Fabrice's 429CJ 71 project

[Fabrice]

Long weekend yeah!
Rain, rain rain, who cares!? I need be inside as I'm still waiting for my 73's parts...



So I went back to my BobTheBuilder tribute, and started by correcting small metal and welding flaws with a tad of bondo, and applied panel kit...
 



Later in the afternoon, the epoxy yellow had left place to the grey colour of a fine primer.
Happy days!



Sunday began with a tedious wet sanding session. I'm not after body like surface, but if I wanted to get rid of few flaws, it was the time to do so!



After a good clean, I started to spray the final 2k semi gloss and I was having a big smile under my mask as all started to look fine...



Started with the cowl, firewall, to then did the sides and the underside of the frame. and my smile was growing...

That was till  I went back in.
To finish the front part of the towers, the apron, and after a final climbing, the radiator support...



As this point, me totally unaware that the paint started to harden in the gun, became sirup and in matter of a few sprays, the previously fine mist lost its finesse. 
The gun became bloated and once aware of the issue (too late), despite my attempts to thin up the mixture, the damage had been done.

At first sight right after spraying, the paint still wet, all was looking pretty ok despite the issue and thought that may be, once it would dry and that some surface tension would occur. it would have been ok with me.. 

You can see on the first image above of entire bay that all was looking okish.. 

But this Monday, evaluating the result, my smile had definitely left the building!
Sure it's not a disaster, not that terrible either and many would be happy with that, but after so many hours, I just can't accept this result as it doesn't reflect at all the extra mile put into it. And last but not least, I know it will bug me each and every time I will open the hood!

Sooooo, I'll be water sanding the aprons, radiator and anything not smooth again as ment to be and respray this again asap. I guess I payed the price for using a paint I never used before, unaware it hardenned faster than epoxy or any other paint I often use.
Not a biggy and part of the game, but always desapointing  when that occurs. You have to have pain to be beautiful they say... yeah yeah I know!

To be continued...

 

[midlife]

Oh that sucks big time.  That's one thing I learned the hard way as well: I cannot paint worth a damn.

 

[7173Vert]

Other then small parts with a rattle can... I learned the hard way years ago. I wussed out and paid to have my car and engine bay painted. A man has got to know his limitations...  sometimes we are destined to learn through our mistakes. Good luck with the re-do.

 

[Fabrice]

learn through our mistakes

True, tho here it's a chemical thing. Been in touch with the company delivering me my paint and they confirmed this particular paint should stay sprayable at 20c/68f for at least 2 hours when in the cup with the provided thinner. Even taken wide in time, it took me less than 1/2 hour to spray all from the moment the paint was mixed. They offer to send me paint again, free of charge, which was unexpected.

Looked again yesterday now that it's really dry and it's not that much work. the "ugly" part is not that spread. I need only to fine sand light the two front aprons to remove the mist, the top of radiator mount and in front where the right headlight support is. The other good news is that this paint can be sprayed over without reaction, where otherwise I thought I'd first need to spray a thin primer layer. So will mask from towers and should be done within an hour tops.
I'll nail that ****** paint! 

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Always great to see your updates. Killing me not to be painting my car now. Should actually be putting together. My first Dr. visit is June 9 and see when they can do surgery.
I have done some de rusting in my molasses and things that do not upset my neck and back.
You will be bolting on parts soon.
Which NPD do you get your parts from? I am in North Carolina and I use the Charlotte one. Covid has taken so many here. Some do not have issues but others do. My neighbor barely made it 82 days in hospital in coma with feeding tube in her side for months. She is home and getting around good. She walked over to look at my car when loading into car trailer.

 

[Fabrice]

Which NPD do you get your parts from? I am in North Carolina and I use the Charlotte one. Covid has taken so many here.

The main infection was in their Florida warehouse, with over 20 positive cases. 3 in critical condition in hospital, and one who passed away. They had a replacement team but it also contracted the virus. It's only around mid May that they were able to resume international shipping with reduced personnel, a pile of orders to process ofc, it took them over a month to have mine processed, and last week they shipped it with extra fast UPS, package was at my door in 4 days!

This virus is terrible. We are officially approaching the 4 millions deaths, and that's the official numbers. When you see the latest news in India alone, you know the numbers are way off...

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

In the US too many have the opinion "you cannot tell me or make me wear a mask". I want to go up and slap those without a mask in public. What idiots. I was growing up when polio hit. We took our shots and eventually went to oral doses. Americans today are IDIOTS.
Yes it has been tough last year and half but people not doing what is right just makes it worse. I have friends in China and if people did not stay home they welded their apartment doors shut. Yes welded they are all steel I lived there. Friends there tell me they are doing way better than the U.S.. Maybe the good side of this we eliminate the IDIOTS. The guys at NPD have always been great to deal with but sad to hear of their issues. I actually let deliveries set for several days before I even open. I would never make it if I got Covid.

