Brakes

Re-bled with the pressure bleeder... pedal feels firmer now but I think there is some contamination in the linings from the cosmoline that was on the new drums and rotors... more after a better test drive. [Yes! The pedal is nice and firm now.]

More Brakes

Booster is in and the system is re-bled. It is better, but not by as much as I had hoped for. I think part of the problem is the material the linings are made from. The shoes were not arced and the pads are semi-metallic. Maybe ceramics would be better. But I can see that there is also some moisture still in the fluid at the very furthest wheel cylinder. I'm getting a new pressure bleeder for this car so I can do the job better. Hopefully next weekend! (Bleeder arrived 4/23... missing chain so need a hardware store run.)

Brakes Again

Not much though... just ordered a booster and adjusted the parking brake cable for a bit more travel.

Brakes

Front rotors, calipers and hoses. Boy, did I screw up. Didn't buy new inner wheel seals for the rotors and didn't buy new banjo bolts for the calipers.

Left banjo bolt kept leaking slightly. I have the feeling I over-tightened it but it isn't leaking now. Right seems ok. But the right flair nut would not come loose from the hose. So I had to improvise. The parking brake does not have enough slack so I need to loosen that a bit. The brakes still feel a tad mushy so I think a re-bleed is in order. I'm too beat to do it today. I may end up buying a booster later on because it seems kinda weak. But I'm sick of brakes for now.

Right-hand side view mirror from an '84 Electra. Physically mounted to the door but not yet wired.

Brakes. Rear drums, rear hose, shoes, master cylinder

The right rear wheel had evidently been leaking from the wheel cylinder for some time. Rusty, dark brake fluid coated everything inside the drum. The shoes hadn't quite gotten down to the rivets because they hadn't been gripping due to the brake fluid. The flare nut for the cylinder was frozen to the tubing, so I had to finagle the cylinder off the tubing without being able to turn the nut. Once off, I stuck an Easy Out into the opening in the tubing and used a flare nut wrench to apply pressure to break the nut free without twisting the tube. Liberal applications of PB'laster helped. I don't think the Easy Out hurt the tubing but held it in place without twisting. The left wheel's flare nut was stuck the same way and it took a little more work but I was eventually able to free it the same way. At least the left cylinder had not been leaking much. There was a small amount of fluid seeping from one boot, but no evil mess like the right.

With the frozen nuts on the cylinder ends of the brake lines, I was afraid the center rear brake hose would be impossible but there were no issues at all in replacing that. I painted both new rear drums with black caliper paint before installing them. The master cylinder was an uneventful swap.

The vacuum booster is pretty rusty looking but as long as it's working well, which it is, I won't mess with it.

Finished putting in the radio and swapped out the rear speakers with a pair of 3-ways from Kragen... Duel or Dual... I forget exactly. They were all of $21 for the pair and sound just fine.

Radiator and Brakes

Started to do the brakes and found that the drums would not come off unless I backed off the shoes. Figured that was a bad sign... So I went to adjust the shoes and found that the backing plate still had the knockout plug in place... so these brakes have *never* been touched since the car left the factory. Another bad sign? Yep. The left drum has two very deep gouges from the riveted brake shoes. Too deep to salvage, I think. I didn't even bother to pull the right drum to inspect. I just put it back together for now. Nice that the Raybestos brake hardware kit I bought includes the rubber plugs one needs after removing the factory knockouts! New drums are now on order. I have already seen the front rotors when I did the quickie brake pad change, and they looked OK, but I decided to order new rotors now, while I was getting drums. Drilled and slotted, no less.

Next I went to work on changing the radiator out. The new 4-row radiator is a good bit thicker than the original 3 row, so I had to cut a wedge out of the two top and two bottom rubber isolators that secure the radiator in place. The upper and lower hoses still looked and felt pretty solid but new ones went in, including the "bypass" hose from the intake to the water pump and the two heater hoses. I used some new wormgear clamps I found that have a wingnut to let you tighten them down without a tool. These worked OK but I can't say I'd want to buy them again. The wingnut part is a lovely bright yellow though. ;-) I'd noticed some intermittent leaks from the cooling system over the past couple of weeks and I'm happy to say the old radiator had various places where tell-tale signs of leakage were convicting it of being the guilty party. They were easy to spot once the core was out.

Started to put in the new Autosound stereo. Removing the "wood" trim panel was a snap and the radio is held in by a plastic plate that has four hex bolts. Removing the two shaft nuts and then those bolts leaves just a nut on the right side of the radio to get off from under the dash. Then the radio pulls out from the front. Very nice! The old radio showed some writing on the top that indicated it had been serviced for some complaint in the early history of the car. I didn't get a chance to really read it in the failing light last evening. I fitted the new radio to the plastic plate and will likely not try to attach any back support to the old radio's rear attaching point. The new unit is very light and there is no fitting on the right side, only the rear. I suppose I could make a bracket that wraps around from the back to the side attaching point, but it hardly seems worth it. I used wire taps to connect the new unit's wiring pigtail to the car's harness, leaving all the original connectors so that the car can be put back to original someday, if desired. The front speakers have plus and minus leads so I could "bench test" the new radio before installing it. It seems to work fine. I then used a hot glue gun to ensure the little chrome adapter plate and other trim bits wont shift about. I need to run two wires for the rear speakers as the originals are grounded to the chassis. BTW: the new unit seems to work OK with the original speakers, so if I don't get the speakers done this weekend, I won't be tuneless.