Project Christine V2.0

[Mjminino]

Saturday night after work I cleaned and Por15'd the spindles, idler arm bracket, and center link as well as spray painted my calipers with red VHT Caliper paint. This stuff is AWESOME, nice thick non watery spray.

[Mjminino]

Matt and I buttoned up the rear suspension and the likes yesterday. Yesterday was the first Sunday I have had off since I started at USPS and (I utilized every minute of it). They are going to a rotating Sunday schedule and now I will be working every other Sunday!!! MORE TRUCK TIME

I had to heat up my ubolts because they never really fit well in the beginning. and wouldn't fit into the CPP trac bar shim. They had a wide U shape rather then a parallel shape. Once that was done I was able to finish with the drop shocks and relocater.

Matt had to leave to go to his nephews championship basketball game, while he was gone I went to AutoZone and rented their coil spring compressor and ball joint removal/installer tool.

When he got back we finished up the front. Man oh man, what a breeze it is when everything is supposed to fit the way it should. We installed all new ball joints and used a jack under the lower control arm. Having a 300 pound friend, He stood on the upper control arm and everything went in EASILY like it should, didn't even need to use coil spring compressor. We were in a hurry there at the end because he needed to get going. Well with the little rush that I had, guess what, I forgot the lower ball joint boot So I will deal with that today after work. I still need to finish the driver side shock anywho.


Don't y'all worry I will keep you updated as I go. Need to finish purchasing everything to really finish the suspension and axles.

[mjh1965]

They look good . I need to do the same job on mine . The new calipers I got are still in the box awaiting reassemble

[Mjminino]

I am happy to say that new parts have arrived!!!

First picture is my Chrome differential cover, 5" drop springs (never buy these from LMC they are about 70 dollars more than CPP, but I had a gift card and in order to get everything I needed within the budget I had, I had to get them from there), Eaton posi, Richmond Excel 3.73 ring and pinion and Standard Gear master bearing set.

Second picture is of my steering linkage.

As a lot of you know, if I didn't have bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all. Well, it strikes again! The idler and pitman arm fit the center link, the outer tie rods fit the spindles, my inner tie rods do not fit the center link. It goes in too far and the nut just keeps spinning once I tighten it. I believe I might need the next generations Tie rod, 73-87???? So I thought, "Why couldn't I just use a washer?"

It seats the taper and there is no wiggle room once I tighten it down. Is there any bad side effects to doing that? In the picture below I just used what I had on hand, if I used a fatter washer so the cotter pin would be in the castle, why wouldn't it work? Anyone care to chime in on that? I would really not like to mess around with returning back to summit etc etc.

Parts that still need to show up:

1. Cardone Industries 27-7501 Remanufactured Steering Box
2. Dorman P/N 31015 Rag Joint
3. CPP's CLP-6369RAC-5 6 lug to 5 lug Axle Conversion
4. 1994 Impala Calipers and Brackets
5. 2 OEM Inner Fenders
6. OEM Inner Fender Column Shaft Cover
7. Captianfab's Power Steering Bracket
8. Captianfab's Impala Disc Brake Brackets

[yossarian19]

The washer under the castle nut is fine. As long as the TRE's are the right taper angle (they almost certainly are) and the taper is engaged, no problem shimming the castle nut.
You could just say "hell with the cotter pins" and buy a few deformed-thread locknuts like are used on new cars. NAPA auto parts, at least mine, has a great selection of high quality nuts & bolts. Tractor supply shops will, too. Hardware store hardware is fine for some things but for steering... NAPA or the tractor shop.

[Mjminino]

Sorry I have been absent. I have been busy on Christine. Still working on the front suspension looking for the correct tie rods. I was told that the 68 would work for everything, but apparently not. They fit the spindle but not the drag link. I ended up going to autozone and bought a 72 and 73. It looks like a 1972 inner would work and the only bad thing is that they are both the same thread direction. Which sucked because I had ordered custom tie rod sleeves to accommodate the different thread diameters. I am at the point of saying F^$K it and buy the same custom sleeves with the same thread direction and if i need to adjust anything just take the tie rod end off. It is becoming nothing but a nightmare and I want to be done with it.

[Mjminino]

While the front end project is on hold I ended up selling Leroy to my best bud (he had been eyeballing it for a while). I owed him some money because he had originally bought all of the suspension for Christine on the basis that I would help him remodel his basement. As $hit just so happened to be, I started at the post office about 4 days after we ordered everything. I ended up selling him for 2800 dollars, and after debt was paid I walked away with 1400 dollars.

