El Paso to LA in a Catalina

From Hot Rod magazine, a trip from El Paso, Texas to Los Angeles, California on $1,500--including the Car, a Pontiac Catalina:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NOYlloxcRZA

Axels Are Out, Posi Is In

After jacking up the back-end and putting the car on car stands, removing the brake drums and the four bolts holding on the backing plate, I pulled the axles.  The driver's side required only a couple of slight taps outward--which is fortunate because there is little clearance to tap outward..  The passenger side required the use of a sliding hammer to break the 31 spline axle loose from the differential.  Came out pretty slick.  I took the axles to a friend to remove the old bearings, and press on new ones. 

With the Axles out, I removed the open 3.08 diff..  It looked like new inside.  These Pontiac rear-ends are heavy.  One can see why they were so popular for racing and dragging.    They are super simple to swap out, once you know what you're doing.

I cleaned up all of the surfaces where future gaskets (supplied by Fabcraft) will go.  I hoisted the rebuilt Posi 3.64 up, with new gasket and RTV already in place--almost dropping it--and got it installed.  A true sense of accomplishment.  Next step: replace the axle bearing seals, get the axles back and popped in, and reinstall the brakes still assembled on the backing plates. 

Rear Sway Bar On, Now Time for the Axles & Posi

Work on the front of the car has reached an impasse (need to find rubber sheeting to pattern replacement splash gaskets).  Moved to the back of the car.  Jacked up and removed the rear tires, drilled holes for and installed the carriage bolts (3 1/2" X 3/8" Grade 5) previously mocked up for the rear sway bar upper brackets, and started to work my way towards removing the rear axles to replace the Open 3.08 with the replacement 3.64 Posi-Traction unit (shown painted above with some red POR 15 I had laying around).  Need to get a slide hammer to get the axles out.  I'll replace the rear bearings, though the 50 year old ones seem to have held up well.  Also have to look at new wheel studs--to be safe, they need to be about 1/2" longer for the steel Cadillac rims that adorn the rear. 

Also time to start throwing all stuff out.  As soon as I remove the old speedometer and knobs, I'll be tossing out the old corroded dash shown above.

Great Show at the Pabst

Hairlines change, but great songs never do.  Below is a video from Peter Frampton's recent show at the Historic Pabst Theater.  Great concert by an incredibly tight band.  Thanks to Peter for allowing autographs back stage after the show, bringing the waiting fans in from the cold outside.  He's really a good guy, and an incredible guitar player: Frampton at the Pabst

A Painted Piece, On the Car

A painted piece, on the car.  Pure exilaration and sense of accomplishment: