What have YOU being doing or are you planning to do with your Vette?

[antijam]

Finally got the bolt stub extracted - without having to resort to heat.
View attachment 15212
The frame on my '71 is liberally coated in ancient underseal (would this have been original - did chevy underseal early C3's? ) and I was chary about using a torch in case it decided to go out in a blaze of glory. Underseal is always a bit of a two-edged sword but on my car it does seem to have preserved it quite well.

Anyway, I unearthed a 5/8" AF combination spanner and tried this on the bolt head instead of the offset ring I'd been using.
View attachment 15213
The flat combi allowed more torque to be applied than with the ring since the offset of the latter causes the ring to twist off under load. The increased torque broke the rust bond and out the stub popped!

I've stripped down the old trailing arm and cleaned up and removed the bearing races from the spindle support.....
View attachment 15214

.....ready for some shiny new goodies.....

View attachment 15215

Should keep me out of mischief for a while .....

After some unhappy delays and the generally unwelcoming temperature in the garage, I finally have one new trailing arm built and installed. First job was to loose assemble the spindle support, caliper mount bracket and parking brake flange plate to the arm to align the studs while I punch them in....

....then fit the nuts and washers and torque up to ensure the studs are fully seated.

I strip down the arms again and fit the outer races of the spindle bearings to the spindle support then dry assemble the support, inner races, bearing spacer and the thickest shim available to the bearing assembly tool....

..... torque up the nut to 100 lbf ft and check the end float.....

I substitute a thinner shim to reduce the end float and achieve .004". Although within tolerance (.001" to .008") I lap the shim to achieve .001".

Since the assembled arm is heavy I prefer to assemble it on the car. With the arm supported by rope round the chassis I fit a length of fishing line through the split pin hole in the trailing arm bolt, feed it through the washer, frame, trailing arm bush and frame again and while lining up the arm by hand, pull the bolt into the bush. Once started I push the bolt through, fit the washer and nut and remove the fishing line.

Since I'm fitting new arms and the rusty old toe adjustment shims had to be cut off, I fit the shim pack half and half either side of the bush. I'll check toe when back on the ground.

The spindle support, caliper mount bracket and flange plate are assembled to the arm, the stud nuts torqued to 30 lbf ft and the parking brake parts fitted ( much easier without the spindle in)


The bore of the spindle support and the bearing races are loaded with grease and fitted together with the spacer and shim then the inner and outer seals fitted.


With the spindle inserted and pulled in with the installation tool.....

......the dust deflectors, drive flange and a new washer and nut are fitted and the assembly was torqued up. (I can confirm that any 80 year old lying supine on a smooth floor under the car will find applying - and reacting - 100 lb ft torque not easy) Eventually I get a satisfying click from the torque wrench then use my impact wrench to align the nut to the split pin hole and fit the pin.


With the brake rotor cleaned up and fitted I check the run-out with the rotor indexed one stud at a time. This gives values between .012" and .003" - and me a problem.
The .003" is acceptable but with the rotor in this position, the parking brake adjuster hole in the spindle is covered. The alternative of shimming out the run-out with the rotor correctly fitted is unattractive, so with a bit of careful lining up and manipulation I find the brake adjuster can be indexed with a screwdriver through the vacant rivet holes instead.


With the brake shoes adjusted, I refit the caliper, replacing the brake hose and steel caliper line at the same time.


So, all I have to do now is fit and re-assemble the other trailing arm, refit the shocks, half shafts, strut rods and road spring, adjust the handbrake, bleed the brakes, lower the car back on the ground, check and adjust the camber and toe-in and I'm back on the road!

Hopefully fitting the second arm will be a little quicker!

 

[Roppa440]

@Roppa440 That's a badass challenger. Have you checked out the mopar forum? moparuk.com

I started the very first Challenger website in the early 90s and later the first Challenger specific forum. However a few years ago I closed them down. I had a small Challenger Facebook group (only about 800 members or something??) but recently closed that down due to new Facebook admin rules that meant I would have to let anyone in and have to monitor it every day for time wasters and scammers.

I was also among the first people to join the re-formed Mopar Muscle Association. That was a few months after the very first Mopar Nats at Santa Pod.
I am also a member of the MoparUK Facebook group.

I sold the 440 Challenger R/T years ago now after 22 years ownership.

