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Jan 21, 2016 23:04:32 GMT
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Well, the chassis paint is now complete. And I am very pleased as it means I can get on with some other jobs. One of the things to do is to start preparing the cross baces for the bed strips that I will be making up at some point. However, my truck has a plywood floor with minimal steel braces. Martin may have one or two for me, or else I will go to the scrap yard and make up something that works. My loadbed currently looks like this with only one brace ahead of the wheel arches, toward the cab. There should possibly be two more. This is a diagram taken from the LMC catalogue, showing all the braces needed. This is a Short Fleetside bed pulled by DaddyOh in Southern California recently, showing all the braces in place. So my question is this: Can one live with bed strips, without any of these braces? In case I do not get any from mate Martin. Last night I pulled out my oil filled garage heaters and set them in place between the chassis rails as I wanted to see if I could push the 0'C temperature down there, up a bit so that I could paint the rest of the chassis and rear axle and prop shaft. I had wanted to do this for a long time. This morning at 07.00 I went down to the garage to switch them on so that they could start breaking the cold and dry the air out. When I opened the big door, I realised the heaters had been on all night. Checking my thermometers ( I have a few of them around) I could see the temperature had gone up to 5'C so I decided to leave them on and come back down by 10.00 to see if it was warmer. By 10.00 it was up to 6'C, so I decided to mask up the last bits that I did not want to get paint on. This was what I started painting at 11.00 then. It took about three hours to complete and by the time I was finished, the garage temperature had gone up to 10'C which is a good temperature for the paint to dry and harden. Finished, really pleased with the way this has turned out. I find it really rewarding to see where I came from and where the chassis is now. And of course tonight........ I also painted the rear brake drums while I was at it. Did the fronts in silver, but decided to go for a light industrial grey instead as the Rallye wheels will cover them anyway. So may repaint the front as well in the grey. Heater up close to help the drying. After all that I was a bit bored, so I decided to paint up all the rolling wheels in the same red as the springs. Should look better than the rusted look they had before. Next up I will remove all the brake lines and mark them up. Martin has found a guy some distance from where I live who will reproduce all our brake lines at a reasonable rate. So this is the next little job I never planned. An then I want to fit a new fuel line from the tank to the front. Happy tonight.
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Last Edit: Jan 21, 2016 23:15:15 GMT by grizz
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Jan 22, 2016 21:42:00 GMT
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Slight change of pace today, no real truck time. Only checked up the wheels I painted yesterday, as well as the chassis, all good. Went over to help mate Martin today. ( This redundancy thing has its perks) after work, well, his work, as I am not really doing much at the moment, other than keeping things ticking over for my boss. It will be very different when I start the new job on the 15th Feb. Collected a rear loadbed cross brace from him that he got off Del's truck last year. My truck is missing some braces. Anyway, Martin showed me this pic, of myself and Chad on the rear bed of Clem's flatbed truck up in the Ozarks when we were in the USA. I had not seen it before, and seem pretty relaxed and happy there. It reminded me of just how great this trip was. All the incredible people we got to meet on the trip and also those we missed out spending time with like Donnie Johnson, or meeting like Steve in Arkansas. Possibly the best time of my life......... Maybe time for a "Replay"
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Last Edit: Jan 22, 2016 21:45:33 GMT by grizz
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Jan 23, 2016 20:36:01 GMT
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Went down to the scrappy today to look for some steel for Martin to modify his gearbox mount. Nada, zilch. Also looked for some steel to make up the thinner load bed brace to go with the one I got from Martin. So a bit of welding should see me with the brace I need. Then home to unload and pack a ton of chopped Oak logs for the fireplace. Back down to the garage to get the rear back together. Inbetween, the whole day was filled with Whatsapp, texts,and Messenger as well as FaceTime chats with mates around the world. Eventually got it all together. Roll around wheels painted red yesterday made me grin too. Spoke to Greg "Bomp" in Kaiser, Oregon again tonight and been chatting with Paul "NevEno" in Oklahoma. Told them I am really happy with the way things are starting to get together now. Once I had marked out the brake lines, I looked over the work I had done so far smugly........ Until I saw this lot. Then realised there was still a long way to go. Yup, it will be interesting.
