72 TA : New Project

[njsteve]

The other side of the driver's spindle has some green drips here and there and a black paint daub by the dustshield mounting boss.

[njsteve]

The passenger side spindle has a "Petty Blue" paint mark on it.

[njsteve]

On the other side of the passenger spindle is a yellow 1/4" by 1-1/" line near the caliper mounting hole. After cleaning the spindles I sprayed them with a wax based metal preservative called Nylac. I am going to reinstall them as is and not remove or alter their orginal condition.

[njsteve]

There is also a white paint mark on the top of the pass spindle running down the side.

[njsteve]

I hope all of this is of some help to other second gen F-Body owners out there. Since the Firebirds and Camaros were built at the same plant in 1972, maybe you guys can use the pictures for reference purposes. I know I'm getting a kick out of finding all these little markings and heiroglyphics. If you need more info, here is the Trans Am site that I am posting larger photos at: http://forums.performanceyears.com/e...1/m/6111059321

[njsteve]

Got the frame painted and partially assembled. I had the wife help me gently lower (read that as drop) it off of the saw horses and onto the ground after taking the photos. It was getting a bit too heavy up on the stands. Luckily, I had bolted up two tires before we lowered it down. Now at least all the hard work is done and the rest of the steering and other stuff can go on. It's also much more handy to be able to roll it around the garage on a set of tires.

And yes, I am still using that "Abdominizer 5000" as a partial frame stand. It will be available for rental once I'm done with this project.

[njsteve]

I repainted the control arms exactly as they came off, I also touched up the original marks on the rotors. You can even see the stamped date codes on the upper control arm.

[njsteve]

I left the spindles exactly as I found them. I cleaned them and then sprayed a wax preservative on them to delay any rusting. The rotor dust shields were power washed, which returned them nicely to their original galvanized condition.

[njsteve]

The car still had its original rotors at 114,000 miles, which were cleaned and resurfaced. I then redid the paint marks exactly as they were found. The pink paint was on the area where the maximum thickness measurement is cast into the hub: ".985"

[njsteve]

Here's the rolling frame as it sits now. Next comes the steering linkage, next week. All the tie rod ends and drag link joints feel nice and tight. I'm just going to clean them up and reinstall them.