This post covers about a weeks time, since I have actually been driving the car for the last 5 days.
First, I want to apologise for the lack of assembly pics. I had my phone on an iPod dock and was under the car. At that point I valued the music over the pictures.
These are the sexy lower trailing arms which arrived on Sunday evening. Even my wife wanted to fondle them for a bit, which should tell you about the quality of the product. I will definitely be using Ram Air Restorations again.
I had the rear axle all set up and rolled under the car in preparation, so when I woke up all I had to do was make coffee, breakfast, hand my lady her lunch and push her out the door. With my coffee in hand, I grabbed the goods and made a beeline for the garage.....at 3:30am. She gets up early, what can I say. In a nut shell: there was a lot of pushing, pulling, bolt fitting and rolling around on the floor. It seems the fitment was less precise then I remember and it took a bit of jacking the axle up and down to get all the bushings in and seated with bolts. Then it was the driveshaft yoke, brake lines and the Ebrake. That last one as a pain in the rear as the wire splitter had shifted leaving one side longer then the other.
I was bleeding the brakes at 10am and by 11 I had the car on 4 tires. Again, sorry about the lack of pictures.
I was cold and sunny, so I grabbed the dogs and a coat. She started after a few cranks and I backed her out of the garage. I let the motor run to warm up and generally get the oil flowing. I took that time to air up the tires and check the turn indicators.
This is how she sits now. How does she handle? Like silk. I mean WOW.
Just to recap, when I got the car, she had massive steering slop, no shocks, brakes that pulled heavily to the left. She also had suspension that popped, ground, and abruptly shifted her weight around. Now? It's sooooo sweet. She just carves corners with a ease. The steering is true and enters the corners easily in a predictable manner and exits like a RWD big car should. Braking is soft but even and with no pulling. The new brakes work well and I have yet to see a leak (whew). I took her out on the highway and hit 70mph with ease and a well earned lack of concern.
With all that sorted, I really notice how dirty the car is and how ratty the roof is. I really can't wait to start on the body work.