One step forward – Two steps back – One step forward

“THE GREAT ROTOR RECOVERY”

I was very excited to get back to work on the ’55 this past Saturday the 12^th targeting the brakes. Here is a back story on the brakes.  The fluid is bad, developing a lot of particulates that has infiltrated everything… master cylinder, hard lines, all the way down to the calipers.

 

 

I decided to replace everything in order to start fresh. I sourced all the parts with the exception of the hard lines and master cylinder, I can do them later. Most recently I got new rotors going off the information that the other front brake hardware was from a ’72 Camaro. So Saturday, I sit down all excited ready to put everything on and.......

NOTHING FITS!  The rotor hits the backing plate, the caliper pins are on an angle as they slide through the mounting holes, and the stock grease seal is smaller.

The calipers shocked me, because the originals have the GM casting numbers and those numbers were used to get the new ones.

As I sit there completely deflated, I immediately think… “What’s plan B?”  I say to myself, lets try and put the original rotor back on and see if the new caliper clears the rotor……CRAP!!!!!! I left the original rotors at Advanced so they could dispose of them!!!!  To put this all in perspective… the braking system only has 4,500 miles on it and all the components are mechanically sound.  The calipers have the particulates in them from the fluid; the rotors have 15 year old grease in the bearings.  I have new bearings and grease, and I just found out yesterday that I can clean out the calipers.

What it all boils down to is, if I had the old rotors, I could just put new bearings and grease in them and then I could flush out the original calipers.  I can return all the new parts and get my money back…. Oh no, I don’t have the original rotors, I left them for scrap.  Now the other options are,       1) keep going back again and again returning and re-buying new calipers and rotors until I stumble across a match or 2) spend another 1,500 dollars a buy a new disc brake conversion kit and start fresh.

I decide to call Advanced and see if they still have the rotors, praying for a miracle, asking my dad to help me out….. I call and they said that the guy that scraps them is out on parts run and they will ask him when he gets back, then call me.  20 minutes later they call and say the rotors are not there…. My heart drops!!!  15 minutes later they call again and say another employee may have them and she will be back in non on  Sunday afternoon.  I was feeling a little better; there is still a chance I won’t have to drop 1,500 bucks!  To my amazement and relief, at 12:05 on Sunday the 13^th, I got the rotors back!

What went from a very expensive mess up on my part,  has changed to replaced four bearings and flushing out four calipers. Also on a bright note, the money I’ll be getting back on the parts can go to other items.  My Budget says THANK YOU!!

 

Since I couldn’t go forward with the brakes, I decided to turn my attention to the fuel system.  When I drained the gas tank a few weeks ago, the gas was still good even though it was over fifteen years old – thank fuel stabilizer.  When the car was restored in ’97 we installed an external fuel filter and electric fuel pump. 

 

 

Since both of these are outside the tank, I expected the gas in them to be bad.

 

 

 

 

 As I lay under the car, ready to disconnect the fuel line and see black tar pour out, I was amazed to see clear, good smelling gas drain out of both. My dad must have put fuel stabilizer in the tank while the motor was still running and not after the motor blew and it sat in the garage.  Safely, I did a burn test on the gas, it passed. This is a great help since a fuel pump and fuel filter are around $150 to $200 each.This also means I do not have to replace the stainless steel fuel line.

 

In order to get the fuel filter out, i had to pull the trunk carpet up to get to the bolt heads (something i need to change). In order to do that i needed to remove everything from the trunk. I took the opportunity to organise everything that went back in.

 

 

 

I was able to get the heater box reinstalled. I also installed new control cables, the original ones were sticking and binding.  The upgraded control cables are inside a plastic jacket that is lubricated, they slide very nicely now.