The Resurrection of Foam Car - 63 T6B

[bbspdstr]

Here's the common tool.....I bought and modified the slipper end and joined it to a nice "knocker" or slide-hammer. Now you know the diameter needed!

The trick is making sure the edges of the tool are seated flush and while gently hammering it, rotate it constantly, never staying in one or two places.

If the tool is plunging into lots of grease, it's hard to get it fully flipped so it's fully contacting the bearing on both sides of the tool. Better to get most of the grease out of the way first.

Usually, gentle tapping is enough, sometimes, while also holding even more pressure on the tool, harder blows are required, especially to get things moving. If done carefully, 99% of the bearings survive.

Hope this helps,
Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Thanks Bruce - another project. At least it is a proven design, and I can tell you have done this more than once.
Phil

[bbspdstr]

"I can tell you have done this more than once."

Phil, you made me think (a dangerous process, indeed).

If I have removed 4 bearings from, let's say 200 356s......that's at least....wait a minute....where's my calculator?

Another aside: I just pried an engine from an A. Wouldn't come out easily. Why? It had repro heat exchangers (Dansk?) that had to have been installed while the engine was in the car...and that must have been with great difficulty, as the exchanger box was made too close to the flange that bolts to the head's exhaust port and it was the flange of that snouted box that was stuck on the other side of the trans hoop.

My language began to turn blue, but I caught myself and laughed. What did I expect? A repro ANYTHING that actually fit as an original? I will be rehabbing a pair of original units and moving forward, the slightly used repro pair will be going to another 356er but kindly marked "Caveat Emptor"....for cheap....hey, the J-pipe isn't that bad, or trash all but the snout and make a 912 unit work in a 356. Options!

Sorry, I have brought my soapbox to Phil's thread, but to conclude:

It still blows my mind that people will have parts produced that 'look like' what is needed and sell them with no QC or conscience and expect to be thanked for that effort. It is becoming a 'new normal' to insist that customers bring their own parts so it is not my problem if they don't work or fit and guys like me can charge for the alterations or a better alternative. We all need to lobby for 'cheaper in the long run' "counterfeit NOS"!

Thanks for reading,
Bruce

[Phil Planck]

I made a puller for the bearing, after seeing Bruce's nice one. How I did it is posted under "Restoration Tools" topic #35099.

The good news is it works, and I now have experience pulling the same bearing twice - will never make it to 800, maybe not even 3. Anyway, not being happy with the tightness of the control arm discussed above, I removed Justin's bearing to take a closer look at the inside of the axle shaft. Both my bore gauge a finger feel identified a high area in the inner portion of the bearing surface, high by about .010". You can see the narrow dark area at the inner part, and I could easily feel it.



Using a large socket wrapped with emery paper I started sanding and you can see the dark narrow band turning to bright metal:


Bore gauge said it was still tighter:



But not wanting to remove too much I reinstalled the bearing. Better, but still a little too tight. So, removed it and more sanding:



Looking like more was removed I reinstalled bearing and this time had nice free movement. Here is the "tool":



Now where was I - oh, ready to paint and undercoat the wheelhouse area.

[JTR70]

Glad you were able to extract that bearing in one piece Phil. Exactly the way I'd be approaching it; big socket wrapped in Emory cloth. Congratulations on salvaging that tube end.
Justin

[Phil Planck]

But wait, there's more. I realized that I had been using the C control arm with the shorter bearing sleeve for testing. I removed that and put in your nice B control arm and it got too tight again. So, more emery metal removal. I am now up to about 7 bearing removals, gaining on you Bruce. I think a couple more sessions will do it, as the arm almost falls on it's own now when fully inserted. Strange situation where the outer end of the axle was oversize and the inner portion undersize.
Phil

[Phil Planck]

Finally found the root cause of my problem. I had not taken a good look at the upper surface of the axle tube, as it requires me to lay down and look up in there. Used my digital camera and discovered this step ridge at the upper area near the inside end of the bearing where the binding was occurring.



The bore gauge was measuring a reduction there, but I could not see it. Made a better "hone" by gluing some emery onto a 2" hole saw.



By applying upward pressure, this ridge slowly came down. I have now removed bearings about 10 times. The reason I went so slow is the bore gauge said the inner diameter was still over the 51.7 spec and the outer area even more, even though the bearing is a press fit. Anyway the control arm now installs easily and swings freely. My theory is that the accident/s forced the outer, weld joint into the tube, thereby creating a semi-circular dent. Repair person had the same problem so went with the C control arm and just one very loose fitting bearing.

I am going to smear some JB Weld in the various grooves to fill them in and re-hone the hole. Probably then use some bearing retainer on final assembly.

