The IFS continues 5 - Dec 30, 2005

First thing I did today was to get rid of the old front end and other bits and pieces of metal that had collected. Didn’t get anything for them but, just getting them out of here was payment enough.

Started off by sanding the filler that I had applied yesterday to hide some of my shloppy welding. I then applied a thin layer of glazing putty to clean it up a bit more. While that was drying I set about cleaning and painting the silver painted rack. By the time I was finished with that process it was time to sand the glazing putty.
Quick cleanup of the frame and it was time to lay another coat of paint on the frame. Once that cured a bit, I mounted the rack on the cross member. Looked good!

Now, for the not so fun part. It was time to mount the lower A-arms. Talk about a major Mother! The problem was that there were two washers that had to go between the A-arm bushings and the tube that was welded on the cross member. No frickin’ way! I fought this for a good hour before I got really physical with it. The problem was that without the washers it took a rubber mallet to get the A-arm on. It was that tight of a fit. I did manage to beat one washer into place with WD40 and a screw drive but there was no possible way the other one was ever going to be placed in position. I knew that the washers were needed to make sure the rubber bushings didn’t get eaten alive against the tube.
Solution? The grinder. Shaved a very small amount off of the back side of each tube. And I do mean barely shaved. I didn’t want to compromise the integrity of the engineering of the assembly. It was still tough but, I was finally able to get them on.

With that done, I mounted my upper A-arms. The sun was on it way down so, it was time to clean up my mess and take a couple of shots. Tomorrow I’ll shoot a second coat of paint on the A-arms (and any other spots I might have missed) and then mount the rest of the parts.

She should be back on the ground tomorrow…lowered just a bit… : )>