The car came to me with power DRUM brakes. 73 Javelins had ten inch front drums. 

The brakes worked fine but I gave my front brakes, spindles and all, to my neighbor for his car as I figured I could use the disks of an 80 Concord wagon I'm parting out. Well, yeah - it was REALLY rusty so the shields were mostly gone, rotors very rusty (could be cleaned up I'm sure as they have not been turned before) but it was just a bit much by the time I spent money on all new bearings and seals, new calipers, new pads, having rotors turned, hoses and so on, It wasn't going to save me all that much in the end especially when I considered the time spent.
So I bought the disk brake package amxess had for sale here in the forum and brackets from mrblatzman (both Steve and Bob great to deal with and good parts)
There was no use doing all of that and not deal with the worn out bushings and other parts - the car has over 90,000 miles and again, had a rough prior life.
So, similar to my 70 the entire front suspension is coming off,, all bushings being replaced, ball joints, tie rods, front springs (one was broken and they had twist-in spacers in the coils)
But most parts will be painted and not powder coated like I did with my 70. With that car I powder coated almost everything including the coil springs!
This will be a sort of show car, but mostly a fun car. 
the process started a full year ago when i told my neighbor that if he'd come over and pull the front brakes and spindles he could have them. It's been up on stands all this time. Time to get it finished up and back on the road. 
As you can see here - the strut rod bushings are TOAST. One was literally mushy and falling apart. (and started to wear the bracket hole)
The lowers are from my 70 - I put NOS lower control arms on it and saved those because at that time they had only about 25,000 miles on them. So I cleaned and painted them and put in new bushings.
The uppers are CRUSTY, greasy, nasty and will take a couple of hours just for basic cleaning. 
Spring supports are rebuilt and nice with new bushings and fresh paint. Most parts are here except upper ball joints and those are coming from Amazon the first of next week. 

Maybe you can see the PO patched the battery area, not really well but better than a hole I guess.

Left side - haven't gotten the control arms off yet - do have one of the bolts out of the upper. Have to scrape tons of grease and gunk before I can get the lower off this side......

Parts, some ready to go...

More parts and the springs from another 73 I'll be using...

Spring supports all rebuilt and ready, most of the new suspension parts......

You probably know you are missing the top polymer on the torsion bar in your picture. If you haven't already ordered the parts, Mustang torsion bar connecting bolts are the same and cheaper to buy the bolts and bushings set then just the AMC bushings.

The gas line going through the frame - have a good look, mine was half eaten/worn away.

Dust shields I made myself, 18 gauge and a bead roller. Template was the old rust shield - all it was good for. A little tighter to the disk but no issues.

If yours had the same tough life as mine check the frame for square and bend. Mine was out of square 3/8" and 1/2" twist. Braces and Enerpack got it back, alignment 0.01° thrust line and 0.002° front to back frame. Mine came with sub frame connectors so I cut them off and replaced with same (new fabrication) after straightening.

Mine was never registered for the street so I believe it was race or other special order, just guessing by the twisting, sub frame connectors, rear end yanked out more then once and transmission casing pieces ripped into the rockers.

Have fun:)

I thought I had a link kit (the long bolts, spacers, washers and rubber bushings) from another project I didn't need..... if I don't.
For one of my other cars I bought a kit at NAPA - it was less than twenty bucks and since they are pretty universal, I just told them what I wanted, no need to specify the car. 

On the dust shields - I have none. The ones from the Concord I was GOING to use the brakes from were so rotted there wasn't anything to get a pattern from.
Fourth photo down shows remains of the better one in the far left part of the picture. And those were Bendix brakes.
I bought the heavy-duty KH brakes from amxess here on the forum - the setup he had for sale for 300.
He had everything except the shields - so I'll be looking for a pair.
I have NO shields at all - nothing, zip - I really would want shields because they also help with road splash,, etc. and it rains a lot and our old roads hold water and the roads are dirty after winter's sand trucks keep laying down a beach worth of sand each winter.
So if I can find the proper shields for THESE brakes, I'd be happier.

