While we wait

The clips that were purchased for the fuel lines are not usable, so while we wait for the real ones to arrive, U-joint straps were refinished while the ones that could not be restored were replaced with new.

The tie rod tubes, as they are called, were sandblasted and painted with flat iron paint while the clamps for the tie rod ends were Parkerized along with the bolts that cinch them tight.

The very distinctive nuts that go onto the bolts were electroplated.

A new set of restoration-quality tie rod ends will be purchased soon so this will be ready to reassemble. An idler arm will need to be purchased as well.

The steering gear was refinished this week, but the hardware on the top cover was removed, refinished and then reinstalled.

It looks great.

The rag joint, power steering ram and valve are next on the list.

Cleaned right up

The original steering gear cleaned up nicely.

On to steering

The steering parts are next for no particular reason.

The steering gear was originally left unpainted as was the majority of the steering components that will be restored now.

The nut and split washer will be electroplated and Parkerized as they were from the factory.

The pitman arm was pulled from the steering gear, sandblasted and painted cast iron gray.

The cast steering relay rod was removed from the tie rods and power steering parts, sandblasted and painted cast iron gray as well.

A new set of reproduction tie rod ends will also be purchased.

A new idler arm will have to be purchased since the original is very worn and has excessive play. This is a disappointment since this one is original with the part number and GM logo, but they are not available anymore.

In the rear with the gears

The differential is filled with new 80W-90 gear oil and GM friction modifier, touched up and installed onto the frame.

The LSD additive tag came in as well, so that was added.

Not gonna do it

The differential went back together really well and it looks great. New seals for the side yokes were installed to cure the one that was leaking a bit along with new dust shields for the side yokes.

It was tempting to remove the pinion yoke to install a new seal along with a new dust shield for aesthetics. The pinion seal isn't leaking, but it seemed like a good idea with all of this out and on the bench. Reading the incredibly complicated procedure for reinstalling the pinion yoke with the special tool that is required made this seem like a really bad idea.

If ever this starts to leak, this job will be tackled then. As for now, it's a sleeping dog best left alone.

One snap ring

The differential is torn down and drained. Pulling the side yokes is a seemingly easy task, but there's very little space inside the limited-slip unit so removing the snap rings that hold them in was difficult.

After and hour or so of struggle, both yokes are out.

They have been media blasted and painted flat iron to mimic the 'natural' finish they had but keep them from rusting.

New dust rings will be pressed into place on these and new oil seals will be driven into the differential housing to seal them up.

After that, these can be installed into the differential, the cover can be installed onto the housing and the unit can be refilled with gear oil.

The look of the oil suggests this is the original oil and given how much work it is to change it - removing the rear suspension and the differential from the car - I can understand why.

The front sway bar brackets were refinished this weekend as well, so they were installed along with new bushings and the restored sway bar.

Getting expensive

The leaf springs are primed, which is how they were finished at the factory, and ready to be assembled with new set of plastic liners. The problem is, the second set of liners came in today and these too are not right. These are not wide enough to work so another set will have to be found and ordered. At $60 a set, this is getting expensive.

Until a set that is made correctly is found, might as well continue working on the differential. The bracket that secures it to the frame was blasted and painted along with a set of sway bar bushing brackets.

They both look great in their new coat of black paint.