Visit to Finland From US with C-2

[Sharks 2gether]

I'd like to fly in and give you hand Jack, but too swamped with work to even think about taking a break

[Jack Panzica]

Hi to all my wonderful friends out there in Corvette Land

I would love to have some one do the repairs, but I thought this would be a good time to have all the forum members come along for the ride. A lift would make it much easier, but that is not going to happen.

Today I turn the heat on in the garage, set the stage for major surgery, take photos for the before and as I do each step.

If I get into trouble , I will call for help, mostly , it is good to have an extra set of hands, if not just to drag me out from under the car.

It will also be a testament to modern Human Replacement Parts.

I have both hips and knees that have new joints, both wrists and ankles have been worked on and lets not even talk about my shoulders.

If I can drive Thousands of miles, fix my car, go to the gym, then so can many of you out there who may be putting off such work.

Give yourself a life.....if you need it, get it done...

Pictures to follow later today ....waiting for the garage to warm up..

Jack

[Yorcci]

Originally Posted by Jack Panzica

If I can drive Thousands of miles, fix my car, go to the gym, then so can many of you out there who may be putting off such work.

Give yourself a life.....if you need it, get it done...

Now that's a great piece of advice!

[Jack Panzica]

So it begins...Day 1

I started today working on the car. Turned on heater in garage, keeps it about 50* if outside is below 32* and warmer if above.

First goal was to jack up car to view damage if possible

Next remove mufflers
Next to remove half shafts

Time 3 hours . One problem was not being able to rotate wheels more than 1 / 4 turn. That made unbolting haft shafts difficult because of small turns of wrench at odd angles on u-joint nuts.

There is little doubt that my rear end is dead.....

Now what to do next. Carrier bolts from cross member will never come out. It will be very difficult to unbolt the rear from carrier as there is no room to get at top bolts.

My sombreros are shot (48 years old) the only way I will get the rear out of the car is to take off the cross member with the rear end.

All the components (Strut rods bushing shot) , springs, drive shaft, have to be take off to drop the rear.

I am on my back doing this. Any suggestion on my next days work will be welcome. I am soaking all in penetrating oil .

Here some pictures of today's work

Car is ready

Getting ready

Up it goes and I hope not down on me

Stable I hope

Wheels off for room, but had to put them back on to rotate wheel

Haft Shafts Off ...one little turn at a time because or lock up of rear

This is the view - what to take off first ?

End of the day

[Jack Panzica]

Day 2

Hello and good Evening to all. 8:30 pm

I put in 3 1/2 hours or work today and quit around 2:30 pm . I had to stop because of lack of a shock knocker, ( found one tonight) and it was time to stand up.

Goals for today:

Take off rear spring without killing myself
Take off Strut bracket and rods ,
Need shock knocker to remove strut rod from spindle arm
and bracket

I was able to remove rear spring using a simple method of two jacks, one to hold trailing arm and one to compress spring in order to release tension on bolts.

I was also able to remove strut bracket , but had to leave in place until I can remove rods from spindle with shock knocker.

Once strut bracket is removed, I will remove snubber bushing , disconnect drive shaft and make decision on cross member removal/carrier removal to take out rear.

Here are the pictures

Support of spring / TA , jack is holding up shock mount not rotor

Unbolting nut by compressing spring with jack

Lower spring jack and down comes spring freeing bolt

Bolt free of spring and can now be pushed up and out

Spring can now be unbolted from carrier

Spring can now be removed

Shocks are freed from spindle , but left bolted on top

Rear End now free , ready for next days work , once strut bracket is removed when rods are free of shock mounts.

Parts on the floor, good 2 days work (7 hours slow me ) without any broken bolts !

[Jack Panzica]

Day 3 "The Great Journey moving along"

Happy New Year to one and all !

Garage on got to 48* today, not bad, since it was 18* when I turned the heat on. Started at 4 PM , lots of other errands to do.

Stopped at 6 pm about 2 hours work today. After all it is NYE.

Today the goal was to remove the strut rod bracket intact. The rods are attached to the TA and the strut mount must be knocked out of the TA in order to release rod from spindle assembly.

