Auto Restoration 101

All four brake drums were taken down to the local parts store where they were “turned” to eliminate the grooves on the brake surface area. After we picked them up, the drums were then cleaned of all the grease, bead blasted, cleaned again, then epoxy primered and painted with a semi-gloss black urethane. New bearings and races will be installed too.

The rear axle was also degreased and sandblasted. We then removed the rear cover and drained out all of the old grease. When we removed the cover we noticed that it had been punctured and welded up at one point in time. We cleaned up the weld and re-installed the cover with a new gasket. We also pulled both axles and replaced the outer wheel bearings. Right before we were ready to paint it we spun the axle over and heard some clanking around inside the differential. So we decided to remove the rear cover again to find out what was going on. It’s a good thing that we did. We discovered two bolt heads, some teeth and some other small chunks of metal. Apparently the ring gear must have sheared some teeth and been replaced before, this would explain the damage and welded repairs to the cover. We couldn’t believe that there was no sign of this when we first took it apart and drained the grease. The parts must have been lodged somewhere in the differential. We made sure this time that there was nothing else in there.

The hardest part of any restoration is keeping everything organized. Here are the supension parts that we have been prepping, painting and organizing for re-assembly back onto the frame.

This is the painted upper a-arms and spindles.