I started today off by pressing the bolts and mounting pin out of the spring perch. Easy stuff.
Next up, all the smaller suspension parts I pulled out of the car yesterday got cleaned with my Marine Clean solution and hosed off outside. Then into the electrolysis bath! I decided to put all of them in at once to see if the process could be sped up. Turns out, it wanted to chug along nicely at four amps.
After a quick lunch and some errands run, I got my dad to help hold the suspension arms while I chiseled the rivets out. They went a lot smoother this time than last. A couple good swings with the 2.5lb persuader, and the old ball joints popped right out.
For the lower arm, I was going to press the old bushing out, but I found that over the last 50 years, the bushings had shifted and now the mushroomed ends were hanging over the lip of the bushing sleeve. I had to take a hack saw to the small end, which took a surprisingly long 15 minutes to saw through. After my cardio saw workout, it was easy to press the bushing out the rest of the way.
The upper arm gets my makeshift Upper Arm Bushing Puller tool, which works surprisingly well. I make sure to squirt some WD-40 on the bushings and my tools before doing any pressing work, it just makes things go smoother and easier.
The smaller parts after coming out of the bath of 4-7 hours. They have some surface rust after drying, but that's going to be brushed away tomorrow.
And lastly for today, I cleaned off the control arms and put them in the bigger bath. The system was going around three amps when I put them in at 9:30, hopefully getting a little higher as crud flakes off.
Tomorrow, I hope to get the parts wire brushed and then painted.
August 1 2022