I don't have to pull the fenders to know about the gussets - the front ends are rotted about an inch or two back from the front. They appear solid otherwise but the left one is also needing attention where it joins the car at the back - I can stick a finger between the back end of the gusset and the firewall area up in the wheel well.
And I know the right front has been welded back of the headlight and where the upper rad support connects.
I will be pulling fenders in the future, but I know I need to work on the gussets at the front and on the left side, MAYBE at the rear. (I REALLY wish I was a much better welder!)

The car seems straight - things line up really nice, no odd gaps, no broken glass - all original glass, tires didn't wear weird (odd for the shot bushings I'm finding)

Anyway, I DO need to replace or rather REPAIR the gussets - I suspect only the front couple of inches.

I have a NOS left fender, would LOVE to find a new right fender as well.
My take on the car after owing it for 2.5 years is that it sat for several years,, the prior owner did some patching, replaced carpet, replaced the floor sills (and left out the seat belt anchor points but that's another topic!)
Basically the car is an unfinished project - and the PO said as much. He was a paint guy, not a mechanic and was really bad with electric and interior work. 
All I'm missing are the upper ball joints - and I think I have the "sway bar" links in a tub of parts.
It needs shocked (one was broken and the other was bent and had zero resistance up or down)

304 - I know it was impossible to tell from the photo because it was all boxes and such - but there are two inner and two outer tie rods in there, new sleeves and clamps and bolts and nuts.
I did forget to order an idler arm but I haven't checked this one yet - it will likely get replaced either now or soon ,but the tie rods - all four ends are already bought and in those boxes.
I had NOS lower control arm bushings but it's not wear or use - it's AGE that also kills rubber parts, so I opted to not use the NOS bushings when I saw one of them already had a crack starting. 
I had two sets of upper control arms on the shelf and the arms still in the Concord besides those in this car - will pull them all and lay them out and choose the best of the four sets/pairs to use. 

Calipers brand new, rotors brand new, bearings and seals brand new, pads brand new, caliper brackets new, hoses brand new (and bought the rear brake hose too while I was at it) so all brake hoses will be new. I plan on new brake lines, especially after seeing the brown/gray mud that was in the old master cylinder. Can't flush that out well enough.

I laid the Concord rotors on my bench next to the NEW rotors and it appears like I may have to space my spindles out about two washer thicknesses - that's a GUESS only, based on how the surfaces of the rotor sit compared to the bearing areas. I'll know that later when I dry fit everything. 
I plan on doing a dry fit, mocking things up, not tightening anything until I see how things fit and where I may need spacers. 

Again, it won't be the perfect pain-staking restoration of my 70 front end, I spent a ton of time, efforts cleaning and totally de-rusting, powder coating, NOS control arms and more, on that. I left no stone unturned. It was also a 25,000 car when I did that so there wasn't wear, it was just time and bushing rot that needed fixing there. Even the cross member got blasted,  treated and powder coated on that car. I cleaned every part one at a time in my electrolysis bucket, phosphate treated, powder coated, etc.
This will be good, it will be safe, it will be better than it ever was before (the HD disk brakes will see to that) but it won't be an AMO show car. 
On the other hand I am already struggling with "where do I stop" and having to really try very very hard to resist the urge to make it perfect. My Eagle was supposed to be a "get it on the road and paint it" daily driver car and ended up with a car good enough to get a high score at AMO (and a trophy)
I just MUST resist the urge to do this one to such standards......... I may need someone to come by and hold me back on it now and then. I cant afford the time and money to do another car like I did that one. (and it's STILL not done - I have another tub of NOS parts to put into it)

In the Nuclear industry they didn't last two years on the shelf and were changed every 10 to 12.

Yes, old elastomers are just that, expect reduced service life.

As far as doing something right - that's the only way I know. Part is my education and history - been at it since age 14 and worked for two "old timers" who were the very best in the game. You never wanted any come-backs. Besides - no, I can't do any other way and no, crusty/rusty parts won't do. You have no clue as you have not dealt with ADHD nor are you OCD. 

When someone sends something my way they know when they get it back it will work, it will be right.

