For the Love for my Father, My 69 GTX Restoration

[moparnation74]

Comparison of original k frame bolts versus a set from Frank Badalson. They are a near perfect match. These have a high torque setting and I prefer to use the new ones versus the originals....

 

[moparnation74]

Installing the motor and trans went perfectly smooth...Little music, some brews, AC pumping and some finesse....
The front lift is from US Car Tool...
The motor/trans dolly is a redneck special straight from J's garage.....

 

[moparnation74]

 

[moparnation74]

Front suspension components

At some time in its life the wheel cylinders, idler arm and tie rod end got serviced. All other parts are in an unmolested state. Lots of details to document. Bolts, nuts, markings, cotter pins etc...

Unfortunately, all ball joints were toast...

The driver side strut rod was bent and it appeared possible due to someone jacking the car up..ugghh....So a replacement was found...

 

[moparnation74]

More suspension pics

 

[moparnation74]

 

[moparnation74]

Upper control arms...People have debated whether they were natural or painted black. The consensus they were all natural steel. Some say bare steel and some say bare steel with a light cosmoline coat. The black paint on these arms seemed to be added later in life and I think it was done when a previous owner added magnum 500 wheels.

 

[moparnation74]

Original UCA's were degreased, eval rust, and wire wheeled. After that some elbow grease with steel wool brought a more real finish look. NOS ball joints were used along with NOS arm bushings. Original bushing sleeves were cleaned up and reused. The grease cup with PN's and logo's are new ones from Frank Badalson along with the break away Zerk fittings....Original try castle nut was phosphated.

As far as the final finish look I went with the one that made more sense to me. Which was natural steel with a light cosmoline coat.

 

[moparnation74]

Lower control arms were done in the same process of the UCA's above....Originally they were dipped in cosmoline up to the level of the rivet nearest to lower ball joint end. Mine still had the dip lines present when they came out of ER. So I just made note of that and mimicked that. The Original shafts heres cleaned up and reused(what a pain to remove the sleeve). The bushings are NOS and the bumpers are NOS.

The strut rod washers came from Bill Rolik. The Strut rod bushing and sleeves are NOS and have the correct sized font wording "FRONT" on them. The Torsion blocks and adjusters were plated by Bill Meerholz...TA plated the original sand cast washers for the pivot shaft. The pivot shaft nut and strut rod nuts are unrestored, just cleaned up in eval rust....

###Notice the direction of the sags/runs of the cosmoline###
They were dipped up to the level shown so the runs/sags go towards the torsion end....Process shown in the next post

 

[moparnation74]

More LCA pics...

 

[moparnation74]

NOS Lower ball joints were found but these are a superseded number...Correct period part but not the original 69 casting number. Still on the hunt for the correct ones but until then these are better than any new junk...Soaked in ER and some steel wool brought them back to original finish..

 

[moparnation74]

Idler arm....I was unable to locate an NOS but I did find a near mint original. Degreased it and soaked in ER and some steel wool to get back to original cast finish...Coated with clear cosmoline same for most of the natural cast suspension parts...

The two "bumps" and the side rib along with casting numbers are distinct look of originals...

 

[Mike67]

Justin everything is absolutely top notch and moving fast!!! I'm in awe every time I read your thread!!!

 

[moparnation74]

Correct original strut bushings....The repops have the "front" on them but a 3rd of the font size as the originals...Also, careful with some NOS bushings the font may be the same but the bushing width is not the same.....

 

[moparnation74]

More LCA ****....Struts rods had a heat treat appearance and I mimicked that. All original hardware. Pivot nut very distinct markings, notice the 2 dots and the rest are single dots.

Original sand cast washers has the sand molding edge feature...

 

[moparnation74]

UCA hardware came from Bill Rolik and is the correct finish and look.

Spindle hardware was sent out for phosphating...
The upper ball joint originally had the sand cast washer shown below. The lowers did not. TA plated these washers...

 

[moparnation74]

I located a pair of NOS wheel cylinders and these are correct PN's. Even being NOS I sent them out to get stainless sleeves. I have had NOS ones in the past that leaked...Covers are NOS which came with the WC's...Special thanks Greg for these!

Notice what bleeder screws should look like?

Btw for note odd number driver side, even number passenger side for all paired parts based on the last digit...

Original bolts with correct marking were phosphates...

 

[moparnation74]

These are NOS brake hoses and a matched pair but not the correct year...Still on the hunt for the correct ones with dates but these will have to do..

 

[moparnation74]

Original backing plates were sent out for a special type of phosphate. Done by a guy in California.
These are no doubt the original plates. Whats interesting is the date stamps....

 

[moparnation74]

Spindles were cleaned up in the same manner as the other parts above. I have seen varying finishes on these and I like the one I decided upon...

The pics make them look different than what they actually look....It is not cosmoline but a special type of heat treat with a chemical...

The foam gasket is from DMT