I created a flying car!

This last week I got some nifty new tools, and continued the tear down.  I wasn't able to update last week as other issues came up.  Continue reading for more info and awesome pictures!

Looks like it's jumping

Flying car! (sorta)

Note!  I don't have access to my camera for this post, so some videos won't make it.  Once I get them uploaded, I'll let you know!  You can also follow my YouTube channel for updates as I get to them.  Also don't forget I have a photo gallery of ALL pictures of this project (even some not yet in this blog).  I'm trying to find a better way to organize them, but Google hasn't been helpful in this endeavor.


I finally was able to pull the trigger on getting the rotisserie I needed for the next phase of this project.  This ended up opening up a few other issues (I figured these would surface).  Mainly, how to then secure the car to the rotisserie and how to still make the body accessible.  I don't (yet) have a welder, and haven't touched one in years.  Fabbing brackets up to mount it with isn't really an option.  I wouldn't trust any weld I'd make at this point to hold anything as precious as this car.  SO!  Purchasing and modifying brackets meant for other cars will have to work!

Some assembly required

While I'm trying to sort the mounting issues out, I started working on removing the rest of the hardware from the car.  I didn't want to take out the suspension before in case I had to move the car forwards or backwards to make room for the rotisserie.

Once I had rough placement of the rotisserie though, the gloves went on! The rear suspension on this car is fairly straight forward.  It's a coil spring setup with a four link and panhard bar.

I initially was going to just leave the tires and wheels on to make it easier to move around, but since I wanted to keep the existing parking brake I had to end up dissembling the brake drums so I could remove the parking cable without damaging it.  If you've ever done drum brakes on a car, these are pretty much the same as any other.  Remove drum, remove springs holding shoes to the backing plate, then remove the springs holding the shoes together.  After that it all just kind of falls apart.

The parking brake was secured to the backing plate with a circular magical clip.  You had to push on multiple sides at the same time and shove the thing back through the backing plate.  With a little work I was able to get them out.

After the brakes, I then pulled out the shocks (one bolt at the top in the trunk, and one holding each to the axle).  From there the only thing left is the four links and panhard bar.  I chose to leave all of that on the axle, so disconnected them all at the body.  I used a jack to help support the weight of the rear axle once it was disconnected from the body.  I also left the drive line attached to it.  This car uses a two piece drive line, so I also had to remove two bolts at the carrier bearing that held the drive line to the car.

two piece driveline

Once the rear was out, I went after the front.  This is an older MacPherson strut design.  The hub/spindle is part of the lower strut and not removable like some of the other designs I've seen.  Removal starts out mostly the same as a standard front brake job.  Remove the wheel, the caliper, and the rotor.  Since the rotor on these is part of the hub, the hub nut had to be removed.  Grease everywhere!

From there, I removed the nuts that held the strut to the body of the car (in the engine bay).  Next, I had to drive the tie rod out of the steering carrier.  I found that a big hammer and pickle forks seemed to work nicely here.  After that, I removed the lower bolts that held the strut/spindle to the lower control arm and pulled the strut assembly out.  This left just the lower control arm connected to the crossmember and the radius/torque arms/rod.

Removing the radius arms was an interesting feat in itself.  These connect to the lower control arm at one end and the front of the unibody chassis at the other.  They help prevent front/back movement in the lower control arm/wheel when the car is moving.

At the front of the car they are held on with a giant (22mm) nut.  I used an impact gun and penetrating oil on them off and on for several hours over a couple days and was only able to get them to turn maybe 1/4 - 1/2 a turn.  After letting them soak for a few more days I got out a breaker bar and tried again.  This time I was able to get them to move a little more, but found I was picking the car up off the jack stands when I'd try to do it. I ended up adding a long bar to the breaker bar to add leverage.  'Cheater bars' like this CAN be dangerous!  You can also break stuff.  Like yourself.  So I'd not recommend using them unless you have no other options.

radius arms and cheater bar

After a ton of struggling, cursing, sweating, and banging I finally worked those suckers loose.  They weren't even cross-threaded or rusted on.  I'm not sure if it was some sort of jam nut or what.  Those things were ON there.  Once they were loose of the body though, It was easy work to remove the other end from the lower control arm.

Last bit was then removing the crossmember from the car.  This was only held on by four small bolts, and came out with relative ease.  Leaving the lower control arms attached to the crossmember will make it easier to remove them later.

Crossmember

No crossmember

So the last couple weeks have been productive!  Once more step closer.  Over the next week I'm going to try to get it actually on the rotisserie, then start looking for local places that might be interested in helping me get it media blasted (no sand please!).