Rebuilding the 8-inch rear end, Part 2

Thought I should give an update, now that the parts have been ordered and cleaning is nearly complete.

The total cost of the parts, shipped & taxed where necessary, was $92.15.  All parts except the Brake Hardware Rebuild Kit were purchased from Rockauto.  A breakdown of what you'll need:

2 Backing Plate Gasket - Outer ($1.14)
2 Backing Plate Gasket - Inner ($1.40)
2 Axle Bearings ($34.56)
2 Axle Seals ($19.64)
1 Brake Hardware Rebuild Kit ($7.55, from O'Reilly's)
1 set of Brake Shoes ($15.39)
1 Shipping from Rockauto ($12.47)
**dang, I just realized I forgot to buy wheel cylinders!**

After going to get my axle bearings pressed off, I found that our local O'Reilly machine shop no longer does this; they ship it off to Missouri to have done.  Ridiculous... So instead, I plan on calling up a friend of mine who works at a shop, and ask him if I can come by and get these bearings pressed on.  In addition to this, he's planning on working on my Clutch Pedal Bracket Support, which I'll post on a little more later this week.  Hopefully I'll get to knock out 2 birds with one stone.

Right now - quickly, before my parts all arrive - I'm finishing off the sanding, and getting the parts prepped and painted.  The idea at the moment is to paint the axle housing black, with the third member red.  The drums will also be painted, but I'm thinking just a "hammered steel" type finish; not a crazy color like red or anything.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I got a lot of sanding equipment for this very reason, such as a full face shield and earmuffs.  I used them again today when I finished sanding down the axle housing, and began on the brake brackets (is that what they're called?).  I tell you, it's a lot of work getting everything down to bare metal but it should pay off in the prevention of rust down the road.  I'll upload some pictures in part 3 of this little miniseries.

That brings me to one last point before I head to bed...painting.  I've long debated my decision / ability to paint, and after spending a little time doing research today, I think I'm leaning more towards the "set up a paint booth and paint it myself" approach.  While it will be expensive - probably close to $1000 counting all expenses - it's far cheaper than spending several thousand to pay someone else to do it.  One of the biggest costs associated with painting is not the paint, but rather the prep work & post work (wet sanding, etc.).  Time, I have. 

Rebuilding the 8-inch rear end, Part 1

Several years ago, I bought an 8" rear end from a guy, and it has sat, pretty much untouched, ever since.

I decided it's time to clean this thing out and rebuild it myself, with the exception of the third member.  So, last week I hooked up the wire wheel to the angle grinder and went to town.

This week, after doing some research, I began working on removing the axle bearings, seals, etc.  A friend and I had pulled the axles a few years ago, but the axle seals were still inside the housing, and were not budging.  After several hours though, they finally pried loose, and cleanup began. 

Here's how the axle housing looked, before using Simple Green Max degreaser to clean up the inside.  I'd guess this crud was 1/8" thick.



After using the Simple Green and several rags...

From All Mustang Pics

Not all the way clean, but much better.

I also cleaned up the axles using Simple Green, and gave the axles a very light sanding to remove some of the oily varnish sludge gunk stuck on them.  Sanding the housing was quick with a wire wheel, but not very accurate.  Using a foam sanding block took care of the curves and tight spots, but was expectantly slower.  Now to go get these bearings pressed off, and new ones pressed on.

Good news, I think.

Supposedly the leaf springs are finally on a freighter on their way over here.  Should be like 30 days...we'll see.

Sanding & Prep work for POR15

Over the weekend, I picked up a variety of tools from Harbor Freight (sister works there now, hello employee discount!).

I grabbed a variable 6-speed multi-tool (more on that later), with attachments
Six 2" steel-spring clamps
A full-face shield
Earmuffs
5" Orbital sander
Sanding blocks
Sandpaper

After sanding with the orbital sander for a while, I hadn't gotten very far.  I was using 60 grit paper, but the Mustang has a ton of curves and small ridges that make it difficult to sand over.  I was perplexed...  I bought the sanding disks and started manually sanding.  I had tried a wire wheel before but had gotten nowhere, as it wouldn't pull the coat of original paint off the metal.  Luckily, I spoke to my friend who informed me that wire wheels, while they look like they're still good, can lose their effectiveness.  I quickly swapped mine out for a new one I still had in the packaging, and it removed almost all the paint on the left fender apron.  I hope to have the rest removed by tomorrow, but I'll need to pull the transmission out of the bay to get to the firewall.

As for the sandpaper and Orbital sander, I guess I will just keep it for the hood, panels, etc.  Kind of regret buying that. 

