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.

Wheels

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

More Disc-Oh!

The passenger side is now converted over to disc. This side went much easier since I had done all the pathfinding already on the driver's side.

I did have to remove some material from each lower A-arm to allow for the nut and lockwasher sticking out further than the head of the original bolt on the lower front of the Scarebird caliper plate. Since I had to put the bolt head on the side of the plate facing the rotor, there was not much choice or else I would loose a bit of turning radius.

Brake hose used on the driver/left side is Raybestos BH36845 (15"). Brake hose used on the passenger/right side is Raybestos BH36960 (17") The BH36960 is the right hand side for the '79~82 Eldo and it has a metal clamp which will bolt to the upper ball joint nut. But the tab that goes under the nut is a bit large on the side that points to the rear and the hole is a tad too small. So the hole has to be enlarged and the tab trimmed. Easy with a grinder and a Dremmel.

Both of the front wheel disc conversions are now complete, as far as I'm concerned. Everything is done except for running hard lines to the hoses. Once plumbed, I will need to check that the banjo bolt is tight enough not to leak, but that is all. Getting the new 3/16" stainless steel line next week so I can begin that fun process next weekend. I've been working at getting the old lines loosened and out. Finally got the line to the front right out by snaking out towards the rear of the car. The left front will be easy. I'm not sure I am going to replace the rear circuit hard lines right away. I'm thinking I will just tie that into the master with existing line and see how everything works.

Disc-Oh!

Well I tried to finish up the upper brace for the master but all my drill bits are dull as a butter knife. So, moved along to the driver's side brake drum to begin the disc conversion. I had to improvise with the instructions a bit since following them about the lock washers made the rotor hit them. Also the lower front bolt has to be cut short or it will hit the lower control arm on sharp turns. But that's minor stuff. Another surprise is that the two lower bolts hold the upper and lower parts of the steering knuckle together so you must support the lower control arm to keep it from flying down under spring pressure. At this point I have the caliper bracket on, the bearings packed and the rotor attached. The dust caps are too small so I'll need to look for larger ones.

Fuel Level Sender

With the new opening in the trunk, servicing the fuel sender is easy. The replacement is a 0-30 ohm unit obtained through Amazon.com. Same unit I had gotten from Cooper for my '49er. You have to measure, cut, adjust, bend, trim, crimp and screw down. But it's all easy and I am not so concerned about 100% accuracy. I usually fill the tank when it gets to 1/4 anyway. Seems to be working well. I'll go top off the tank and see where the gauge reads in the next few days.

Plug Wires

Replaced the wires with a set by Pertronix. Plain black 7mm. Looks nice and runs smoother. Silicone wire separaters cleaned up the routing.

Exhaust Manifold, Right hand (passenger)

I replaced the right exhaust manifold today. The gaskets were leaking at the head and I needed to remove it to replace those anyway. I already knew the one bolt at the outlet was stripped from when I redid the mufflers, so I figured it was a good time to get a replacement. I plan to get this one repaired and keep it as a spare.
I had backed the car into the garage last night so I just needed to jack it up this morning. Found that the alternator needed to come off, but didn't need to unhook any wires. The manifold to head bolts were not too bad to get loose. The very front bolt was not even finger tight... it was flat loose! Its pair was barely tight. I think that was where the leak was. The rear two were tight, but not very. The center two were scary tight and did not want to come loose. I used a breaker bar on them *gently*, working them back and forth until they came easily. Hooray! No broken bolts in the head. The outlet bolts were no problem.

The "new" manifold had a snapped off bolt where the choke stove plate has a locking tab on my old manifold. I tried to drill and Easy Out, but broke a drill bit off in the bolt... Oh well, we don't need that feature anyway. Scraped and filed the mating surfaces to prep for the gaskets. Discovered the exhaust gasket set I bought from Cooper does not come with the outlet gasket. I needed anti-sieze compound for the bolts and high temp RTV to glue the gaskets on anyway, so took Betty on a run, first to Cooper's for the outlet gaskets, then to Kragen/o'Reiley for the other two items. Betty always starts and goes no matter how long I leave her sitting neglected at the curb, poor girl. Her A/C control panel reported the outside temp as being 97°F. Yikes!

