The Fruit of My Labor

You know how you start a project and it turns out to be a huge hassle and lots of things go wrong, you run way over budget and you really get to wondering why the hell you ever started this mess?

Well I found out the answer to that question today.

Today was the day to take a test drive on the streets of Los Angeles. Sink or swim, the new brakes had to perform. I made sure I had my cell phone and my wallet with AAA card handy and I didn't stray more than a few blocks. The results? Just amazing. Driving along and applying the pedal gently, the car slows immediately without any hesitation or harshness, and pressing harder produces exactly the amount of additional braking you expect. They are smooth, sensitive without being overly touchy, and straight as an arrow. The pedal is firm. They feel very confident and capable. I am extremely impressed and happy.

I still have a few details to attend to. There are a couple of clips to attach lines to the frame I need to add, some wire bundles I need to re-secure, the wire for the brake lamp to connect. And I will need to finish off the heater system. I may want to lower the pedal height slightly. I think it would feel a tad more comfortable for my leg if it were 1/4" to 1/2" lower.

So, why did I start this mess? Because I thought and hoped that I would get to this outcome. Would I do this again? Yes! But I would do it right from the get-go instead of trying to salvage the original pedal setup. I know better now. I already have a Scarebird kit for the Pontiac and am planning to order one for the '49er. I have the tools and I have gained a lot of knowledge. There was a lot of pain involved too, but I'd say nearly all of that was due to trying to save the old pedal. No need to even think about doing that again.

I am so relieved that this is largely done and working so wonderfully. It truly is a joy to drive a car with excellent brakes you can trust.

Brake Light Switch

Friday evening I installed the new switch and tested/adjusted. Works good! Today I worked a bit on the wiring for it because the pigtail it came with was too short. I still need to splice in the heater control that *was* hooked into the brake light circuit... what was I thinking when I did that! (Nothing noted in the blog about it.) Taking it slow this weekend.

Starting the Tidy Up

Today's tasks started with trying to fit the brake light switch to the new swing pedal. Maybe could do it, but why not just order a brake switch for a '73 Cadillac to match the pedal? Done. Will arrive in time for next weekend.

I cleaned and checked the tightness on the master lines and prop valve, then made a small plate to patch the hole in the floorboard where the original brake linkage went. Stuffed some insulation there and on the firewall on either side of the pedal mount and re-secured the carpeting.

Next up was to modify the heater blower. The original design called for a formed rubber spacer between the blower and the plenum. I suspect that was to cut noise and vibration but it rotted away long ago and replacements are completely unavailable.  With my earlier repair of the heater, I used some rubber plumbing parts for clay pipe to seal the gap but now I welded on a flange and used foam sticky tape to seal the flange on the plenum. Now I need to step down the 5" air inlet on the blower to the 4" outlet I welded onto the flat plate that replaced the blister. Later.

With this much done, I put the fender panel back in but it's not completely bolted in place yet. I'll finish tomorrow. The outlet from the master rear circuit is very close to the inner fender so I may be doing a little work on that tomorrow too.

New Master

Alright! The new master cylinder arrived Thursday night. I bench bled it and put it in tonight. No more sinking pedal... Now tomorrow I can test the stopping capability.

Excellent Customer Service!

I let Rock Auto know that I had a problem with the master I bought from them and within about a half business day I got a reply back from "Dan":

Thank you for your email.  I am sorry to hear about your dilemma and apologize for any inconvenience.  So as not to inconvenience you further, we will not ask you to return the failed part.  You may dispose of the part as you wish and we will simply refund your PayPal account within 48 hours.

Well that's more than I expected and saves me a few bucks in shipping. I have a new Raybestos Pro Grade on the way, so next weekend I should be able to swap it out.

Success! (sort of)

I pulled Lucille out of the garage to get ready to bleed her rear brake circuit and guess what? She stopped easily when I stepped on the pedal! Woohoo! But, having trouble getting the back brakes to work well. I thought I needed to re-bleed the master and adjust the rear shoes. But after trying that, I decided to try some real troubleshooting. I plugged both the outputs on the master and stepped on the pedal. It held for a couple seconds, then sank. I rebled the master, same thing. So, I now know the rear circuit in the master is apparently bad. It holds, then drops.

After reconnecting the lines, and removing the bleeder plug from the prop valve, I started the engine, put the car in gear (the rear wheels were still off the ground) and stepped on the brake. Sure enough, the wheels stopped just great... then a few seconds later they started spinning again no matter how hard I held the pedal down. I let the car off the jacks and put the car in gear. No movement as the fronts held just fine. Ugh. I've ordered yet another master.

