Week #119
The DANA that I have for the car was bought several years ago. It had 3.54 gears and complete 10" brakes. I had taken the 3.54s out a few years back and had them set up in my '72 RR/GTX. It was originally a 3.54 DANA car but had 4.10s. I knew I would need the 4.10s so the swap was the thing to do. One drawback with this DANA was that a previous owner had cut off the original mounts and relocated new mounts farther out. My parts man (Jerry of J&J Cars and Parts, Route 4, Box 65, Starke, Fl, 32091, 904-964-5039) gave me a good deal on it and included a new set of mounts knowing I would have to make the corrections. The time to make the corrections is now.
Luckily there were still remains of the original mounts still on the axle tubes to show me right where the new mounts should go. The mounts that were on there now kinda strattle the old location. My plan was to cut one of the mounts off leaving the other one on as a "guide" to hold the rear at the right angle when I welded on the new mount.. Then I would remove the 2nd old mount and use the new one as a guide for the other new one...see? The problem is I don't own a oxygen/acetalyne outfit... but my buddy does. He lives a good 30 minutes away in town. So, here's what I did. I hauled the rear to his house after work one day and had him completely cut off one of the mounts. For the other mount I had him "almost" cut it off, leaving enough attached to keep it in place but not so much that it would be difficult for me to remove with a cutoff wheel or similar. The use of the torch was good but he was so in fear of damaging the housing he left me a bunch of steel to grind down. Luckily I kind of inherited this monster ass industrial grinder that has always been way too big for most jobs. It looks like it might be just the ticket here.
It may have been the right tool for the job but man that thing kicked my butt. After about 30+ minutes of grinding I was pooped. My "duty cycle" with this grinder was about 40%! Anyway after getting the first side ground down I hauled the rear into the shop and set it up on 2 cinder blocks. I let the remaining mount level the rear to the desired angle and just slipped the new one into place under the cleaned up tube. Just to be sure I was putting the mounts in the right places I found the right distance apart in the manual and measured mount to mount on the car... 44" looked to be the right number. The places on the tubes where the old mounts were measured exactly 44" apart c/c so I was confident I was doing right. After marking were this new mount was to go I returned the rear to outside for grinding down the remains of the original mounts as they were in the way of a good flush connection. Returning to the shop I welded this side in place. Back out side to cut off the other old mount, grind down its remains and repeat the procedure for lining up and welding on the 2nd new mount.
This whole process used up a good 4 hours and flat wore me out. I will be buying a rebuild kit for this DANA and sharing in the expense of some of the specialty tools with a friend. Together we will be tackling the process of setting up and assembling of both of our DANAs.