Happy New Year to everyone! We were in bed by 10:30 last night but woke up to the sound of celebratory fireworks all around us. Lasted about 15 minutes or so, at which point 2024 was officially underway. Between the holidays and doctor's appointments, I haven't gotten a whole lot done lately. My right leg swelled up like a football and after a week of stalling, I had it checked out. A sonogram revealed a blood clot in my limbic vein from my groin area down to my calf. I'm on blood thinners and wearing compression socks but the swelling has been slow to recede. Doc says sometimes it can take months to clear up. When it does, he wants to run tests to try to determine the cause. Meanwhile I can work on the car, but when I sit down, I'm supposed to keep the leg elevated. Old age is sneaking up on me fellas.
I was surfing the net for holiday specials and stumbled across a smokin' deal on a pair of Currie axles. Basically, it ended up being buy one get one free. I told Kathy it sounded too good to be true but what the heck - Columbus took a chance. They showed up Saturday and are perfect for my needs. Awhile back I picked up a pair of housing ends to replace the pitted ones on my housing. The bearings that came with the axle kit were too tight a fit to suit me, so I bored the housing end diameter .002" which gave me a nice snug fit. This way, I won't have to beat the axles in with 2 lb sledge.
The rear suspension is mocked up where I need it. The sway bar only has a couple of inches of travel before it hits the underside of the frame rail. Pretty sure this is why they changed the design. Unfortunately, I got the old style, so I hope it works out. Had to make the mounting brackets for the sway bar but they turned out pretty well. Metal by the Foot didn't have angle in the size I needed so I sawed up some 3/16 wall rectangular tubing and Bob's yer uncle.
The new axles are cut to fit, so I have some leeway to narrow the housing but I'm on the fence about doing so. Since I have to weld on the new ends, it's no biggie to remove a bit more of the tubes. I have plenty of time to think about it. Between now and then, I have to mini tub the wheel wells and replace a big swath of the quarter panel skin. So, a month or two from now - maybe.
