I figured today would be a good day to start my swap. Everything on the car is OLD. I have swapped the rear end with a 81' limited slip disc brake setup. I swapped over the front brakes, brake booster and poportionate valve from the 81' also. I have a set of strut housings and lower control arms from a 81' that will be used also. I plan on completly disassembling the steering system while i am at it. All parts will be blasted or wire brushed and repainted before reassembly. Here are some starter pics of the old and the new. I will keep this updated as i go along. Most of the new parts i got for Christmas from my wife. I had to break down and get my shocks/struts, but it was a small price to pay. Everything came from Billy at Re-Speed. Front and Rear adjustable coil overs, Illumina 5-ways, and full Energy suspension poly bushing kit.

OLD






NEW

 

You have a very nice collection of parts! Looking forward to seeing how things turn out. I am still working on my brakes but all my bushings are original and old too so I will be doing the same exact bushing upgrade.

 

Nice. Damn, i would like to replace all those aging components as mine are pretty much all original as well. You got urself a nice project to complete, let us know how she feels after the overhaul.

 

Robbie looks like you have a whole lotta of fun going on there. Its going to feel really different once you get it installed. Think it will be dialed in for the Carowinds autox?

 

Nice! I can't wait to hear how it goes. Let me know if you need some help or not.

 

Badass...tell us how it goes. Im looking at going with the same set-up...what springrate did you get on the front & back?

 

Wow, you weren't kidding. You are going to have an awsome handling car. Now we just need to turbo it One day I need to go through all my bushing as well. Nice setup Robby.

 

Update:

I got tired of trying to get a wire wheel or sand paper in every little spot and tired of trying to clean threads with a wire wheel on an angle grinder. And most of all i got tired of buying sand for my cheap sand blaster from Tractor Supply, so i built this with an old window i found and some scrap wood.

All i can say is REDNECK ENGINEERING, and IT WORKS GREAT!!!


Here are all the new old parts i have from a 81' to do my upgrade. They will all be sanded, blasted, cleaned and repainted along with the steering linkage


Here is one part after being painted
It came out pretty nice. I have it in front of the wood stove drying being its been really cold here lately

 

I built a sandblast cabinet using an old oil drum. So, yeah, I feel ya.

 

I use a cardboard box for my cabnet. Gets replaced every 5-6 times and holds up fairly well.

Nice project! I should do something like this in the future.

 

Good job! Looks like new again! You think you'll have her done by the next meet?

 

Yeah i hope to have it done but i plan on going to the the autox on feb 15th

 

So hows the car handling now?

 

Doubt he got everything installed yet ... who uses a wood stove now a days :P

 

The car is done, just had a issue with a whistling sound that was coming from the rearend. At first i thought it was the gears, or lsd clutches. But when i took everything apart i found that i have a BAD axle bearing on the passenger side.

I took the car had it aligned and have driven it some. Its a completly different car. It rides nice and stiff, corners great with little to no body roll, and made the car look completely different being i dropped it about 1.5 inches. I will get some photos of it once the rearend is back in this week. I will get some pics of all the painted parts, and everything reassembled.

By the way a wood stove is the cheapest warmest heat there is and it keeps my barn and garage at about 65-70 on cold days.

 

Sounds great Robby. I'm glad it was only the axle bearing. Cheaper fix than replacing the LSD. Can't wait to go for a ride!

 

just wondering what you used for painting the parts? I am going to do a lot of what you did with your car to my car.

 

For all the suspension parts i sandblasted or wire wheeled them, to clean them. I then wiped them down with denatured alcohol, it doesn't leave all the residue that thinner can. I used Krylon metal metallic rattle can paint. I put 3 coats on everything. It seemed to cover nicely and have pretty good durability, time will tell.