I know you were dying to see pictures of the underside and engine bay, so I took some pictures for you.
I had gotten the leaf springs painted the same Chassis satin black, and got them installed next. I also cleaned up painted the axle tube and got it positioned on top of the leaf springs. I was cleaning up the passenger side shock mounting plate and found that it had been repaired with some welds of unknown quality. I've got Don at OMS on the case getting a replacement.
I also got the upper and lower control arms installed and also the strut rods and front sway bar. I tried to use a coil spring compressor with the moveable arms that sit inside the spring, but I had a terrible time with it. I finally broke down and bought one that bolts to the shock mount and runs through the top of the shock tower. It worked like a champ.
In the meantime, the seat covers from TMI came in. I think they will look pretty nice with the dark green body. And so they go back in the box, to wait for a week or two, until it's time to start working on upholstery.
In the meantime, I was cleaning parts in the media blaster and noted that the compressor was sounding lounder than it should. I removed the shroud and found a loose bolt on the fan. I tightened it, and restarted the compressor and HOLY COW! was it loud. I immediately shut it down and started looking some more and found one piston had pretty much disintegrated and destroyed the cylinder. A went online to see about ordering some parts, only to find that the parts I needed to repair my 25 year old, second hand Sears Craftsman compressor were no longer manufactured and no longer in stock anywhere. To make a long story short, I now have a new compressor and have been working on getting it plumbed up and running.
While I was working on cleaning and painting parts, I also cleaned up the old center section. It was a 2.75 open diff, so I had ordered a trac-loc differential for it and new 3.50 ring and pinion gear set. I spent 2-3 days putting it together, but got it all set with perfect backlash, and a really nice wear pattern in the yellow paint. I made a simple tool with some scrap metal to dial in the carrier bearing preload and to make adjusting them easier. It's not perfect, and it's not pretty, but it litterally only took 10 min to make, and it works great.
As I was looking it over one more time, I discovered that the differential was soooo close to the pinion nose bearing, that I couldn't tell if it was rubbing or not. My 0.005 inch feeler gauge wouldn't pass so I pulled the diff and ring gear out, along with the pinion and ground and rounded off the edge to give the ring gear a little more room.
I reassembled it, and got it dialed in, again. I was so glad to have that done, but then the really fun part was to begin. That was getting the pig under the car, and then laying on my back, getting it on my chest so I could get it into the axle. Oh, and the gasket sealing compound was smeared all over the axle flange and around the base of the studs. It was a major pain in the backside, but I got it onto the studs. I tightened the nuts and then torqued them all down to spec. I used a 6 in extension and crows foot so I could torque the bottom nuts that you can't get to with a ratchet. Overall, I a pleased with how it came out (er, ah, went it).
Now, I am on to the rear brakes. But wait, I am also working up front. I installed the front brake splash shields, put the new races in the new rotors, packed the new Timken bearings and got the rotors bolted onto the spindles. I couldn't help it, so grabbed the new front tires and put them on, just to see what it was going to look like.
So there you have it. Making progress on the Rickster, slowly, but surely. It's come a long way in the last 9 months, but still has a long way to go. Hopefully, though, it will be going to the paint shop soon.