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Jan 24, 2016 21:37:44 GMT
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Had Martin over for a bit this morning. We had planned on doing some work on his gearbox cross member, but that did not happen. NOW FOR QUESTION TIME.I want to replace all my brake lines while the truck is in bits. It has the super sized master cylinder up front, with two lines fitted, one for the front brakes and one for the rear. In the case of my truck there are joiners with bolts screwed into two at least, the lines are untidy, bent and obviously just thrown together despite always working perfectly before I blew the truck apart. But they are a mess. I can get the brake lines remade by someone, as long as I take samples and templates OR I can make them up myself. What does the collective say. Is this a job that I, as a rank amateur can take on myself? Who has done it before? What to look out for. I want some sexy spirals in the lines too above the engine. You can see the straight brake lines that were fitted. While here, Martin also had to collect the Christmas prezzies we had been sent by Bret in Texas, which had been delivered on Saturday. Perfectly timed, a beany hat for the garage that is rather chilly now, and a key ring for the truck. When I saw these advertised previously, I loved them, but could not justify buying one...... Thank you Bret. Once Martin went off, I had a choice of shopping with Nicola or going to see JohnnyBravo. Easy. So off I traipsed to Johhny's shop, packet of biscuits on the seat next to me. Coffee, biccies and much discussion to come. As some of you know, Johnny is restoring a 1972 Mada RX2 His build thread here: retrorides.proboards.com/thread/178941/mazda-complete-japanese-tinworm-infestationNot content with the usual weld, grind, patch n cut type of restoration for this build, Johnny of course has made all the tooling to press his own panels, so I got to see panels V1.0 in the skip bin. Part of his home made tooling and press. Impressive in my book, and inspirational. Later, after the second round of coffees we went around to the skips. Treasures aplenty. I pulled a load of steel plate offcuts ranging from 1-10mm for myself and mate Martin. My favourite find was a load of nuts, bolts n washers. So I collected what I could and brought them home to clean up and add to my stash in the garage. To me this is all "Free Money" Washed and cleaned, I threw them all out onto an old bedsheets and used a hot air gun to dry them all. So thanks again to John, great day spent with you and your machines. Tomorrow I will finish off the marking of the brake lines and remove them all, ready for reproduction.
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Last Edit: Jan 24, 2016 21:54:25 GMT by grizz
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jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,269
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Jan 24, 2016 21:46:06 GMT
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I think you should have no problem doing the brakes yourself. Get a decent tool (not expensive) and go slowly - i need to do in and while precise work, it is not hard work, certainly well within your skill set!
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Jan 24, 2016 21:47:29 GMT
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Love reading this.
Top tip, fan heaters, especially the bigger ones are much better than oil filled rads for getting garages up to temp.
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Rebel
Part of things
Posts: 343
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Making the brake pipes yourself gets my vote, I'm busy making new brake pipes for my Charger. Get a flaring tool, pipe cutter and a pipe bender, think mine were a tenner on the bay of fleas. Watch a couple of YouTube videos on how to make the pipes up and go from there
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1968 Dodge Charger 1985 Chevrolet Camaro 1993 Toyota Hilux Surf 2001 Ford Mondeo
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,945
Club RR Member Number: 71
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Jan 25, 2016 10:26:51 GMT
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I can get the brake lines remade by someone, as long as I take samples and templates OR I can make them up myself. What does the collective say. Is this a job that I, as a rank amateur can take on myself? Who has done it before? What to look out for. For me the trick with brake lines is to get them to look right When starting with a roll of copper brake line unroll it as you would pull line of a fishing reel so you take the curve out If you want dead straight lines put an appropriate length on a bench and roll it across the surface by hand to get it really nice and straight - then fix that length to the chassis or body with plenty of length each end and start from there and bend and fix as you go along. I bought some really neat little P-clips when I did the Monza brake lines - drill hole and rivet them on at nice regular intervals looks very good that way Oh and get a good flaring tool - there was a topic a while ago on what brake flaring tools RR people liked - worth hunting it out - I bought one of the recommended ones to replace what I already had and it was much better both in flare quality and usability I want some sexy spirals in the lines too above the engine. Why - I would have thought that "sexy spirals" would mean it's a cow to bleed the air out of brake lines?? But that's just what I would think not what I know. If you were wanting spirals I guess the trick would be to roll round an appropriate tube?
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Jan 25, 2016 12:46:04 GMT
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I've done it (apart from spirals) so you certainly can. Nice and neat clipped to the bulkhead then chassis to end of flexi line. I have a pipe bender you can borrow if required. You just need the splaying tool being careful to match the new ends to the old type. Not got one of these though. And well done on the job front. 2016 is gonna be great!
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Got a garage now but still no car. Plenty of ideas tho!
