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May 10, 2004
2.5 hours
One Year Ago Today

Torque Tube & More Trunk

First, I'd like to thank the guys who E-mailed me about my bent torque tube. So far, the consensus seems to be that it isn't bent. I feel a little bit better about it now. We'll see how it works out.

I also found another incredible buy. If you've been a regular reader, you know I try to use NOS parts whenever possible and get a lot of joy out of perfect old parts ready to go on my Century. I talked to Doug at Morrie's Classic Parts from whom I've purchased a number of items through Ebay, and it turns out that he has a number of things that I never thought I would find. First, a few weeks ago I found an NOS windshield washer bottle complete with vacuum pump. Doug supplied the knob marked WASHER that replaces the left ACCESSORY knob on the dashboard. Excellent. While I was talking to Doug, I also asked him about a FOG LIGHT knob for the other ACCESSORY slot. It turns out that he actually had an NOS knob and switch for the fog lights. Finally, he supplied me with an NOS oil filter and housing, something my car was missing from the beginning. The price was reasonable, too. So a big thanks to Doug at Morrie's--this was an incredible find!

Three incredible NOS parts I never thought I'd find!

In the restoration department, I started out this evening wanting to strip the torque tube down to bare metal. I'm not going to sandblast or powdercoat it simply because it is such a large assembly that I can't strip down to its basic components. Instead, I'm going to strip it and paint it with Zero-Rust, which will leave an authentic-looking semi-gloss black finish. I don't want to take a chance getting any grit inside it, so I sealed up the ends with plastic and started stripping it with a wire wheel on my die grinder. I got a little bit into it when the weather turned against me and I had to move back inside. I didn't want to work inside, since the rust on the torque tube is very powdery and makes a big mess. I had to find something else to do.

I got about a third ot the torque tube stripped. The E-brake cable
is giving me problems--I'm soaking the adjusting nut to try to
remove everything intact.

Still dreading the job that I'd started earlier, I decided I had no choice but to go back into the trunk and finish stripping the undercoating and other junk. If you haven't noticed, I've been dodging that by working on the rear end. No dodging it now, I guess.

Passenger's side was in better condition than driver's side for the
most part. But there's some definite work to be done here.

Once I got most of the insulation out of the trunk, I discovered considerable rust damage, especially on the passenger's side inner fender panel. Based on the damage I'm uncovering and the fact that the rear axle is likely a replacement part (due to the stamped number on the top, according to my friend Wayne Murray), I'm guessing that the car was rear-ended in the past and repaired only adequately, and little rust protection was performed. The worst damage, aside from the floor itself, is on the passenger's side inner fender, which will probably need almost complete replacement.

A lot of perforation in the inner trunk panel (arrows). It will
probably be easier to cut the whole panel out and make a new one.

Here's the passenger's side inner fender from the outside. The red area is part of
the body that folds down over the inner panel. It has a lot of perforation in it
and will be replaced (you can see where I've marked my cut line with
black marker). The blue area is where the inner panel (same as in the photo
above with the arrows) will be cut out and replaced. It's not a very complex
shape and should be easy to duplicate.

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E-mail me at toolman8@sbcglobal.net

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Last modified on 02/06/2005

Thanks, Fidget!