Roxanne - budget milano/75 track car

[inhistoryclass]

jes i really want to see your car at the school, it should look interesting to say the least.

ill have some improvements on mine, but ill still have to work on my own driving skillz to really get the most out of the upgrades.

[AR4me]

Hope to have it there - looking forward to seeing you, and the car.
Jes

[AR4me]

Finally got a few more hours in on the car tonight. Took out the old Dedion bushing and pressed in a new poly Dedion bushing. I have seen pros and cons for doing it with the Dedion in the car vs taking it out completely. I decided to do it with the Dedion still in the car, and it proved to be pretty straightforward and simple. Basically, I undid the rear shocks and sway bar at the Dedion to take out the rear springs to allow me to pull down the Dedion at the front. I put the nuts back on the shocks in order to help hold the Dedion - only held by the Watts linkage otherwise. Anyway, with the rear springs out and undone rear sway bar the front of the Dedion can be easily moved up and down. I used a simple C-vise to press out the old Dedion bushing and the new poly Dedion busing as well as metal sleeve in. Before pressing out the old Dedion bushing I chieseled out (most of) the "tabs".

Find below some pics:
1. Remove the rear springs (need to cut a coil anyway),
2. pressing out the old bushing,
3. pressing in the new poly Dedion bushing,
4. pressing in the metal sleeve,
5. all done

I cannot imagine it being much easier with the Dedion completely out. Though, if you are doing other service to the transaxle perhaps it is still worth the extra labor involved in taking it out entirely. We'll see... I plan to do all the stuff with the Dedion and transaxle in the car, simply tilting it forward and backward to attend the various items.

Jes

[AR4me]

Made some progress this afternoon. I rebuild the shiftlinkage with Performatek's Monkey Shifter Kit - simple and straightforward. There was a huge amount of play in the little moving parts compared to new joints in the kit for rebuilding it. I put in new transmission mounts and bolted the Dedion front cross member back on. The press is handy to press one of the joints out and the new back in.

Find some pics below:
1. The original shift linkage still mounted.
2. The original shift linkage out on the ground (used a punch to tap the pin out and pull it forward off the shift rod going into the tranny).
3. The shift linkage after some cleaning and rebuilding with the parts from the monkey shifter kit.
4. The shift linkage back in.
5. Dedion cross member and new transmission mounts on.

Jes

[AR4me]

Since the transaxle was down it was a good time to pull the rear sway bar and replace the bushing with poly bushings and replace the old rubber bushings between the fork and the sway bar - the fork ends. Those were practically gone and the forks would twist and turn freely - defintely due - see pic. Used the press to do the rubber bushings at the fork ends. I used OEM rubber bushings for that parts as I have not seen anyone carry the equivalent poly part.

Some pics below.
1. Old rubber bushing.
2. Sway bar out.
3. Sway bar done and back in with poly bushings.
4. New fork end OEM rubber bushings.

Jes

[AR4me]

The rear transaxle mount and all Watts linkage bushings are next. Before the rebuild driveline goes back in I plan to replace the rear engine mount.
Jes

[AR4me]

Got some more done. I first did the rear transaxle mount - very simple. Undo the parking brake cable on the rear calipers and pull out cable. Undo bolt for rear transaxle mount and gently lower the rear of the transaxle down. The brake flex line should be just long enough to lower the rear enough without stressing the flex line - but watch it.

Pics.
1. Lowered rear of transaxle with parking brake cable removed.
2. Pressing out old bushing.
3. Pressing in new bushing - this is not a tight fit so not much force is needed.
4. Pressing it all the way in, using the socket as receiver.

As a side note, the old bushing actually looked surprising good - nothing like the Watts linkage bushings... see next post.

Like my $11 bushing press? - works quite well for items I can carry to the real press.

Jes

[AR4me]

Then it was on to rebuild the Watts linkage with the poly kit from Performatek. I had noticed that it would hang at a weird angle when the rear of the Dedion was lowered. Well, all bushings were shot, and the bushing at the Watts center had squeezed out (forward) and the center was all loose.

Pics.
1. The old Watts center bushing.
2. One of the old Watts rod end bushings.
3. New poly bushings pressed in.
4. The Watts linkage center with new poly bushings.

A press certainly makes this rebuild a breeze.

Jes

[AR4me]

Next I went on to cut a coil off the rear springs, mount poly bushings on rear shocks (upper and lower), put in poly bushings on rear sway bar at mounting to Dedion. With this, the rear end is complete All bushings (poly), mounts, cut one coil of springs, rebuild shift linkage.

Below some pics.
1. Cutting a coil of the rear spring - vrmmm, vrmmm - the angle grinder came in handy.
2. After assembling everything I raised the car with a jack under the Dedion to get an idea of the new rear ride height. It still looks too high. Perhaps I should cut another coil?

Just called Autopower. They hope to have the roll cage ready for pick-up tomorrow, Friday, but we'll have to see...

Another outstanding issue is the driveshaft. I finished rebuilding it last weekend, and Monday morning I took it to a shop that has previously balanced such driveshafts, but that was 3-4 years ago under different ownership - they now claim they can't balance it Does anyone know of a driveline shop in the Irvine area that knows how to balance the transaxle driveshafts? I would hate to put it in without balancing since it had a slight vibration around 2700 RPM. Since the old couplings weren't missing any rubber chunks, it is likely to vibrate again if not balanced...

Jes

[La Voce]

Great stuff! This is like taking an online class called "Milano Sport Refresh 201" for free!

[AR4me]

Today I replaced the front swaybar bushings - all poly. The end-links proved the biggest challenge. Getting the metal sleeves of the old bushings off the swaybar ends was a challenge. No good way to press them off, and they were stock after, probably, 20 years. The good old trick of hitting the sway bar with a hammer and let it vibrate on top of twisting the metal sleeve with a vise-grip eventually did the trick.

Some pics.
1. The sway off the car with old bushings - it pulled off the car pretty easily. I have seen cases where the bushing splits and leaves the metal sleeve on the lower A-arm.
2. Fighting those darn metal sleeves of the old bushings. The rubber part twisted right off...
3. Ahh , got all the old bushings off - the bushings pressed right out of the end-links.
4. The front sway back on with new poly end-link bushings and mounts.

Jes

[AR4me]

I spent the later part of the afternoon driving down to San Diego to pick up the roll cage Autopower called this morning saying it would be ready for pick-up after 3 pm Excellent, not even facing rush hour traffic on the 5 fwy could spoil the day. Colin and I will install it this weekend.

Roxanne is coming together

Jes

[eddiealfanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by La Voce Great stuff! This is like taking an online class called "Milano Sport Refresh 201" for free!

[spannerman]

Hi.
Little hint with the watts link mount on the de dion. Cut the old mounting bolt off and weld a 3/4 bolt on to the lower side of the tube. The lower roll centre give much better power down out of corners.