I had also hoped to remove the snub bushing which would have allowed me to disconnect the drive shaft. That was not to happen , ran out of time and I could not figure out how to attach a wrench to the bolt that hold the snub bushing, The nut is easy to get to, but without locking the top of bolt , it will just spin.

I will just crack nut or cut it of and pull down snub bracket. Disconnect drive shaft and then the FUN Begins. See that Crow Bar, Soon we do the " Sombrero Dance"

Cheers Jack

We may need this soon !

Home made "Shock Knocker "

Punch to finish job after heat and a few hard whacks with a hammer

Rod now free of spindle assembly

High Tech Tools Shock Mount is out and looks a little bent after 48 years

Strut Bracket Intact and free of rear and spindle

Day 3 Parts Collection

The "Sombrero Dance " Tomorrow if I can move....

[Jack Panzica]

Originally Posted by JohnZ;1588592114

Here's another link to the "Sombrero" article:

http://www.lbfun.com/warehouse/tech_...breroDance.pdf

:thumbs:

Thank you, John and Happy New Years

Day 4 11:15 am New Years Day

The "Sombrero Dance " Today ...I hope the nuts turn ! I read the article , my pry bar is not Super Charged as in the article....lol

http://www.lbfun.com/warehouse/tech_...breroDance.pdf

I will be back with update & pictures in a few hours

Jack

[Jack Panzica]

Day 4 of " The Great Journey " Rear End / Sombrero Removal

Happy New Years to All

Today's Goal was to finish the job of removing the rear end from the car. 2 hours time 1 hour work 1 hour crawl time ...lol

I needed to remove the cross member which requires the removal of the Sombrero Bushings / Nuts the hold cross member to frame. After 48 years of driving in the North East on salted roads and 300,000 miles , you would think all the nuts, bolts and rust would cause a great deal of problems.

Well , not one bolt or nut broke so far. The cross member to my disappointment , did not pop off. The bolts came right out

( I left them in when prying)

The cross member just came off with gentle pressure of the pry bar.

The most difficult part was getting the u-joint nuts off . The rear is locked up and you can not rotate the drive shaft. After dropping the rear down with cross member , I was able to do each nut .

The snuber bracket bushing was difficult because it is hard to put a wrench on the top bolt while you undo the bottom nut.

Tomorrow I will take the rear off the carrier and see what is left of the insides....

The job took 2 hours today 1 hour of work and 1 hour of crawl time on my back. It has taken me about 10-12 hours to get to this stage .

With a lift that time would be about 3-4 hours . Stay tuned for the opening of the rear tomorrow !

What I would like to be able to do later

Gentle prying , cross member came right off - bolts came right out

Cross member now free - both sides came off - no problems

Rear supported by jack as work on drive shaft u-joints

Rear End / Cross member now free of car in dolly

Sombreros after 48 years !

Rear End at Rest

Day 4 Parts Collection

[Jack Panzica]

Day 5 " The Great Journey " Oh my God ! Look at that !

Goals for today : Remove rear from cross-member and open rear end to see what happen to it.

A lesson to be learned. I have been driving this car for almost 300,000 miles in the North East and just about everywhere else. Winter and Summer , salt and rain. And not one bolt was rusted in or broke trying to take it out.

It is sitting for years that rust these cars. Cars that are driven may get surface rust, but it seems the heat and oil must perserve the parts in some way. Sure , they wear out, but I never thought in a million years that the bolts would come out of the rear carrier. But I used a little heat and also used a bolt-out socket by Irwin Tools. It cuts into bolt or nut will take out rounded parts.

I thought it best to use it first before a regular socket. I big breaker bar and very slow turning and out came all the bolts on the cross-member and rear carrier.

Once the cover was off, it was very apparent what happen as you can see. The drive pinion gear was able to move backward into the Posi unit. The ring gear looks OK ....Posi not so good....

Comments are welcome. Any 3:36 posi rears not being used ?

Heating up the cross member bolts. I used a big breaker bar and Irwin Socket (nut / bolt extractor socket) first before I even tried a regular socket

Bolts that I though would never come out , came out

Cover ready to be taken off , what will we find ?

Not very pretty

Day 5 Parts Collection

[Jack Panzica]

Bonjour and Good Morning ,

Today I will take off caps and Posi Unit and see what is behind the mess. Pictures later today

Jack