Bleeding Again

Got early this morning to get some work done before the heat really came up. (peak was 100.3°) Got the lines all connected up between the master and the prop valve, and rechecked the ones to the front wheels. Started to bleed the master and that went quick. First I did it with hoses looping from the outlets back to the reservoirs and used the brake pedal. Then I switched to reverse bleeding using my new tool. Easy. Then I reverse bled the two front lines in the front circuit with the new tool and found I had some leaks at the master and the prop. Tightened up, rebled and now I have a good pedal. More, I spun the front wheel and stepped on the brake and the wheel stopped. All good signs! I can't bleed the rear lines til I let the car off the jack stands and move her forward a bit. I'll try that tomorrow morning.

Assuming the rear lines bleed well, I still have a lot of clean up work to do. The mods to the heater need to be completed, though in this weather one hardly cares about a heater. There's the one broken off bolt I need to try to fix. There's the insulation and ducting I need to put back together inside, wire up the brake warning light and finally put all the inner fender well parts back together. But none of that happens til I am sure the brakes are solid.

I am a bit concerned about the lines that go from the master to the prop. I tried to coil the rear circuit line, with some success. I didn't really even try on the front circuit. Not enough room and not great results with the other one. I'll just keep my eye on it. (The concern is that the small amount of movement between the body and frame could loosen or fatigue the lines over time.)

Do it with Flare!

I got my new flaring tool tonight and after one test I knew it was $300 well spent! I got the Mastercool 71300 Hydraulic Tube Flaring System - 45°, Push-Connect, Double Flare. It even made the flare I wanted to make on the tube still attached to the car come out beautiful! Very impressive and very easy, even in stainless! Money well spent, for sure. I will need to get a second cone, as I can see where 3/16" stainless line is going to do them in somewhat quickly, but I'm not going to complain about that.

Tweaking the Booster

Yesterday I didn't get much done but I did get the booster mounted, checked the pedal for height, and got the eyelet sized correctly. The rod was nearly at the right length at that point, but I needed to do some small tweaks.

Today I trimmed the shaft a little and also shimmed out the booster out about a quarter inch. I shimmed the left side of the booster one extra washer because the master's front outlet was up against the fender. I think I am pretty much done with the mounting of the booster, but I will leave the master loose til I can bend up the lines. The pedal may still be just a tiny bit high but this way I know I am getting the full travel of the input rod. If it proves to be too bothersome when driving, I can always tweak it again later.

The Booster

The Esky booster arrived yesterday and, of course, it has a problem. While it's the same diameter as the test one I've been using from the '76 Buick, the input rod is longer and the eyelet hole is also too big for the pedal pin. I did some scouring on the Web to find out what can be done and it turns out that some people cut and weld that rod to fit their application and it doesn't seem to pose any problem. The only thing they warn about is getting the pin too hot as there are a lot of plastic parts where the pin goes into the booster. I did see a post where someone asks about threading the rod.

Tonight on the way home I stopped at OSH and got a set of dies to make threads as well as some other bits to use in case the threading didn't work. But I had very little trouble cutting off the eyelet and cutting a nice set of threads in the shaft. The eyelet for my small booster will now thread on and work perfectly. Only problem being that the screw-on eyelet hole is too small for the pedal pin but there is plenty of material so I can enlarge it without too much trouble.

Seems like every little step I've taken in this project involves some major issue that requires yet another tweak. I hope someday not too far in the future I will actually have working brakes on this car.

Frustration

Flaring tools are the bane of my existence right now. I had done most of the flares with a moderately priced device from Amazon, but on the last flare I had to do, it broke. I returned it and ordered a more bitchin one, at a good bit higher cost. Well tonight I tried to use it for the first time and it won't hold the tubing tight enough to make any flares. The tubing just scoots right out the side. So this one is going back to Amazon too. Time to bite the bullet and buy the most bitchin, best reviewed tool for the job, a Mastercool 71300 Hydraulic Tube Flaring System - 45°, capable of making Push-Connect and Double-Flare ends. Woohoo!

I have a Mastercool crimper for A/C hose and it's a very well made tool. Also expensive. This tool was not cheap either. More than three times the price of the one I am now returning to Amazon. But all the boards and reviews say it's awesome so I'll give it a try. Looks like it is also a lot easier tool to use since it uses hydraulic pressure to do all the heavy work. Now if it will just hold the damned tubing tight!

What a PITA!

Cuts and More Cuts...

Cut holes in the flat plate today... Got the holes for the master done, got the drain pipe welded in. (GM put two but I'm going to try just one.) Got the flange for air to pass from the plate to the blower mounted. Spritzed some black paint on it, mounted some sticky insulation tape and applied some RTV, then bolted it in place. Opps, snapped off one bolt. I'll have to see if I can extract it from inside.