No problem getting any of the goods. Back home I RTV'd the mating surfaces and plopped the gaskets on. While that was setting up I first applied anti-sieze to each of the bolts and ran them in and out of their holes, then I scraped and cleaned the head mating surfaces as best I could. Fooled around inside for a bit and then checked... it was set up enough to go ahead. So on she goes. The exhaust pipe was a bit in the way, but got the bolts all in and semi-tight. Then I climbed under and found that the pipe didn't line up with the outlet anymore. Odd! The pipe is segmented about a foot from the connection to the outlet and I found out that this is the reason: to adjust the sucker easily. So I loosened the clamp and twisted a little and presto! All is now lined up. Bolted that all back together quickly and them back out from under to tighten up the bolts to the head.

Started her up and the leak is now fixed! I will probably do a quick re-torque tomorrow and then taker her for a spin... hopefully to the car wash as she is pretty dirty. ;-)

Front End Rebuild Begins

This morning, bright and early, I drove Lucille over the to Tyerman's on Magnolia in Burbank to begin the front end rebuild. The only issue I might find is that they seemed to think the spring isolators were not used that year. But I told them they were, and I have two pairs in the trunk for them to use. I sure as hell hope they use them! But meanwhile, they wanted to warn me heavily that, as an old car, their estimate on how much time they would need could quickly swell, at $75 and hour, so I should be prepared if it goes way over estimate. I had misgivings over having them do the work and I always reassured myself that they were going to do it for "only $800" labor, but now I can't really fall back on that if they are so adamant that the estimate will likely be too low. Nervous. Probably should have just tackled it myself. Too late!

Carburetor

Had the original carburetor rebuilt by Scott Kaiser (Ralph's son) at Vintage Vehicle Services. Brought it home, bolted it on, and fired her right up without issue. I made a few quick adjustments, I need to get a better handle on adjusting Carter AFBs, and she runs like a champ. Better than she did with the old, chokeless carb, for sure. I'm very pleased. 

Motor Mounts

Lucille spent the day at Vintage Vehicle Services getting new motor mounts put in. When I went to pick her up, the starter would begin cranking as soon as the key was turned to ON. It did the same in ACC. With the cold weather, we figured the extra cranking I had to do to get her started in the morning caused some breakdown in the ignition switch... and indeed a new replacement switch solved the problem. VVS replaced the switch and only charged me $65 for the part. Motor mount labor was $200, for a total of $265. He takes checks and cash, no plastic.

Continuing with the alternator conversion, I have the 10SI physically mounted (loosely) and am beginning the wiring by removing the brown wire coming from the idiot light and wiring it to the #1 terminal of the 10SI's pigtail. The #2 terminal just jumpers back to the BATT terminal of the 10SI. (I have read that this is optional, but my pigtail came with a ring terminal to attach to the BATT terminal, so might as well.) The ground wire from the old regulator isn't used and I removed it from the harness. I replaced the 14 gauge wire from the positive battery terminal to the BATT stud on the 10SI with a 10 gauge. Ready to tighten up the bracketry I realized I needed to trim the top bracket by an inch and a half. Easy. Then she was finally all bolted down solid, wires routed and wrapped, ready to test. Key on, got my red "GEN" light. Turned to start, light went off and stayed off as the engine caught. I didn't check the voltage but I didn't need to. The windows now zoom up and down like they hadn't before... The juice is in!

Alternator Conversion

Blew the generator or regulator today... not sure which and don't care, as a 10SI Delco alternator is going to go in the car now. Part number I used is the same as for the '76 Electra #7127-12. Started by pulling the old generator off. I then removed the mounting plate from the exhaust manifold and flipped it end for end. This allows the bottom of the new 10SI to bolt up to it with the right spacing on the pulley. However, a few mods were in order. This plate is a solid chunk of steel, instead of the bent dog-eared plate that my '49 had. So the edges where the alternator sits on the plate needed to be rounded and the forward nut that holds the plate to the manifold had to be countersunk. Easy work with a drill bit, Dremel and a file. That concluded today's activities. To be continued...

