[77HANDMEDOWN]

Originally Posted by rockin78T/A

Hey we're neighbors. I'm right off 121. My 78 needs about all the same work your doing to your 77. Maybe I'll drop it off sometime, it looks like you definatley know what your doing!! Damn, I wish I would of found out you lived close to me before, sold by 89 bmw 535 last year, got tire of working on it.

Well I was 10 when that car was brand new haha. I started working on BMW's in 99 so I was running from those and trying to get my feet wet on the new stuff but have still worked on plenty. The big six as a lot of people refer to that specific engine (the M30) had a lot of torque for what it was. I am glad you sold it though. BMWs are hard to keep alive without a good/cheap mechanic which is a hard combo to find.

[mildchild]

Nice jack stand while the rear is out lol

[77HANDMEDOWN]

So obviously since I was installing the 2.41's in my attic that meant I had to get a 3 series carrier for the freshly painted and hungry 10 bolt if I was to feed it a 3.42 gear.

The Detroit Truetrac came in today along with some diff main cap studs.

I was on the fence between the Truetrac and whatever they call their clutch type diff. My experience with clutch types is they are loud sometimes. The stock posi out of this car was really loud with the big tires on the back. Sometimes it felt they were fighting each other when turning sharp. My daily driver has a wavetrac diff in it that is a helical gear torque biasing diff and I like it pretty good so I was sold on the truetrac. Seems like the more corner carving diff of all the others. For all those curves we have around here

More mail ordered parts to come this week hopefully and will "STOP" by the junk yards this weekend maybe to see if I can catch a "BRAKE" on some other parts but will keep ya'll guessing til more pics are made.

[77HANDMEDOWN]

So like I said more mail order stuff came in. The Motive 3.42's with "gm" in the part # which means they are supposed to be a little quieter than the performance gears Motive sells. I am guessing they are harder. Ya'll have already seen the Truetrac and the studs. Add in the Motive install kit and the Ten Factory axles. These axles are 4140 vs the Moser and the Superior 1541h. I got them not because of the steal as much as because they were available to ship and not on back order and seemed like a good value.

[77HANDMEDOWN]

Snatched 2 left side rear brake set ups off of later model f-bodys on Saturday also. They are pretty gross right now but will throw them in the parts washer and work and they will look new. I plan on rebuilding the calipers and replacing all the rubber pieces. Only paid $71 for it all though including the e-brake cables. The e-brake shoes look hardly used at all. I even grabbed the brackets for the e-brake cables so I can possibly use them if needed but I think I will make my own bracket.




So since I am using two left sides it means one caliper will be forward of the axles and one will be aft of the axle due to the staggered shocks. You can't look at both sides of the car at the same time so I ain't sweatin it. It does mean however that one parking brake pawl will pull from the front and the other from the rear if I want the parking brakes to work. A thread over at camaro.net show a guy pulling the tensioner out and swapping the pawl around to face the right way. The tensioner looks to be no biggie. He just turned his around and put loc-tite in the threads since the clip would not be in contact with the adjustment side anymore. It actually looks easy enough to make the clip fit on the other side by using a file or grinder to machine a place for it. Check out the pic below to see what I mean. The tensioner is installed backwards there and the straw is pointing to where it needs to be machined.

The pawl is another story. It doesn't just slide in backwards. I may have to do a little grinding here or there to get that guy to go in backwards but am determined to make it work so that it pull the correct way.

[randy1966GTO]

Nice car, great story and pics! I wish I'd kept the '78 T/A I had right after high school, it would be a blast to do it like you are with yours.

Your first post mentioned you wanted an early 70's engine to build and I have one local to you that I would sell if you're interested. 1971 400 complete short block in excellent condition with standard sized bores and pistons, the crank is .010"/.010".

Let me know if you want to look at it, I'm in Rowlett.


Thanks,
Randy
[email protected]

[77HANDMEDOWN]

So it has been a while since I posted up any updates but I have been grinding away little bits at a time and collecting even more parts. So a few rounds through the parts washer at work and some spray paint and I love the way the brakes came out. I have new parking brake shoes but they are not pictured here. One of the old ones the friction material came loose from the steel backing. I am sure the parts washer did it but oh well.



notice how the parking brake pawl pulls the same direction on both sides now.

Here is how I moddifed the pawl to fit backwards in the brakes mounting plate. It is a tad thick on one side to fit backwards to I gound it down a little. YES I went a little to far and it is thin but it is still strong and I think it will be ok.

Just another angle.

Brakes installed with no rotor



So many have also talked about spacers for centering the rotors in the abutment brackets. I am running 1 really thick washer on each bolt for right now and am having a proper spacer made. My rotor is not PERFECTLY centered but I am not sweating it. The the caliper is perfectly center and the brake pads to not hang out of the channels the ride in on the caliper bracket.


I installed the gears myself. I think most the how tos and directions are garbage. It was NOT that bad. Pirate4x4.com is the best! Lots of dudes there with tons and real word info. Making set up bearings and not using the crush ring until it was actually time to put it together for the last time was VERY helpful info.

I wanted this car to have hardly any axle end play at all. I did get new c clips and even installed the larger/thicker ones. There is a "button" or spacer that goes in between the axles on a Truetrack. With it installed the axles can't move inward.

I had heard other people say they went in a little snug. Mine was about 0.064 to narrow. I had a buddy weld it up and I grinded it down. That was what eaton said to do.

I had to have someone pull on each axle outwards for it to slid in. Dry with no grease it can somewhat easily be turned with your finger. You can not feel any play at the axle flange at all when pulling and pushing in and out.

The thing that holds it in


I am not completely happy with my brake lines routing. They may get redone. Fact is though it will be hard to really see them and no one will critique the bends as much as I. I am also currently making brackets for the brake hoses.


Next is to get the springs out and start getting this thing back under the car. I am a ways away but ready to start ripping around some corners and gettings started on the front brakes.