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Old June 15th 05, 03:30 PM
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"Don Bruder" > wrote in message
...
>
> Finally decided enough was enough, and that there was no time like the
> present, got all the boxes and packages of stuff together that I've
> bought from eBay for pennies on the auto-parts store price, even WITH
> separate shipping for most of it figured in, and said "I'm gonna
> actually DO it instead of just thinking about it.
>
> What was "it"?
>
> Near total front-end replacement/rebuild on my '82 Mazda 626. Inner and
> outer tie rod ends, lower control arms (with bushings) and ball joints,
> idler arm and sway-bar bushings, plus brake pads are now all
> squeaky-shiney brand-spankin' new. Next step will be a rebuild on the
> brake calipers, and fresh bearings and rotors. Parts on hand to do all
> phases of that job, just a matter of having the time to actually *DO* it.
>
> I *WANTED* so bad to put in fresh strut cartridges (which I have on
> hand) while I was in so deep, and in fact, had the strut and spindle
> assembly off of one side when I hit a snag - One of the two bolts
> holding the steering knuckle to the bottom of the passenger-side strut
> decided to be a pain in the arse about coming out, and required more
> than an hour and a half of soaking in Blaster and impact-wrenching and
> trying to turn it with a 3 foot breaker bar to get out. (so that I could
> get to the nut holding the ball joint to the steering knuckle, which
> completely encloses that nut when bolted to the bottom of the strut
> assembly) That put me on the "Oh ****... I'm never gonna finish in time
> to get downtown for an alignment before I have to drive the route!"
> track, so I aborted that part of the mission. Shortly after making that
> decision (prolly 20 minutes or so) the offending bolt broke loose, and I
> was able to complete the part I got done *JUST* barely in time to make
> it to the alignment place.
>
> Yay! It pulls to the left just about perfect for a fast lane to slow
> lane transition in a little over 2.3 miles on a non-hilly straightaway
> section of freeway doing 65. Otherwise, it's about as close to perfect
> as *I* know how to make it.
>
> I even managed to get the alignment on-target surprisingly close with
> just "eyeballing it" that I was able to get it the 20-ish miles to town
> without losing the front tires. Which I had replacements for sitting at
> the tire shop, already on rims and waiting to be picked up anyway - the
> fronts were a wreck after last night's run, so I had two of my four
> "Baldy-maypop, but will likely get me home in a pinch" full-size spares
> rotated into the shop for fresh skins from earlier in the morning.
>
> I'm proud of me!
>
> OK, I've gushed



I know what you mean..Congratulations!
I have the Reatta up on stands now, going through the electrical system.
Too hot today, maybe tomorrow.


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