More brake work last night.
I managed to get the rear flex line off without damaging anything and was
about to put the new one in when it occurred to me that the flex line might
not be the culprit. I also remembered I had an air compressor and that I
could use it to both check the lines and blow any crud out. So before I
put that rear flex line in I disconnected the master cylinder and put air
to that end of the line.
I need to pause here to remind everyone I have young children. No, nobody
got brake fluid in their eyes. It's just that since I brought the freshly
painted truck out of the tent I have been mentally preparing myself for the
first greasy little hand and/or foot prints on my flat, oil absorbent,
Olive Drab paint. The kids have been pretty good, I've told them not to
climb on it and they've stayed away so far, but I know the temptation will
be a lot greater once the running boards and fenders are back on.
So, anyway, I put air to the master cylinder end of the line an a
satisfying cloud of 140 psi air/brake fluid mist appears at the other end
of the system. Cool, look what I can do... let try it again to make sure
we get all the crud out.... Neat! No fun to breath though, better
stop. I crawl out from under the truck... guess what. I don't have a
floor in the back of this Carryall yet. Guess where the brake fluid cloud
landed. That's right, all over the interior of my truck. Who needs kids
to mess up a paint job?
I scrambled to do damage control with some clean rags. Most of it came off
OK, but lets just say I'm less concerned about fingerprints on the
passenger side rear wheel well now.
I went ahead and checked the rest of the lines, covering the exit ports
with a towel to catch the cloud. Then I installed that new rear flex line
and bleed the system again. You know, for such a big truck the master
cylinder doesn't hold much fluid... I was constantly topping it off.
Then I put in my new urethane front body blocks. David Miller (another
WC53 restorer, see http://www.wc53.com ) was good enough to make up a set
of these for me in exchange for extra urethane material. David made these
to print, identical to the original wood ones, but being made of urethane
rubber they should last longer and provide a "little" cushion. I had him
make my set thicker based on measurements I had taken of the retaining bolt
and nut. David, if you're still following along, I was WRONG. 1-3/4" tall
is what finally fit. Angle, step, and hole position were perfect. Lacking
a band saw I had to change out the blade and make several cuts with the
table saw (what a mess...) to shorten them, but they are in.
It was late, but I broke out the NOS lower wiring harness anyway and did a
little remembering of how it's routed... Anyone have photos? Better yet
I'll sneak over and take a look at Deryk Walker's Command Car.
Chris Davis
MVPA# 20000
Lake Forest, CA
'42 WC53 Carryall
'66 M274A2 Mule
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 05 2001 - 00:40:37 PDT