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What is life in a shop without a fire now and then?

P.S. Just always be mindful of where you are in relationship to your fire extinguisher(s)

fire exstinguisher??? what fire exstinguisher....j/k lol


bit of an update.

found someone that does rocker arm resurfacing....finally after calling about 30 machine shops and being told nobody does that anymore.

i can understand that since most people go with roller rockers from a magazine these days, but i don't have that luxury not the money to spend on shipping guess parts back and forth till i found one that fit right to replace the OEM ones.

so they are getting cleaned up.

also i think i found my new machine shop.....very clean...so clean you could eat off the floor i think. super nice guys and they just sat there and BSed about Packards with me and get this.....they do primarily import....

they even gave me a full tour of the place. there wasn't crap thrown all over the place....and they do there own CNC machine work...give them blueprints and they can make it.....hmmmmm maybe i'll present some Packard tools to them.

Hank

got some work done this weekend. My Mom and I put a new top on my Z3. yes i said mom. thanks mom! turned our really well. sorry for muttering up the board with z3 pictures, but i was happy with the results.

i got the sway bar painted and mounted too, but it is going to be VERY difficult to get the outside clamps on where it connects to the lower control arm. that bushing is super thick and stiff. so yeah, good luck to me on that one. i'm going to have to come back and touch up the paint too. and you can see that bolt i have going through the spot weld holes....that was there to pull the bars together to fit the same width as the holes on the frame....sure came in handy. i took it off once bolted up. the other side was perfect as is.

still not much to report motor wise. my springs are on back order say Jack, so i am still waiting on all that stuff, and i still have to get myself a good block from my friend Mike.

anyways, enjoy the pictures.


Hank

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The stabilizer bar service procedure doesn't appear in the 55-56 shop manual - perhaps because it was a carry-over design from prior years and previously covered in the 51-54 edition. Yet, that procedure was further clarified in a SC articles, which is duly noted in the site's 55-56 Service Index - see Suspension & Steering.

However, I've tried to do it with a C-clamp and a substitute wedge to push the top of the clip outward and still had a hard time.

Next time, I think I will try installing the well-lubricated bushings and clips in the control arms WITHOUT the bar. I'm hoping that I'll be able to work one end of the bar (with mounting brackets hanging loose) into and through its bushing - far enough so the other end is clear of its bushing. Then, I'll line the other end of the bar up with its bushing, work it back it into the hole, and bolt the brackets to the frame.

That approach might mess up your nice new paint, though.

It's a royal pain to install those. C-Clamp is needed for sure. Also I shaved my bushing down a little bit as the profile didn't quite match the bracket shape.

If you'll make a tool similar to this, the bushings won't be as bad but still a bit of PIA. Just a regular C clamp with a concave contour ground in the fixed pad to keep from slipping off the rounded clip top. You can get an idea of how much in the picture.

Put the clip in holes first and see about how much space you have with the tabs all the way forward. That will give you an idea of the thickness of wedge needed. They need to stay forward for easier install. The clips are brittle and the tabs will break off if subjected to a lot of mishandling or being cocked too much when installing.

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thanks Howard for finding that stuff as always ;0)

i look so forward to doing this......not....

Hank

rocker arms resurfaced and cleaned. i noticed that one of the springs seem to be binding...so i took them apart and sure enough it looked like one was squished...so i carefully stretched it back out and now it is fine.

still waiting on all my other parts and didn't have a chance to go get the other block from Mike this weekend, but we will get around to it eventually.

Hank

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no real work done. still waiting on parts.

need to know if this is an early or late model cam retainer. i need to try to hunt down the spacer, but i can't find it right now. any one have a picture of the spacer, that might spark my memory of where i put it.

thanks,

Hank

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Your picture is the early style; it's important to make the upgrade. Here's a picture of the later version, this one the Jack Vines reproduction.

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