Now some things I understand about not being able to use the very best first time - sometimes something can't be had or there's no money - but suspension, steering and brakes are one thing I will never do a second time. If I can't do it right once - I wait.
I don't mind swapping out marker lights, tail lights, trim, a clock, seat trim, a door handle,
but other things it's DUMB to do it two times. Why spend hours on something and then later do it all over again. Do you enjoy taking out springs so you can swap parts and spending half a day doing it again?

Not sure where the constant talk of NOS keeps coming in - nothing in the pictures was NOS except perhaps the tie rod sleeves (and I wasn't trying, there) or perhaps the rear brake hose brass block (again, not trying, it was the first thing I found)
Otherwise NONE of the brake parts - NONE - are NOS. They are NORS. Not one of those parts came from an AMC dealership in AMC boxes. The only NOS brake parts are what I got from Bob - and again, I'd have taken used ones but good luck - all I could find at the time were what Bob had and his price matched what used ones would have likely sold for on eBay. Can't beat a brand new bracket for twenty bucks - did you have a set you'd have sold me for that? 
Did you LOOK at the pictures? Do you know what those yellow boxes are? Not NOS.
The calipers and their brackets were painted silver - hardly NOS. New parts, yes - but not directly from the AMC factory. 
They are nice, EXCELLENT parts and a great deal. I knew what I was getting and am 110% happy with them and would do it again. But new, not NOS. 
I don't want amxess/Steve to get the wrong idea - I KNEW what the parts were and that is why I bought them.
The deal was good, the parts were very very good and I'd do it all over again. These will make GREAT brakes and I'm TOTALLY happy with the deal AND the parts - ZERO negatives there. 
(Of course we know AMC didn't make their own brakes so you could hardly truly buy NOS brake parts.)
I'm simply trying to explain to someone who apparently doesn't get it that I wasn't holding out for NOS parts and geesh, I shouldn't have to justify what I'm doing to a certain person on every single project.

About holding back... one thing that may help. Always keep function a priority, limiting on how much does perfect look effect costs. But it seems your wife knows you best, so have her manage your car. Tell her what's most important... safety, and proper fit with a limit on costs, having comparisons of what is available. Then she either OKs or disproves.

Why do you keep trying to tell me how to run things? Really, I get a lot of lectures but you don't know me or my work. I've done this probably longer than you've even been driving. 
My wife always says "do it right or don't do it at all" and "don't cheap out, you know you'll just end up buying it again later". She's a perfectionist. (you'd know that by now if you paid attention and stopped trying to train me)
I was half-joking, a point those who know me or try to would have gotten and understood. But again, I know one way of doing something, and that's safe and right. The finish or removal of rust, etc. is a matter of my "medical situation" and cannot be changed, at least not easily. (too bad more people don't strive for perfection or totally enjoy a job well done to the best of their ability)

Anyway, PLEASE REFRAIN - this is about my car and how I am doing it - not your attempts at psycho-analyzing things.

I am truly absolutely afraid to post a thing about my projects for fear you will pop in with a rant about me, my personality and how I do things. My fears were not unfounded.

Not sure, but i do believe you chose old stock Moog over new? Not that we are to have a long drawn discussion on pros and cons, just it may help to have some help on parts selecting if, you had to obtain bushings, brake components and ball joints from a fresh at home rebuild.

Wow, I was right - you are clueless and TOTALLY wrong. Why do you keep trying to TEACH ME when I have taught this stuff to others over the years? I'll put my knowledge of cars up against you any day of the week. 
First, those are NEW parts, not "old stock Moog". good grief - you really don't have a clue.
The last thing I need is you telling me how to select parts. How the heck long have you been doing this?
Me since the early 1970s - and I have the trophies to prove it and the certificates and the degree and the letters of recommendation. Did your state's biggest AMC/Jeep dealership call you out of the blue and offer you the service manager position - based only on reputation? Did you ace the Plymouth Troubleshooting written test- a record never broken, and set record time to judging with only one point lost (a hose was above another in a clip and they should have been reversed in the clip but the connections were correct)
I've done more suspension and brake work than you'll ever do in your life - I used to make my living at it. 