Don't y'all worry your pretty little faces, I put that money to good use. I got my rear end rebuilt including everything else it needed. (axle bearings and seals.) Those things are expensive for what they are!!! So now Christine has 5 lug CPP axles, Captianfab's disk brake set up, Eaton posi, Richmond excel 3.73 gears. That ended up costing 500 even because, like I just mentioned, those seals were not cheap 35.87 per side and the bearings were 32.76 per side. He charged me exactly what they paid for them (showed me the receipt and all) and made no money on the parts... helluvah company! The other thing that was expensive was the yoke, that alone was 90. This previous owner of mine did some weird things. The rear end had no pinion and yoke but had the ring gear and axles hooked up. While everything was apart I threw on the 5" lowering springs. I had to go to the junkyard and find some 5 lug rim/tires. Everything is rising in price i tell ya! Leroy's 6 lug rim and tires from the same place last year were 37$, Christine's 5 lugs were 55!!

[Mjminino]

Once I got that all buttoned up, I found a guy on Facebook selling a 1950 3100 5 window for 1000. I was so close to buying it, like trailer rented leaving that night close. Here is the back story. A few weeks ago I put on Facebook that I was looking for suburban seats for the integrated seat belt feature. An old friend of mine messages me saying he has a set for 175$, So I'm thinking to myself...HELL YEAH!!! A few minutes later, more like 30, he messages me again and asked me if I was looking for a 5.3L motor and 4L60E transmission, I of course told him "Yeah I am, why don't you shoot me a price for the motor, transmission, wiring harness, computer, seats, and gas pedal." To which he replied "I tell you what, you give me 800 and the whole suburban is yours." So again, I'm thinking to myself...HELL YEAH!!!

Needless to say, that night I ended up buying a 2001 suburban, complete minus 3 doors and a fender for 800 even. One helluvah steal IMHO. Let the motor pulling/rebuilding begin! Best part about it is, once I am done with everything I need from it I can scrap it and get some of my money back! I really don't need another fixer upper project truck at the moment, and I couldn't pass up that deal for the suburban.

The most hilarious part of that adventure is that I drove it home in the condition of the first picture. I had to seat belt the passenger rear door shut Man oh man, the looks I got were PRICELESS!

All of that was on March 16th, yesterday I decided to dig into the front end and start getting everything ready! I figured as far as I got in 2 hours was a good stopping point for the night.

[Mjminino]

Oh and one thing I forgot to mention is that before I sold Leroy I switched high humps between the 64's. Since I was swapping and installing them and not just installing it I had to cut out the flanges as well. I still need to do the spot welds on the firewall piece, but other than that Christine now has a high hump!

[chevy_mike]

Yeah, bummer on the tie rods with the center link. I looked back at the email I sent you and had mentioned it could be either a '68-'72 or '73-'87 that the only difference is the tie rod tapers.

The washer will work since you can get the castle nut to line up with the cotter pin hole but as you found, the threaded ends are different. Not sure if you'll find an alignment shop that will deal with popping out the end to make an adjustment.

For anyone else reading this, it shows the importance of having all the parts in the steering system, from the same year. Doesn't matter what year, just as long as all the parts are from the same year otherwise you run into these types of issues.

Everything is looking good. Hope you can get it on the road soon.

[Mjminino]

Oh I wasn't even talking about you. The guy I bought everything from had mentioned stuff as well. Sorry for the confusion Mike, no hate intended.

[Grizz1963]

Progress.

[Mjminino]

Matt and I got the engine pulled and lightened up. That was fun! I wasn't planning on pulling it so soon, but someone took it upon themselves to go digging under the tarp so I said to hell with it, lets pull it today! It was kind of a to get it out because of the collision damage, but in about an hour we got it taken care of!

The last picture is somewhat my goal for the engine when it becomes that point in my build.

[Mjminino]

I also took the seats out and for $hits and giggles put them in Christine. They really aren't that bad. They are pretty comfortable, the seat belts still work, and they'll be heated and electric! my ol' lady loves them!

[Grizz1963]

Looks like you may have to keep the seats then.

I love the traditional bench seats but am also a fan of modern buckets or ever 1/3 split bench seats.

Would probably be extremely tempted to fit them to my truck given the choice.

[Mjminino]

The big reason for that type is for the integrated seat belt system. No extra holes to cut and they are 3 point!

[mjh1965]

They look really good in there, I would be tempted to keep them just for the electric features alone . My ford Mondeo has leather electric adjustable and heated seats and in the winter you can't beat them . I would look for a fold down seat for the Middle that way you get the best of both worlds .

[Bomp]

Great talking to you on the phone. Hurried home after dinner and couldn't wait to read your build.
Hope to see more.

[Ta2Don]

Just read through your thread...
Gotta Love/Hate P.O.s

Been watching on Fb and finally found this outlet, keep up the good work!!!

[NevEno]

Updates??

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by NevEno

Updates??

What he said.......

[Mjminino]

So much has changed on this build, it would take me months to update it!

[Bomp]

A picture is worth a thousand words.
Build keeps getting better and better.

[Grizz1963]

Come on Mike.......

Tell us more.

[Mjminino]

Different build with Christine's parts, but here ya go