Lucy, Lucy, Lucy

[JUSTA6]

5 hours ago, Frosty said:

The rear end is not stock. I replaced the factory 10-bolt with a Mosier 12-bolt back in the early 2000s at a company called Hardcore Performance. At one time, they had the fastest LS-powered Firebird in the country. The shop owner was arrested and convicted on mortgage fraud and the company was shut down. So it is entirely possible that the rear end was not installed perfectly square or perhaps Mosier mounted the 4-link brackets incorrectly. I will need to measure the rear end in order to determine that.

Is it rubbing on both sides?

[Frosty]

I've only noticed the driver's side thus far, but I intend to validate both sides before moving forwrd.

[JUSTA6]

Could save you the cost of new rims and/or tires.

[indymanjoe]

do you have adjustable upper control arms? if the rear isnt centered that can make it easier to do so. its why i went with adjustable that and to adjust pinion angles.

 

[indymanjoe]

OK i found the guy he's in Livonia

Weldcraft Wheels Hmmmm linky no worky

Weldcraft Wheels

Weldcraft Wheels 11881 Belden Ct Livonia, MI 48150 US

Phone: (734) 779-1303 Fax: (734) 779-1345 [email protected]

Business Hours

Monday - Friday     8am to 5pm 

Eastern Standard Tim

[Frosty]

Thanks for the info Joe. I will keep him in mind. 

Funny you should mention adjustable rear upper control arms. I do have a set. I've been meaning to install them - hopefully over the winter.

[Frosty]

I was going thru my firebox at home. I keep the titles to all my cars in it along with other important papers. I went to the bank and had them sign off the loan on my pickup yesterday. I ran across this envelope. 
 

I’m sure I’ve said in other posts about how I bought Lucy. I found her in an ad in a local Auto Swapper mag back in 1995. I make an appointment to see the car with a guy named Duane Fisher. The car is located near my old high school. I get to the house and this blind guy answers the door, complete with sunglasses, a white cane and all! This turns out to be Duane, the owner of the car! He lost his eyesight in a hunting accident. So here is a picture of Duane from his own stationary.

[Frosty]

Well this is sad, but I guess it should not be unexpected either. It seems Duane Fisher passed away in 2017. I didn't know that until just now.  RIP Duane. I will take good care of Lucy!

https://obits.mlive.com/us/obituaries/flint/name/duane-fischer-obituary?id=11175537

 

[Last Indian]

On 1/5/2024 at 8:25 AM, Frosty said:

Thanks for the info Joe. I will keep him in mind. 

Funny you should mention adjustable rear upper control arms. I do have a set. I've been meaning to install them - hopefully over the winter.

I know this will probably be a waste, but what wheels do you want for the car? I.E. style, diameter, width? Is it still the Rally ll’s? 

[Frosty]

I have a set of 15x7 (Front) and 15x8 (rear) chrome Rally IIs from Wheel Vintques. This is my immediate plan.

If I had the extra cash I would go for a set of Foose Nitrous SEC wheels. I like the faux bead lock look.

[Last Indian]

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

I have a set of 15x7 (Front) and 15x8 (rear) chrome Rally IIs from Wheel Vintques. This is my immediate plan.

If I had the extra cash I would go for a set of Foose Nitrous SEC wheels. I like the faux bead lock look.

DO NOT get me wrong! I am not knocking Foose wheels, not in the least, but you in general are paying a higher price for a name as well as a smaller volume product. So if that is your absolute heart’s desire, than wait till you can get there. In the meantime you can consider what I said sometime back. Take the chrome rally ll’s & do what you can. And as I said back then was take wheel to a shop where they can remove the welded center from the outer ring. Reset the backspace you want & reweld the center to the ring. Depending on how much the heat impact the chrome on the front of the wheel you may be able to polish it out if not you can find a PVD company in your area an have the wheels rechromed with the PVD process.

But, before you did all of that you might look at American Racing’s Torq Thrust SL wheels. These are what are on the Indian. They look similar to the Foose wheel & less than half the cost. They are a two piece custom welded wheel. They would give you what you need for back spacing & the look would be close until you could get the Foose wheel.
One thing that is unique with this wheel is its built backwards! The step down portion of the rim where the tire falls into when mounting or removing a tire from the rim, which actually reduces the diameter of the rim where the center fits always is on the front side of the rim, which is where the center fits for that configuration. But on this wheel it’s on the backside & so where the center sits on this wheel is the larger diameter of the ring, which gives the appearance of a bigger rim.

Additionally these actually are a quality wheel, well made & when I had mine made even though I ordered them through a distributor I talked directly to the supervisor that was in charge of the area where they made these Torq Thrust wheels, so I could get exactly what I wanted done.

6D84923C-13BA-421A-9A1A-A48E1B3F6B3C.webp

[Frosty]

Thanks for the suggestion Last Indian. I will price out a set and see.

[Last Indian]

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

Thanks for the suggestion Last Indian. I will price out a set and see.

Frosty, be aware that you may need to call & speak to someone who knows that wheel. When I originally thought of getting mine their site said I couldn’t get the backspace I wanted & they weren’t an option for my car. I don’t know why, but it did. Upon talking to the supervisor that ran that area & discussing what I wanted  he said in wasn’t a problem & told me haw we could do it. Hindsight I wish I had done more backspace. I could have had an 1” deeper dish on both front & back.

[Frosty]

Great advice as always Last Indian. I appreciate it.

