It has begun- Project Delmae

Also from time to time I see McQuay-Norris SL88. There is one on ebay canada now. It looks correct. Walter, looks like u r set with parts but since we are both in MD I might have a few things here and there.
 
Also from time to time I see McQuay-Norris SL88. There is one on ebay canada now. It looks correct. Walter, looks like u r set with parts but since we are both in MD I might have a few things here and there.
Thanks! I can always use as much help in finding older parts as possible. Nothing comes to mind yet but I’ll let you know if anything arises
 
First hot day of the year, and a perfect time to get the sway bar in. Unfortunately now all that has to come out to get the torsion bars back in and seated with new seals and clips. It does look a lot better.
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Took today off from doing homework and drove with dad up into PA to meet with Isaac, who had gone and met with @71Polara383 a few weekends ago and brought some stuff home for his Polara. He also brought with him a nice green hood for Delmae that I traded Wyatt a set of ball joints for. Officially the farthest I’ve traveled for car parts, but at least the weather is beautiful.
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I guess a month is a good enough time to get back to work on it. May was a busy month for me. Of course the daily driver has decided that oil pressure is more of a recommendation than a necessity at idle, so we spent a few days replacing the oil pump in it in hopes it fixed it (it didn’t....cam bearings are heading out but it needs to go to Carlisle so it’s good enough for now).
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I also somehow managed to fit in my finals and graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, so there’s that as well. Spent last week vacationing, and only got back late Sunday. With a week left until I join the government workforce fulltime for the next 40 years, I decided it was time to get back to work on this.

First step was to get the dust boots on and clips set. Took a good hour beating it back and forth (with some questionable cleaning methods on the end of the torsion bars), but we finally got the bars indexed, greased, and clipped in.
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Once they were in, it was finally time to get the spindles on. One of the few small upgrades were polyurethane ball joint boots. Remainder of the time spent today was spent tightening the nuts to spec and putting cotter keys in (luckily we had a whole collection of some to put in as well). It’s starting to look like a car!
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So in one of my last posts, I brought up that the lower control arm bumpers listed for Mopars ARE NOT for our C bodies, as ours are mounted to the frame and not the LCAs. Well luckily I found a set that would work- Energy Suspension 9.9101G. They’re universal polyurethane bumpers that are on Amazon for cheap, and luckily fit really well.
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Now it’s almost ready for Carlisle! Well no, not exactly... but soon! Maybe?
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So putting my stuff away last night, I noticed that my BJ’s plastic shelf decided to collapse under the weight of all of Delmae’s parts we took off the car, so I guess I’ll be tackling that later....BUT ON TO TODAY’S PROGRESS!
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The last bunch of NOS Moog parts went on today. Almost gave up on removing the old pitman arm from the steering box, as the puller and stuff we had were doing hardly anything (and covered the workbench and side of the garage in power steering fluid...oops), but some heat and a few good hits of the hammer on the puller got it off (and got record distance too). Unfortunately we didn’t have a 3/4 inch drive torque wrench on hand (or one to begin with that went to 175 ft lbs), so the nut was tightened to the German specs of Güten Titë.
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Looks really close to straight too! Unfortunately we ran into a dilemma, as the KYB shocks unfortunately cannot be installed with everything else put together (hindsight 20/20 right?). Very very soon it’ll be back underneath the car.
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I've never NOT been able to install front shocks on a 70/71 Polara like the rest of the board has. It's tight but never have I had to do tricks.
 
I've never NOT been able to install front shocks on a 70/71 Polara like the rest of the board has. It's tight but never have I had to do tricks.
Dumb question- are you running the KYBs too? What’s your method of install? Unfortunately it extends too quickly after compression to get it in place. (They came in the box without any sort of clamp to keep them down)
 
My last set was Bilsteins but I may have slid those in as I was installing the whole front end ( you know that with age comes wisdom thing).
The last set I installed was likely Monroes.

Did you use the plastic tie trick?
 
My last set was Bilsteins but I may have slid those in as I was installing the whole front end ( you know that with age comes wisdom thing).
The last set I installed was likely Monroes.

Did you use the plastic tie trick?
I have not yet. I recommended it to my uncle, and he said to try it, but we didn’t get around to it. Supposed to rain the next few days but when I can get around to it, I’ll try
 
Anything in the scrap pile worth anything? I’ve pulled out the idler and pitman arms and the tie rod sleeves. I don’t need them but would hate to throw everything out.
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I feel like that now I am at this point, I should share all the parts I am using for the front end rebuild.
*Cue Slim Pickens voice*

“In your 1969-73 C Body Front Suspension rebuild kit you will find:
- (2) Moog K772 Upper Ball Joints
- (1) Moog K7003 and K7005 Lower Ball Joints
- (2) Moog K7006 Upper Control Arm Bushings**
** Moog K7036 Camber Bolt Kit contains these bushings as well
- (2) Moog K7007 Lower Control Arm Bushings
- (2) ES352R Outer Tie Rod Ends
- (2) ES355RL Inner Tie Rod Ends
- (1) ES355S Tie Rod Adjustment Sleeve
- (1) K7072 Pitman Arm
- (1) K7014 Idler Arm
- (1) K7064 Sway Bar Bushings (these go on the strut rods and the bracket around it attaches to the outer most holes on the sway bar)
- (2) PST SL18238 Sway Bar Links**
** PST is the only company making new bolt together sway bar links. Moog K7061 has the bushings for the links and sway bar but require reusing the original welded sway bar links and aren’t in production. The NAPA 265-1932 are a discontinued part that is the same as the PST. The lot I bought from a private seller only had one.
- (2) Moog K7293 Upper Control Arm Bumpers
- (1) Moog K7046 Idler Arm Bushing
- (1) Moog K7027 Strut Rod Bushing
- (1) Prothane 19-1819 Upper and Lower Ball Joint Dust Boots
FWIW, a lot of the Moog parts are very hard to find. I ordered K7061 from Shock Warehouse back in March, as they were the only major vendor listing them as available. Well, three months later, I finally talked to a live rep and he told me he gets the same question 10 times a day -- the set is backordered, as is the K7064 I'd ordered too. The earliest date given was September, so I cancelled.
 
FWIW, a lot of the Moog parts are very hard to find. I ordered K7061 from Shock Warehouse back in March, as they were the only major vendor listing them as available. Well, three months later, I finally talked to a live rep and he told me he gets the same question 10 times a day -- the set is backordered, as is the K7064 I'd ordered too. The earliest date given was September, so I cancelled.
I looked into it right after I posted it and saw the K7061 is hard to find. I had forgotten about the Napa one, but it’s only one so it wasn’t of much use to me.
 
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