[brossow]

Got some more work done yesterday and today in between searching for jobs. Realized in the middle of the night Sunday/Monday that the backing plates I had been planning to use were ones from my '64 or '66 projects. It actually friggin' SNOWED yesterday morning, forcing me to do some work inside. (Note to self: don't EVER decide to spray paint in the basement again, no matter how cold it is outside.)

So I stripped the new rotors and calipers of all the protective grease and gave them a liberal helping of caliper paint. I'm VERY unimpressed by the stuff, especially compared with good stuff like Chassis Black. I guess that's why it's $7 a can instead of $25. Oh, well. In retrospect I really should've powdercoated the rotors instead of painting, but no big deal. The part that shows is going to rust regardless and can't be painted anyway. Also painted the power steering box, though I may go over it again with a coat or two of Chassis Black for added protection from the elements.

After the paint dried, I sat in the basement and packed the new wheel bearings. Discovered I could have saved a bit of money by buying them without the races, which were included with the spindles. Oh, well. Installed the inner bearings and seals and wrapped the freshly packed outer bearings in plastic for later installation.

Was gonna go out in the cold and put the spindles on last night but realized that I still didn't have the proper backing plates ready to go. Rats! So today as soon as it warmed up (day started off at 24°F) I went out and removed, media blasted, and powdercoated the correct pieces from my pile o' parts. They turned out nice! Also PCed the Pitman arm as long as it was already stripped and the oven was warmed up.

Ran some errands to pick up some stainless hardware to attach the dust shields, new dust caps for the rotors, etc. Got it all bolted on this afternoon and except for the crappy caliper paint I couldn't be more pleased with the results.

Tomorrow (weather permitting) I'll bolt on the steering parts and finally be able to bolt the front wheels back on. Then it's time to clean out the garage and roll everything in for the winter. Hate to even think about six months of not working on it, but such is life in Minnesota without a decent garage. (And hey — without a job, there's not much left I could afford to do at this point anyway.)