| 03-02-2012 |
Finally, at long last, the cursed rivets are out. What a horrible experience. With the tools I have available it was really terrible, but they finally came out. A couple of them were very, very contrary. At long last, they were finally all removed, along with their brackets.
Finally it was time to get the rear end under the car. I attached one bolt in the front spring bracket and then jacked the rear end up to see how the wheel would center in the wheel opening. It looks like it's going to be pretty close but I'm still going to have to do some measuring to make sure I have it everything lined up properly.
I did find out that the perches on the Ford 8.8 are a bit too close together and don't line up with the springs. This kit was designed for a Ford 9 inch, so it's going to take a bit of modification. That means I'm going to have to grind off the perches and weld them out at a wider location, which means I'm also going to have to reset the pinion angle. I have no idea how to do that so it's going to be another learning experience. Fortunately, I can do all this after the body is off, so that will make it much, much easier.
The rear end kit mounting hardware didn't come labeled so you just have to dig through and find what goes where.
I found that only one hole on the brackets is going to line up and I'm going to have to drill out all the other ones. I had a Lowe's gift card so I used it to get some decent drill bits. The others I've been using were a patched together kit that my step grandfather had left here at the house. They appeared to be at least 40 years old.
It feels good to just see the rear end under there where it's supposed to go. Too bad it's not already final assembly.
It's pretty close to center, but when you're dealing with wheel openings even an 1/8 inch can be way off if you want it to look right. I'll need to make some precision measurements soon.
Passenger side
If I find the rear end is not lined up perfectly I'll have to relocate the front mount however much is needed. Fortunately for this portion all I have to worry about is making sure the front to rear measurement is right. I can worry about to perches later. I'll also need to get the rear end out of there so I can install the upper shock mount. It slips into an area formed into the body and is a very close fit so I'll need to test fit it while the body is still on to make sure it won't rub. If it does I may have to make some