 

[Fabrice]

Waited a month to get my parts from NPD, waited 4 for my AOD parts and last week along with other small orders like oil, paint etc... all came within 2 days.
So as my 73 is being still for more than a month on my driveway and we had the first sunny, non-cold-dry weekend of the year. I wanted fix that rear end...

For the record, +- 15 years ago, when the 73 was in garage in parts, not having the knowledge and the confidence I have these days when it comes to our car, I decided to let a pro rebuild my 9 inch traction lock with fresh 3:50 teeth.. I never drove it till end of last year when car was finally road worthy and put 4 or 5 hundred miles on it since then.

Because it's been revised by a professional company doing only rear ends and trans, having such a massive leak on my brakes must be a sign that something went badly wrong inside... May be some corrosion after so many years still had occur? So to be prepared I had ordered by NPD: bearings, sealing plates. Not knowing how many splines, ordered 2 sets of seals of 2 sizes as there are on our babies 2 kinds. both 2.25 outer one for 28, the other for 31 splines axles where the diameter is a tad wider for the 31 and of course new shoes as they have been soaked for weeks into gear oil, no brake cleaner would have restored that...



After using 2 cowboys tricks that worked extremely well and fast which otherwise would have required expensive tools to remove both the axle and the seal deep inside.

I've ended up looking at a perfect axle.. The bearing that were supposed to be replaced were new as expected, zero play, marks on the casing showed the perfect sitting. The axle had no marks of damage/wear. The vent tube of the axle was free, oil level within range with the additive and the seal was looking alright so overpressure was out of order. Inspected the seal before removal into the casing and closer after it was removed. Lip/spring was as new.

WHY IS IT LEAKING THEN?????

Well, it took the hobbyist that I am a good 1/2 hour to inspect and check everything to find out that the professional had installed the wrong seal type. They had installed the 31 splines type which ofc has a bigger inner radius... raaaaaaaaa!!! No wonder it started to leak!!
As I had also a set for 31 splines axles, compared them and confirmed.

So for the entire weekend, I've been swearing under the surprisingly warm sun, put back the axle with the proper seal, put new shoes on (oh boy do I hate servicing drums brakes!!! Always been a pain for me). And knowing what I knew, I had to do the other side as well because chances were high they would have done the same on the other side... 
Once it was out: bingo! Same mistake, at least this company was consistant! So serviced that faulty seal too and replaced the practically new shoes that were on with new ones.
While underneath, also reinstalled my good old traction bars that I've restored. I wasn't planning to reinstall them, but as I could feel they weren't there anymore in the corners, I've placed them back.
While busy on the brakes, I've replaced the proportioning valve and bled the entire system with new fluid. I've finished the weekend at 22:00 after replacing the engine oil. Too late to start the loud v8 without waking up the young kids next door. I'll check the car and take it for a spin somewhere this week.

Once more, this experience shows that trusting a professional on this side of the pond isn't perse a good idea, no matter the reputation they have. Our cars are simply too old, too exotic for most shops over here and it's easy for them to make mistakes just as we make them!

Oh well, my muscles are crying from this driveway crawling weekend, but it's corrected now!

Next weekend: AOD joys!

To be continued...

 

[Fabrice]

Now that my rear end is fixed and not expecting it to leak again for a long while
I've returned to the the AOD rebuild joys..



Aside the casing that is now as new, only the pump was in need of love to be as new both on the inside as the outside. All hardware is now done too..
 



I won't go into the details of the AOD rebuild, but in this case, because it was in very good shape inside, it's all about cleaning, removing rings and rings and rings and when you're done, it's about put all these rings back and cover all in trans oil or Mr goo (which i highly recommend) or both !
And of course watch the great guiding videos from Ken at badshoe.com
The AOD is much more complicted than a C6, but if you take your time it's no rocket science, especially when Ken got your back.

I've ended the weekend with all back in, all new but I keep the complex valve body for next weekend.
I need prep the space first for it as it's full of dozens of tiny valves and springs....



One detail tho...
If you have done an automatic trans like a c4, c6, fmx, you know you need to change the pistons seals of all the clutches.
On these transmissions, the seals are square cuts, and it's all about lubing them, engage the piston and push. Even on some where you have special ring seal tools
a bit of patience and a good push can get you there. In a C6 the chamfer in the drums is making the install a breeze and I do not see why you'd need to use any tool. 

