Monday, November 22, 2010

Just Like Archimedes Always Says

Before I get to my old Greek friend, I spent some more time today fitting the pedals.


My secret helper
 I finished welding the pedal stops and a place to rest my left foot when I'm not shifting.  The pedal arms will still need to be bent about 1.5" to the left to fit the gas pedal.  Put that on the "to-do" list.

The now the frame and the suspension components are ready to go for paint.  Well, almost.

I had purchased used front spindles and decided to replace the bearings before installing them on the car.  The originals probably had at least 100,000 miles on them and I didn't want to have any problems later on.
Spindles after some initial cleaning
I popped off the dust cover in the center and found the nut holding the hub to the spindle.

That's a large 36mm socket on the biggest wrench I have.  Here goes -- lots of grunts, but the nut won't budge.  I checked the specs and it was tightened to 258 ft. lbs. (that's a lot!!).  Here's where Archimedes comes in.  He is believed to have said that with a large enough lever, he could move the world.  So here goes...

A 4 ft. pipe adds the leverage I needed.  And I didn't even fall on my a$$ when the nut released.
All apart
New hub for comparison




Tomorrow I'll call the paint shop and get that started.  I think I'm all ready to start assembly when I get the frame back.  I'll let you know what the painter has to say tomorrow...

2 comments:

  1. Just an aside, but Ralph, do you always use a pipe or baseball bat for leverage when nothing else works? I seem to remember a faulty starter on a 15-year old SUV that you decided needed some "persuasion" via a baseball bat. Alas, no amount of elbow grease would get this monster to move. Glad you had better luck with your technique this time!

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  2. Where are your safety glasses?! ;) Just read the blog from start to finish. Very interesting. Looking forward to the end product and maybe a ride next Fall (I'll have to hitch my wagon to the NYC marathon train). - Matt McCue (Mark's friend)

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