Hardtop!

Based on some plans found on Brosky's site, I made up a stand to put my hardtop on.

While I was at it, I checked out the condition of all the seals and the rest of the hardtop.

There is a lot of work to do on it to bring it up to usable status again....

Now I Can Stop!!!!

At this point, I'm going to claim victory!

With the new master cylinder and the rebuilt PDWA, the car is in great shape. After installing those two components, the bleeding of the system took my father and I about 20 minutes. That tells me how bad the master cylinder really was.

Since then, I've also done a little more work under the hood, and a little paint work on the exterior.

Under the hood, I got out some heat shrink tubing and began tidying up some of the connectors inside the engine compartment and around the fuse box. Really makes things look much nicer and reduces the chance of shorting something.

On the exterior of the car, I painted the rocker panels with some semi-gloss black paint. Of course I taped off everything first.

I'd have pics in this post, except I lost the little adapter which allows me to upload pics from my camera to the computer!

The upshot of all this work is that I drove the car to work this week, and also drove it on all my errands this week. Gotta love it!!!!

Not So Fast!!!!!!

Well, my post that the car was/is back on the road was premature.

Unfortunately, I found that the PDWA and the master cylinder both appear to be leaking. New parts are on the way to the house, so hopefully this weekend, I'll finally resolve this.

Rest in peace Carroll Shelby.

NYTimes Story on Carroll Shelby

Few people have had such an influence on the automotive industry. While his idea was not entirely a new one, he did it in such a devastating fashion, the effect has been known for 50 plus years on.

Shelby also did things with style, and with a marketing edge that few have matched. While his style with the car suggested that of using a bigger hammer, his style in marketing was somewhat more refined. In the end, the word 'Cobra' will never be associated with anyone else again.

May the road always be smooth and the wind at your back Carroll Shelby.

Back On The Road....

So, the green monster is back on the road.

Took too long, but I got it there. Yesterday, my buddy Matt came by and we took an hour or so to bleed the brakes and get the braking system running- or stopping I should say.

The first couple of rides and the rear brakes got pretty doggone hot. It seemed like the rear brakes were set too tight. I got out a wrench and re-adjusted the rears and took it for a spin. The result was much better than previously.

So, while the car sat on stands, I was able to complete the following....

- Reupolstered most of the trunk
- Rewired the coil
- Repainted the wheels and wheel centers
- Repainted and refinished the steering shaft
- Repainted and refinished the rear of the exhaust system - Tried to get it looking like a Monza exhaust tip
- Repainted and refinished the rear braking assemblies and drums
- Installed new rear wheel cylinders
- Installed Speed Bleeders in all cylinders.
- Repainted and refinished the brake booster
- Repainted and refinished as well as rebuilt the master cylinder
- Rebuilt the PDWA
- Installed new flexible lines in the rear brakes
- Installed new flexible lines in the front brakes
- Repainted and refinished the front brakes
- Installed new brake pads in the front brakes

The results are pretty doggone good!

Still not there....

So the PDWA was leaking. I ended up ordering the correct o-rings for it, and then waiting for them for a week. That put getting it back on the road off another week.

The o-rings came in and I quickly rebuilt the PDWA. While I was waiting for the o-rings, I ordered some speedy bleeders.

The Speedy Bleeders are a slick little piece of kit. Put a springloaded one way valve in a bleed nipple and you get the idea. A little expensive, but they work well.

So with the rebuilt PDWA and the Speedy Bleeders added to the brake rebuild, I set to re-bleeding the brakes. Something was very wrong however.

As I bled the brakes, the rears were very hard to work, but the fronts went extremely well. The rears were quite a problem. Despite many tries to bleed them, I eventually got not much of anything coming out of the lines. I continued to try bleeding them, but made little progress. Eventually, I checked the rear brakes for the umpteenth time and found puddles under the rear of the car.

The puddles however were not under the wheel cylinders, but instead under the frame.... A quick wave of the flashlight showed that the rear flexible lines were leaking profusely. I split the lines!!!!

So, new lines for front and rear are now on the way. With a little luck, I may get to drive the car to work next Friday.........