Steering upgrade!

Replaced the steering gear with a quicker unit I bought from Corvette Steering Service at the end of April. This unit was advertised as a "Big piston Medium effort steering box (good road feel) much quicker steering! Full turn box for tight turns." Tom Reina, pres of Corvette Steering had told me that the way the frame was shaped in the '58, a small amount of reworking would need to be done to accept the newer, longer style box. "This box is a little longer in the front end, a couple of inches! [On the] 58 Caddy the steering box fits in a dip in the chassis. The front end of your chassis needs to be pressed in or a grinding out so this box will fit in the saddle." He provided a new rag joint and new hoses designed to fit my existing pump.

In removing the old steering gear box, the pitman arm almost popped off too easily. I'm thinking that arm has been off somewhat recently. Then I noticed that the pressure hose on there was a Aeroquip, not factory. Then when I did a test fit to see where I would need to make any modifications to the chassis, I found I did not need to make any changes at all. The new box bolted right up! The evidence seems to indicate that this car has had a steering gear replacement before, very likely with one that was longer like this one. Either that, or Mr. Reina was wrong about the '58 chassis.

In any case, I've got everything bolted up (all in 95° heat) but need to install the hoses and bleed the system. Ran out of time.

Heater Done!

Got the control cables reattached and the inside of the car buttoned up. Fired up the engine and let it get good and warm and... nothing. No heat! I was dreading the idea of having to disassemble all of that stuff again, but then, suddenly, the air from the heater got hot! Only thing I can figure is there was an air bubble or something. Hopefully no need to disassemble again for a good long time. If I *do* need to take it back apart, we will be making some changes!

Electric Wipers

The electric wiper motor from New Port Engineering went in today. Very simple, direct replacement and I ran the wires the same route as the original cable control went. I removed the washer button and the wiper slide lever, installing the rotating knob in the place of the slider WITHOUT modifying the trim plate. I just fabbed up a small metal plate that I could screw into the existing bosses on the plate to hold the switch. The button for the washer pump will eventually go where the old vacuum button was, but I didn't get to that today. Instead I started putting in the power door lock kit. Driver's door is done. Probably do the passenger's tomorrow.

Brakes

Front brakes done today. The bearing seals were both the newer rubber kind and had been re-used more than once. As a result, they were leaking, the left one especially. Replacements were felt, which I like better. Evidence of cylinder seepage on both sides, and both brake hoses were cracked enough to be alarming. Bearings cleaned and repacked along the way. Now I need to go back and make adjustments. The pedal travels too far so I may need to adjust the MC rod as well. Greased the front suspension.

Trans Mount

Replaced transmission mount and greased the front and rear U-joints in the driveshaft. This after taking the car on the freeway and hearing lots of general rumbling in the cabin at 55~65 mph speeds. I started to check the rear end oil level as well but ran out of oil. It's below the top though.

Timing Chain

Replaced timing chain. Also checked to see if the vacuum level rose when I disconnected the brake booster. No difference. Retimed and test drove... no more backfiring!

Exhaust!

Installed the new exhaust that arrived on 5/23. Everything came apart very easily and I had no problems with stuck or broken bolts. I think I might have spent about eight hours on the whole thing. I ran short one clamp so technically it isn't "finished" yet, but I fired up the engine and oh my! How nice and quiet she is now!

Fuel Pump

I've been replacing the mechanical fuel pump with an electric one, and having a bit of frustration. The first pump did not seem to be able to obtain and hold a prime. A second one, supposedly a better one, did no better. That was before I discovered that perhaps the fuel pressure regulator I installed at the carb might be the problem. Removing that I now have a decent flow of fuel, though I am not sure it is sufficient yet. I am in the process of running the power wire now but I will have to re-visit the mounting of the pump as it is too close to the right rear shock absorber