Diff back in

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 :/

Springs and Tailshaft

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.

Registration

Now the weather has gone sour again I've not spent much time in the shed, but I had been starting to get a little concerned about registering the Corona. I really didn't feel like having to take it to Regency to get it re-registered into my name, given a) it had been off the road for so many years, and b) I bought it unregistered. Especially given I'd have to spend many dollars to get it driveable to take it to Regency, then to find there was some issue with it which would result in me having to abandon the rebuild. A little silly I know, but I tend to plan for worst case scenarios sometimes. 


Anyway I filled in one form at the Motor Rego office, paid a little over $200 and it's transferred and registered to me, no hassles. Very happy here!

Diff and springs

With the brakes removed it was time to take the axles out. New bearings are a must as I have no idea how old they are and from experience most cars I get the rear bearings seem to still be the originals! Well after several hours using different tools, including the obligatory slide hammer and the 'axle removing levers' (well levers with fulcrums that work when a slide hammer fails), I still can't get them out! I think the original bearings have seized to the inside of the axle tube or something. No amount of work is getting them out so I decided to take the whole back axle out as one piece. 


The rest wasn't too bad, plenty of RP7, and the U bolts came out, but getting the handbrake cables out of the backing plates was a nightmare. I ended up taking the brake cable off at the junction under the body and then fiddling around getting them off the backing plates when the whole axle was out of the car. Even then one side still took about an hour. I got a good look at the axle though, and it's been leaking from the front seal. You can see that in the photo. Alas this means a trip to a diff specialist as I can't remove and reset the yoke to change the seal myself.

Whilst I was a it, I decided to remove the leaf springs to give them a clean up and to change the shackle rubbers. Well once again, either Toyota ones are remarkably well made, or they have been replaced at some stage as they are pretty good. Except the one here in the photo which is started to perish. I'll put new ones in just to be safe.

Work actually begins

Well it's been a year since the last post and the Corona has languished in the shed with zero work being done. It's not that I've been idle or lazy either, the past year has had a massive number of projects from the normal furniture restorations (which I've now put a stop to, as I was becoming the my workplace's 'fix my piece of crap particleboard table which I actually think is an antique' guy), my phone box build, plus any one of my other money-sucking hobbies.

So a couple weeks back, the weather improved, I decided enough was enough time to get started on the Corona. So I did.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I tend to start at the back with any restoration and work forwards. First with the mechanicals, and later on with the body restoration. The back wheels came off and I proceeded to dismantle the brakes. The whole lot came apart a little easier than I expected, with usual amount of brake dust and such, and the drums came straight off. Well... after I remembered that old Toyotas have a screw to secure them.

The brake linings were pretty meaty, they must have been replaced at some stage relatively recently. Alas the vehicle has been off the road for 4 years and the wheel cylinders were leaking a little. Hopefully the drums still have a enough meat on them so I can have them ground. I don't really want to be purchasing new drums, nor oversize brake shoes. I haven't worked in the brake industry for over 12 years, so I'm not sure if oversize shoes are even still available.

Anyway I tooks a reference photo of the brakes:

It appears that this model either didn't come with, or has since lost, the self-adjuster. I guess, like my HZ (faulty adjusters) I'll have to make a habit of regularly adjusting them. 

I removed the brake lines from the diff, gave them a clean and repaint and will reuse those. The flexible hose from the underbody line to the diff has perished pretty badly so a new one will have to be sourced.