Why is it that you keep trying to fix me when others, like Lyle, Red Devil and others are very helpful with solid information?

Sorry, folks, but I'm at wit's end with that BS.
I may or may not post again in this thread.

Also plated the threaded end of the right strut rod to help slow any rust........  will do left after I get it removed and cleaned up.

Yellow bright zinc on the sleeves and black zinc on the clamps and yellow zinc grade 8 bolts and lock nuts.

Amen - ain't it the truth.  I got the strut nuts cleaned up and plated looking not quite like new because of some minor pitting but still really nice. A few more parts cleaned up painted, etc.

Here's the control arms from the right side-  I had mentioned earlier that the right sway bar link had broken and was hammering on the ends etc. - you can see where it not only broke but the top part constantly hitting on the lower part and the arm wore it in an interesting way.

Also a photo of the Kent Moore tool used to remove and replace upper control arm bushings. A press can be used but is rather inconvenient. I used my press on the lower arm bushings and I use this tool for the upper arm bushings........

pit crew this pic is for you

Just did this on my '72 Javelin... new coil springs and all. What a difference!  The car was scary over 50 mph before... drives like new now.  Everything on my front end is new now except the inner tie rods (they seemed ok).

The mid-90s Grand Cherokee steering box is something I highly recommend too.

And yes, your earlier front-end rebuild thread was a big help to me.

This tells me that AMC used EITHER but not both on the same bolts - 
What I'm trying to find out if the conversion i'm doing I should use the flat OR the lock washers.

The problem with the parts book is that it doesn't really say anything - and it shows two different directions which I've never actually seen.

The same reference number shows EITHER lock or flat - so it doesn't say "lock washers with drum and flat washers with disk".
The half inch bolts, the larger ones that hold the caliper brackets on use lock washers - that's a given since they don't use nuts but screw directly to the other brackets.
So I know about those - bolts and lock washers

But the four that hold the spindle on - flat OR lock washers - for disk?

I then tried to mount the caliper to see how things would fit and - wasn't able to get the caliper on.

The outboard pad was too tight against the rotor meaning that the rotor was out too far.
When I did get it sort of mounted and snugged things up it was almost impossible to turn the rotor because the outboard pad was against it. There was plenty of space on the inboard side of things.
The verdict - I have to machine the mounting area of the spindles to move them back inward so the rotor would move inward and give clearance.
I have the right spindle almost done but stopped for the day. I've taken off about 1/8" so far and will take off a bit more and try it. I'll keep track of the dimensions - how much I had to remove compared to the original thickness of the spindle mounting pads and document that.
Otherwise things appear ok so far. Sure glad I can machine those myself!! That way I can take some off and try it etc.
The good news is - NO WASHERS - of course unless I screw up!
The worst part is cleaning and prepping and painting parts - blasting, solvent tank, wire brush, ugh.

I used my press to install the bushings but it was easier to install the sleeve with an original tool....

MD Racer is seeing my MOCK-UP phase - you don't put the bolts in through the spindle side when you are going on and off, on and off, fitting parts and machining the spindle, etc.
Otherwise you have to pull the whole thing apart instead of simply pulling the spindle back off and leaving the bolts in place.
And that brings me to my next "progress post".
I machined the spindle mounting pads and got the rotor sitting right under the caliper.

The rotor sat too far out as it was - put pressure against the outboard pad. 
So I machined until I got equal clearance pad-to-rotor on both pads when the caliper piston was fully retracted. In other words, piston clear in, pads in place, there is now the same amount of clearance between pad and rotor, inner and outer.
To accomplish this I machined 0.100" off the back side of the spindles.

It's taking forever - have to clean and derust parts, and some of the parts are really badly pitted and rough, and fitting things just right took a while. The right side is mostly together, the left is next....

Your post 5:56PM, picture #3, part #8.835-1 from Red Devil's image.

The boss on the bracket that holds the caliper is thicker on one side then the other. Are these parts interchangeable left and right side?

If that part was on the other side the caliper would be placed inboard more, away from the rotor.

