The Charles Kee Wagon

[live4theking]

This car is turning into a great project. It's in much better condition then I thought it was going to be originally.

 

[yvre]

Thanks. Here are some more updates...

I found some 73 spindles on Facebook. They were advertised as rough but usable, so I took the risk. When they arrived, they looked like they belonged on a car that was left to rot in a swamp for a few years, but they were indeed salvageable.

I first tried to derust them with vinegar, but they were far too gone, so I had my father derust them with electrolysis. I bought some new ball joints from P-S-T, and after a lick of paint they looked (nearly) brand new.

 

[yvre]

I removed the upper ball joints from the upper control arms while they were still attached to the car, then derusted and painted them. However, even though the threads look perfectly fine, when I tried to screw the new (Moog) ball joints back in, they didn't want to go in. I had to lightly turn down the first few threads on the ball joint, and hand file the threads in the control arm so the ball joints would engage. Never read or heard someone have a similar problem. The bushings went in without any problem with the Mancini tool.

 

[yvre]

Next on the list, the lower control arms. I was kinda fearing those ones, but all went well. To remove the existing bushings, I used the weld & press method I found in an article online. I removed the inner shell with a press and the rubber with a screwdriver, then I welded a washer on the outer shell and pressed it out. To remove the inner bushing shell from the shaft, I made four cuts with a cutting disc and removed it with a chisel.

(Excuse the bad quality of the pics, they were all taken with my phone)

 

[68Nwprt]

Nice job. Love the transformation of the spindles. I'm also a wagon fan. Will be watching.

 

[MJF]

I had same problem with moog upper ball joints last winter. I too had to file threads open...

 

[commando1]

The pics of the step by step process are great. Thank you, Nice work.

 

[live4theking]

Nice, work keep at it.

 

[yvre]

Once I got the shafts out of the LCA's, I decided to try the vinegar trick again. It didn't work on the spindles, but the control arms were only covered with surface rust, so I tried again. I bought the cheapest vinegar I could find, and let them soak for 2 or 3 days. Then I steel brushed them, rinsed them with water and painted them immediately with Hammerite like the other suspension and steering parts. I know the grey is not 'resto correct', but I had some white and black leftovers that I mixed – cheap, and it works.

 

[Georg/BBTR]

Amazing result, Yves! I just recently heard about the vinegar trick. I knew it is good to get rid of limestone, but never knew it helps against rust, too.

 

[live4theking]

Once I got the shafts out of the LCA's, I decided to try the vinegar trick again. It didn't work on the spindles, but the control arms were only covered with surface rust, so I tried again. I bought the cheapest vinegar I could find, and let them soak for 2 or 3 days. Then I steel brushed them, rinsed them with water and painted them immediately with Hammerite like the other suspension and steering parts. I know the grey is not 'resto correct', but I had some white and black leftovers that I mixed – cheap, and it works.

View attachment 100451

So, this picture is what they looked like when the came out of the vinegar?

 

[pomonamissel]

man this whole change over is less than the 65 - 68 budd brakes ball joints , rebuilt ones are 275 each + s/h . napa new 440 each , with those high dollar rotors and not to mention rebuilding those budd four piston calipers that no rims will fit over . well there is a stock rim that fits yes . wheel cover type rim . glad you found the best for the buck .

 

[yvre]

So, this picture is what they looked like when the came out of the vinegar?

Yep. The rust, grease and grime transformed into some kind of black crusty layer, and I just used the brush and the wire wool you see in the pics. I was really surprised with the results - it was much cheaper/easier/cleaner than sandblasting and still cleaned all the hard to reach areas.

 

[yvre]

man this whole change over is less than the 65 - 68 budd brakes ball joints , rebuilt ones are 275 each + s/h . napa new 440 each , with those high dollar rotors and not to mention rebuilding those budd four piston calipers that no rims will fit over . well there is a stock rim that fits yes . wheel cover type rim . glad you found the best for the buck .

Exactly. And in total it was about the same price as the Scarebird kit, but with OEM quality.

 

[yvre]

All the steering and suspension parts received the same treatment. Unfortunately, I lost a bunch of pictures due to a faulty SD card, so you won't see any of that. It's a shame as I had some really nice ones with all the new/refurbished parts layed out on the ground, like in CanCritter's Fury GT thread.

I removed my steering box with the intent of buying a reman one, but after reading all the horror stories on this site about receiving parts that are not better than the parts you sent out, I decided to wait. So I just repainted it and will judge its condition when I'm driving.

 

[yvre]

Instead of mounting all those shiny parts back on a dirty chassis, I decided to completely clean the stubframe and engine compartment. Man, what a PITA that was...!!!! It was covered by a thick layer of dirt, grime and grease, mixed together and left to bake for decades. I tried every trick in the book (spirits, solvents, oven degreaser, you name it...) but the only way to get rid of it was to manually scrape it, then clean the remnants with brake cleaner, finished by some heavy pressure washing. Then Rinse and repeat... It took me so many hours I sometimes questioned my own sanity, especially when laying on the cold dusty ground on a cold sunday evening...

Again, I'm sorry for the really bad quality, but here are a few before and after pictures of the underside of the car for comparison.

 

[65sporty]

Don't know how I missed your thread, just caught up. Love the pic's and updates.

 

[yvre]

Don't know how I missed your thread, just caught up. Love the pic's and updates.

Thanks.
You probably missed it because I didn't update it for one year...

 

[yvre]

And here's the whole suspension back on the car. The front is now back on the ground (since last week), which brings the thread up to date.


It's only finger tight until I can put the car back on a flat surface.

 

[yvre]

As I see the question popping from time to time, here's what I did to put the shock back into place. I also had to play with the height adjusting screws to be able to put them in.