Not quite there yet.....

So, we're back from Disney. The kids had fun, but I've had enough of the crowds and the running around!

As soon as I was back, I convinced my wife to dive into the braked with me and bleed them. Unfortunately, I had a continual stream of bubbles in the system. This happened with the rear brakes and the front brakes as well. I dropped it off the stands, but the brakes were terribly soft. At that point it was time to figure out the cause of the bubbles.

I checked all the connections and found none loose. However, there was a little brake fluid under the PDWA. Not a good sign. I tightened the connections and wiped up the mess. Afterwards, I decided to check the bleed valves and the passenger side front valve stripped!!!! All of a sudden, I had fluid pouring out on the floor. In a moment of creativity, I plugged the bleed kit on it and just let it run.

After that, I called it a night.

The next morning, I came out and sure enough, the system emptied itself into the bleed canister. I did some research and found that the bleed screw for my car (16PB calipers) is a M10x1.0 bleed screw. I also found them available at Autozone, so this morning I picked one up. Its a good fit, and the caliper does not seem to be terribly stripped.

Next up, I topped up the resevoir and promply found more fluid under the PDWA. The source was in fact the PDWA itself. The seals on the piston have apparently given up. I don't have a PDWA repair kit, so I plugged the PDWA. This is an ok way of handling the problem in the short term (the brake warning light did not work anyway), but I will order a kit in my next parts order.

Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll get my wife back in the garage for a bit and get the brakes bled and my '73 back on the road!

Nearing Back On The Road

So, its nearly back on the road. Just one final step and she's ready to go.

So here is my list...

Rear drum brakes - stripped, repainted, new wheel cylinders
Rear Trailing Arms - Helicoils in all studs
Front Brakes - Stripped and Painted Calipers, new brake pads
Master Cylinder - Stripped, repainted, rebuilt
Wheels - Wheels and Centers stripped and repainted
PVDA - Stripped, polished and clearcoated
Steering Shaft - Stripped and Repainted

All that is left now is to bleed the brakes and she's back up and running.

More of the Good, Bad and Ugly

So there is good news in this story.... (see earlier post for the story)

The good news is that there is nothing wrong with the threads in the trailing arm. Not stripped, not even worn out. Everything threaded back together nicely.

However, I've decided to put steel inserts in the trailing arm to reinforce the holes. I did the driver's side years ago, and now its time to do the passenger side. To make the job easier, I'll be using the jig from Patton Machine. Sixpack member Poolboy offered to ship it to me to let me use it. Should make the job easier than when I did the driver's side.

I'm now waiting for the parts to install the wheel cylinders (one set was completely missing) so I'm going to pull a few other things off the car and work them over to get them right.

In the meantime, I've painted up the drums, stripped and painted the backing plates for the brakes, and have most of the car ready to go back together.