Not saying what your doing is not going to work but looking at the pictures, have to ask so others may not have to go through the frustrations your having.

I used an 81 Concord setup on my 69 Javelin and didn't go through what your enduring. 

 

The caliper bracket has a recess the bolts fit into and a flat side machined on the other side that mates to the bracket behind the spindle.
In short, the bracket behind the spindle that holds the caliper bracket and the caliper brackets themselves have a left and a right - and have different part numbers cast into them.

8.835-1 is what I bought from mrblatzman (Bob) and there are a left and right. Remember he posted one for sale and we determined the part number he posted I believe was the right - he also had a left he sold me. They'll only fit one way, one side.

Besides, the caliper would have had to move OUT away from the engine bay to work - the outboard pad, the one closest to the wheel, was what was hitting the rotor hard. So either move the caliper out or the rotor in. 
Since the brackets could not be changed and only fit one side, the obvious choice was to machine the spindles. 

Were the calipers and brackets you used the same as these? 
Remember, I'm using spindles from an 80 Concord with Bendix brakes on a 73 car that had drum and am mounting heavy duty Kelsey Hayes brakes.

AMC also changed brakes somewhere in 81 - and even 82. I found three different disk brake setups - the brakes from an 81 I parted wouldn't work on an 82 and both were different than the 80 Concord!
I'm not really "going through" that much - I could have waited and looked for the correct spindles for the HD K-H brakes for a 73 but opted to spend ten to fifteen minutes each machining spindles.  ;-)
I did them myself - so there was no cost or travel time.

Also - concord I have had caliper to front - likely because of how steering arm bolts on using lower front bolt and upper rear bolt meaning the steering arm would be sticking up and out there at the rear. No choice on that car, either.

The only car I have with the brake caliper to the rear is the Eagle - and on that car the steering arm bolts on using the BOTTOM two bolts. It does not cross diagonally up across the back of the knuckle because there's an axle going through the knuckle. The steering arm bolts on the lower bolts below the axle and the caliper mounts to the rear of the upper ball joint and not in front like my other cars.

I think you'll find that because the steering arm bolts diagonally lower front bolt upper rear bolt on most of these cars the caliper is to the front.  I couldn't swap brackets and move the caliper back if I wanted to.

You are correct in that they cannot be swapped side to side in the front because they are machined and cast a specific way. They are not symmetrical in that respect.

https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/bbk-2531/overview/

Mustang pieces are a lot more common and cheaper.

If Summit has it then Rock Auto will likely. Here in the North we have far few parts suppliers so have to do more "strategic" searching for parts. 

I'm really happy with the way the brakes have fit and gone into place.

Doing a mock-up and dry run or two with a spindle and rotor and test fitting a caliper was the easiest part of the whole project - getting the old parts off like the upper control arms (those bolts are never easy to get out on these cars) and getting things cleaned up was far more work.

And machining the spindles - piece of cake. 

I'm wondering if I should run the master cylinder with these until I get one for disks - the master cylinder was replaced only weeks before the car went up on stands a year ago - it's brand new.
It's a drum brake master - so unless there's a bore difference, the only real difference would be the need to remove the residual check valve for the front circuit and to make really sure I kept watch on fluid since disk brake calipers hold a lot more fluid and take in more as the pads wear than drum brakes ever would.

If the bore is the same then the forces would be the same, just a capacity difference. Keeping it full should work until I decide to get a new one. Hate to waste a brand new master cylinder. 
I guess I'll look up bore size perhaps from the Rockauto site......

Funny thing - some parts sites show the same cylinder, some show with the larger reservoir for the disk than the drum, but they all have the same line sizes and same bore.

And thanks for validating my plan - use this new master until it needs to be replaced.

I bought a quart of fluid - coupled with what I have I'll be able to flush things well.

Of course I'm replacing all of the lines - so there will be new lines along with the unused calipers and recent master.
I have a roll of the copper/nickel line. Will be using that. 
Because it's a drum to disk conversion several of the lines will be quite different so some will be "from scratch".

Thanks, Mopar_Guy - that's my plan. I had figured, based on experience and training but your REAL WORLD experience using the drum master helps.