However, the AOD, AODE, 4r70W and more newer trans are using lip seals type for the pistons. Even worse, the drums, at least the cast version for these are not having a chamfer to help guide the lip into the bore. because the cast is quite sharp too, trying not only will fail, but you will damage/cut the seal for sure.
So only way to get them in, is to use seal pushers. basically a cup in which you push the piston with seal inside and because it's just a bit smaller in diameter than the bore, the seal gets compressed against the piston and you have to push real hard to get the piston in, and sometimes even harder times to remove the tool as in some case, it's beyond max space and the seal can even get damaged when you remove it.
A good set of seal installer, not really cheap for a one time use, is even a must on newer trans as the tolerances are very tight...

That's when Ken comes to the rescue. With the rebuild kit comes a set of very simple, yet very smart 3d printed "sizers" for just a few extra buxx. They do like the regular seal installers that have been around forever, work same way. You push the piston and seal into a wide cup, that reduces its diamater on it's base and once the piston is in. 
That's where the similarities ends: It's time to freeze them! After at least 2 hours, you can push the piston out of this cup and the lip seal keeps its compressed position.
With totally zero need to push, you then simply drop them inside. After a couple of minutes, they are souple again, and the lip seals perfectly. No efforts to install
and what makes them totally superior to the classic way: no damage to the seal as they never get compressed in own thickness. Thumbs up to Ken for these!

Hope to finish the trans next weekend. After that I'll resume activities on the 71, as Summit has some delay for my converter, yoke and other swap related items.

 

[Fabrice]

Just a little update... 
Been very "Mustangy" as usual



Continuing the AOD rebuild, last week, it was time to handle the valve body..
That baby is quite crowded! What could possibly go wrong right??
But when working organised and methodically (learned from my C6 rebuild), there is no real challenge to it, aside one or two very complex valve composed of a few elements that are not only tricky to get out, but even more to get back in.
Eventually ended up with a good as new valve body with clean valves moving freely in their bores, unlike when I've opened it!
 



On the trans guts, for those planning to rebuild an AOD, aside the classic pressure plate swaps to add more frictions plates, other servos to eventually boost the spec of the trans (B or C types), there are a few must do. They are not made to boost anything, just fix and correct 2 major flaws in the OEM designs responsible for the majority of failures of that trans in a non racing use..

One is to ditch the original rather weak snap ring on the reverse clutch, as there is a frequent failure where, thx to centrifugal forces, the ring can open and get out of its groove. So installed a ring cup and a special Sonnax spiral ring to keep that clutch together.

Another modification, was to let machined the shaft to add a tiny groove to it. This special ring prevents the shaft to bang the direct clutch splines, each time pushed a tiny little bit more inside, usually during downshifts under load. On itself not a big probleem, except after just a few mm too much, the shaft can close an oil passage inside the drum.
Mine was starting to show some of these hits and even got ho. I did not plan to let that happen again! Sonnax comes with a special spiral ring for that and where the ring rests on the drum, i've extended to the full radius the grooves so it receives oil.. An easy thing to do with a dremmel disc and a secure hand. Casted drums are of pretty soft metal and nothing for the sharp fast rotating discs, so start with zero pressure if you do this... if you have no Dremmel, use a file (which I did use anyway to finish the shape)
 



Then, once my shaft came back, as all was already bagged, clean, in goo and oil, it was time to put the lady internals back together. The tricky part during this step, is that the sandwich needs to stay together so it indexes the planetary gears while you rotate it. Problem: it's heavy, you need to support the significant weight along the shaft to not damage bushings but your hands cannot be between the casing to do that. If you let go before it reaches the sun shell, you're good for a redo!  Vertical is also not an option as some bearings could move and end up be out of position without you knowing. Thx to a nice trick from Ken, I've used a brakes line that I've shaped in L, to keep the sandwich from behind till it was in contact. At that point, you can rotate it 45 degs and get it out... having the trans at a low angle, so the shaft points down just a little helps too.



Once the clutches are in, it's time to go install the reverse and OD servos, seeing the bands eases the installation of the pistons without guessing where they are if you do that later on, which strangely is the way that is promoted.
Then move vertical, to install the last friction plates, measure end play. It is also much more easy to install the heavy pump in place and make sure its very gradually pushed in and torqued to the specs in a cross fashion.
Also made a little wooden foot to support the trans while vertical, turned out to be very handy made this way as at some point the unit gets heavy.
 



One last look at the guts, triple check if all was torqued and nothing forgoten...
Time to close that baby!
 



After so much work, it's nice to finally enjoy seeing the trans back in one piece with all its hardware restored and plated...
 



