Started the "back axle project" at the end of August this year. Darn, that seems a long time ago!!
Here's the beast before

Here is the finished product (well very nearly!)- Stripped, sandblasted for 1 hour 5 minutes non stop! Etch primed, white primer, red smoothrite sprayed on and polished. Then, complete with stainless polished hard lines, stainless braided flexy (courtesy of uk89camaro), rebuilt and painted slaves, chrome diff cover secured with 10 polished stainless cap (allen) headed bolts, chromed anti roll bar, chrome U bolts, chromed anti roll bar spacer bracket, polished stainless brake pin spacer plates, new oil seals, LSD additive (£8 for a small tube!!) and new oil, brake backplate to casing threads drilled out and polished cap headed bolts and nylocs used instead. Phew. And that is only the back axle. No wonder this rebuild has taken 4 years so far! Almost there though.


Sport Coupes Rule!

Andy.

 

Hi Andy,

Looking really good, I wish I had your attention to detail. I am moving the thread as it isn't really European specific and feel you will get far better comments on the drivetrain board.

Cheers,
Felix

 

Good work, Andy! Hopefully the rest of the components are that clean and detailed.

Is the plating on the sway bar bright nickel/chrome or hard chrome? I only ask since I've noticed on old street rods that the bright chrome plating on coil springs tends to crack and flake off after some use. Hard chrome apparently doesn't suffer the same tendency, but since the torsion and movement on a sway bar is limited, you may not have a problem with either type. Maybe just something to be aware of and monitor occasionally.

 

Hi Vader.
Thank you.
It is hard chrome, not the cosmetic stuff. There is bound to be surface cracks though since chrome plating is very brittle, as you are no doubt aware. Luckily the springs are airbags and are not chromed!
The quality of the rest of the car is actually far better than the axle! It took me 3 years to strip the entire underside of paint (minimal rust found) by hot air gun, thinners, abrasive wheels and gritblasting and spray it exactly the same colour as the rest of the car. Then it was polished! A few components have been machined from stainless steel or aluminium to keep the shine theme going! eg that little fuel tank vent valve (you know the name of it, but I have forgot!) was a bit grubby so I cleaned up the lower half and fabricated an ally top (or is it the other way round?). See attached pic.
Keep looking out for the photos of the car coming together over the next few months.

Andy.

PS Those HT lead clips you very kindly bought and sent to me free of charge are going on very shortly. They will play a big part in organising the engine bay.

 

mine