Howdy from another one of us in the Bentonville area!

 

Hey all. We've had a couple of bouts of rain with hail mixed in. It looked more like snow on the ground. Luckily no vehicle windows were cracked or broken.

 

Made a little progress. Put a new fuel pump on and she works now, but trying to stop a leak at the carb I separated the filter. Can't get a new filter tonight so started on the brakes and they won't offer to do anything. Think I'm going to have to replace the whole system.

 

Replacing the whole system is probably a good idea.

 

Lot of parts to try and get. Looks like Jegs has a rear brake conversion kit. Rotors with parking brake. https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/630604/10002/-1

 

It doesn't say what type of caliper and pads it takes. Ford, GM or what.

 

Yeah, not real happy with their site, it's enough I probably won't get anything from them. Would be nice, and worth a paying a few hundred extra to get a complete kit. Going to take forever to piece one together from the parts houses or rockauto.com or somewhere. I have new brake hoses on the front, My donor truck had a set of new ones under the seat. But other than that, she's old and crusty. If I could just get the to bleed they're probably work, didn't have any trouble with them before, but she's been sitting empty for awhile. So might need to replace all the lines. I think I have enough stuff on hand for just the main lines. Bleeders are in rough shape, so those need to be replaced regardless, Just hope they come loose.

 

On my 78 I just ordered up drums, shoes, wheel cylinders and hardware kits. Don't regret it one bit.

 

My Wife drives a 2016 Police Interceptor Explorer & i hope to retire in about 2 1/2 years and buy a F250 with the Godzilla engine sometime.

 

How big does an engine have to be before they name it Godzilla? Just pulled a drum to measure, not sure what I'm supposed to measure though, think the drum I.D. will get me there? Inside is scaled up pretty good, lot of dirt too, but looks functional. I'd run them for now if I could get them bled. One of the front bleeders is snapped in half at an angle, not sure I can even remove it. Tried the passenger rear, got it loose, managed to get it stuck and stripped with a flare nut wrench. Couldn't get it to bleed, it either sucked air from around the threads, or it didn't do anything. That was with a hand pump. Pumping the brakes does about nothing. Wonder if the fluid is getting passed the proportioning valve. Need to read up on that again.

 

I think the pin on the end needs to be held out, like with a vise grip.

 

Just read up on that, found some nice diagrams. Going to try and bleed them again. If I can get some function out of them I can drive the truck while I tune it and play with the timing. Give me more time to research the new components, do a little shopping around. Plus I won't be tempted to rush the shipping so I can get the truck back on the road. Hopefully it'll work, but with the luck I've had with parts seizing up from sitting, the master and the proportioning valve could be bad. Got a spare set on the donor truck, but like mine it has been sitting. But it's been hooked up the entire time, mine hasn't, but it's also been sitting exposed to the elements the whole time. So could go either way. What I don't get is why there is so much extra brake line from the MC to the Proportioning valve? I bet there is 18" extra between the two. Folded up like a service loop on your house wiring.

 

The extra is to allow for frame flex, vibration stuff like that.

 

It is a lot extra, I think when I replace them I'll take quite a bit of that slack out. I think my estimate of 18" was way on the conservative side now that I've gone back out and looked at it again. I got the wife up and had her go out to pump the pedal while I looked at stuff. Before that I bled the master, and the lines up to the proportioning valve. Made the pedal feel way better. I had to crack the bleeders with a socket. The front one sheared in half at an angle was a trick, I think I got three full turns before it actually loosened up. Got them all bled pretty good I think. Need to put a new fuel filter on before I can test drive her. Going to look up how to set the carb Idle mix again, been awhile since I've read it and it's my first time doing it. For sure need to replace some parts. Took forever to get the front passenger side to run clear, or mostly clear. But I could lock the bleeder back down and have her pump the pedal several times and the next time I cracked it open it would have a big rusty stain come out. But hopefully that is enough to at least drive it around some. Not planning any marathon driving, but I need to at least drive a couple of blocks. The material from the shed when I tear it down is going to my rental so I can build a one car garage over there. My brother in law is living in it currently so I'm going to park my other truck there until I can sell it and then probably going to put what's left of my donor truck in it's place until I can get it gone as well. Would be nice if the brakes did well enough I could drive it a town over and fill the tank up with straight gas. See how it does on the highway.

 

Good Morning! Another couple of hours of sleep wouldn't have offended me, that's for sure. I think I'm going to drive to Manila for a new fuel filter. See if I can put it on without exploding it this time.