Was going to mount the data plate to the new flat firewall panel, but then remembered the owner card slot the top of the grill support. Didn't attach permanently as I may want to move it later.

Destruction and Rebirth (It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing!)

It feels like I've been destroying my car. Cutting, chiseling, sawing... But now the firewall is ready for the new flat plate and I am working on drain and vent holes to replace those in the blister. I removed the original brake pedal and cut out the support bracket that held the hinge plate for it . Then I fitted the '73 Cad pedal in and tested it for position and operation, comparing it to Helen, my '76 Buick Electra for reference. It seemed very workable, almost natural. I checked a spare '70s GM 10" booster I had laying around to see if it had enough room to fit, and it does, so if the Esky booster is no bigger, we should be in good shape. Now I have tack welded the pedal bracket to the inner firewall panel and next step will be to mark the holes in the new flat plate to drill them for the booster.

Pictures above show the tack welded pedal bracket, the pedal extended about where it will be at rest, the view of the bracket from inside with a test booster attached, and the view showing that a 10" booster will indeed fit. Woohoo!

Disassembly Again

Took the master, booster and prop valve all apart and pulled from the car. And...

Now I've done it... I pulled the blister off the left side cowl and made a flat plate to mount the swing pedal on. I've passed the point of no return since the firewall now has a cutout where the driver's floor vent used to be. But it does look like I will be able to fabricate an air outlet that the heater/vent can use to get fresh air from the cowl even without the blister.

So here's the damage done today:

Seems I may be able to make something workable.

Thinking and Planning

One thing I find prevalent in the poking around I've been doing is this: The pedal ratio may be too low. According to popular sources on the Web, the pedal ratio must be in between 4:1 to 5:1. Apparently some older cars, like the ones from the late 50’s, that had power brakes from the factory used a ratio of almost 1:1. Obviously that would produce a very hard pedal. But how much can I change the ratio with the existing linkage? And, what if the volume the master puts out is still low even after doing all of that. I am thinking the best way to go would be to dispense with the current rig and switch to a swing pedal.

With a swing pedal something like this, I thought I could use the master ($30) that GM used with those calipers I bought. Then I'm sure the volume is there. (I asked Scarebird and they said not to worry about using a Fast Fill/Quick Take Up master. They say it makes very little difference in the amount of pedal travel.) The Esky master is too big to fit the hole in the booster, so I need a matching '00 booster... yes I ordered one ($140) from Amazon. I won't know if I have enough room for the Esky booster until it arrives as I have no idea what diameter it is. I should be OK with up to 10". I have the swing pedal from the Coupe Devil... a '73 Cad, that might work. I thought that since the car already has a sort of swing pedal arrangement that it might be modifiable to work. But the Esky master needs 2" of travel to bottom it and mounting a pin at the spot on the existing pedal that would give me that amount of travel works out to less than a 2:1 ratio. Too stiff! Looks like I need to mount the '73 Caddy pedal which has a ratio of a bit more than 4:1.

Ugh...

BTW: I found a book online that informed me that I can tell a Fast Fill/Quick Take Up master by looking for a bulge in the casting. Sure enough, the Esky master has the bulge.

So it stands to reason a conventional master won't work well with the calipers I got for the Scarebird disc setup, even though Scarebird says it won't matter significantly. Apparently the bulge is the reason the master doesn't fit the booster for a conventional master. (Duh!) So if I can't get the Esky master/booster combo to fit or work, I'm gonna have to go to a conventional master/booster or call Master Power Brakes and find out what they have that I can use.

Another issue with an FF/QTU master is, it can apparently take a lot of time to bleed the rear brakes, due to the small refill port from reservoir to rear bore. The suggestion is to take at least thirty seconds before reapplying the brakes after each stroke, to allow time for the rear bore to refill. Not a big deal, but something to be aware of.


Double Ugh...

Disgust

Forget everything I wrote yesterday about brake bleeding, the nice new tool, etc. Let's pretend I didn't say any of that. Cuz what I thought was a decent pedal is just the end of the pedal travel. The damned thing doesn't seem to have enough travel and it barely engages the calipers. It doesn't engage the drums at all. Nada.

This seems to be a very common thread out there in cyberspace:

I have converted my car to disc brakes and now I can't get a pedal. It goes to the floor no matter how much I bleed it.

And a very common answer is this:

Check the bleeder screw orientation on the calipers. The bleeder screw must be on top in the 12:00 position. If it is not you will not be able to remove all the air from the system.

