So as mentioned in an earlier post I had to take the diff to a specialist to have the front seal done. Axles were not coming out either, even with a slide hammer or levers, so I asked him to remove them, replace the bearings and reassemble it, which he did. Total cost was around $350, which I guess wasn't too bad I guess, given he had to heat the housing to get the rusted bearings out. Boy am I glad he changed them! So a mild freshen up (well, he tested the clearances and stuff and replaced the seals, front bearing and the axle bearings) and away we go. Re-installed it with no hassles.
Wheel cylinders were somewhat hard to come by, I found two very dusty ones on the shelf at Sprint Parafield Gardens. I had a score with the rear shockers too, new ones normally retail for around $130 a pair, but I found some on Ebay that a surplus parts place was getting rid of for $50! Snapped them up. They had them listed as Commodore Vacationer with some particular suspension option which is uncommon, and thus they sat around for years. Fortunately I looked up the part number cross reference.
So, the back end is almost complete, wire brushed and repainted the wheels, which came up a treat, almost a shame to cover them with hubcaps :/
With the springs out I gave them a wire brushing and a few coats of 'Chassis Black' some paint that K&H make. It's okay paint, adheres really well and is supposedly chip proof. I prefer the Motospray Acrylic black for finish, alas it doesn't stick as well to any leftover greasy bits and is not chip proof.
I replaced the rubbers with Nolathane. Unfortunately it's red, but there was no other option, all auto parts suppliers could only get the Nolathane ones. Autopro did manage to track down one set of black rubber in their warehouse interstate, but one set is still one too few :(
So here's the springs repainted and rebushed ready to go in.
Following this I replaced the uni joints in the tailshaft, the ones in there were originals it appears (or genuine replacement at least). Still reasonable but wasn't taking any chances. Under all the grime (the auto trans leaks so it was covered in stuff, I discovered the tailshaft is painted a dark green. Kind of like early Holdens that had light green or brown tailshafts.
It was hard to find the exact colour but I did find an enamel in a similar dark green. Final finish is much darker than it appears in the picture.
