It's been a week or so since the last update, tho work was happening, and was getting posted to FB. The B-3 interrupted the Special build by demanding I replace a crank seal that was leaking into the alternator housing (and thus, onto the ground), and the ancient underground G'raj electrical feed finally gave up, started passing live current to ground, and made pretty much everything in the G'raj - including the main door - an electrocution hazard.
Trust me, it was really exciting coming home from the transfer station, soaking wet from the downpour that had occurred, grabbing the door handle to lift it open, and then letting go, jumping back, and hurling F-bombs from the jolt.
All that's fixed now,. new above ground sched 40 conduit, some brand new 12-2 three conductor outside rated wire, EVERYTHING properly grounded...uprated the CB from 15 to 20 amps. The welder even seems to like it better.
anyway...
since our last episode, I'd begun the actual disassembly of the crusty front suspension. I'm not planning on using the front subframe anymore, rather, I'm going to build my own mounting structure to use the Jag control arms.
That required more intensive measuring...
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The Jag control arms angle back towards the rear, and after a sweaty, dirty session lying underneath with several measuring devices, and doing a bit of math, I was able to determine that the pivot axes are angled 15.5 deg towards the rear of the vehicle, with the forward LCA pivots (at the LCA bushing boss center) 27 inches apart. LCA rear pivots are 21.5 apart, and the LCA Pivot bushing boss centers are 10.13 apart. UCA pivots are 7.0 outward and 10.63 above the LCA pivots, and the forward UCA bushing boss center is 1.0 behind the LCA bushing boss...
...just in case anybody needs to know. y'know? sharing the info...all these dimensions are good to within 1/16th inch.
Once I had that all measured and recorded in the build notebook, then came the arduous wrestling match of getting the suspension apart.
The top ball joints had already been unfastened to get the springs out (the wrong way, as I subsequently discovered in my 1985 XJ6/XJ12 factory service manual. ha ha duh. So THAT'S why they bolted on the spring pans!)
The tie rod ends separated easily, but the lower ball joints were STUCK. Notice the smoke rising from the wheel well. yup, I cooked that thing, only slightly red hot.
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The Spindles came out, but the lower control arms are still in there, and in order to get those out, I need to pull the steering rack, so that I can - as it claims in the factory service manual - "...drift the pins out..." yeah. I have every confidence that is going to go smoothly. yup. Those aren't rusted into place at all, I'm sure, not even a little. *sigh*
Anyway...
I had also run out of the main structural tubing, needed to build the rear suspension cage, but that showed up last Monday, and so after finishing the Gra'j electrical feed project, I got on with chassis fabrication...
The uprights and top cross tube prepped for welding...
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setup for completing the essential part of the cage, with my usual in-process straightness check using my angle finder gages...
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That all got welded and that's about where it sits right now. I've got tubes to weld in in the middle of the cage at the top and rear, which will get done this weekend, and then I can finally pull the rear axle and subframe from the XJ6, and see where that's going to ultimately go.
I am VERY confident I'm going to meet my self-imposed September roller deadline