My new 79...

[garion]

Denver huh? Thats where the last ping from my steering box came from..... Now we know.

[garion]

Bit of an update.... Most you know of my steering box shipping adventures... But meanwhile, my Brady windscreen came in:



Yes, I know about the other one people are waiting for brackets on.. I ordered this about a week before.. Its surprisingly sturdy.. Once I get the spider steering and engine reassembled, I'll get to use it!

Anyways.. I started putting together the other spider, the 78 I'm swapping heads with.. Got the 2.0 head on, timing belt back on, etc.. Started getting the exhaust reattached, and noticed that I had accidently removed one of the studs.. The nut was so rusted, that I couldn't get off the stud, and it pulled it out of the head... So tomorrow i'll hit the hardware store and get a new stud and bolt.. I'm hoping tomorrow to finish that car up, so I can get my garage space back...

[garion]

Finally got my steering box today from juvuis! Since I have a 3 day weekend after work tomorrow, I decided to layout the parts I'm gonna be installing...



Nice little collection eh? The fun part will be getting a baseline alignment so I can get it to a shop, but at least I have all my parts!!

[RRoller123]

The string method works surprisingly well for alignment, and I admit I haven't taken mine in for a professional alignment since I did my front end last year, with no noticeable problems, pull or wear. Run a string around the rear tires, across the center line, and attach the ends to 2 jack stands in front of the car. The jack stands are so you can easily position and tension the strings. Adjust the tie rods until you get about 1/8" of gap on the steel wheels at the front (steel wheels in my case) and you will be pretty close, certainly good enough to drive it around for awhile.

Make sure the car is level! Due to camera perspective, it doesn't look like it in the bottom photo, but it is.

[garion]

Thanks RR.. I'll be following that once I get to that point..

So I have the steering box mounted loosely in position.. And I have the steering wheel attached... Is there a trick to getting the steering wheel "lined up"? I had a bear of a time getting it back on the steering box arm, so I'm not sure about getting it off again?

[azruss]

First is to get the steering box solid with the arm travel in the center. If the steering wheel is off, remove it from the shaft and place it in the correct position.

[garion]

Yeah, my steering wheel isn't off.. Guess I'll get that off.. Easier than trying getting that universal joint on/off..

[garion]

Well I decided to skip getting the steering wheel off for now.

Got the rest of the steering together, and man, its nice and smooth now.. It better be, its all new except for the ball joints.

Got the front seal replaced, that was a bear to get out.. New seal in, gear, pulley and nut back on..

Cleaned the threads and head bolts, got the intake attached to the head...

I should have this baby back together tomorrow!

Oh yeah, also got it registered today...

[azruss]

great progress, John. Just in time for the rain to come and go.

[garion]

So I got enough together to be able to start the car! She runs! Only few a few seconds though, as I had no coolant.

Now I install the radiator, etc, and start filling it up.. My method is to disconnect the hose from the thermostat to the rad, fill the rad till it come out that hose, then fill the top of the rad, then top off at the coolant T.

So I get as far as filling up the coolant T, and she starts leaking out the heater pipe from the water pump.. So I drain, take the rad back out, pull the water pump, make a new gasket and try again, this time I fill from the T before installing the rad..

Damn thing still leaks.. So I take the said pipe out... The mating surface is bent! No wonder the PO had gobs of sealant on there. I usually put a little, but only a thin layer. Doesn't even squeeze out.

Anyway, here's a pic of the mating surface with my straight edge..



I'm gonna order one that doens't have the T for the carb choke, since I have a DFEV....

If its not one thing, its another. *sigh*

[azruss]

John, what you have is typical of the heater lead pipe. Most go the other way. Convex rather than concave. Yours is very bad. What i have done with mine is bend the flanges as flat as you can make them, then file it or block sand it flat. My most successful method is using a 18x3 piece of sticky back sand paper and stick it to the top of my table saw (old school with a cast iron top. You can use any flat surface to stick the paper to. I then slide the flange back and forth until the entire surface is covered with sandpaper marks in the same direction. Now you truly have a flat surface and the gasket seal will work like a champ. Even if you buy a new lead pipe, i would do the same thing.

[sehovarter]

John - for sure, it's always something with cars, home improvement projects - whatever! keep positive - your on the upswing! I loved your photo of parts - Mine is not quite that extensive, but new intake/carb, center link for my steering, new idler arm, and rebuilt steering box. I recently added a starter to my collection - as once we got the old starter out (that was fun!) decided it was stock, had 120K miles and murphy would kill it once I got the car running, so might as well just put a new one in while I have access. I liked your string alignment method - but my plan is to get mine as good as I can and drive straight to my local guy for a proper alignment - with new tires and all, don't want to be chewing them up - it's hard to find 205/60/13's anymore (http://www.tires-easy.com had them 2 summers ago when I started my resurrection process). once I am back on the road, I have a new driveshaft bearing and flex disc - as I am crawling around under my car, I can see the cracks in my current disc - once I get all that new performance out of the intake/carb - don't want to be dropping my driveshaft on a test run! Keep the faith!

[FiatBen]

This thread will help me a lot with my '79 Automatic, lot of the same issue.

Must of done something wrong. I replaced the steering box without removing anything (except the old steering box). Wasn't the easiest thing I've done, but didn't seem all that difficult. The old one had about 4" of play in it!! Lot easier pushing the car around the yard with tighter steering.

Now, I'm off to research the head swap....

[garion]

FiatBen, Yeah, mine had around the same, and then felt like a grinder when it did turn... There was no way I could get the thing out without removing stuff.. Maybe you have a smaller starter? Or maybe an electric fuel pump (I have a mechanical one).

In any case, I'm going to try what Russ suggested, and straighten it out.. I'm just glad I noticed the leak before I got any further, and that it was obvious where it was coming from.

[garion]

If its not one thing, its another... So I got that heater piper flatter, to the point where I have a small sliver of daylight coming through.. I attempted to use my cheap micrometer, and guessing its .020"? Enough for putting on slightly more sealant, and feeling ok about it. It started out at .125" or so..

Anywys, I'm installing, and while just starting to torque down the water pump bolts, snap... Oh crap.. Luckily, I had *just* gotten it snug when it snapped. It wasn't really torqued at all yet. I was able to get it out with a pair of pliers and fingers. Time to head to the hardware store for some new ones... *sigh* Just gonna replace all of them..