Well it rained here the other night and, while Wifey was out of town, I took the opportunity to park the GT in the garage. I figured it would be one less chance for rain to leak in there while I was repairing the rusted metal plus I could look at the garage floor to see if there were any oil or other fluid leaks.
I found a small river of oil. There was one small spot under the engine area which does not surprise or concern me. What did concern me was the oil all over both rear tires and the 3-foot long trail of oil coming from the rear right wheel. I had suspected that the axle oil seals were bad because of the radial streaking on the inside of the rear tires-I just didn’t know it was this bad. The left side isn’t as bad, almost, but still not as bad.
I was going to order the new seals plus the brake shoes which were certainly oil-soaked and in need of replacement which meant I’d also need to order the rear brake cylinders etc., etc., etc.
But then it struck me, I had just done the exact same job to my 74 roadster sitting right next to the GT. I’m just going to pull the entire brake assembly with the rear shield and cylinder and then swap them with the GT’s. I’ll also pull the complete oil seals with their holders off and bolt those right up. The only difference between the roadster and the GT is hub which is for the wire wheels on the GT.
By doing this I don’t have to wait for parts or, better still, pay for parts and I can rebuild the Roadster’s rear axle at my convenience.
While doing all that, I’ll be installing the new Moss Heritage leaf springs plus installing the Teflon-impregnated suspension bushings and pads in the rear suspension. While I’m in there, I’ll clean up the entire area and paint the underside. I’ll also finish cleaning up the axle and repainting that as well as lubing and adjusting the parking brake.
This will save me a lot of time for a few reasons:
1. I’ll be installing pre-assembled units.
2. I won’t have to clean and repaint the assemblies and wait for the paint to dry.
3. I just did the exact job on the roadster a few months ago so I know what mistakes to avoid.
I suspect I’ll be able to do the suspension, seals and springs in less than 4 hours…maybe three if I use air tools. But if I decide to pull the PITA pressed-in bushing from the leaf springs and replace those with the urethane bushings that should add another 30 minutes to the job…melting them out with the torch is fairly fast but still a pain.
Which brings me to my next topic: The piston on my air compressor decided that it didn’t like the cylinder head so it pushed it right off, shattering the entire cylinder head in the process. It was covered under warranty at Northern Tools but when I took it back, I was told they no longer had that air compressor and asked if I would like to buy the one that cost twice as much? I answered that I did not. So I tried buying one from Sears but, sadly, that was a great illustration for me of why people don’t shop at Sears anymore. I’ll probably wind up getting a Craftsman anyway; it’s just a huge pain in the ass to deal with Sears anymore.
I keep bouncing back and for the between working on the GT and the Spitfire. I guess I’m just a multi-tasking fool. Wait, I’m restoring three British cars and a Corvette at the same time…that makes me a plain fool.
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