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The diff is leaking on Pynky's convertible. Time to get to work -




Nice huh?

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58 year old parts -

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This part sucks -



This too -  I did blow apart the springs and clean every leaf.

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For rust removal these parts were soaked in white vinegar, lemon juice & salt for about 4 days. After one day I wire brushed them to get the heavy stuff off and went back in for another 3 (really only needed 3 days total) the u-bolts are not shown but they got the same treatment. Cleaned them right up, I'll just give them a light wire wheeling then paint.



For the bare steel parts I decided to paint them Duplicolor matte stainless. For me this color was the closest I could find to replicate bare steel. At first I thought I would use Eastwood cast iron but it is too dark. I also looked at Duplicolor cast aluminum but it was too light.



I treated the backing plates to the same Vinnegar, lemon juice & salt soak. Here are some before pics -




And here they are after a few days in the soup - this stuff work great. After I wash the parts off with water & backing soda I spray them down with brakecleaner to keep them from flash rusting. Next i'll scuff them up with a scotch bright pad and paint them.

Replacing spring bushings -



These are the old shacle bushings - 



Here are the 40+ year old Monroe shocks after I cleaned them up. The bushings have a few minor cracks in them but will be fine. They aren't bad enough to repaint so they'l go back on like this -

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Here is the diff after hours of scraping off caked on oil & dirt and a trip to the the coin-op carwash and 6 cans of Gumout engine degeaser.



. . . and after hours of sanding & wire wheeling I've got this -



Pulled the yoke off to replace the seal,  it was not driven in all the way and it was crooked. Never the less it wasnt leaking. It still had the orginal Mopar seal in it, p/n 2404135




I hate when this happens -



Painted with Eastwood Gray Cast Coat -

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I had just enough paint left to paint one backing plate last night. On the left is what it looks like after going over it with a scotch bright pad and on the right is after paint. I feel that he color is a fairly close match to the bare steel.


Hangars -

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Hardware restoration -

I went with a Black Oxide treatment for all the nuts & bolts for this project. I don't know what the factory did but this is much better than painting them. Wire wheel them, de-grease them, throw them in the solution, dry, then soak 'em in any oil you want. I used ATF. Here are is the upper shock fasteners & front spring fasteners. I'm happy with the results.




Yoke cleaned, painted & installed -

NICE WORK!!

The rest of the hardware -



Leaf spring painting -



Assembly with new Zinc spacers & clamps - 

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Are the shock studs friction welded?

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My Dad bought this car in 1976 after my parents got divorced. It was his hotrod and one of the things he did to it was to paint the brake drums blue to match the body paint. I think this was pretty commonn back then. At some point he re-painted them black, you can see the old blue paint in this pic - I remember noticing the blue drums when I was a kid, I thought it was pretty cool back then and still do.



Housing ready for paint -                                                                                                        



 Painted -

Looks awesome!  I love that car, the story behind it and all..  I did the vinegar trick on a metal angel my mother had I found buried behind the house on hill, it was probably there a good 20yrs and was pretty rusted.  Soaked it for about a week, and the rust just fell off,  only about a 1/2 by 1/2 section needed a wire brush, then a wire wheel to get rid of the flash rust after hosing it off.  It's pitted and pockmarked,but few coats of Krylon Hammered Gold and it looks like I remember when my dad first bought it for her. 

I took the DODGE letters off the hood and soaked 3 in Coke Zero, and 2 in brake fluid and let them soak for 3 days to see if it would loosen up what Maaco didn't tape 25yrs ago..  Both did a pretty decent job, still needed to brush/scrape some off with small screwdriver.  Don't want to use the ones I got from Rich or Canadian Andy til I paint it (if I ever do).

Assembly -

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Reproduction Sure Grip Lube tag - original ratio tag. New brake hose & vent bolt.

You need to get out of the scissor lift rental business and into the resto business Jeff... damn nice work..

Thanks Mike, Id love to go into that business but not sure if I could swing it at this point.

True.. Could always do it on the side and pick and choose customers. Friend of mine been working in a auto upholstery shop for 40yrs, and does it on side for classic cars (shop too busy so boss has no issue). His phone is constantly ringing with people that want it done, and he picks and chooses jobs he'll do. It pays for running his racecars and some extra money..

Granted, people looking for rear end resto's prob won't be knocking your door down, but one or 2 every once in awhile might be nice..

Wow nice work!