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Jan 25, 2016 13:30:48 GMT
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NOW FOR QUESTION TIME.I want to replace all my brake lines while the truck is in bits. It has the super sized master cylinder up front, with two lines fitted, one for the front brakes and one for the rear. In the case of my truck there are joiners with bolts screwed into two at least, the lines are untidy, bent and obviously just thrown together despite always working perfectly before I blew the truck apart. But they are a mess. I can get the brake lines remade by someone, as long as I take samples and templates OR I can make them up myself. What does the collective say. Tomorrow I will finish off the marking of the brake lines and remove them all, ready for reproduction. Definitely a DIY job for a chap with your skill set. The right quality tools make all the difference when making up brake lines according to a car restorer buddy of mine and echoing the comment above, evenly spaced 'P' clips riveted on to the chassis make a very professional looking job. Glad to hear about the new job, need to find an excuse to get up your way and have a look at how the truck is progressing. Looks good so far!
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Currently driving a '68 Karmann Ghia as my daily. Don't ask about previous cars - there have been way too many and I stopped counting at 160!
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Jan 25, 2016 19:31:57 GMT
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I think you should have no problem doing the brakes yourself. Get a decent tool (not expensive) and go slowly - i need to do in and while precise work, it is not hard work, certainly well within your skill set! Got a friend coming over tomorrow or Wednesday evening to bring his set of tools and check out my space. Love reading this. Top tip, fan heaters, especially the bigger ones are much better than oil filled rads for getting garages up to temp. This I will believe. If I were to use them regularly, I would switch. But this was the first time in more than a year I have used them. Making the brake pipes yourself gets my vote, I'm busy making new brake pipes for my Charger. Get a flaring tool, pipe cutter and a pipe bender, think mine were a tenner on the bay of fleas. Watch a couple of YouTube videos on how to make the pipes up and go from there YouTube, great resource. Will do. I can get the brake lines remade by someone, as long as I take samples and templates OR I can make them up myself. What does the collective say. Is this a job that I, as a rank amateur can take on myself? Who has done it before? What to look out for. For me the trick with brake lines is to get them to look right When starting with a roll of copper brake line unroll it as you would pull line of a fishing reel so you take the curve out If you want dead straight lines put an appropriate length on a bench and roll it across the surface by hand to get it really nice and straight - then fix that length to the chassis or body with plenty of length each end and start from there and bend and fix as you go along. I bought some really neat little P-clips when I did the Monza brake lines - drill hole and rivet them on at nice regular intervals looks very good that way Oh and get a good flaring tool - there was a topic a while ago on what brake flaring tools RR people liked - worth hunting it out - I bought one of the recommended ones to replace what I already had and it was much better both in flare quality and usability I want some sexy spirals in the lines too above the engine. Why - I would have thought that "sexy spirals" would mean it's a cow to bleed the air out of brake lines?? But that's just what I would think not what I know. If you were wanting spirals I guess the trick would be to roll round an appropriate tube? The spirals look good. Simples. And they also absorb some engine vibration etc. I've done it (apart from spirals) so you certainly can. Nice and neat clipped to the bulkhead then chassis to end of flexi line. I have a pipe bender you can borrow if required. You just need the splaying tool being careful to match the new ends to the old type. Not got one of these though. And well done on the job front. 2016 is gonna be great! Looks like I am having one delivered tomorrow or the next day. NOW FOR QUESTION TIME.I want to replace all my brake lines while the truck is in bits. It has the super sized master cylinder up front, with two lines fitted, one for the front brakes and one for the rear. In the case of my truck there are joiners with bolts screwed into two at least, the lines are untidy, bent and obviously just thrown together despite always working perfectly before I blew the truck apart. But they are a mess. I can get the brake lines remade by someone, as long as I take samples and templates OR I can make them up myself. What does the collective say. Tomorrow I will finish off the marking of the brake lines and remove them all, ready for reproduction. Definitely a DIY job for a chap with your skill set. The right quality tools make all the difference when making up brake lines according to a car restorer buddy of mine and echoing the comment above, evenly spaced 'P' clips riveted on to the chassis make a very professional looking job. Glad to hear about the new job, need to find an excuse to get up your way and have a look at how the truck is progressing. Looks good so far! Thanks Kerry. You are always welcome here mate, even if I have doubts, Nicola will always see you as perfect Whenever it suits you. Come show off your sexy Ford.
