Nomad C4 chassis assembly

[chevynut]

Here's a couple pics of the batwing unmasked. I thought this would look better with the painted D44 case than all polished, and I got tired of polishing it.

[Algoma56]

I like the zinc plated bolts. Like you mentioned, it's hard to find specific bolts, especially for suspension, so a nice way to keep the detail going.
I've painted aluminum before(mostly rims) and it works and looks great.

[chevynut]

I got the Dana 44 fully assembled today. Installed the side yoke bearings and seals, then the side yokes. Those damn snap rings are sure a pain in the butt. I even polished the fill plug. That newly plated hardware looks pretty good imo. It's now ready for the installation of the batwing.

I decided to make some covers for my Derale cooling fan motors. I don't know if I'll need to space them away from the motors or not, but they will look better in any case. I sent Derale an e-mail long ago asking them about cooling the motors and they never replied.

[chevynut]

Just finished spraying Cerakote on some of my parts. I buffed them one more time with white compound and polished them with Mother's polish. Then I cleaned everything with PPG Oil and Wax remover, followed by tert-Butyl Acetate as recommended by Cerakote. I messed around with both my Sharpe 1.3mm gun and my new HF 0.8mm detail gun and both seem to spray the same when set up right. I went ahead and used the HF detail gun. The spraying went well but it's hard to tell where you've sprayed and where you haven't, since it's so clear and flows out nice. So you have to really keep track of where you start and where you end. Also, I found out you don't want to put on a second coat after allowing the first to flash. That causes orange-peel. I hope I can do something with that on a couple of parts, without somehow stripping them down again.

I think this material is a moisture-curing urethane. It is tack-free in 40 minutes, dry in 24 hours, and full cure in 5 days. It's supposed to be hard as nails in 5 days. I have to realize this is a coating, and won't look like the newly polished aluminum that was a mirror finish. It looks better than any paint, powdercoat, or clear anodizing, imo.

[chevynut]

Well things are finally starting to come together . After doing a half dozen things at once and having parts laying all over the place, today I attached the batwing to the Dana 44 case with the newly plated original bolts. I used black Permatex silicone gasket maker and torqued the bolts down as recommended. On the Dana 44 batwing there are bosses that push against the carrier caps to help support them so it's an integral part of the differential. The torque sequence that was specified was a little strange and they left two bolts out so I just torqued them too. When that was done, I installed the new Polygraphite bushings.






Then I installed the differential assembly into the frame and slid the batwing bolts in place. It fit like it was supposed to.

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I got the torque arm ready by installing the polished stainless rod ends with anti-sieze.



Next I attached the torque arm bracket to the differential. It's amazing how a little paint makes things not fit like they did before. With a little work I attached it with some original C4 zinc plated bolts and nuts....with the bolt heads down.




After setting the pinion angle I adjusted the torque arm to fit. Connections are made with 1/2-20 12-point ARP stainless bolts and nuts. And you'll notice the rod ends are in double shear.

[Custer55]

Looking good!!! I like the bat wing with the painted center and polished outer edge. It gives it a nice contrast.
Brian

[chevynut]

Still plugging away . Today I got some of the exhaust final polished with white compound on a cotton wheel and it sure looks better. I sanded and polished the Deeds exhaust hangers and final polished the rest of the front suspension parts (upper a-arm washers, spindles and lower a-arms) with white compound. A little rubbing with Mothers polish, cleaning and they'll be ready for Cerakote. Also got the new Polygraphite bushings pressed into the dogbones. No new pics but maybe soon .

My front bumper is done and is supposed to be back from Madmooks any day now.

[chevynut]

Some more progress. Got the mufflers welded and the main exhaust pieces final polished. I'm so sick of polishing stainless steel. Also got the dogbone bushings in and they're ready to bolt onto the frame when I get the knuckles ready. Front suspension is next...I think.

[chevynut]

I had my halfshafts shortened several years ago when I started this project and I have sanded them and even polished one. Yesterday I noticed that one is 1/8" longer than the other. They're 18.125" c-c stock and one is right on 16.625" and the other is 16.75"....they were BOTH supposed to be 16.625". It seems Like I knew one was a little longer but it's been a long time and I forgot how much.

So now I have to decide what to do. Leave them as-is and deal with the difference in the strut rods, have another one cut down to 16.625", have two more cut down so I have a spare , or buy brand new ones from Denny's at $350 each. Cutting them down is $125 each and Denny's tells me they wouldn't use the stock ones anyhow...of course they would say that, they want to sell new ones. But they're nice.

[rockytopper R.I.P 5-13-2017]

Thats some serious eye candy Laz!!! To nice to put an ugly body on lol. That ought boost sells....