 

[Roppa440]

Looks like I have cracked the Infotainment HMI unit issue on my C7 that I was having. So that is absolutely everything on the car working up to scratch now. Bring on the summer.

 

[Denis]

Had the standard steering wheel modified to a D shape with thumb grips and thicker. Just need to get the MOT done now

 

[Andy J]

My C4 passed its mot today with no advisories. To say im suprised is an understatement! I only got the car in August and i was fully expecting a few hidden surprises.
Ive not actually seen the car since Oct when it went into winter store so im doubly pleased it started and ran ok.
The plan now is to go ahead with my planned maintenance schedule. I popped in a new air filter last year and the schedule for this spring is oil and filter, fuel filter, transmission oil and filter.
These were all jobs i had planned to undertake myself but since being diagnosed with cancer in December i need to be realistic and accept its currently beyond my ability. So the place that has the car in storage is also a classic Porsche specialist and theyre happy to work on the car as its something different for them.
Then once thats done and it's out storage i will un sorn it and get back in it again.
I does need 2 new front tyres too. They have loads of tread but theyre ancient and i want to replace them asap.
Im also waiting on a Serpentine belt and tensioner to arrive but thats just for my piece of mind rather than a pressing need.
I want to get some driving in before my stem cell transplant in May when ive arranged for it to go back into storage for a month or two. I figure its better to do that than just have it sat on my drive doing nothing and getting rained on.

 

[Roscobbc]

Best of luck fighting the big 'C' Andy!

 

[Chuffer]

Good luck from me too Andy and drive the wheels off the C4 when you are fit again .

 

[CaptainK]

Sorry to hear about the cancer diagnosis - hope you fight that bugger off and give the C4 a good driving. I work for the NHS bowel cancer screening programme, and all I'll say to everyone is please do not bin those test kits we send you in the post when you get to a certain age. They can be a godsend, as cancer is best beaten if caught early.

 

[Roppa440]

Time to do the oil change on my C7. I have been waiting for the end of winter to do it and "Oil Life" is down to 40% now.

Records I have show it's only had three oil changes since it was imported in 2017.
17, 18, and last one I have a record of was 2019. The last two times by Ian Allan Motors and they also charged the owner £9.99 for a new sump plug. WHY?

Anyway. As soon as the filter I ordered yesterday arrives from RockAuto I will get that done.

 

[Chuffer]

Sorry to hear about the cancer diagnosis - hope you fight that bugger off and give the C4 a good driving. I work for the NHS bowel cancer screening programme, and all I'll say to everyone is please do not bin those test kits we send you in the post when you get to a certain age. They can be a godsend, as cancer is best beaten if caught early.

Definitely with you on this Captain . My very best friend succumbed to bowel cancer in 1996 at only 43 years of age and left a wife and two young children . We were like brothers having been at school together and enigineering apprentices together and it hit me hard .

 

[Chuffer]

Time to do the oil change on my C7. I have been waiting for the end of winter to do it and "Oil Life" is down to 40% now.

Records I have show it's only had three oil changes since it was imported in 2017.
17, 18, and last one I have a record of was 2019. The last two times by Ian Allan Motors and they also charged the owner £9.99 for a new sump plug. WHY?

Anyway. As soon as the filter I ordered yesterday arrives from RockAuto I will get that done.

Oil changes every year no matter how little mileage is clocked up is my mantra on all of my cars . Do you mean why charge for new sump plug ? Jusy good practice as it might have a captive O ring to give a perfect seal in the sump as the old one will be compressed and deformed . Even if not a captive O ring it still good practice and at end of day is only peanuts in the grand scheme of things .

 

[Nassau65]

Time to do the oil change on my C7. I have been waiting for the end of winter to do it and "Oil Life" is down to 40% now.

Records I have show it's only had three oil changes since it was imported in 2017.
17, 18, and last one I have a record of was 2019. The last two times by Ian Allan Motors and they also charged the owner £9.99 for a new sump plug. WHY?

Anyway. As soon as the filter I ordered yesterday arrives from RockAuto I will get that done.

Because that’s what main dealers do. They have to do something to upkeep their fancy showrooms

 

[Roppa440]

Oil changes every year no matter how little mileage is clocked up is my mantra on all of my cars . Do you mean why charge for new sump plug ? Jusy good practice as it might have a captive O ring to give a perfect seal in the sump as the old one will be compressed and deformed . Even if not a captive O ring it still good practice and at end of day is only peanuts in the grand scheme of things .

