With line wrenches in hand, I set about finishing up dropping the rear end assembly from under the Tomato. I removed the brake line from the brake hose, removed the hose clip and then freed the brake hose from the crossmember...
With the brake line free, using an impact and open end wrench, I unbolt the upper and lower control arms from the frame mounts and lowered the axle assembly to the floor...
I then slid the assembly from under the car and placed on 3 jack stands for further disassembly and service.
That's all for this installment.
Until next time...
ZEBRA 3 OUT
11/16/13
11/9/13
Blasted... Part 3
Well today the ole girl finally got into position, lost her wheels and the rear end started coming out. I got the springs, shocks, parking brake cables and the sway bar unhooked and ready for the big drop only to discover that I had my line wrenches at home in my other tool box, so about 90% of the rear is ready for removal. Here are a few pics of today's progress.
The new jackstands in position and the wheels and ramps removed....
and I got under her...
and started removing the rear suspension...
So hopefully next weekend with my line wrenches in hand, I can break loose the brake hose, remove the control arm hardware and roll the rear end out from under the Tomato.
Until next installment...
ZEBRA 3 OUT
The new jackstands in position and the wheels and ramps removed....
and I got under her...
and started removing the rear suspension...
So hopefully next weekend with my line wrenches in hand, I can break loose the brake hose, remove the control arm hardware and roll the rear end out from under the Tomato.
Until next installment...
ZEBRA 3 OUT
10/5/13
Blasted... Part 2
Have made some progress since last installment. I got the firewall and door posts stripped.....
and also got the ole girl moved into the booth and up in the air so the sandblasting of the chassis can begin....
While she's in the booth, I'll drop the front and rear suspensions from the car so I can get the chassis blasted really good and rebuild and detail everything as necessary as I put it all back together.
More to come....
ZEBRA 3 OUT
and also got the ole girl moved into the booth and up in the air so the sandblasting of the chassis can begin....
While she's in the booth, I'll drop the front and rear suspensions from the car so I can get the chassis blasted really good and rebuild and detail everything as necessary as I put it all back together.
More to come....
ZEBRA 3 OUT
8/3/13
Blasted... Part 1
After several weekends doing other projects or family functions, I was finally able to go work on the Tomato today. I accomplished getting both front wheelhouses blasted....
Stay tuned....
ZEBRA 3 OUT
I changed the 6 foot media hose on my Eastwood sandblaster to a 12 footer and it made things a whole lot easier by having more ability to move around the piece without having to drag along the blaster!
I also came to the conclusion that sandblasting is NOT a summer friendly task! Once you get all garbed up, you have to contend with your body heat rising, your hood visor fogging up from your hot, moist breath exiting your respirator as well as moisture in the air line semi-clogging your media! Not to mention the sand in your crack.... FUN FUN FUN!! LOL
Next major component to tackle... the core support. Then the fun of blasting the chassis will commence!!!!
ZEBRA 3 OUT
5/25/13
Prepping the doors.....
Somehow, this post didn't get uploaded, so I will try and figure out later how to get it inserted into the right place within the project history. So now, a FLASHBACK to an earlier accomplishment....
With the Torino back, the doors off and the harness holes pulled, it was time to add the mounting holes for the remote chrome mirror to the passenger door, clean up the insides and strip the remaining paint from the bottom and hinge ends of both.
Since drilling and cutting the holes for the mirror would make more shavings inside the door, I decided to do that first so I wouldn't have to clean up the passenger door twice. Using the driver's door to create a template, I placed the template face down on the passenger door, effectively mirroring the mounting pattern, and marked the necessary openings onto the door. I used an 1/8" bit to drill the 4 corners of the rectangular remote controller feed thru opening and a 5/16" drill for the front mounting stud and a 3/8" drill for the rear. Then I used my cutoff wheel to create the rectangular opening. I made the top and bottom cuts with an old wheel that was getting pretty small so I changed to a new wheel and, not thinking it thru, I proceeded to make the front and rear cuts. Due to the larger wheel diameter, the front and rear cut lines extended past the corner radius... CRAP!!!!
With the Torino back, the doors off and the harness holes pulled, it was time to add the mounting holes for the remote chrome mirror to the passenger door, clean up the insides and strip the remaining paint from the bottom and hinge ends of both.
Since drilling and cutting the holes for the mirror would make more shavings inside the door, I decided to do that first so I wouldn't have to clean up the passenger door twice. Using the driver's door to create a template, I placed the template face down on the passenger door, effectively mirroring the mounting pattern, and marked the necessary openings onto the door. I used an 1/8" bit to drill the 4 corners of the rectangular remote controller feed thru opening and a 5/16" drill for the front mounting stud and a 3/8" drill for the rear. Then I used my cutoff wheel to create the rectangular opening. I made the top and bottom cuts with an old wheel that was getting pretty small so I changed to a new wheel and, not thinking it thru, I proceeded to make the front and rear cuts. Due to the larger wheel diameter, the front and rear cut lines extended past the corner radius... CRAP!!!!
These will get covered by the body glazing and ultimately the mirror, so my fubar will be covered up.... THANK GOODNESS!
With the mirror mounting out of the way, the next step was to address the hinge areas. I guess Ford installed the hinge to the door prior to them going thru thr paint line because there was no paint whatsoever underneath them.....
so a few minutes spent with a scotch-brite pad on the grinder and chading the threads with a tap and cleaning the bolts up on the wire wheel and things looked a bit nicer....
Now with both door hinge areas cleaned up, was time to start cleaning the caulking strip used to hold the watershields in place off the inner face. A little lacquer thinner, a scotch-brite pad and elbow grease and the gunk was gone....
Now to the insides of the doors. First order of business was to vacuum out all the crud that had accumilated inside them. I used a small blade screwdriver to break-up all the dirt that had packed itself into the lower door seams and made sure the drain holes were open....
With the insides of the doors clean, was time to finish stripping the paint from the rest of the outer surfaces.
Stay tuned.......
ZEBRA 3 OUT
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