AOD: DONE!! Woohoo!
It looks way better than a few weeks back!! 
I have converter, yoke etc etc.. arriving next week, so aside a few brackets that I will need to make, I'm almost ready for the swap...




Meanwhile did other things, like painting/replacing my master cylinder and purging brake lines for the sixth time in couple of weeks... The booster rod measured and set for it. Really hoping this time to have that sticky pad issue resolved. Out of fluid and reservoir too low, I haven't been able to test yet. Will do that in couple of hours... crossing fingers!

I also did little things on the 71, but will cover them in a future update...

To be continued...
 

 

[timachone]

Wow, that transmission looks awesome  :classic_ohmy: :thumb:  What a tricky work you did - fantastic! 

Hope, your brakes will do well know. You did them often enough for now... 

 

[Fabrice]

Hope, your brakes will do well know. You did them often enough for now...

Well.... they do not. They function great, they stop the car as never before. So in that regard, they do what brakes are supposed to do. But still have them sticking after a few miles... sooo as the entire hydraulic system has been replaced, tested, rechecked, retested. I'm running out of ideas on this one, and i'm looking at the booster right now. Gonna go asap test drive carefully around the block with no vacuum/assistance to see if there is any diff..

Drives me mad..

 

[timachone]

Well.... they do not. They function great, they stop the car as never before. So in that regard, they do what brakes are supposed to do. But still have them sticking after a few miles... sooo as the entire hydraulic system has been replaced, tested, rechecked, retested. I'm running out of ideas on this one, and i'm looking at the booster right now. Gonna go asap test drive carefully around the block with no vacuum/assistance to see if there is any diff..

Drives me mad..

That's bad... Hope, there's a difference! 

 

[Fabrice]

Been busy past few weekends and did not post anything..
Time to rectify that!

On the 73 front,
Received my needed parts for the swap, like a 2500 stall speed locked Hugues converter, 
A beautifull Sonnax forged yoke 28 spline. And also got my radiator lines back from my fav local shop. The ones I have now on the FMX will be transfered onto the C6...



Along with the Sonnax yoke came a new Moog 1310  u-joint to match on trans side the yoke and the other the axle shaft. 
As I will drive to a friend 50 miles away to do the swap on his lift, I want to have most prepped done so that most can be done fast. So installing the u-joint on this very very nice yoke was next on the todo.



Well, I've changed many time u-joints, but never had to deal with such tight tolerances. The Sonnax yoke is really a beautifully machined piece, the down side is to install the joints it's not easy at all.
Only managed to have one side in, and will need a press to finish the other side.
I might start over and leave the u-joint in fridge for a couple of hours.
The weather was too nice (unbelievable after months of rains) to waste it on this alone...



Because my 73 has an offenhauser intake with a Sniper on top, the original bracket wasn't aligned. So during the sniper install I had to modify the throttle bracket to receive the kickdown cable. Ended up as a 2 pieces, no probs on itself, but because the AOD TV cable really needs to be set properly, I thought it was time to make a solid one piece one.
So removed the one I had, and compared the one I already did for my 429. It became obvious after some measurements that it would need to be much stronger than the 429 version, because the base is much more central on the engine...
A few templates further, I went for a one piece fold, carefully picking each side I could fold to allow enough space to fold the next.
Once the shape in place, it was time to aluminium solder it and finish it with a sanding and polishing session.
Now I got the throttle bracket I wanted: a solid one piece unit!



Another problem that needed be addressed was my brakes still sticking... the only part left over that could create a problem was my booster.
So as no booster were to be ordered from here. All asking for a shipping of the core, the repair and the shipping back, I decided to use the 9''  booster that I bought last year to replace the 71 one. Made by Leed, it comes with the 2 rods you find on 71 and 72-73.
So after a tiring gym session under dash, removed the old one and install that baby.

As I had now a spare master cyl and the 71 firewall exposed, as no gasket was provided, made a template and cut a rubber sheet. Dialed the push rod.

The unit looks very small in there now, but I must say that creates some welcome space there!! Most importantly, I took the car for a ride of a dozen of miles, used the brakes hard and when back, I could notice a significant improvement. The rotor were under 100c and wheel was turning. Not as free as I'd like tho, there is still drag, but nowhere near where it was. At this point, considering all is new, I think I need wait a bit till the pads have lost a tad of their thickness to completely free the rotor. All I know is that I now go for a ride with a laser thermometer and check. The smell of hot brakes is now gone.... so I'll leave it at it for now...

