Spent a few hours at More Power today sand blasting the lower bell housing cover and the radiator mounting frame. Both got a coat of primer too. Dick and I reviewed the rear shock mounting still to be done and I went home and set to work removing the rear springs. Moving the holes in the spring perches had not achieved the proper centering of the rear end in the wheel well so I recalculated the tire fit. If you look at a stock 41 rear end mounting pad, you'll notice the hole for the locating pin is NOT in line with the axle tube. When I measured from that hole to the center line of the axle tube, I got the same number as when measuring the tire fit in wheel opening. The 57 rear end needed to be moved back 2 1/2" and use the stock center hole in the spring perch. Modern leaf springs are made of hardened spring steel but the old springs on the 41 were easy to drill. Just marked the new location for the hole and drilled the springs using my drill press.
I used a C-clamp to hold the leaves in compression while I removed the original bolt, cleaned it with a wire wheel and ran a die over the threads. I then reused the same nut and bolt and reinstalled the springs. The rear end looks perfectly centered in the wheel wells now. With the rear end in place, I was able to set the new shocks on the lower pins and measure and mark the crossmember so Dick can weld on some mounting plates for the shocks. I spent a little time attempting to remove the rivets from the stock transmission crossmember using a hammer and large chisel. Besides being a time consuming project, my arms are about to fall off! That's a lotta work! Gonna stop by Maksim's tomorrow and see if I can borrow an air chisel for the weekend.
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