A few days ago, at the recommendation of Joe Frizell at Joe’s Garage, I took the car in to Carl Zeh Auto Repairs in Watermill, NY. Carl Zeh specializes in “rear end” work that Joe prefers nor to deal with. I wanted to get a diagnosis in terms of what the car needed mechanically, as well as an estimate of what it would cost.
What I learned was that the brakes are in worse shape than I thought. Two of the four brakes are not even functioning correctly, and the rest are worn down and starting to go. The car also needs work on the power steering and differential. I’m bringing it back in over the weekend to have the work done on the brakes, power steering, and to have the universal joint replaced. I’m going to skip replacing the spider gears in the differential, as it is not 100% necessary, and I’ll save over a thousand dollars.
One other area of concern is that the wheels and lug nuts are worn down to the point of there being a possible risk of them flying off, if the car goes around a corner too fast. I think I will take this opportunity to replace the current wheels – plain steel rims with plastic hubcaps – with some nice steel reproduction rims.