As for my 2 boosters (71 and 73), I'm about to order the required parts that our local David has managed to find. So I'll be busy restoring 2 boosters myself as the current way these can be restored is simply too expensive to be performed from Europe using that shipping core procedure.



On the 71 front, the parts plated end of last year, were next on the todo: well protected by the zinc layer, they were still pristine and needed only some dust removal to receive first a layer of epoxy, followed by a water sanding pass the next day. Not super detailed, but just to end up with a more satisfying smooth result later on and minimise the chance for dust to settle and collect moisture over time on a rough surface.
Then a thin layer of primer. For my 71, I have selected 3 greys for the parts (sorry originality lovers), and so painted each series in their own grey.



Finally they received their final jacket in the form of a thick clear coat layer for optimum protection and ease of cleaning in the future. Pretty happy to see how all these original once rusty parts ended up!
 
Next weekend, i'll paint the new parts that came with cheapo black paint like the lower arms etc...
After that I could even think about reinstalling a few things on the car to create space in my near explosion garage



Last but not least, the Lokar kit designed for AOD was as expected another joke (look just at the bracket in circle.. not even able to match the hole of the trans that they are supposed to be made for... not to mention you would not be in line either even if you'd mod that thingy). I knew it as it's my third Lokar cable surgery, I  keep buying these simply because I do like their stainless sleeves and cables and could not find it here. For the rest really, the stuff that they provide is so off or/and of such poor quality it's ridiculous. The tv cable is sure to fail sooner or later if you trust/mod what they provide.
In fact I saw afterwards that the stuff they provided for this specific application the exact same was as on the KD cable of my C6!! I really don't get that company.

Anyway, I knew it, I had the spring and cable I needed, so modified the original TV lever, which turned out to be super strong (made me use big guns and mig weld in the end to get it done), to allow the cable stop to be kept in a small 1/2 hole to reduce wear, made another bracket to ensure all was aligned, making sure that the linkage that is now placed up in trans to allow the mustang shifter would not touch and work without any further mods (tho I might need move the other pivot up or down, but i'll know that for sure on swap day).  Made a double reinforced/soldered custom little bracket to make sure it would handle a far greater tension than it should ever have to handle. Plated all the mods and ended up with a satisfying functioning and looking mechanism! Me very happy and already forgot all about Lokar's provided crap

I did many more details on the 71 too, but will post on them later on when I'll start put some stuffs back on the car and finally have that swap done...

To be continued...

 

[bishoppeak]

Very nice work!

 

[Sheriff41]

Another great installment!  

 

[mach71351c]

Great thread! So much detail.

 

[timachone]

Great work, yummy suspension parts  :wrench:

 

[Fabrice]

@bishoppeak 

thx man, you gotta sweat a bit extra but that's what the hobby is about me think!

@Sheriff41

More to come i'm afraid

 @mach71351c

thx, if the details helps only one person, then it's all worth it!

@timachone

I couldn't let you have much nicer ones than mine any longer! I had to finally handle these too!

 

[Fabrice]

Past weekend was dry, warm...
Sooooo: barbecue time!!



All the new parts that I've received over past months were either not coated, simply oiled or covered with some poor paint. 
None had of course the kind of finish I had in mind for them. So spend a good part of my saturday cleaning & degreasing them and mask/tape all the parts I could not remove, rubbers, threads etc..
Then just like the restored parts, they did receive a primer, their respective colors and a nice thick finish coat.



Sunday was like xmas, lots to unwrap and it was even time to put some stuffs together, install nipples etc...



Reassembled the spindles done last weeks with ther hardware plated last year. 
Installed all back together after a good cleaning and copper greasing of each thread.
Was lots of work to get there, zinc plating them was not the easiest thing to do.
But now, boy do they not look like a million??!



Yes these are the same!!

I know btw I need some wires for their nuts, Anyone have some info on how it should be done the right way? Never done that before, but really would love to have them "twisted" the right secure way.
I will buy some SS wire for that asap.



Then it was time to put the top arms together... 50 years old and looking goooood



Then it was time to put all these babies together back into their original nest that is now making a nice contrast with its semi gloss black.



Nothing torqued to specs yet until all is on..



Also gave love to the koni's that were plated last year and gave them the car body color (no red), that will look nice into the light grey coils that were done last week...

All with all, it was nice to finally see all the work started last novembre come together! 
The other side fx is that I could get rid of many boxes and create some welcome space.

One regret is that the long part that connects both sides (rod assembly, the drag link I think is the name)
is still at a friend's place where it needs to go under press to correct the bow into it created at some point when someone jacked up the car with it...
No biggy tho, as once I will have the steering box revised, i will need to paint it as well, so will do both at the same time.

to be continued...