Pumpkin

Back from Mexico.  With the holiday, this is a short week.  I didn't have anything urgent at work, so I decided to take the week off and try to make progress on the T-bird.

My goal for today was to get the entire rear end assembled.  As it turns out, this was rather ambitious.  I started by cleaning the 57 year old goo off the differential ring gear.  I didn't want to assemble the differential without first making sure the teeth were OK.

 The teeth looked ok, with some minor pitting but no unusual wear.  So I cemented a gasket onto the rear cover, and put it in place on the back of the pumpkin.  Oh, yeah... I forgot.  There are some other parts that get held on by the cover bolts... like the rear brake lines and distribution block.  Now where do they go again?

 It turns out that my replacement brake lines aren't exactly the same shape as the originals.  Only problem is that they mount differently, so I had to figure this out.  Not a problem, just takes time.

Several people have told me that the stock T-bird rear suspension doesn't stand up to spirited driving.  Typical of simple leaf spring rear ends, the rear wants to roll in a turn.  This keeps the handling "tight" (understeers), up to the point where the axle hits the bump stop (which happens fairly quickly with the t-bird's limited suspension travel)... then the outer rear wheel digs in, and the car becomes "loose" all of a sudden (oversteers).  This transition makes the car hard to control.  Installing an aftermarket rear sway bar can help this, but will make the handling looser overall.  Since I installed rising rate springs and a stiffer sway bar in front, I think this will be OK.  I'm fairly confident that the car will handle better, so I went ahead and bought a rear sway bar.

 I can't finish mounting the rear sway bar until the car is on the ground and supporting its own weight, but I can attach the brackets to the axle assembly and check for fit while it is still on jack stands.  I was a little worried about interference with the brake lines.  For good reason, it turns out!

Routing the brake line under the sway bar clamp is a very bad idea!

I did a little adjusting, and managed to make everything fit.

The next step is to replace the axle seals.  That's were I got stuck... I needed a special tool.  Off to AutoZone for a tool loan... but the tool they had didn't fit.  I ran out of time... but on the way home from Uncle Packard's garage, I stopped by Harbor Freight and picked up a tool that I think will work.

At least things are moving.  Hoping for more progress tomorrow.