More on rear shocks and springs

The new rear shocks and springs are on the car now. It wasn't a quick
1, 2, 3 operation (when is anything ever simple?). The shocks came with
5/8" I.D. bushings so I had to make sleeves to fit the 1/2" upper shock
bolts. The old Konis had sleeves in them too but they didn't fit the
GAZ shocks. The shaft that mounts the lower shock eyes has a 16mm O.D.
so the lower 5/8" I.D. bushings had to be reamed a few thousands to
fit. The adjustable threaded spring perches were left low on the shocks
for now while the car is light with no engine, trans, much of the body,
etc. I also had to make spacer rings for the outer radius arm rod-end
bearings so they would fit snugly in the clevises attached to the rear
up-rights. I couldn't finalize the installation of the radius arms
until the new shocks were installed due to mechanical interference.

After the rear suspension work was done I installed the rear sub-frame
so I could tighten the upper shock bolts and the inner fulcrum shafts
for the lower control arms, which the rear sub-frame attaches to.
Attaching the front and rear sub-frames with the already existing front
and rear suspension hardware seemed like an elegant solution when I came
up with the idea but it does complicate assembly of the car with so many
fasteners doing double or triple duty.

As I said before, the rear sub-frame is red because I originally planned
to paint the whole chassis red. When I'm finished fitting the tail
section (rear body-work) I'll remove, sand and paint the rear sub-frame
black (urethane enamel) along with the roll-bar braces.

Since a slight adjustment had to be made to the rear sub-frame I wanted
to make sure the fuel tank still fit on it's mounts and it does. I
bought this tank from Summit or Jegs a while ago and modified it to
fit. I may have mentioned it before but the aluminum cylinder at the
right lower front of the fuel tank is the fuel surge tank. As long as
there is enough fuel left to keep the cylinder full (about a gallon),
the fuel pick-up will never suck air like it would in the bigger tank.

I also made and installed a bracket to hold the brake-line T-fitting to
the rear suspension cage. I used a piece of 304 stainless sheet so I
wouldn't have to paint it.

The motor mounts received a bunch more "lightening" holes and trimming
today. Tomorrow I'll try to finish them up with some more sawing and
grinding.