Wow, it's been a long time since I've written. I just realized that I'm
approaching ten years as a spit (1973, FM3812) owner. I bought Bev as a
birthday present for myself in '94, when I knew nothing about cars
whatsoever. Here I am, ten years later, and only slightly more advanced
than that. Most of my ventures into maintenance have been somewhat
limited- bleeding the brakes, slight body work. I leave the big stuff
to the pros, but the stuff that I'd consider reasonable now is sure
different than the stuff I'd consider reasonable to do myself in 1994.
I guess that shows something! (Notable exception was the post-fire
electrical system replacement- with thanks to Andy Mace)
Not sure when I joined this list- it wasn't too long after that summer.
Nonetheless, since I don't want to make a point of simply writing every
decade or so without reason, here's my sitch:
I followed the thread about "Driver's Side Lean" last week, and
interestingly had a similar problem, but I think with a different cause.
My lean was restricted to the rear, and went in the opposite direction.
I suspected the spring, so yanked it out and reversed it on Saturday.
Note: I know that they are supposed to have a marking "Front" which
would indicate to me that they're not meant to be reversed, but I figured
that it looked similar enough, and it's the only way to determine if it
was the spring that was causing the lean, or something else. Anyway, mine
didn't have a "Front" marking on it.
Sure enough, the lean is now on the drivers' side. Note to self: order
a replacement spring. I see that Obsolete Auto has them on sale for
$249CDN. Im assuming that refurbishing it is not an option= the failure
is fatigue in the steel?
The other problem, which actually has more of a question than that one,
is that I discovered a problem with the threads on the bolt/spar at the
bottom of the vertical link- this is where the lower end of the shock
absorber (rear) attaches. The threads are completely stripped- the nut
goes on, but with nothing to old it there.
I didn't get a good look at it, trying to fend off shipwrights disease.
Is that a *bolt* that I can replace? It was pretty caked with dirt, so
I couldn't see if I could pull out the bolt- it appeared to me to be
quite attached, as in welded, or a part of the link itself. I fear that
it's an integrated part of the vertical link, and now I need to replace
the whole schmoe. The diagram in my manual wasn't too helpful. Anyone?
Thanks, of course, as always!
;-David
|