Wynona the wagon's resurrection!

[HRH]

Yep it was sweet until I went to go put the upper arms in. Even though it's the same bushing as the original the bolt didn't really fit through it. So I hogged a little with the drill bit and around file and then hit it in with a brass hammer. And I made sure to make it the exact same length as the original. well that was a mistake because it actually needs to be longer than the original because the locating point is up higher and farther back even though it's the same orientation on the axle. I realized that after I put the shocks on and found they weren't level much less the diff isn't at a four and a half degree angle either. That's what I measured the stock diff on the flat surface.

And now that I have that upper bolt banged in I can't get it back out. So I have to get creative and possibly ruin the bolt tomorrow. I'll either sandpaper down the bolt a little bit or go by the proper drill bit to actually ream out the hole. I have no idea why the damn thing doesn't fit. I had two sets of stock arms, the originals and the donor wagon. As far as I know they're identical. Perhaps it was when Joe turned the caps to stick them on the heim joint maybe they just got a little out of sorts. I was going to figure it out tonight but decided to say screw it and then I realized I couldn't close the garage door because the bumper was sticking out too far, lol. So I fiddled it around a bit more and got it set up for tomorrow, I'm beat.

[HRH]

I opted for the poor man's lathe this morning. Only had to take off about 6 to 10,000 on the bolt shoulder and then it went in. I think the halves are just slightly misaligned and they were press fit into the heim bushings. Should have fit but apparently something got lost in the heating and fitment process. Either way they're in now.

All I have left to do is tighten all the connection points and start hooking up brake lines seeing if I can make the e-brake work with the factory junk and check out the drive shaft for an adapter piece.

[HRH]

Oh it gets better LOL. The left upper control arm was the one that was really close to the ABS boss on the differential. I thought it would be just fine only to realize after I was trying to put the nut on that it's too close and I can't get the proper size nut on the end of the bolt physically. So now I get to grind on the ABS speed sensor housing flange underneath the car with the axle already mounted. I'm almost thinking about taking the axle out to do it because it would be so much easier but that would take a lot more time. I guess that means I'm going to be showering sparks in my face, what fun.

[HRH]

So I opted for the carbide Christmas tree burr. Slower but a lot less hot. Got the clearance I needed Clarence!

Oh and I found a new problem. the diff clearance to the trans tunnel is about a quarter inch. That's with the wagon not compressing completely. there is a reinforcement bracket piece that I can probably take off although I feel it's there for the very reason if the drive shaft flange lets loose it doesn't go through the trans tunnel. Not quite sure what I'm going to do for that yet.

[HRH]

What I thought was a reinforcement appears to be a chunk of rubber. Maybe it's a harmonic damper of some sort? Or they figured if the drive shaft flies off it hits the rubber first? Either way it's not structural so I can remove it and get a little more clearance for the diff snout.

[HRH]

So I burned the rubber off and painted it. Got the axle attached solidly. Looks like the right side needs to go back just a smidge. Going to verify with a tape measure after lunch, then move the upper arm back a turn or two. Fortunately that's the easy side to get to. I think I'll have just enough clearance to not hit the trans tunnel. And I mean just enough. I can fit some fingers in at the lower ride height. Going to throw a bunch of weight in the back and see how close it is on the bumpstops.

Have I mentioned this would be much easier with a lift? Good news is things are looking up. I'm almost thinking I may be able to run a conversion u joint at the rear of the shaft and not have to use an adapter as well. We shall see.

[HRH]

All right fellas we have our next problem. The lower mounting points for the axle are 2° off. . After measuring multiple times I called the Datsun guru and told him the news. He said impossible I made a giant jig! And I actually saw the jig he made and I'm pretty sure he did do it right. Something I noticed though on the bottom of these mounting points for the control arms of the donor axle they're pretty banged up and scraped. And the axle I gave him to cut up was out of the donor wagon, not out of Wynona. So I'm not surprised that something was probably bent or tweaked on this old donor axle.

Anyway the good news is it shouldn't be that hard to fix. We're going to leave the bracket on the axle tube and just-do the hole so we can get the axle where it's supposed to be. Right now the passenger tire is an 1/8-in further forward in the wheel well. and you made a good point we could also do some adjustments on the other side and make adjustable control arms so we have more adjustment overall. not quite sure what we'll do I'm just happy we don't have to yank the axle part and start over.

This next week I'll load the car up on the trailer and take it down to Joe's shop so he can fiddle with it. This thing is beating me up. Haven't even done my workout my whole body is sore from crawling underneath it on the creeper. But rest assured it will get fixed and it will be rolling before 9-10!

[HRH]

You know I'm actually taking a look at it and I'm pretty sure I can do it in the garage. When I'm going to do is split the top of the mount where it goes to the axle tube and then I'll bend it down two degrees and weld up the slot I cut. It should keep everything in about the same orientation.