The Oscillating Multifunction Tool was bought for one reason in particular - scraping the undercoating.  I have long heard horror stories about how much time & effort it takes to remove the stock undercoating from the Mustangs, and the de facto approach to removing it is a propane torch and putty knife, slowly scraping off what you can.  Well good news, the Multifunction Tool did both my rear wheel-wells in just a few minutes*.  It was worth every penny.  Now I'm sure I can use it for 1,000 other things,

* The wheel-wells are curved; the scraper is not.  You're going to run into this with the Multifunction Tool or a putty knife, so there will be some manual labor scraping off what is missed in the nooks & crannies.

The Unofficial POR15 Plan

I don't quite know if this is how it's going to be done, but I think this is close.  I need to write down my ideas because I'll forget them if I wait 20 minutes, then I have to think it all up again :-D

Remove undercoating, top layer of grease/oil/junk

Remove any paint & primer

Clean w/ Soap & Water

Apply Marine Clean

Wipe down with wet sponge, dry.

Apply Prep & Ready

Wipe down with wet sponge, dry.

Apply POR15 to engine bay panels, frame rails, and underbody, and floor pans

**After 2-6 hours, POR15 will become tacky**.

Immediately apply topcoat to engine bay and frame rails.  Still unsure on what Topcoat I'll use.  I like the Satin look.

---- (later) ----

Apply Marine Clean to underbody

Wipe down with wet sponge, dry.

Sand underbody with 300-grit sandpaper

Apply self etching primer to underbody

Reapply after 3-12 hours

Apply Red Oxide Primer to underbody (I'll be honest.  I don't understand really why the primer is the final coat?) 

Well that is all for tonight. 

New parts and lots of work done

Well, we're in the hottest summer on record, here in DFW.  I don't even know how many consecutive days it has been over 100* F, but I believe it's somewhere around 40.  Nights dip down to the balmy 90s.  And yet, I'm making a ton of progress on the Mustang. 

As I mentioned in my last post, my wife and I are teaching swimming classes for the 2nd summer in a row, and the extra money is wonderful; my wonderful wife is putting it all in the Mustang Fund.  So I've managed to pick up a few parts over the last few weeks:

1. Finally found a Duraspark II intermediate harness (from ignition module to distributor) for $5, off of a 75 V8 LTD, I think.
2. Picked up a T-5 Crossmember off of eBay for $92 after shipping.  Not a bad price.  It's the tubular design.
3. Ordered the POR15 Power Mesh (which is basically Fiberglass...that's....it).  
4. Ordered a DIN radio adapter off of Amazon.  It's a plastic box that you can screw under the dash, though I will likely velcro it.  I hate drilling holes in the dash.
5. Ordered the Mr. Gasket #925D distributor recurve springs (see below)

I used the Duraspark II recurve instructions found widely on the web, and swapped the lighter spring with the #925D spring.  This spring requires slightly less force to stretch it the same distance, so it will cause the timing to advance at a faster rate.  In addition, I flipped the "slots" (I am not aware of the technical term), so instead of a 15R, I am now running a 10R.  The 10R is a smaller width slot, so the mechanical advance is smaller (20 degrees vs. 30 degrees for the 15R). 

So, why do this?  Well, I will need to increase the initial advance (you know, turning the distributor) an extra 10 degrees to compensate, and that will greatly benefit the engine.  After this, I reattached everything, and found out one of my spark plug wires was too short.  Awesome, lol.

Then for the tough work...

After a few afternoons working in the garage, I finally got the old 7" rear end completely separated and removed from the car.  After many attempts to finagle the exhaust pipe out from under the car, I gave up and cut it in half.  That leaves me with only the transmission & driveshaft, which are actually just sitting under the car; not actually attached. 

The new rearend has been wire-wheeled down to bare metal (and rust) but I still need to have it rebuilt, and put a new ring & pinion in it.  The stock 2.79 gear will be a bear to drive with a T5.  If I am able to acquire a 4-cylinder T5, I'll use 3.25 gears.

I'll give a concise little time-line of what is left (this might be scary...)

Grind all undercoating/dirt/mud/crap off the underside of the car
Apply POR15 to the engine bay, interior floorpans, and underside of car. 
Follow this with a topcoat of a semi-gloss UV protectant paint, to the engine bay.
Apply stripping chemicals to the fenders/doors/hood/roof/etc. to remove old paint.  Scrape off and begin sanding.  (This means I'll have to remove the glass & headliner.  Dangit)
Rebuild and re-install rear-end; install rear suspension, front suspension, front disc brakes, and rebuild rear brakes.
Install all new brake lines, master cylinder, proportioning valve, and distribution block. Bleed brakes.
Attach wheels/tires
Install sound & heat deadening to interior, inside of doors.
*** At this point, I should have a rolling shell, minus engine and transmission.***
Install T-5 crossmember, clutch pedal bearing kit, and heim-joint Z-bar modification
Install Engine, Transmission, and Exhaust system
Paint.
Rewire the car
Attach miscellaneous electrical items, speakers, etc.
Install interior.

Time to get on it!