And my wife still keeps asking: "when are you going to get it done?"
And I keep answering: "I don't know"

Got a call from Vic Skirmants yesterday and he has my new brake shoes arced and the rear drums trued up. Will pick them up when he gets back from Watkins Glen races.

Phil

[Jack Staggs]

Phil, excellent reasoning and application of Sherlock Holmes' methods! A common phrase of his is ""When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". When I was in my early twenties, my then girlfriend gave me a book containing the entire Sherlock Holmes stories, stating "You remind me of him". I was fascinated by his skills of reasoning and have used them hundreds of times to find solutions to difficult problems, both personal, and mechanical. Good reading to those that are interested in sharpening skills of observation, as the slightest thing can make a huge difference in diagnosis. Well done.
Two questions:
How great was the deviation on size at the step?
What type of glue did you use to attach the emery cloth to the hole saw?

[Phil Planck]

Jack
We use Kindle quite a bit now, so will see if they have the Holmes set. I do most of my pleasure reading in the deep of winter.

The diameter changed by over .015" at the inner section. It still changes by about .007", but as I stated above, is over nominal spec, unless I am reading the gauge wrong.

I used contact cement - let it sit at least 15 minutes before attaching, per instructions.

[Phil Planck]

Removed Justin's bearing, hopefully for the last time. Mixed up some JBWeld and smeared it around the bearing surface to fill in the grooves.



I noticed when I installed the 2 new 20mm bearings that the control arm was tighter than with Justin's original bearing. The new bearings stacked together go 4mm deeper into the axle tube:



Sherlock,er, Phil

[Phil Planck]

Smoothed down the JBweld and it filled the pits nicely. Did a compatibility test of the Loctite bearing retainer with the JBweld and seems to not affect the JBweld. Coated inner tube and Justin's bearing with the retainer and pressed bearing in for final time. Shoulder clamp on the way to Jack. With this little delay behind me I put the last coat of paint on the inner structure on both sides prior to undercoating. Still need to do some touch up here and there as the red undercoat did not all get covered:





Opened up my 8 year old, unused bottle of Shutz and though not hard, appeared to have lost the thinning solvent. Went to my paint store and bought a new bottle and inquired about salvaging the old bottle. He suggested mineral spirits. So filled up old bottle to same level as new and stirred for quite a while. Still not the same consistency of the new stuff. May have already started to cure/dry a little. Will use new bottle and test old bottle later:



Every single part has to be "freshened up/restored". Just masking everything takes a lot of time:





Next is final paint underneath and up inside where the MC is. Where is the rotisserie when I could use it?

Phil

[Phil Planck]

Picked up my arced brake shoes from Vic Skirmants. Unfortunately the shoes are 8mm instead of 7mm so I had to file off a little from each end to reduce the diameter so I could get the drum over them. But the lining matches the drum, so will get 10% longer life

[Phil Planck]

Some questions:

1) grease zerk 101 - As you can see in these pictures, some zerks are not pointing in a convenient direction to attach a grease gun. Tried a washer, but too thick. How about red locktite?

2) In the bowels of the joining of many panels should I add more weld to the K strut down there? What about seam sealer?

3) Axle tubes are busy with steering stabilizer, e-brake, grease zerks and spring adjustments. Thinking of masking these while undercoating and just have them painted black. Too lazy to look at made by hand. Were these tubes originaly undercoated? I actually don't see a lot of undercoating up in here and don't remember ever removing it.











Thanks - Phil

[bbspdstr]

Phil, a few MIG tacks are good if flushed afterward with a waterproof primer. Can't hurt.

Try a thin aluminum crush washer (first)to simulate what we old racers (me? )did to index spark plug electrodes to help those sequential explosions and the direct the speed of flame propagation, arf, arf . Fractions of a horsepower were essential in how badly we were beaten.

Usually, those Zirks can be coaxed a bit by loosening and snugging a bit more, etc....until they point where desired...but they also break off easily, so be gentle with the torque in that method. Careful....!

BTW, that hole in the K-member should have a 90* fitting pointing straight down to it for easier connection. Maybe swap fittings around to see what bottoms out where and at what angle?

Clean and mask (cap) the grease fitting inlets (the flex plastic caps that Rubbermaid sells for the ends of the wire shelving work), threaded bits and such, and after cleaning some more, paint black. The texture is usually up in there somewhat (amounts apparently dictated by Fritz or Heinz before or after lunch and whether a Monday or a Friday), but you can use aluminum foil scrunched around the tubes and a wrap of masking tape to hold that on to keep the heavy texture from getting on everything.

Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Thanks for the quick reply Bruce. Perfect timing, as headed back out to the shop right now.

Phil