[Amc-list] success, success, failure, and success

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

A good day over all!

* Bought a CO2/Argon tank for the little Lincoln welder I got from my
father, got a sheet of 16ga steel (wanted 18ga, but no 18ga rems laying
about) from Industrial Metal Supply, plus a really nice angle grinder. I
can weld! (Well, I can weld truly badly, but practice makes
somethingorother.)

* Got all the suspension parts back from the machine shop, all
hot-tanked and media blasted. Boy do they look nice, a shame to put them
under a car. Painted Chassis Black, they'll look like factory photos.

* Said clean-up allowed me to do final measurements and mock-ups. This
ambo upper suspension thing will work and I'm going to fabricate the
spring perch from the ambassador part -- won't need to "ruin" the
American trunnions.

* Welded (!) a nut on to the stub of one 01 upper trunnion to make
attempt to remove said bolt. (Actually I didn't say which bolt but you
know which one.) 500+ degree hot, then water plunge, 3 -4 times so far,
then warmed then Aerokroil then big torque, it will NOT budge. Will do
another 7 times to reach 10 tries, then in the rustpile it goes.

* Did a full mock-up (but non-assembly; that's next) on the 80 parts in
01 car. I'd overlooked one thing -- camber. The bad news is that the 01
part, the steering knuckle pivot (vertical bush) is offset inboard 1"
from the centerline of the A-arm outer bush, where the 80 part has it
inline with (eg. inboard 1" compared to 01). Can't space out the lower
arm pivots, move the uppers inboard, so the only choice is cut arms and
weld. I'm not happy with that. News at 11. It may work out, but it's not
the easy portable, do-it-at-home replacement I hoped it would be.

* I figured out a simple way -- duh! -- to put 10" brakes on the
American. It's 'bad' but I'll probably do it anyways. Simply swap left
and right steering arms. This puts the rod end about 3" inboard on both
sides, requiring shorter tie linkages. Lucky the inner rod end has
enough meat to chop and rethread. I drove my 63 Classic for a decade or
more with 79 lower suspension using spacers that had all the ackerman
angle wrong, and it was wierd turned to lock, it drove fine and no tire
wear. I'll suffer to get those 10" brakes! (I hope the 10x1.75 rear
brakes fit the American's axle tubes... easy to check but I haven't
yet.)

* The gas tank is all cleaned out, epoxy tank liner ordered. Will cut
16ga patches, JB WELD and 15 screws each patch, then epoxy liner. If I
had the nerve I'd weld the patch on. Maybe I'll try that after some
practice (I got a lot a steel sheet). Don't need to burn holes in the
damned thing though.

Got a new pickup strainer and O-ring from Galvin's. Cheap!


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