Gonna try posting from TapaTalk, wish me luck. I'm gonna upload photos using 'best' size and we'll what happens eh.
So I'm onto the front end now. Dropped out the passenger side spring: it came out in three pieces! Left behind a coil rusted in the spring seat up in the crossmember tower, and another coil stayed in the control arm at the other end. I ain't seen that before.
At least the driver's side only came out in two pieces...
Having never driven the car, I had no idea what to expect. Both king-pins have been recently overhauled (zero play in them) so there was a vague glimmer of hope. Alas, with the springsnow out, all I can say is, I am glad I never did have to drive it! Man, the wear in the outer pivot pins and inner arm bushes was horrendous. And the passenger lower pivot pin through the crossmember was adrift, had broken a couple of booger welds holding it in. Sorted that out with some overkill welding and then went to work scrubbing & painting the whole show while I waited for new parts to arrive:
dropped into Syndey Tools to get my hands on 1" and 1 & 1/8" impact sockets for my 23 year old breaker bar, after failing to get this guy undone using all the wrong tools. I'm not sure what happened, but an empty VB stubby on the bench got thrown clear across the garage and into the other wall when it let go. F*!k knows how:
Production line parts painting in the spray booth, complete with my patented solar powered baking setup
And finally, putting it back together.
Peened the inner arms with a centre punch to grab the bushes a little better. The upper arm bushes all but cut a new thread... but tightened down true and firm. Had a fun time setting up the gaps in the pivot pins for 'best' kingpin to control arm alignment, it's all moving nicely, with minute persuasion towards positive caster. I cranked the eccentric to max negative camber for now, I'll obviously do the alignment properly later...
Oh and I had to ream out the hole in the lower arm as the new Monroe GT Gas shocks didn't quite sneak through. I painted them and the Super Low King Springs in Toyota Royal Blue, cos the old (failed) Gabriel units that came out looked kinda cool, so I decided to match that colour. Looks a little bright here cos of the flash.
New wheel bearing seals, re-packed the old bearings (they're fine), then did a basic build of the drums: the linings are fine, but it copped a new wheel cyl and brake hose, now suspended from the inner guard by an HR Holden spec spring from Rare's. I know that aligning the hose correctly should avoid tyre rub, but all three EK's I've worked on had rubbed hoses. This has worked out super neat.
The backing plates and drums are done in calliper paint, and once I greased the whole thing, I have one last clean and hit it with clear coat. That's mainly to stop the bushes from going rusty, but the whole show should look ok for a little while longer too. I hope.
This might be my last post for a while, I gotta turn my attention to some life stuff... but hopefully I'll have the other side finished up in the coming week.
Cheers. J
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) as the spot welds on both sides of the bracing had snapped and there was a big crack in the edge, right on the curve on the drivers side. So I drilled & plug welded the brace back together, then cut out the crack and welded in a 15cm long section along the edge & underside. A lube of the hinges and it opens properly now. As I think I mentioned earlier, I sourced the correct blue paint (holts DSF13 Deep Aqua - a &*#@ colour), so I've been touching up all the jambs and edges. While it might seem like I'm just polishing a turd by doing this stuff, I'm always thinking about things from the eyes of a Blue Slip inspector. Presentation helps and having a bonnet that doesn't require owner instructions to open it is also a plus... 