Well, that's not my problem, but I did do an ignorant thing. I failed to bench-bleed the master. I thought the reverse-flow bleeder would eliminate the need! Nope. After bench-bleeding, and resetting the "tripped" prop valve, I can now get the brakes to engage slightly at the extreme end of pedal travel if I really stand on it. Progress! But I still can't figure why I don't have enough pedal travel and whether or not my master and my calipers are compatible... seems there are these "metric low drag" calipers that require a higher volume of fluid. but it seems to me that the rears should be engaging better if that is the only issue. UGH!

Wheels

Transferred the tires over to the new wheels today with the help of Western Tire in Burbank.

Brake Fluid

Brake fluid is nasty stuff. So I was quite determined to bleed brakes a different way from my previous method. The old way was a system where you pressurize this tank that' basically one of those home bug sprayer things and the hose attaches to a plate you hook onto the master. Usually you blow a lot of fluid all over the place trying to get a seal on the master and then you go around to each wheel and crack the bleeder till the bubbles stop. But then you run out of pressure or fluid in the tank before the bubbles are gone.I have a helper who could pump the pedal for me if I wanted to do it the really old fashioned way, but then you have issues there too.

Now I have a new system that you attach to the bleeder at each wheel and push fluid in reverse up to the master. Bubbles want to go from the lowest point to the highest point anyway so you are working with them instead of against them, in theory. So today I got to try it out and at first, I was taken aback... all these tubes and attachments and fittings... OMG! But it's actually quite simple once you determine which pieces you need to use for your car... and there are very few.

But before bleeding, I had several things to do. I had to replace the radiator hoses I had ripped out while installing the right brake line, and I also had to get vacuum line run to the booster and tank. I kept the old hose from the engine to the check valve but I put in a fresh check valve. I used PCV valve hose and a tee to branch off from the boost to the tank.

So then I bled the system starting with the right, as it was the longest line in the front circuit. (I can't get to the back wheels til I can pull the car out of the garage.) Right away I realized I had some loose fittings in the system I had not tightened down enough. A quick turn of the wrench and all was well again. I did the left. Nice and smooth. Went back to check the right and... the flare fitting at the hard line where it joins the flex hose was seeping. Tightened, re-bled. Still seeped. Loosened, tightened, re-bled, better but no cigar. Unscrewed the fitting completely... this had been my very first flare ever, and it may not be quite perfect. I wanted to try to save it and avoid having to grind off the flare and re-do it. Thinking perhaps a bit of grit is contributing to the issue, I cleaned it with spray brake cleaner before screwing it back together. Used a bigger wrench to tighten down and gave it a last big grunt to get it tight. Re-bled... not seeping anymore!

Somewhere along the way while I was bleeding, the UPS man delivered the new front wheels... chrome smoothies... And with fingers crossed I opened one box and gingerly tried it on for size. It scrapes the caliper! DAMN! I compare the new smoothie to the OEM Buick wheel that does not scrape and I can not see any difference with the naked eye. Backspacing looks the same, width is the same. But the smoothie scrapes and the OEM does not. I look at the calipers and I can see what's going on. The caliper curves to fit inside the wheel except at the very outer ends where it sort of kicks back out. It doesn't look to me like there is any reason those "ears" need to be there. I did a little Googling on the subject and found another case where someone had to grind something similar off to get their wheels to fit. I decided to try a little re-engineering on the left caliper to see what I could do. Presto! I didn't have to do much and now there is no scraping. I will grind the right side tomorrow and then I can take the tires and wheels over to Western to get them swapped.

I did start the engine up and tried the pedal, even though only the front circuit has been bled. It feels like there is good assist from the booster and decent pedal... the travel should be less once the backs are bled but it's not too bad now. This whole expensive mess might actually work out well!

Lines Are Done

I think the lines are done anyway. We'll see once they get wet. Also fabbed up a bracket to mount the reservoir onto over at the left fenderwell. I need to get the vacuum line to the booster and tank now, then finish up the back brace for the master/prop valve. I have a pair of chrome smoothies on order to see if they'll fit. If they do I get a full set. Otherwise I'll have to figure out what to try next.

More Lines

Ugh... I got the the very last flare and the flaring tool broke! #%@&@*!

I had completed the right front line yesterday and today I got the line for the rear circuit completed with the 10 lb residual valve spliced in. I was just about done with the left front line; had it all formed and the master end flared. I just needed to flare the caliper end and then do a little tweaking. I need more clamps so I would not be able to completely check the lines off the list, but at least they'd be ready to get wet. A new flaring tool is on the way. Meanwhile I need to switch gears and work on mounting the master's reservoir and finishing off the firewall bracket/spacer. Then I have to figure out what to do about wheels...