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Jan 25, 2016 20:14:45 GMT
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So this morning I sorted out and matched the pile of nuts n bolts I picked up yesterday at JohnnyBravo's place after washing them and drying them overnight. Happy with my pile of free fasteners now all bottled up in the garage. Then I made up a couple of parcels to send off to the USA and went to post them out. On the way back home I passed the local Gulf fuel station and saw this Subaru Brat/Brumby/284/MV/Shifter in various markets. I have always has a hard spot for them, despite the fact many just disintegrated over time. Swung around to go look. As I got put my car, before even walking around to look at it, the driver who had just filled up, greeted me with a "Hallo Grizz !!" Huhhhhh....? I did not recognise him, but he knew who I am, anyway, turns out he is Mark, a regular on autoshite car forum. So this is his pride and joy. We spoke for at least half and hour, and I was in and out and all over his truck. We even agreed that maybe we will investigate importing a pair of them from Australia at some point when it suits us both. Small world. Original Four cylinder Boxer engine, high and low range gearbox, 4x4 Then off home again. Had lunch, and was just headed out to the garage at about 3pm when an email landed....... Security and background checks to be done, so I had to sit down and deal with all of that. Then down to the garage after 4pm. Finished marking up the brake lines, then started to undo them from the rear....... This dribbled out the front of the brake line when I released the rear end. So, at last...... Never ever thought my truck would end up looking this sad. Brake lines all removed. Why ?? Measure up the pipes and they seem to total up at around 30 foot or 10 meters. Remember Paul who helped me remove the lower ball joint from the burgered LCA? Well, he replied on Garage Journal that he had a full set of tools that I could use. So tomorrow evening he will be around to check out my hoarding space and hopefully have a coffee/tea and a chat. Will go look for a roll of brake pipe tomorrow as well as the fittings and some P clips and some B clips as the fuel line runs along the same route from the rear to the engine bay. Then we are in business.
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Last Edit: Jan 25, 2016 20:24:58 GMT by grizz
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We even agreed that maybe we will investigate importing a pair of them from Australia at some point when it suits us both. Small world. Funny you should say this. After reading this in the morning, I went out for a drive (public holiday here) and saw 4 of these on the road/in garages. Not that I really have a desire for one, but there are still quite a few runners about the place. Maybe it's just because you mentioned it that I noticed them.
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Jan 26, 2016 12:34:32 GMT
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Great progress on the chassis! looks top notch in black. Brake lines are easy just remember to put the fitting on the line before you make the flare Go for cunifer brake line rather than copper, I know copper is banned in some countries as it can work harden and split under pressure. Cunifer is about £30 for a 10m roll on ebay, but worth it IMO. I remade the lines on my old VW about 2 years ago and they all look brand new still. I have a very reliable sealey PFT-08 flaring tool sat doing nothing which you are welcome to borrow, I'm just up by Rochester airport.
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Jan 26, 2016 18:07:21 GMT
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We even agreed that maybe we will investigate importing a pair of them from Australia at some point when it suits us both. Small world. Funny you should say this. After reading this in the morning, I went out for a drive (public holiday here) and saw 4 of these on the road/in garages. Not that I really have a desire for one, but there are still quite a few runners about the place. Maybe it's just because you mentioned it that I noticed them. I hope that when and if it happens (keep in mind there is a certain Chevy Bel Air in Winfield Kansas I have my eye on too) that we will be able to find someone over there we can rely on to go look and decide on our behalf and help with selection and purchase. Great progress on the chassis! looks top notch in black. Brake lines are easy just remember to put the fitting on the line before you make the flare Go for cunifer brake line rather than copper, I know copper is banned in some countries as it can work harden and split under pressure. Cunifer is about £30 for a 10m roll on ebay, but worth it IMO. I remade the lines on my old VW about 2 years ago and they all look brand new still. I have a very reliable sealey PFT-08 flaring tool sat doing nothing which you are welcome to borrow, I'm just up by Rochester airport. Bought the fittings and Cunifer pipe today. Thank you very much for the offer Matt, I have a Mate over tonight with his tools, I think he has the Sealy unit as well. Fingers crossed that when I start this all stuff it works.