Stock sway bar and I've wondered about the poly bushings because they'd outlast the rubber under my conditions. 

Assume you're baking plated fasteners and structural parts after plating to minimize chance of hydrogen embrittlement stress fracture?

Thanks, RD  

Thanks.

On the pin - that's the metering valve portion which restricts pressure to the front brakes until the pressure in the rear builds up to a certain point - this was supposedly to ensure the rear brake return springs had been overcome before the front brakes could receive pressure and apply. It's especially important using pressure tank type bleeding or certain other means as you'll get nothing to the fronts if there's not enough rear pressure.
We used to have a small spring clip made for that purpose - it slipped over the pin as you squeezed it, and then once over the pin you release your finger pressure and it held the pin out so you could bleed - it opened the metering valve and held it open.
I don't know what ever happened to that tool - I'll either buy or make one since I do this sort of thing enough anyway and was used to having that little spring clip tool handy in decades past.

Bolt heads in the engine bay? Interesting - that puts the nuts and threaded portion in the wheel well - subjecting the nut and threads to salt, road spray, etc. Odd - but for factory assembly it does make sense - stick the bolts through the valve, then onto the fender and then the nuts are put on from the underside and tightened up. It was likely easier at the factory that way.
Thanks for the photos, etc. - very helpful. Now I need to mark for and drill holes.......... 

I measured the sway bar at 15/16" - she's a large one. Now to order the bushings.

Oh - left strut bracket painted up and reinstalled, new lock nuts, etc. and left strut in place with new bolts and nuts. 

Those hard, short, blue, furniture tacks - hold them with a pair of needle nose pliers and try piercing the sheet metal. Those little suckers are hard and sharp. Usually doesn't take much to pierce sheet metal with those. Have even pushed them through with a block of wood and a pry bar - more coordination required -  like that third had we were suppose to be born with.

A right angle drill, and here I thought you had everything:)

Good luck, looks good.

While removing the original pressure differential switch, the lines were REALLY stuck, so I used a cutting wheel in the Dremel and sliced the lines - and in the process the screw that holds the switch to the firewall pulled out - the sheet metal wasn't really strong there and/or the hole had been stripped. 

There's some paper towels down there to catch and fluid that came out of the lines and such but I had sucked the fluid out of the master and the front lines have been open for a year so nothing really came out to worry about. 

I really hope this combo valve I have doesn't LEAK and that it works after I rebuilt it! Once in, don't want to ever have to remove it again.

It's taking forever but it's getting there.

I have a good aluminum bracket as originally used, and don't really want to go the route of having to spend for brand new system - especially if I still would need to modify the dash and install the duct anyway.

I have the ducts that go in the dash - found those cheap at a swap/show. 
I'd need to get the controls either way anyway - so there's no savings there. 
I prefer to integrate into the car and feel the best way is to find someone who stripped the AC out of a race car or something like that. I know I'd need some new parts even with original type AC.

Anyway, got the drag link and idler arm, dropped today so will start working on the steering linkage.
Man the grease was so built up and caked on I had to scrape just to find the nuts to get a socket on. I guess I should be glad that prevented rust! HA.
The steering won't be too bad - the drag link will be soaked and cleaned up and with all new tie rods and sleeves and clamps it will go back together more easily. 

All that's left with the brakes is running the new lines. I hope that combo valve works and doesn't leak - maybe I should look for a spare just in case.......

 The left side is together save for shocks - which I need to find in my stash or BUY.
Mounted the combo valve and ran the short line to the right front wheel.

STILL need to get that broken shock tower bolt out of the left side - that will be one of the hardest parts of the whole project, perhaps.

I could also beat on one with a hammer a bit - rough it up and then paint it with hammered paint.... LOL Make it appear to be cast iron

The springs I put in my 73 came from a 73 Javelin so should be fine. Found out why the car had those twist-in spring spacers when I got it - there was a broken front spring. It's a wonder the thing stayed in place they way they had it. It should sit better when done and all new bushings will help stop the constant banging and hammering sound with every bump. Man a rough road was noisy before.

