BurnttoastBurgos 1979 Z build post.

[Jerry73Z28]

Ah, opposite sides of a fairly large state. And a whole lot of high country in between. Ah, well.

 

[Burnttoastburgos]

Jerry, I'm in Ouray, to be exact, but nobody seems to know that little town..... Thanks for the documentation on your project build, truly a great read for those who appreciate rebuilding a muscle car. Hope to see you and your 73 one day.

 

[Burnttoastburgos]

so deep into the strip down process, i noticed a big common denominator, "self tapping screws", even this deep into the dash. It was pretty disheartening to see this as it means the majority of the hard to see components were removed at one time. Being 40 plus years old with just under 60K original miles mi was in big hopes this would be a restoration removing oem parts only...but, that's alright.

The TMI Interior parts came in last Friday, VERY excited to open and inspect those boxes. But I must remain patient and focused on the path. Pretty excited as today comes the House of Kolors paint and painting supplies. Tangelo Orange Pearl is the color. I went from oem white with blue interior color to Orange with buckskin interior. Now for something completely different.

Friday nights chore was to clean up the shop from the tear down, sweep, put tools away, categorize parts and take a few pics for the installation process. These parts in below pics are off to get sandblasted and powder coated. Its pretty much the same price and with my business, I'm in their powder coat shop each week.
Doing this type of inventory on a computer with pics is SOO much easier than the way it was done in the 80's and 90's....Ii remember the 3P's....Pen, Paper and Polaroids. I'm sure I'm not alone.

 

[Burnttoastburgos]

any tips on removing coil spring from sub frame?

 

[Zspoiler]

Be very careful . .for one thing .I usually leave the shocks in as you separate the "A" arms .To "catch" the coil springs from coming out and hurting you.

 

[Bandit723]

use a torch or grinder if the springs are not needed again. as Zspoiler mentioned leave the shocks in.

 

[5thTimeAround]

I've replaced quite a few with just a jack under the LCA, use the pressure of the spring to help separate the balljoints (with nut loosened but still on stud), remove spindle, then lower slower until spring pops out. However, just recently I installed stock length springs in my car and had to use an internal spring compressor to get the spring short enough to raise the LCA. Takes a little time to position correctly, but would be the smart way to secure the spring prior to removal too. I used this style:

 

[Burnttoastburgos]

so, one way or the other, its getting strip tonight.

5thtimearound: I don't have any weight on the frame now, so, keeping shocks in and torching seems to be the best way.

My local Napa has a tool for 60 bux I might buy as I'm going to need it again at some point. Its funny, all my life I have done leaf springs changes, never a coil spring. Far cry from the world of trucks.

 

[Bandit723]

Just as a side note if you go with coilovers you won't need a spring tool.

 

[Jerry73Z28]

I didn't have a clue what I was doing when I removed my coil springs back in 2001. I used a spring compressor tool, but I know I'm very lucky I didn't get hurt bad.
Putting them back in was one of the scariest things I've ever done (did it with the subframe off the car). With the same compressor tool. I could FEEL the potential for destruction and pain as that spring compressed.