I've been saving the right rear brakes for very last because that's the "cold" corner of my garage and tonight it was time to face my fears. I was able to remove the hub, the brake line and parking brake cable, and the brake backing plate in about an hour mostly because I knew what I was doing.
Putting on the new caliper mounts took very little time as I had done all the hard work on the left side.

Machining the last hub only took about 10 minutes and I found that if you mount the rotor "upside down" on the hub it moves the rotor face about 1/4" towards the center of the car which provides a little extra room between the caliper and the wheel.



Next up is working out the parking brake cables. The master cylinders should be here in a few days and I hope to get those in place too.

 

Today I got the front brake hoses for a 1980 Cadillac El Dorado. They are only about 17" long but I think they will work perfectly at the back of the car. You can see the banjo adapter is a great match for the caliper.



I also got the clutch and brake master cylinders today.


I am going to need an extension rod for the clutch pedal which will be easy to make out of 5/16-24 thread roded and a coupler nut.
The nifty brake bias adjuster that came with the brake master cylinder won't fit on the nifty bracket that came with the kit so I will need to remote mount that. That will be easy enough to handle.

 

Those M/Cs look like they are meant to be there. Lovely job.

 

I was able to get a lot of things checked off the list today. First up was the plumbing the clutch master cylinder. I had a 10" -3 flex hose made with a 3/8-24 fitting on one end and a 90° -4AN fitting on the other end. The -4 fitting attached to the clutch slave cylinder and the 3/8-24 fitting would mate up to a hard line I ran from the clutch master cylinder.



I bought a hydraulic flare tool a few years back. It makes flaring brake lines super easy.


I picked up a spare cap for the clutch master cylinder. I drilled a hole in the top and attached a fitting for my air hose. I use a regulator connected to my shop air and put about 5psi in the reservoir. All you have to do is crack the bleed port on the slave cylinder and you are done bleeding in seconds. This also eliminates the need to bench bleed the master cylinder.


This was a first for me. If you pull the transmission cover off the floorboard you can bleed the clutch system without having to get on the ground.


Looking up at the clutch slave cylinder, the flex hose, and the hard line up to the clutch master cylinder.


While I had the engine in the car I decided it was a good time to check out the fit of the exhaust manifolds. The top pair are from a 1990 Chevrolet C1500 Pickup with the 5.7 V8.
On the bottom is the standard small-block Chevy "rams horn" exhaust manifold. This one is for a 1973 Corvette with the 5.7


I was hoping to use the manifolds from the C1500 but both sides fouled the suspension upright tower and the outlet pointed right at the frame rail.
The rams horn manifold fit perfectly and it will be easy to route the exhaust.
This particular manifold is junk as the casting is too thin near the center ports. I'll pick up a better set.


Next up is brake hoses and I am pleased to report that the front brake hoses from a 1980 Cadillac ElDorado are a great match for the calipers on the front. It does not matter if you use the left side or right side as you will cut off the metal support bracket. The banjo end needs to be drilled out to 7/16" but the length is perfect.


The threaded end will match up perfectly with the chassis mount from the factory.


These calipers use a 7/16-20 banjo bolt - I will need to pick up a pair.


Tomorrow I will pull the engine out and put clamps on the clutch hard line. I also want to start running the brake lines but the fittings I bought from Amazon were garbage. They were supposed to be 3/8-24 but they are not even close.

 

*Luv* the air bleed!
I wonder if that would work on Nix's brakes, as I do have a spare cap and the rear are a giant Pain.
I also have a regulator.
Hmmm..........
(';')

 

Ask Father Christmas to bring you a pair of these, LnR.
https://www.fossewayperformance.co.u...ed-easy-bleed/
Like you I dreaded bleeding the rears, but these with their non-return bleed valves, are just brilliant. Beware cheaper ones, by the way.

 

Also ask him to bring you one of these. That's where I started with power bleeding but I soon realized that filling the bottle with brake fluid made a huge mess when bleeding time was over. So I started using the Power Bleeder without putting brake fluid in the bottle. Then I decided it was easier to just rig up something like what you see in the picture above.

 

The goal today was to get started running brake lines. First up was mounting the remote brake bias adjuster, which controls the amount of pressure that goes to the rear brakes. This is important because if the rear brakes lock up first the back end is going to come around.
The adjuster knob is pointing up at the 2:00 position and the brake light switch is pointing up at the 10:00 position.



At this point I have the front and rear circuits plumbed from the master cylinder to the bias adjuster, as well as the line from the bias adjuster to the front left wheel.


Here is the brake hard line running along the frame rail, around the suspension tower, to the front left brake hose.


Close-up showing the brake line going into the flexible brake hose.

 

Looks absolutely superb, Thomas. Really excellent system and execution.

 

Tonight I was able to plumb up the front right brake caliper.


I still need to run a brake line to the rear axle and hook up the parking brakes but I am closer to being able to bleed the brakes.

 

I decided to take a day off work and enjoy the warm weather that has landed in Chicago. The starting point today was something that has been bothering me for a while - the bushings on the steering coupler. The coupler is located right next to the steering box and I am pretty sure these are the original bushings. There is a lot of play in them.



A closer view showing the deterioration.


Moss lists a kit but in the ~6 months I have been looking at it it has never been in stock. If it was in stock I'd probably pay the $73 even though that seems wildly expensive for what it is.

