1970 Camaro. Project "Cindy" by iregret

5 minute(s) of a 206 minute read

I didn't get to work on Cindy as much as I wanted to today. I'm busy for the next 3 days, so I won't be able to work on it until Wednesday.

I wanted to get the engine bay to the point where I was ready to paint. I didn't quite get there, but im not rushing anything either.

Its actually farther along than it looks. I want to pull part of the front suspension off as well. So I can get to other parts to paint. I rerouted some wires in the process, and took some of the useless ones out. I think im going to pull the AC stuff out next time too.

I ran into a bit of a problem. The hydroboost setup that I bought, was supposed to be made for my application. Well, it hits the inner fender, and I can't bolt it down all the way. I have to figure that one out still..

6-25-2008

Okay, so I worked on Cindy a bit today after all. I don't think I will get a chance to work on her tomorrow though. I pulled the rear-end out of the 1980 Camaro.

First make sure the car is placed firmly on jack stands. Next I unbolted the lower shock mount. There are 5 nuts including the one for the shock. Repeat for the other side.

Next, I used air tools to get the lug nuts to break loose.

After that, you pull the brake drum off, and remove the brake pads and everything that goes with it. I had a hard time pulling the drums off. So, I used some penetrating fluid, a file(or sandpaper), and a big hammer to get them past the axle flange.

Here you can see everything removed, and the brake line that needs to be pulled out.

Don't forget to disconnect the "drop line" from the axle.

After that, I used a jack to jack up the rear-end, and pull it over the passenger rear leaf spring. You could get a buddy to help you move it around. That would make it a lot easier.

Next, I pulled the cover off. Now is a good time to inspect things in there. Everything looked good to me.

So, here is where I ran into my problem, and wasted about 3 hours of my day! Normally, there would be spider gears in an "open" rear end. You would simply push the axles towards the center, and remove the "C" clips holding them in place.

Well, about 15 years ago. A friend and I rebuild this rear end as a class project, when he was attending automotive school. Now, instead of a 2.73 open diff, I have a 3.73 rear with a locker. I spent those 3 hours trying to remove the "C" clips, and still didn't get it done!

So what I did was remove the vertical pin holding the locker to the carrier. That allowed me to spin the locker independently of the carrier. The best I can figure, you have to pry the locker to one side, which opens up barely enough room to see the "C" clip. Then you would push the clip out, and slide the locker the other direction, and repeat. Well, all I had on hand, was a bunch of screwdrivers, and I couldn't get the damn thing out.

As I was cleaning up it occurred to me, that the simplest solution would be to buy another "C" clip, cut the tips off, and use it as a sort of punch to remove the other "C" clips. That, or take the "C" clips out of the 1970 rear-end. That would apply even pressure to the two points of the "C" clip.  

So, I got a little bit accomplished, but not as much as I would have liked.

Up next, figure out how to pull those axles out, have them turned down to 5.9 inches, to clear C5 brakes, paint the rear-end, and install into Cindy...