I put the tie rods together to the length I measured the old ones before I dropped them out of the car - it will at lease be sort of close. 
I refinished the idler arm bolts and nuts as well as the spacer that goes between the idler bracket and frame rail at the bottom. 

Hopefully the rest won't take so long as this part has so far........ except for the new brake lines and I expect a few hours for that at least. Ugh - getting too old for that up and down, under and up again.

If the engine was out - it would be a whole lot easier.........
The dual carbs and larger cast valve covers sure don't help on this car - it's tight back there. Luckily the headers aren't in the way. 
I've probably replumbed either fully or partially over 100 or so......... the hardest part for me is always laying over the fenders and reaching back to the firewall. It's THAT getting up and down that's a pain.
I know of a couple of guys who had to quit because of the pressure that over-the-fender work puts on the heart and rib cage. 

Ball joints are greased - did that while the load was off both upper and lower and the suspension was hanging. 

Will tighten control arm bolts when the car is down and springs jounced and settled. 
Shocks should arrive today. 

Cleaning up and painting the shock tower tops - the PO cleaned up the tops on the top side and painted them body color when he shot the engine bay but left the bottom sides of them rusty and crusty. Not good at all.
They'll clean up fine, some pitting on the bottom sides but the tops should look fine. 
So in short, the steering and suspension are nearly done and the brakes will be done as soon as I run the rest of the new lines. 
Since I'm using line by the roll, I can run one single line firewall coupler to axle tube hose, then one to each rear wheel from the new brass T fitting. Cut, flare, install, all while under the car. 

Maybe just a rust belt thing?

They sell this though, http://www.jegs.com/i/3M-Products/133/08945/10002/-1 , so somewhere it must be recommended for use?    

OK, all seriousness aside.......... some pics of the car as it sits tonight.
I did refinish the shock tower tops - he had them painted the same as the engine bay - which is the same as the car, etc. AND, I plated the bolts and nuts BRIGHT zinc. those were rusty - one bolt on the left even broke off when I tried to remove it. 

I got the center punch mark in the center and drilled it one bit size at a time until I hit 1//4" where I could run a tap through and clean it up. Good as new.
I did jounce the car around, etc. once back on the floor and tightened up the upper arm bolts - still need to snug up the lower arm bolts but plan on trying to get camber at least close to 0 to start with until I get it aligned.
I also show the sway bar - painted, and the brackets zinc plated - man were those rusty and pitted. In some pics you can still see GREASE and oil build-up really bad on certain parts. 
I NICKEL plated the idler arm bracket, replaced the bushing and painted the idler arm - arm, refinished the nuts, etc.

The drag link cleaned up like new - no rust, no pitting, excellent finish on it. Wish I could have plated it, too - that would have been cool.

Shocks in place.........

I removed the blower so I could get to the brake lines - and remove the old pressure switch, and found the blower motor doesn't turn, by hand it's hard to turn it, and the bottom of the three bolts was broken off - and has been that way for years judging by the rust. But you can tell the PO didn't give a rip because the heater core is bypassed and I am missing a heater valve.

I guess this shows the NOS alternator - one of the pics also shows the NOS regulator I put on a year or so ago.

The nickel plated idler arm bracket - it was dirty and slightly rough so it won't look like show chrome...

Those calipers are close to the wheels - glad there's no weights there, they'd not clear. Oh, and you can see the crud build-up on the frame and parts - I suspect the PS sector leaks, there's several leaks to take care of.

http://theamcforum.com/forum/can-not-accelerate_topic92957_post823353.html?KW=glass+fuel+filter#823353

Should have seen the brass inlay horse drawn coaches he made from scratch, wood spoke wheels and all - pure art.