Got so used to relying on other people I realized I have the skills to complete the weld and the confidence to do it well! Lemons, meet lemonade!

[DRIVEN]

[BLUE]

Not a small task.. reward comes soon

[HRH]

Tell me about it! I want reward, like now!! I started thinking about 20 different ways to do the alteration to the mount today. I've decided I want a plasma cutter. If I scribe an arc around the axle through the plate, I can just offset the mount two degrees, add the difference of cut thickness and Bob's your uncle. I can also do it with the oxy acetylene torch, but we all know how ragged the edges look with that. But I have oxy, don't have a plasma cutter. There's one on Amazon for $200, debating if it's a pile of shit or not. I don't know, keep thinking of different ways to do it, but making an arc so I can just move the bottom piece of the cut bracket in the arc, then fill in the cut seems like the way to go to me. I suppose if I got really excited I could cut the welds and re-position the piece, but it's fairly extensive welding. I'd rather not get too close to the tube. Rather cut it under what's welded. And then I can alway put a plate on the backside (inside) to reinforce the weld around the sides. I'm sure it would be plenty strong. Drill a couple holes and plug weld a few spots.

I just got back home and started ripping out the rest of the Oregon grapes. The wife bought a 12x20 portable garage so we can store the kayaks and RX7 inside it. It's coming in October. Still need to get the stumps of small trees and grapes yanked out and then leveled and gravel put down. Figured I'd better start early so I'm not rushing when the thing arrives.

[HRH]

I bit the bullet and ordered a $200 plasma cutter off amazon. Only does 10mm, but that's way more than I need. Had 400+ reviews with 4.5 stars. Figure it should probably work well enough for the few times I'm going to use it. And if I really get excited I can always get a nicer one down the road. I think it will make this project much much easier though.

[BLUE]

You’ll be happy. My cheap JEGS one works just fine , plan on 220v. Last time it was used to torch steel press plates for jigs to hold hubs (to change those perky Toyota hub bearings)

[HRH]

Alright, today's the day. Going to head out to the garage in a second and see how I want to attack this problem. And hook up the new plasma cutter I haven't even unboxed yet.

[HRH]

First test cut on the old axle tube this thing works like a charm!

[HRH]

So the axle is held now by the jack stands all I have to do is carefully tweak it two degrees and weld it back on.

[HRH]

This wasn't how I envisioned it but I think it'll work just fine anyway.

[HRH]

I'm eating lunch now stupid damn bracket I tacked it on and it was too short. So I welded little balls onto it and ground them down to what I thought was correct but it wasn't. Now I have them tacked on and I figure I'll eat lunch before I start throwing things. after lunch I'll cut it back loose again and shorten the distance and retack it and see if I finally have the right dimension.

[BLUE]

Clean cut(s). That’s a lot of work , you’ll get it , keep pushing. Sometimes sleep or a long break brings more wisdom for myself. I use to throw wrenches 20-years ago...Now I just say “$&@“ it...imma go eat/drink/wind out” and draw up my solutions or sleep on them

You’re doing a lot of fine adjustments. Devils in the details.

[HRH]

Yeah, I got it. Haven't final welded yet, just welded the arc on the sides. Got the upper control arms adjusted where the tire to fender clearance was even front to back. I'm happy where the mounts ended up. However.......the left side is in a little over 1/4" more than the right side. Tire is closer to fender edge on right side to clarify. I would prefer it dead nuts, and up to 1/4" of side to side play is acceptable, but this may need to be fixed. Which means redoing the job basically. At least yanking the axle back out. I tightened all the bolts up to get a final idea. It was going to be fine, but I had to adjust the top left control arm back quite a bit more than the right top control arm.

The annoying part about this is I had my Datsun guru did it, and you know when you have your buddy who does things, you don't want to step on those toes since he's done me a lot of quality work and favor over the years? (See "Don't piss off your machinist.") Yeah. So I told him about the 2 degrees off, and he wanted to fix it with a slotted hole, which would have worked, but I didn't want to fix it that way. And now that I'm doing it myself, my options are shut up and do it the way I want it, or take it back to him and say fix it.

Anyway, I'm too tired out to continue. Thankfully in my old age I know when to quit or risk screwing shit up worse. I'll regroup tomorrow after a good nights sleep. Worst case, I have the original axle out. I suppose I can make my own jig and measure things and yank the 8.8 of the car and redo it. But I really don't WANT to do that if I don't have to. We'll see in the morning. At least I got the 2 degrees I wanted and the plasma cutter worked great. If anything, now I have the confidence to build a jig if I do have to redo it.

I need to measure the mounting points on the new axle tomorrow, see if they're centered. Could be other things too, it is from 1984.