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My '76 710 Goon


datzenmike

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Well I found another sway bar in my pile of never thrown away parts. The one on there is 0.710" and this one is 0.75" or 1mm thicker.

 

I also picked up a set of those rubber 'doughnut things' for the sway bar end links. Decided to swap to the (thicker) bar. Well that means taking the tension rods out to get at the fasteners, and that led to finding one of the tension rods was bent, and both side rubber bushings are all split... so that led me back to my parts stash where I have another set. The rubbers are in better shape too. 

 

So everything back in and together. Drove around the block and it steers straight and no funny sounds. Too fucking beat to go anywhere to really test it out. I did notice today that the steering is much lighter than the old tires and turning tight corners in town is quieter and easier.

 

 

I am going to be sore tonight and fucked up tomorrow. Laying on your side holding you meathead up off the ground and pulling on wrenches....  

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Went out on the highway to 80-ish. Steers straight but seems 'gooey' somehow. The old tires seemed more... stable. Next week will check the alignment, (as I did replace one tension rod and all the bushings) and will try airing up the new tires. They may be softer than needed.

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When I put the tires on myself I blew them up to 40 for a good seal. When I got the first pair back from balancing they had adjusted the pressure so I assumed the last pair were also. My bad. This weekend I'll check the toe.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well bad weather and Easter weekend has prevented much work but I did replace the carriage bolts and welded them onto the sectioned bumpers...
 
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The rust converter turned black...

 

gKvu17t.jpg
 

 

Was in a hurry. Looks too silver paint so may look for something darker. It really shows up the flaws too. I'll let it sit for the week and try hand sanding.

 

JwYvrb8.jpg

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They look like someone sprayed them with silver paint, UGH.

 

 

 

Sanding them down removed some of the fine scratches filled in with paint. Trying a semi gloss black. This is still wet and shiny. I'll let dry and sand again if needed to build it up

 

opEdw4v.jpg

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Yes, god anything but the stock ones. It's an experiment. The Firenza mentioned before had narrower chrome bumpers but they scrapped it over the winter. Going to try these for fit. If it makes me look fat I'll try something else. Too thin... like a 510 and there's too much valance exposed, which I don't like.

 

Not liking the black so I sanded these and will try for something lighter.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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In prep for upcoming Canby trip I did an oil an filter change. There is Rotella T4 in 10W30 also. That's a Ford 4.9 liter six oil filter. It's over an inch taller than the correct one. It may even be cheaper, used to be. Every two years it gets a new fuel filter and fresh anti freeze. Still a long way to go but last weekend I fixed my right side view mirror.

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Got to get the bumpers welded onto the bumper shocks. I noticed that I was driving around without my front plate... it's on the old park bench. Weather is good today but deteriorating for the weekend. Still need to check front alignment, check adjust rear brakes, empty, clean out car and clean outside, check trans and diff fluid levels........ 

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ANYTHING is :lol:

 

The rear is not working out as well. When in place the bottom is too low. I may slice it lengthwise and trim off 2 1/2". The thought of driving onto a very steep driveway or over rough ground  scares me. It's like a road grader plough. Looks ok till you climb under and look. It's just way too low and is sure to hang up on something. 

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Slowly closing in on a final bumper.

 

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The rear is just to damn low so I slit it lengthwise. It's also too straight and needs a few pie cuts to curl the outer ends in closer to the body. The whole thing needs a slight arc to it. We'll see this weekend.

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The tailgate is slightly curved outward to the rear. Below it where the bumper shocks are is relatively flat across the back. The bumper is straight like this... My cut off disc is 2mm thick so 3 cuts, one in the middle and one each out by the bumper shocks. Then 2 more one on each side between bumper shocks and the center, that's 5. If needed 4 more equally spaced between these five. God I hope 9 or less will do. It's not much of a curve

 

Measuring the cord of the arc across the back of the tailgate is 1,220mm. The height of the arc is 38mm. The arc length comes out to 3 or 4mm so it's so slight that my measurement accuracy isn't good enough. Going to assume it's under a centimeter. Math isn't my bag .... baby.

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i49PWds.jpg

 

Well, 5 cuts drew the ends in by over an inch which tucks them in nicely. Hot damn! the curve matches the tailgate perfectly. I welded both sides and am grinding and sanding down the side that shows. Really want to get this on this weekend.

 

 

 

 

Tucked in nicely like it belongs there. Before it was way out like it would hook onto passing cars.

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I've never done that before. Mostly I do stuff I've done before. It's nice to break out of the rut. Thing is, when you find you can do something it's a pleasant surprise, and you might try something more challenging. Well now I'm my own expert on sectioning a chrome bumper.

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