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Last Edit: Jan 26, 2016 18:14:19 GMT by grizz
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Jan 26, 2016 19:35:53 GMT
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This is a weird time for me..... Being made redundant, finding a new job quickly, being on gardening leave but being asked to carry on servicing the company that made us redundant..... So today there was a bit of admin, I ordered a new car to replace the existing one that is at the end of its corporate life as I am staying with the same agency. I opted to not order a C220 but instead after being given permission to go to a lower level, placed an order for a Focus 1.5 Zetec. Perfect Womble Wagon as the seats go down and it saves me over £900/year in tax. Once all the other admin stuff was sorted, I cleaned the house (trust me, it scores me great brownie points with Nicola) then out to get the brake lines and couplings. I feel the need here to give a public acknowledgement of these guys. They are local to me at 5 miles and I have used them a few times before. Always ready to help, advise and will even tell you where to save money. My friend Paul_F also used them before and only had good stuff to say. So I fitted all the brake lines into my car and took them down there. Being told to ask for Gaz, I did so and he turned out to be the same guy who helped me with all the fittings to adapt my old compressor to new style fittings and make up cross over connectors. He grabbed them all and disappeared upstairs for about 15 minutes and came down with a hand full of couplers and a puzzled look on his face. The one fitting that serves the rear brake line off my supersized Master Cylinder has a different fitting, ultimately they could not supply it, so I will reuse it. So here it is.... The one to the right serves the rear circuit and has the odd sized fitment. The one to the left has an adapter and is normal 1/4" He also had some 3/16" pipe fittings drilled out for 1/4" pipe as my trucks front brake lines and the line feeding the rear up to the point where it switches to a flexi hose coming out the chassis to cross the rear axle and then those rear drum feed pipes are 3/16" This means I have two sizes of fittings to replace like with like. But, these different size brake lines do make me wonder about what was done before. Service with a smile all the way from Gaz. So came home with a roll of 25' of Kunifer / Cupro-Nickel pipe at 1/4" and another 2 meters of 3/16 of the same to replace the rear pipes. Also a hand full of fittings, the T-Joiner that splits the front brake lines was £14.60 on its own. The whole lot was £80.00 and I am sure could be had for less than that off EBay and elsewhere if you know what you are doing, but for me, the service and help I got was worth the price over and over. My little pile of joy back home. Paul came around night, along with his full flaring, cutting, bending kit. We spent some time chatting and looking at all my "stuff" enforce we got on and looked at the kit. Also showed me how to assemble the kit and then made a test flare. Looking good to me. On to another question.I will be wiring up my Custom reversing lights as indicators with amber light bulbs when the time comes. So have been looking for options on reversing lights. As I reverse down the drive with the truck and having decent light is a good thing of course. What experience does the collective have of modern LED lights? It will be fitted under the bumper, off the chassis or tow bar, so needs to be weather and water proof. Opinions and advice please.
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Last Edit: Jan 26, 2016 23:08:08 GMT by grizz
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Jan 26, 2016 20:03:19 GMT
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Hi, A little tip for making pipes. Make and fit the longest one first because if you fu...mess it up you can use it to make shorter ones and then the next longest one and so on, so less wastage and the job get easier and quicker as it progresses.
Colin
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Last Edit: Jan 26, 2016 20:05:11 GMT by colnerov
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Jan 26, 2016 21:09:04 GMT
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Lots of 4WD/utes over here have ones like the top-right square one, or the farthest left round one mounted as temporary reverse lights. But rather than being mounted low/on a towbar etc, they're mounted high and angled down. Usually wired in separately (not on the reverse switch), this allows them to be turned off when you don't need them (eg well lit carpark). Also, by mounting it higher, they can also be used as a recovery/work light. They draw very little power, so you can leave them on for ages without flattening your battery (handy if you are on the side of the road helping someone). Also good for flashing tailgaters.
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,945
Club RR Member Number: 71
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Hi, A little tip for making pipes. Make and fit the longest one first because if you fu...mess it up you can use it to make shorter ones and then the next longest one and so on, so less wastage and the job get easier and quicker as it progresses. Colin 100% agree with that Oh and as someone else has said don't forget to put the bloody fittings on the pipe first
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Jan 27, 2016 21:27:04 GMT
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Hi, A little tip for making pipes. Make and fit the longest one first because if you fu...mess it up you can use it to make shorter ones and then the next longest one and so on, so less wastage and the job get easier and quicker as it progresses. Colin Yup, makes a load of sense. Lots of 4WD/utes over here have ones like the top-right square one, or the farthest left round one mounted as temporary reverse lights. But rather than being mounted low/on a towbar etc, they're mounted high and angled down. Usually wired in separately (not on the reverse switch), this allows them to be turned off when you don't need them (eg well lit carpark). Also, by mounting it higher, they can also be used as a recovery/work light. They draw very little power, so you can leave them on for ages without flattening your battery (handy if you are on the side of the road helping someone). Also good for flashing tailgaters. Hi, A little tip for making pipes. Make and fit the longest one first because if you fu...mess it up you can use it to make shorter ones and then the next longest one and so on, so less wastage and the job get easier and quicker as it progresses. Colin 100% agree with that Oh and as someone else has said don't forget to put the bloody fittings on the pipe first I actually had the fittings on already and also because they are different, they have to be just right. I used masking tape to retain them at the ends.
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Last Edit: Jan 27, 2016 21:28:02 GMT by grizz
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