Space City 1982 GP Build

[Texas82GP]

I'm pleased to report some progress has been made. It seemed it was going to be nearly impossible to install the motor mounts with the lower control arm in place. In addition to that the control arm bushings were dry rotted and the whole front end was pretty crusty so I decided to overhaul the front end in conjunction with the underhood project. I decided since my space is limited that I'd do the driver's side first, then move the car and do the passenger side.

Here's what I started with...

The front brake lines were patched in a couple of locations so I will be replacing them...

Here's a look after teardown...

Here's a shot after cleanup. I scraped it and cleaned it with mineral spirits. It's amazing what mineral spirits, rags and paper towels will do....

Since I'm working in a storage building and I'm not taking the body off of the frame, I decided to paint the frame with a brush. I know some will cringe at that thought but I just didn't want to deal with the overspray mess. After a lot of thought I decided to go with plain old brush on Rustoleum. I found it to go on nice and thick and found it to be very forgiving of any dirt I missed. I got the frame pretty clean but it was not perfect. After scraping it and cleaning it with mineral spirits, I gave it another pass with the mineral spirits and then went over it with lacquer thinner on an old micro-fiber cloth. First I went on with the Rustoleum "rusty metal" primer......

Followed by two coats of satin black.....

It's not perfect but it's much nicer than it was, much nicer than just leaving it and putting the engine in the way it was. It's plenty good for a cruiser and a few nice things about the Rustoleum are that its cheap, easy to touch up and seems to be fairly chip resistant.

 

[Texas82GP]

I decided while I was at it I would go back together with the Blazer brake upgrade. I bought both spindles on ebay. One of the sellers brought to my attention a grease-able fitting that would replace the ABS sensor in the hub.

You can get them from Riffraff Diesel. I think it is way better than cutting off the wire for ABS sensor. It is a true bolt on. Pull the old sensor, and bolt this on. Now the hub is grease-able. With this approach you may be able to keep old hubs in service for a long time. I elected to go with new hubs but still wanted this upgrade. I should mention if you want these and decide to go with new hubs, look carefully at the hubs you are buying as some of the aftermarket hubs have a different style ABS sensor on them that won't work with these fittings. Here is the link to Riffraff Diesel....

http://www.riffraffdiesel.com/front-abs-grease-able-block-off-fitting/

 

[Texas82GP]

On the control arms, I restored my old ones. It would have been much easier to buy aftermarket control arms and I acknowledge they improve handling but this car will be a cruiser so I couldn't justify the cost of the aftermarket arms. I went with Moog problem solver bushings which are advertised to be resistant to rotting like polyurethane but not prone to squeaking like polyurethane and not quite as firm as polyurethane. I went with Moog balljoints. The balljoints were made in the USA. The bushings were Mexico. I saw some venom on here recently regarding Moog parts but I've always gotten good service from them. I went with Moog 5660 springs. I didn't cut them as I'm not really looking for any drop. Hopefully the front won't drop any relative to the old original diesel springs I took out of it. I don't have much room to spare with the 235/60/16 tires I'm running. I went with Moog on the lower control arm bumper but had to go with Energy Suspension on the upper control arm bumper. Moog doesn't seem to offer it. The Energy Suspension bumpers are USA made so I'm pleased with them. On shocks I went with KYB gas-adjust based on good feedback I've read on here. I had a new pair of Monroe Sensa-tracks that I bought before I decided to pull the engine but based on some venom I read on here I decided not to go with them. For brake pads and rotors I went with a Powerstop kit I bought on Rock Auto. I went with drilled and slotted rotors. I've seen some feedback on here that there really isn't any benefit to the dimples and slots but I've had good luck with them on my truck and love the look. On calipers, I bought some premium rebuilt calipers by AA1 from Rock Auto. They are really nice. They are powder coated and come with all plated hardware. They also came with the pad abutment brackets I needed.

Now it's time to do the other side!

 

[Texas82GP]

Well, I'm pleased to report some progress. I got the right front suspension torn down, cleaned up, painted and put back together. I replaced the steering gearbox with a close ratio unit from a Monte SS/GN/442/Hurst. I got it remanufactured from Rock Auto. It was a direct bolt on. I went with Moog on the Centerlink, Idler Arm and Tie Rod ends. I'm a little embarrassed but I had a bad time with the Tie rod adjusting sleeves. I must have tried to thread the tie rods into one of them for about an hour. Nothing I did would get them to start straight. I came home and out of frustration ordered a pair of QA1 steel adjusting sleeves. One went together real easy and the other gave me the same trouble until I realized I was just a dumb *ss and was trying to thread the tie rod into the wrong end of the adjusting sleeve. For some reason I lost sight of the fact that one tie rod end is right hand thread and the other is left hand thread.

End result, I have fancy adjusting sleeves I didn't really need and have brand new in the box Moog adjusting sleeves. If someone needs the Moogs, let me know. I will send them for the cost of shipping. The QA1's are real nice and I like how they modernize the toe adjustment. I went with the front sway bar from UMI. It is a beast. Clearance is tight on the boot for the idler arm. It may be more than I needed but it sure is a nice piece. Some constructive criticism of it though: It doesn't come with the bolts to mount it to the frame. The instructions say to reuse the factory bolts. My bolts had a very small flange washer that wasn't nearly large enough for the slots in the mounting bracket that comes with the sway bar. I ended up buying some metric flange bolts from Sears Hardware. I'm not crazy about the bright zinc finish. I would have preferred black oxide or even the yellow cad finish but they are 10.9 tensile strength and are the right size. I also didn't want to wait or buy a bulk quantity of the right finish bolts from McMaster-Carr. If the flange washer was just a little smaller on the bolts I went with, I could get the sway bar a hair further away from the boot on the idler arm but not much without elongating the slots in the mounting bracket. It's not rubbing so I'm satisfied. I hope that the front wont be too firm with that huge sway bar and the Moog 5660's. I know 'too firm' is subjective so time will tell.

I have the Grand Prix bar (frame brace) hanging loosely as I'm not ready to put the jounce bars on yet. I don't have it on backwards do I? I noticed on the UMI brace, theirs runs under the core support rather than behind it.

 

[Texas82GP]

I cleaned and painted the original combination valve (proportioning valve). I used a paint from Eastwood called 'Brake Gray'. I would call it 'Brake Silver'. It is supposed to be resistant to brake fluid. I also got the front left and right brake lines installed. I got a stainless brake line set from Classic Tube. The two lines I installed fit really well. Very little drama or fight getting them in place on the frame. I don't think I got a good picture of it, but like others I used the Russell stainless steel brake hoses for a G-body to go from the hard line on the frame to the Blazer calipers. They fit without issue using the factory brake line brackets on the frame.

I think next I will pull the inner fenders to clean them up, clean and paint more of the frame, help give me access to the firewall to remove the hard plastic diesel-specific sound deadening and to fix the hole the previous owner cut in it with a can opener for the clutch pedal rod. I also need to fix my power antenna. I'm going to work on cleaning up the firewall and the wiring and replace the evaporator core and the heater core. How hard is it to get to the rear most bolts that hold the inner fenders to the inner structure of the fender?

 

[Pasikiainen]

Sharp lookin' brakes you got there! I dreamed to put the same set to my 'lass, but couldn't find any used spindles here. I live in Finland tho 😀

 

[liquidh8]

Looks great!

 

[Blake442]

Good progress!
Looks familiar...

 

[streetrod]

Finally had a chance to check out the build! Great progress!! Can't wait to see some side shots with the new wheels!

 

[sportriderOK]

Love the direction you are going on this. I'm taking notes.