Re-United Again & Taking Stock!

A poor wounded 'Bessie' finally returns!

 

 

It's been quite a while since I added my first post when I was once again re-united with old faithful, and a lot has happened, moving house, new baby etc etc. But work has picked up pace! What was once going to be a 'repair and replace' project has turned into a bit more of a strip and re-build.

 

I've decided to take everything off and get the shell blasted. At least then I'll be able to get rid of the rot and make a decent attempt at starting again!

 

So where to start? I'm no professional at this so I just picked a corner and started working away, rear left was were surgery was to begin! Once I'd emptied the contents of the car out and taken stock of what I had, including removing the remnants of an unwelcome rodents nest!

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see there's a decent amount of corrosion to deal with when I get that far, removing the rear brake drum was a bit of an issue as one of the retaining pins had snapped due to rust and so the brake shoe was binding on. Plenty of WD40 was used as I knew plenty of the brake components will be getting replaced anyway. Take note of the 6lb sledge hammer in the background!

 

Rear Passenger Brake Shoes with Drum Finally Removed!

 



The brake shoes were straight forward to take off, well, one was about ready to fall off of it's own accord anyway. Once the bearing retainer was off by removing the 4 bolts, it was fairly straight forward removing the stub axle shaft with a sturdy piece of wood and a mallet. Just left with the bearings to remove. Thought might as well replace them whilst I'm at this stage!