Hi list.
Murphy's law....."What can go wrong, will go wrong, and at the worst
possible time."
If you have been following along, you will recall I visited THE WIZARD at
San Antonio Brake & Clutch with 8 frozen wheel cylinders (I figured I might
get 4 good ones out of 8), 1 frozen master cylinder (which was a coin toss
at best), 8 slightly worn brake shoes and 2 worn trans-brake shoes to be
relined (which were guaranteed to turn out OK.)
I returned to SAB&C exactly two days after dropping off the parts but was
not greeted with a chorus of angels singing Hallelujah! Actually I was
met by the old guy who was now acting less like like The Wizard of Oz and
more like the Ghost of Jacob Marley. And, like the Wizard of Oz, who was in
reality just a normal man behind a curtain, even a wizard has to have
something to start with before working his miracles. Sadly, he found my
master cylinder and my wheel cylinders were beyond ressurrection
.....dead.....kaput.....finito..... (heavy sigh.) This is the result of
dissimilar metals being in intimate contact with one another for 61 years.
As I was being shown the cancer-ridden guts of the former brake system of my
Scout Car I knew how Ebinezer Scrooge felt being led around all night on the
eve of Christmas....simply terrified and strangly, I was feeling a bit
guilty (even though the wreckage of the brakes were not of my doing.) What
was to be my future and what was to become of my beautiful Scout Car?!
Well, ye merrie gentlemen, Christmas morning arrived on that afternoon, when
before my very eyes, the Ghost of Jacob Marley turned into the Ghost of
Christmas Present. (If you are superstitious take note that it was very
oddly Friday the 13th.) I was shown four brand new wheel cylinders and a
brand new master cylinder! I could have died and gone to heaven right then
and there. Each part was a dead ringer for the original except, where the
originals had the words WAGNER-LOCKHEED, the new parts just had
WAGNER....(quite obviously the word Lockheed had been removed from the
original castings!) And all my brake shoes were just like
new......sandblasted, machined, primed and relined!
Were these new parts more costly than a rebuild?.....Oooooooh YES....even
though I got them at the jobber price (I think the old guy really had some
respect for those of us trying to preserve a little history.) Did I have a
choice?.....Not really. A bore and sleeve would have cost more. So I came
away a happy camper, though somewhat poorer than I had planned. Could I
have saved a few dollars? No. Even if I had torn down the wheel cylinders
by myself I would not have known for sure how deep the pitting went without
trying to rebuild them. Had I gone to the foundation of the pitting and
rebuilt them myseIf I would have ended up with leaking wheel cylinders and
bad brakes.....the burden of many MV owners and I'm happy that this will not
be my lot in life. So the Scout now has brand spanking new brakes which is
how it should be; a happy ending to a modern day Christmas Story!
Some inside infomation for my fellow "Scouties"......
You need.....
Wagner wheel cylinders, part numbers: F4419, F746
Wagner master cylinder part number: F661
(You will also need to bring your piggy bank.)
Let's Keep em Rollin'!
TJ
Sole proprietor and singularly unpaid (and now even poorer) employee of
THE LAST CHANCE GARAGE
Boerne, Texas
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