain came early, I was thinking about leaving it uncovered tonight to clean up the winters dirt, mute point now, so I dragged out the hose & flushed it out!
Not bad for 50 year old floor pans!
starting to see some empty boxes, ya it's about time!
New shocks & sway bar bushings arrived today.
Got a coat of clear on all the new frontend parts, got the strut rods ready & painted the shock hardware black, to stay with my black hardware theme!
ready to go, now I have to dig out the spindles, not sure if I want the brakes on there yet?

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Got a few more pieces on, strut rods , spindles & set the backing plate..............
Thought all was going well till I pulled out the caliper mounts, ain't no way it's going here, went through my old phots & finally found one of the spindles, I PUT THEM ON THE WRONG SIDE!!!
well it looked pretty!

 

[Dr.Jass]

Yes, the calipers are front-mounted on your car (forward of axle centerline).

Just going by the way you're holding it and how the bolts are installed, I feel like I should remind you that the caliper adapter mounts to the frame rail side of the spindle. The bolt heads face the oil pan.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

That's why I post here, I probably would have tried from the outside & screwed it up again, thank you Jass mann!

I did find a pic that showed the forward mount, but didn't notice the inside mount! I tried to take a lot of pics, but I never seem to have a pic of a question that comes up?

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Corrected my oopsy & switched the spindles but could not find the backing plate bolts, went into my spare bolt stash & turns out there the same as the fender bolts which I have tons of, so I gave those & the plates a coat of paint & they can go on tomorrow.
So I pulled out a rotor, the caliper & pads & test fitted those, looks good, bleeder is on top!
So I spread clean grease on all the bare metal that was going to sit out in the weather, guess I should have cleaned up the rotor before I put it on, yucky old grease!

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Now I have questions before I put the steering links in, the main bar has a pretty good off set in it on one end, steering box end or Idler end, I think the middled hump goes towards the rear?
I went neutral on the links, shorter on that extended driver's side & maybe a tad longer on the pass side, hoping with everything new they will be closer to even after alignment?

Now the question on these is the lighter color end has more of an offset, do they go to the outside or inside(middle) ?

 

[b-body-bob]

Set in the sending unit & the lock ring looks a little off, it is set into 2 slots pretty sure the sender is right, Also may need to pound it around further I think those stops go under the bulge in the ring on the tank?

Turn that ring it around until it makes a hard stop against a piece on the tank that stops it. Be careful it's easy to get it started crooked like you might have already

 

[b-body-bob]

Now I have questions before I put the steering links in, the main bar has a pretty good off set in it on one end, steering box end or Idler end, I think the middled hump goes towards the rear?

It only goes one way - the other way hits the oil pan IIRC. This is another place where a FSM comes in handy - it shows everything in the correct orientation.

I went neutral on the links, shorter on that extended driver's side & maybe a tad longer on the pass side, hoping with everything new they will be closer to even after alignment?

It's fine - you might have what you think is straight ahead but the steering wheel will be turned off center or something. You can't tell much about alignment anyway until you get wheels/tires/weight on the car.

Now the question on these is the lighter color end has more of an offset, do they go to the outside or inside(middle) ?

You know I've never had to install any out of the packaging but I checked rock auto and it looks like one does have more offset than the other. 1973 PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA 5.9L 360cid V8 Tie Rod End | RockAuto

It might be an optical illusion but it looks like the lighter colored ones in your photo are also lighter weight.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Realistically, the tie-rod assemblies can be installed reversed without ill effect. In fact, it happened enough at the factory that the catalog information literally says "Inner and outer may be installed reversed on the car" or something similar. Regardless, the inners are LH thread (lefty tighty) and the outers are RH.

The drag link can only go on with the the clearance to the rear of the car. Since the holes are tapered they won't slide over the pitman/idler arms if you've got it upside down.

When you get the car aligned, make sure they center the steering wheel. That's their job.

 

[b-body-bob]

Since the holes are tapered they won't slide over the pitman/idler arms if you've got it upside down.

I forgot about that, doh!

When you get the car aligned, make sure they center the steering wheel. That's their job.

That's their most important job. You can blame a little pull on road crown, but there's no excuse for an off center steering wheel besides an idiot mechanic.. I do mine on the garage floor with jack stands and string.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

OK found a pic of the calipers, looks like the fat ones are on the inside.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

So after trying to lay it out with what looked like it made sense (& before I read your answers) a cpuple of things just looked off.
looks awful close to the torsion bar mount?
& the angle looked too drastic, that I guess will straighten up some with a load on the suspension? )
So I marked the top of the link bar & dragged out the steering box, it was actually tapered the right way! so I test fitted that & it looked ok.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Got the sway bar & shocks in, K frame, bar all torqued down & bottom of shocks, had trouble with the tops of the shocks, trying to hold that nut on the top shaft & read my crappy old torque wrench was near impossible, may have to pull the fender off.

also I was using my old hardware for some reason I had 6 retainers, & 2 were a little different shaped holes. there was one more with the bigger round hole.I think when I pull the fenders I'll use the new retainers, they are flat ?
So I tied up the links & took a pick from the top, looks copasetic to me, I think I just have to reverse the end links I'm pretty sure insies & outsies are reversed!

Thanks for the help, I may yet get this right!

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Pulled one steering link & I actually had them in correct, so on to my next screwup!

well somehow I even managed to screw up a simple thing like the shocks.
Used the old hardware & didn't notice the threads on the old nuts were different, so after getting those off re-threading the posts the shocks are in & torqued down!
getting to 25Lbs really squeezed the rubbers down?
while I was under there I figured I'd put the access plates on, drivers side nice, pass side something's wrong I think I may have 2 drivers side covers, the bend out the top should face out, it leaves a small gap at the top!
It is exactly the same shape as the driver's side when it should be opposite bends!

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Spent some time torquing down some of the front end, got the ball joints & strut rods dome. snugged down the tie rod ends & the upper control arm bolts, had 2 that were 160 lbs, mann I'm getting old my old torgue wrench only goes to 150 so with every ounce my arms had left I finally buried the indicator.
I should invest in a rachet type, but to buy more tools when this is the last car is kinda crazy!

 

[b-body-bob]

Spent some time torquing down some of the front end, got the ball joints & strut rods dome. snugged down the tie rod ends & the upper control arm bolts, had 2 that were 160 lbs, mann I'm getting old my old torgue wrench only goes to 150 so with every ounce my arms had left I finally buried the indicator.
I should invest in a rachet type, but to buy more tools when this is the last car is kinda crazy!

Don't torque the front end parts until all the weight is on the ground. Unless you want to loosen it up and do it again, maybe replace the bushings again. Snug is good for now.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Yea I was going to talk to my mechanic to see how he wants all that when I go for the alignment, but that time seems to be fading into an unforeseen future!
Still waiting on my axle bearings so the rear is on hold, not sure where to go next, I need to build the dash, but that I keep putting off.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Were it my car, I would not leave that to someone else because most of those bolts will not get loosened for an alignment. You can torque everything yourself, but you absolutely must do it with the car level with the full weight on the suspension... in other words, once all the sheetmetal's hung, engine/transmission are in, etc. This especially true of the lower control arm pivots, strut rods, and swaybar. That stuff must be done before the alignment.
You can take care of steering parts such as tie-rod ends and pitman/idler immediately. The only steering parts the alignment guy should need to loosen would be the tie-rod end sleeves. On the suspension, the only thing he should need to play with are the upper control arm cam bolts. He will not likely even look at anything else, so don't expect him to give anything else a thought, much less confirm everything's OK.