But I got the brakes bled - at least the front are good and the rear are bled a bit. I did not do the rears very well on purpose. Why, when I'm going to replace the whole differential, brakes and wheel cylinders and the rear hose?
So started the car, pulled it out and turned it around so I can get to the back end (shop so full it's hard to work in there now)

I pulled the plastic covers off the differential I had stashed in my shop, rolled it around to the middle of the shop on the home-made differential stand and proceeded to remove the steel lines and flex hose off the axle tubes. I pulled the drums and figured I'd need to do some brake work beyond wheel cylinders and to my surprise - the drums are excellent - no ridge at all, and the shoes have at most 10,000 miles on them - if that much. You can still read the whole CoF marks and they have little wear and are very even.
I'll clean things up and put the new wheel cylinders on, make the new axle lines, and get it ready to install. 
I have not checked the ratio on the existing open differential that's under the car.

This twin grip is a 3.15 ratio - I marked an axle and the pinion yoke and turned the pinion three turns and not quite a fifth of a turn more and got one turn of the axles. Twin grip made the math easy.
It seems to be in good shape and I'm really glad the brakes are this good. No need to turn the drums, etc.
The springs that came with it are ok, rusty, but not as bad as those under the car now. So it should sit better and I shouldn't have the trouble with the car going sideways on me when I nail it.

This will mean all brake lines and hoses will be new, wheel cylinders new, calipers, pads, etc. up front new, brake hoses new - should be good to go as long as that original combo valve is still operational. That's the only real question now. 
It started ok, ran good, and the shifter worked fine. MAY need some tweak as far as adjustment, but it worked SMOOTHLY.

I have a good NSS/backup switch harness now but need to check the TSM as I can't find the spot on the car to plug it into the harness. Who knows the PO may have removed or taped that up somewhere. It's not where I expected it at all. 
Not sure what he did to bypass any sort of a NSS - because it starts, that means he's had to have bypassed any sort of switch in order for it to start. We all know if the NSS doesn't work the car won't crank and to get around a bad switch you can jumper it, so somewhere he's got a jumper or twisted wires together to make it crank.

Hopefully the TSM will tell me where this should plug in as far as where on the car.

Don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good, they say...these are great cars not Pebble Beach Deusenbergs.

But are you sure your new parts are the same as the old ones? My inner tie rod ends when the car is sitting on the ground, are not even close to hitting. I can get my whole hand back there. If you want I'll measure the Center-center length of my Pitman and steering arms for ya..(69 car though) Only two things are in play here. Where is the cross member and how far back does the pitman arm/steering arm put the inner tie rod ends. Everything else is fixed by mounting holes.

I checked and the old tie rods aren't as "heavy" looking. The parts are a good fit and the MOOG tie rods are heavier made with ends slightly larger.

The cross member is held in place by nuts and bolts with tapered heads-  in fact a nut and bolt on each end IF IT IS LIKE 1970 - and again, IF IT IS LIKE 1970, the nut is literally a lug nut and the bolt could be called a lug bolt because it's fine thread and a tapered or countersunk head. This means when the bolt and nut are in place on each end it forces the cross member into a perfect position.. You can't slide them back and forth.

There's no gap - you can't stick a pinky between tie rod end and the part of the cross member that the engine mounts bolt to. It's the VERTICAL part of the cross member - the saddles for the mounts extend down top to bottom of the cross member.
There's a lot more room on the Concord but then it's a 6 and the cross member sweeps back.

I looked at my 70 and although the parts look the same, there's more room.

I did a google search "javelin tie rods cross member" and got hits-  I'm not the first person.......
And one solution was "grind the part of the engine mount support that gets hit"
I'd not mind a pic, or measurements, or whatever, and can post photos when I get the front end back up on it - right now the car is turned around so I can get to the back and the front is boxed in by the shop door and "stuff". All I can do is stand in front of it.

It does appear to be worse with the front wheels up - but then the tie rods are down on the outer ends and the angles of the tie rods change enough ....

There's no way to get anything on incorrectly - I have a ton of self-doubt and always have so always question myself and have to either prove myself wrong or right with almost everything I do - and on this I figured hey, can't put the drag link in backwards or the wheels would only turn one direction because of the differences in distance frame to idler and frame to pitman, can't have it backwards, the holes are tapered and things wouldn't go in enough to put the nuts on, nothing is sagging or broken or bent. 
At this point since I've found others who replaced tie rods and then had the grease fittings hit - I assume the new parts are FATTER and clear differently.