[Last Indian]

7 hours ago, Frosty said:

Great advice as always Last Indian. I appreciate it.

Frosty, look at this word doc. This shows how the center hub can be moved back, it also shows how the wheel is backwards as I said & why it would appear larger. It also shows that I used a SS wheel adaptor I made to move the front wheels out an additional 3/4 “. Which I could have put more backspace in & not used the adaptors.

 

Edited February 7 by Last Indian

[Frosty]

This weekend I took out my Percy Tire tool to try to determine how big a tire I can run under the stock rear fenders without tire rub. As I took the rear driver's tire off, the brake drum was loose and partial came off. After removing the tire and rolling it out of the may, something fell out of the drum assembly. I pulled the drum all the way off, and the star wheel and a spring fell out. Only it was half of the star wheel. the other half was lodged between the shoe and the backing plate. Thank god for extending magnets to fish it out.

Then I notice a problem....can you guess what it is? Here is the star wheel.

Look at the top and the bottom of the star wheel. See how the locating socket that goes between the lower brake show is there at the bottom, but the top is missing?

I realized that this was why the drum was so loose and I probably didn't have any left rear brakes either. I ran down to my local AutoZone parts store and asked for a self-adjuster kit for a '72 Chevelle. No one stocks "Pontiac" parts anymore. I actually had to spell Chevelle for the kid at the counter. Sheesh! Turns out they didn't have it but another AutoZone about 4 miles away did. So I ended up driving those 4 miles and spent $18.00 for a new self-adjusting kit.

The part I need is at the lower left, next to the star wheel. I will most likely use the entire new star wheel.

I ran out of time to fix it (the wife called and said it was dinner time). So that is my mission this week and then get back to tire measuring.

[Wrongway]

7 hours ago, Frosty said:

Then I notice a problem....can you guess what it is?

You didn't give me time to guess! Damn it, I actually knew this one, so not fair Frosty. 

Glad you found that and it was an easy fix bro.

[JUSTA6]

Adjuster is brand new.  Why are you not all over your mechanic?  The missing end HAS to be in the drum.  What about the other side?  Guess I've never had both sides off at the same time while doing brakes.  Seems like the adjuster is side correct?  If they are backwards, they would we loosening instead of tightening up the brake shoes.   But, that would be the only way the loose (missing) end would be able to slip off.  Justa guess and I could be wrong, but bettin the adjusters got mixed up somehow.

[64 kiwi boni]

34 minutes ago, JUSTA6 said:

Adjuster is brand new.  Why are you not all over your mechanic?  The missing end HAS to be in the drum.  What about the other side?  Guess I've never had both sides off at the same time while doing brakes.  Seems like the adjuster is side correct?  If they are backwards, they would we loosening instead of tightening up the brake shoes.   But, that would be the only way the loose (missing) end would be able to slip off.  Justa guess and I could be wrong, but bettin the adjusters got mixed up somehow.

I agree with justA .. best question everthing in both drums !!! No way should the adjuster fall apart !!! Check everthing frosty ! Was the spring pulling the bottom of both brake shoes still in place ? Or has it broken a hook end off ? That’s the only way that adjuster came fall apart ! 

Edited April 9 by 64 kiwi boni

[Frosty]

12 hours ago, JUSTA6 said:

Adjuster is brand new.  Why are you not all over your mechanic?  The missing end HAS to be in the drum.  What about the other side?  Guess I've never had both sides off at the same time while doing brakes.  Seems like the adjuster is side correct?  If they are backwards, they would we loosening instead of tightening up the brake shoes.   But, that would be the only way the loose (missing) end would be able to slip off.  Justa guess and I could be wrong, but bettin the adjusters got mixed up somehow.

 

12 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

I agree with justA .. best question everthing in both drums !!! No way should the adjuster fall apart !!! Check everthing frosty ! Was the spring pulling the bottom of both brake shoes still in place ? Or has it broken a hook end off ? That’s the only way that adjuster came fall apart ! 

I did take the passenger side tire and brake drum off. That side appears to be fine. I thought the same as Justa and Kiwi. Therefore I did inspect it. I am happy that it was only on one side. 

As for chewing out my mechanic, I don't remember who did the brakes the last time. The guy I had put in the steering column last summer didn't touch the brakes. Those brakes have been on the car for at least 7-10 years. Lucy has been sidelined with heater core and steering column issues since 2019. This will be the first time in 5 years she has been road worthy.

Edited April 9 by Frosty

[JUSTA6]

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

 

I did take the passenger side tire and brake drum off. That side appears to be fine. I thought the same as Justa and Kiwi. Therefore I did inspect it. I am happy that it was only on one side. 

As for chewing out my mechanic, I don't remember who did the brakes the last time. The guy I had put in the steering column last summer didn't touch the brakes. Those brakes have been on the car for at least 7-10 years. Lucy has been sidelined with heater core and steering column issues since 2019. This will be the first time in 5 years she has been road worthy.

Will be nice to have er back on the road.  

[64 kiwi boni]

I know the feeling frosty !!! 
am taking the Camaro for its warrant of fitness this morning ! It has not been on the road since 2020 ! 

[Frosty]

Good luck with that mate! 

[64 kiwi boni]

got it !

new wof

and all road legal

then spotted that after that near death encounter 2 weeks ago ! not only have i got lots of paint missing but a headlight is toast to !!!😡

[64 kiwi boni]

know what !!! i want to up grade my dash !!! am thinking dakota digital !!!

https://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=1156/mode=prod/prd1156.htm