I agree. Which is why I am doing it this month. I normally change the oil in my cherished cars every March when the winter has passed.

Having said that, although it was important with the old mineral oils, it is not as important with modern synthetic oils.

I assume virus lock down in 2020 was the result of no MOT or service that year. 2021 however it was in the hands of the dealer I bought it from.
Not saying it wasn't done. I just don't have any record of it being done.

 

[Roppa440]

Because that’s what main dealers do. They have to do something to upkeep their fancy showrooms

In the past I have had dealerships charge me for a bottle of washer fluid because my screen washer bottle was not quite full......

 

[Roscobbc]

Sorry to hear about the cancer diagnosis - hope you fight that bugger off and give the C4 a good driving. I work for the NHS bowel cancer screening programme, and all I'll say to everyone is please do not bin those test kits we send you in the post when you get to a certain age. They can be a godsend, as cancer is best beaten if caught early.

Wise words Capt. - I was diagnosed with prostate cancer at a very early stage. It was dealt with very efficiently by the NHS and whilst having longer term side effects from the op it was 'caught' early enough to prevent secondary tumours occuring in other parts of the body and I am still here today........

 

[Andy J]

Sorry to hear about the cancer diagnosis - hope you fight that bugger off and give the C4 a good driving. I work for the NHS bowel cancer screening programme, and all I'll say to everyone is please do not bin those test kits we send you in the post when you get to a certain age. They can be a godsend, as cancer is best beaten if caught early.

Unfortunately my particular flavour of cancer (multiple Myeloma) is of the incurable but very treatable kind. So ive got it forever now. You just have to crack on and deal with it dont you. And in the mean time enjoy my C4 as much as possible.

 

[CaptainK]

In the past I have had dealerships charge me for a bottle of washer fluid because my screen washer bottle was not quite full......

Was it after an MOT? It is a pet peeve of mine that they always charge for washer fluid. I'm told its because during the MOT they use a fair amount of washer fluid to test the wipers etc. Because they can't let the cars go out with potentially low washer fluid (possibly dangerous), they have to top it up, and thus they charge for it.

Still annoys me though, as I can do it myself. Alas, most drivers nowadays only know how to drive the car and stick fuel in it, and would just moan or have an accident if there was no washer fluid in there.

 

[Roscobbc]

Was it after an MOT? It is a pet peeve of mine that they always charge for washer fluid. I'm told its because during the MOT they use a fair amount of washer fluid to test the wipers etc. Because they can't let the cars go out with potentially low washer fluid (possibly dangerous), they have to top it up, and thus they charge for it.

Still annoys me though, as I can do it myself. Alas, most drivers nowadays only know how to drive the car and stick fuel in it, and would just moan or have an accident if there was no washer fluid in there.

I recall years of having company vehicles serviced - seeing individual components like 'O' rings and washers itemised at 'silly' unit prices. This is a 'hang over' from when many consumable items like building materials, electrical goods, car parts, even foodstuffs etc would be priced up with separate Retail, Trade and Wholesale prices . This goes back to the days before the smaller corner shop car accessory and parts shop when you would have to go to a franchised dealer to get your servicing parts. Surprising to think that Halfords 'in the day' kinda broke the mould in terms of selling a limited range of serving parts for many popular cars.
And talking about 'rip-offs' when having your car servicies by a main dealer - yes, we've seen what they charge for complete filling of a 3/4's fill windscreen washer container, but the biggest 'rip-off' is oil. Not just being charged an inflated retail price........its the fact that they charge you for multiple numbers of the smallest 500 ml containers............I'm sure they don't actually stock oil in 500 ml containers.

 

[Chuffer]

Sun shining , Spring blooming and the Corvette booming ! Joy uncofined ! Just been out for a cruise and a tank full of 99 Ron ( £1.789 / litre ) Had a blast up and and down the A5 to give it a good run after the winter jobs and a service and made a detour to The Navigation Inn on the Grand Union Canal at Thrupp Wharf , Cosrove to confirm booking numbers for BBNC region`s first monthly Brunch Meet next Saturday . Sure did put a smile on my face .

 

[GCorvette]

View attachment 16016Sure did put a smile on my face .

Joy personified!