Seeing as how I could not buy a set, I decided to try to make my own. I picked up a 60A durometer polyurethane rod and decided to see what I could do.


The polyurethane was too soft for carbide cutting tools but with necessity being the mother of invention, I vice-gripped a utility knife blade to a spare bit I had. It actually did a good job notching the poly rod.

After experimenting on a few I was able to make a few that were barely passable.


I was able to get two of them through the plate and one half of the coupler to slide in. I don't love it. I am tempted to try some 80A or 90A durometer rods, or maybe some bronze bushings.


Here are the required dimensions for future reference.


After that it was time to get back to the brakes. I ran a new line to the back and got as far as the rear axle. I put both brake hoses on the calipers and need to make two hard lines to go from the tee fitting on the back axle to each caliper.
I also found that if you cut the horseshoe collar off the factory parking brake cables, they are a perfect fit for the Cadillac calipers I used on the rear axle.


Tomorrow I am going to get as far as I can with the brakes then move over to the fuel lines.

 

Why, I'm Shocked!
not

I do speak that fluently, coming as I do from the farm, where, if they ain't got it in town ya Better make do with watcha got.

Great thinking outside the box, Thomas, we've never seen you do that before.

 

Great stuff Thomas. I think bronze bushes will give you horrible steering rattle and vibration. Those you have made look perfectly good to me. Mind you, you are in a much higher league!

 

I am pleased to report that the 90A polyurethane rods were perfect for this application.



The process was to drill a 7/16" hole through the middle of the rod, then cut the groove for where it fits through the square plate, then cut off each bushing.
I averaged making two bushings for each one that was usable. The 90A durometer polyurethane was rigid enough to cut with standard carbide lathe tooling.


You will still need a length of 60A durometer polyurethane rod to go between the two splined sections of the steering coupler. I suspect this acts as a seal to keep the oil in the gearbox. I drilled this out to an ID of .5".


My new exhaust manifolds came today. I usually send these out to Jet Hot to be coated but since I am so far over budget on this project I decided I would try POR-15 high-temp paint. I sand-blasted the manifolds, let them soak in Acetone for 30 minutes, then I stuck them in my powder-coat oven to bake at 400° for 2 hours. This will make sure all the oil is burned off. Tomorrow I will put on a coat of the POR-15 and once it dried I will bake it again to cure the paint.


In case you were wondering that is a small oven I use for curing powder-coated items. It's not the one that I cook with

I did get the parking brake hooked up today but I need to revisit the linkage. There is not enough pull on the cable but I believe that is just a question of how long the lever arm is.

 

You're right Greg. I think it is important to have the rubber/polyurethane to isolate road noise.

 

I am happy to report that I have completed plumbing the brake system. I still need to bleed it but we'll talk about that in a minute.

I was never a fan of the bright aluminum pedal and the rough texture on the Wilwood pedals and found they offered a rubber pad. I think it's a nice improvement.


Pads on both the clutch and brake pedals.
I am still thinking about the throttle pedal.


Today I was able to get both exhaust manifolds painted. I need to let them dry for a day or two before I cure the paint in the oven. I am interested to see how well this paint holds up.


I was cleaning up the garage today and accidentally lined up this picture. The old drum brake on the floor and new disc brakes ready to go.


On the subject of bleeding the brakes, I designed an extra cover for the brake master cylinder. It has a hole drilled in the middle so I can tap for 1/4" NPT and put an air fitting so I can pressure bleed the brakes. SendCutSend now cuts gaskets and I had them cut one to seal my plate to the master cylinder.

 

When seen together like that, Drum brakes look positively Primitive!
(';')

 

With the change to the parking brakes, I found that the original mechanism did not have enough cable travel to lock up the rear brakes. This was unacceptable as one of the main reasons I went to disc brakes was to have a parking brake that worked. I mentioned earlier that it was a question of leverage on the arm in the engine bay, so I fired up AutoDesk and designed an arm that had three choices of pivot location. Or as I like to call it, one pivot location and two speed holes.



I also designed a bracket to move the pivot point up so the stock cable locations would not have to move.


If it helps to visualize the idea, the top hole on the stock parking brake lever connects to the pull handle inside the car.
The bottom hole (not visible in this picture) is what connects to the cable that runs under the car and connects to the parking brake mechanisms.
The bolt that is sticking out near the bottom of the bracket is the factory pivot point.


My design for the parking brake lever has the pivot hole moved up 1.5", 3.0" and 4.5" from the factory pivot point. I am planning on using the location that is 1.5" up from the factory location and according to my math this will give enough pull on the cable to fully actuate the parking brakes.

 

No pictures tonight, but I was able to finish bleeding the brakes and I am very happy with the pedal feel. The 7.1:1 pedal ratio is ideal and I am confident I will not need brake boosters.

I also sand blasted and re-painted the original throttle pedal and bolted it back into place. I need to work on the engine bay side of attaching a throttle cable but that should not be a challenge.

 

I spent some time tonight looking at the pedals and I decide I don't like the mix of of the Wilwood pedals and the factory throttle pedal. Even though the new brake pedal is within a 1/2" of the original brake pedal it seems like the proportions are wrong.


I have been spending time with the Wilwood and Tilton catalogs and I am trying to see if I can work up a better solution.