Well, the next step was to prepare the pan for the body that I had hoped was going to
be arriving very soon. First, I decided to remove the shocks, and put the new ones I
purchased in. The two rear ones came right out. The new ones went in and the
pan had much less bounce. The front ones were a different story. The two
front shocks mount with bolts perpendicular to the shock itself at the bottom. The
top of each shock has a sleve that sticks straight out of the top and has a nut on it.
The nut was rusty on both of them. First problem - there is a sleeve around
the top of the shock. This prevented us from gripping the piston of the shock to
prevent it from turning while we worked on the nut.
By using a metal cutting blade on an arbor that was chucked in a power drill.
This then exposed another problem: how to grip the piston. We tried everything...
Vise grips, pipe wrench, and scarring the piston with the metal cutting blade. The
thing just continues to turn. In a fit of anger, I took the skill saw with the
"Cut anything" blade I love so much and cut the top off of each shock.
Problem solved.
On to the alternator. I decided that I wanted to replace the 6volt generator with
a 12v alternator. I also wanted to replace the wiring, fuel pump, and any other
small parts that could have worn out, like points rotor, etc. Oh boy. These
parts were not expensive, but turned out to be a real pain to install.
First of all, I removed the carb and intake manifold. Then I could easily remove
the generator stand. and fuel pump, or so I thought. The fuel pump itself came
right off. Then I removed the generator stand (also the oil filler on these beasts).
There is this little stand that the fuel pump sits on that extends down into the engine
about 3.5 inches that is the guide for the fuel pump push rod. This support would
not move. I mean it was like I was pulling on the engine. I tried removing the
distributor thinking that it was pressing against the stand and preventing it from moving.
Nope. Next I tried to pry it off with a really flat wide screwdriver.
This just broke the flange off of the top, leaving me with this thick plastic tube wedged
inside of the engine. So I ground a notch in a piece of round steel and inserted it
into the tube. I inserted this steel rod into the plastic tube, hooked the notch
below the bottom of the tube, and tried to "persuade" the plastic tube to come
loose. No go. I ended up just destroying the tube and forcing it down into the
oil pan.
The rest I decided to have the shop (Park Centre Automotive) do. They welded in
new pan halves (both sides), turned the brakes, replaces all of the brake parts, installed
new brake lines and provided general advice and moral support. I also had the body
shipped to the shop, which made getting it home extremely easy. Just put 4 bolts
into the pan and towed it home.
