Sorry, I gave the wrong impression, all that truck body work was not done yesterday. It had been in progress, a little here, a little there, over the last few weeks. I just wanted to collect all the pics and post them up. The bondo and sanding was Friday or Saturday, or both maybe?? And then painted on Sunday.

That's funny with the dogs jealously eyeing that spoon! You know, I have 2 strays coming around here and eating my cats catfood, so suddenly I'm running out 3 times as fast. One night last week, bag was empty, so I thought I'll just scramble an egg for her. Well she has never had any human food, gave it a sniff, not interested. I said well eat it or starve, there's nowhere to get catfood in the middle of the night! Later I was out there having a break and saw one of the strays sneak up, he sniffed it and left without eating it either! Finally around 6am I opened the door to go out and the bowl was empty, so somebody finally ate it.

Yes a brake locked in place would make perfect sense for those symptoms. Maybe you'll find a bent bracket or something like that that is not letting it come back up. It is the only thing that would really explain both problems; the rear wheels locked and the brake pedal locked all the way down. This is probably why the previous owner gave up on it. Likely tried the easiest fixes and said to heck with it.

I don't know if we'll get another dog again, we were never the kind to have dogs in the house. We ended up with Dharmin because he belonged to our daughter, and she had to get rid of him. He couldn't get along with other male dogs and was crazy when leashed together with his brother, and when he snapped at my daughter and nipped her, her husband said he had to go. Don't know why he was that way, he always was. He's ok around female dogs as long as he could strut like a peacock to let them know HE was the male. But other males he just wanted conflict. So as an 'only dog" he had the good life.

 

Whew, you two have had a busy weekend. Really sorry to hear about your dog John. Always tough losing a pet regardless of the circumstances. And, you're going to have to start using your toes to work if you keep banging up your fingers.

Boy, the truck corner looks great. From a pile of corn flakes to a finished product. Color matching is spot on.

Dave, sounds like a quite project to get that mower running. Hopefully it won't cost you much to get it cutting again. Hope your kids are getting used to the new house and starting to enjoy being in their own home.



I went to a wild caught seafood festival in Glouster Saturday. All locally caught seafood and live music. We had clams, shrimp, several species of fish, etc. Local vegetables and homemade desserts. I rode the motorcycle to a friends. Then she drove us around. We did some sight seeing and also hit the core sound decoy museum.
Sunday I spent most of the day working on the excursion and camry. Little stuff like interior lights, which turned out to be quite a pain in the butt. I changed the oil and filter and rotated all the tires. Camry needs new struts on all four corners. They are shot. Add it to the list....

 

Many thanks to Fuzz for stopping by and helping with phase 1 of my disc brake upgrade for my old Mustang. I didn't mean to work him so hard, but he did one side, I did the other, and we had to fight some problems along the way.

First thing we found, the caliper mount brackets were labeled wrong. The one for R ended up having to go on the left side of the car, and the one labeled L went on passenger side. If we used them on the side they were labeled for, then either the bolts wouldn't line up or else they'd have to be upside down. The dust shields had to be trimmed as well, apparently a known problem since the 1960's. They must be designed for some other car and Ford just tossed em over and said "use these, make 'em fit".

The caliper bracket on the right (which was labeled L) was a little off, could not get both caliper bolts started. And the lower hole even with out the caliper, I could not run a bolt all the way in. It was getting into a bind. I got a tap and ran it down, but again, at a certain point it was like it bottomed out. I did some mathing, and the thickness of the caliper ear was 5/8, and the distance the tap went in was 7/8, so that SHOULD be 1-1/2 inches. The bolt they sent with the kit was 1-3/4 (which sticks through the other side of the bracket approx 1/4 inch), but even a 1-1/2 inch bolt would bottom out. I went to the hardware store to get 1-1/4 inch bolts, no bueno. They carry 1" and 1-1/2". So I got 1-1/2 and cut some off, then bevelled the sides a little. Turned out to be 1-1/8" after all was said and done, but still that's 3/4 inch of threads inside the bracket so I think it's good. Torqued all down to 56 ft lbs which is what google says is correct for 7/16 grade 8 bolts.


The brake hose ends are 1/4 instead of 3/16, so my line won't thread in. I can cut the ends and add the larger fitting and reflare it, but instead I wanted to try something. I went to Autozone and had them check the part number for a factory 66 Mustang with Kelsey Hayes disc brakes, they got the hose for me and let me check it, and my brake line fitting threaded right in. Perfect. So I bought 2 and headed home, only to have my hopes dashed. The brake line end is the right size, but the caliper end is wrong. These calipers have the larger opening for the 1/4 fitting, but the replacement stock hose from Autozone is made for smaller 3/16 opening. So I don't think these are factory replacement calipers.


But I found another option; an adapter to let me connect the hose to the line without having to cut and reflare. It will just add a little bit of height but I think it should work fine. Tomorrow I will go pick up a couple of these from O'Reilly.


Even with those problems you gotta admit these brakes look sexy!



Tomorrow Bailey is coming and he will help with the master cylinder & booster. Also Norman is coming with his measuring tool for the brake booster. Allows you to precisely set the correct depth. Hoping all goes well, I'm doing whatever prep work I can tonight. So far no seized brake line fittings, everything has come apart easily. None of my lines are very old, at the most maybe 10 or 12 years, and the car generally stays out of the weather so they aren't rusted.

Dave I really like your wheel bearing greaser tool, I saw this one when I was googling. It's pretty cheap but if it works like yours it will be worth it's weight in gold.
https://www.autozone.com/grease-and-...xoCscwQAvD_BwE

 

James when I seen "Glouster" I was thinking Mass and that would be a heck of a weekend trip but then I have done the NC to NJ and back for weekend trips
Then seen it was local did not know there was a Glouster NC
Sounds like you had a good time and that is what counts

John here I thought you were a body man god doing all that work in a day and now you tell me it was over a few days
Well it is still I nice job but so you know I could not get that done in 1 day either

I think I left off with my sons lawn tractor was running but not moving and the transmission locked up when I walked away after a day of working on it.
Well my son did some adjusting of the brake lever on the transmission, brake still dose not work and the belt is still I think too tight but he sent a video with the tires moving with the rear off the ground, I was trying to move with wheel on the ground. I told him to try with wheel on the ground, he did and sent a video of him driving it out to get the mail and using all 3 forward gears
I plan on heading down to see about the brakes and the tight belt Friday and if I can get them working I will mount the deck and see how it cuts.
So far off the top of my head I think we are into it for around $200 and that is counting the $150 we paid for it.

A quick look over of the deck so far we found the 2 blade spindles and 1 of 2 idle pulleys are making noise but should be ok till he can get them changed out.
My John Deere 60" deck has been making noise for 10 years now, I can just think what the parts will run me
I have found kits for my sons 42" that has the 2 spindles, 2 idle pullies, deck belt, and a belt for think was under $100.

I was happy to help get the wheel side of the disc brake swap done and it looks sexy
Sorry to see today the under dash and booster / master did not go too good and it all coming to a stop because of time but mostly needing brake lines to the block / valve.
So just the brake lines to the block and the lines from the block to the master and then the fun job of bleeding the system.
Sorry I cant help tomorrow but maybe Thr if you need a hand I can just let me know.
Dave ----

 

Hey your son made a lot of progress then, the mower is rolling and moving. Figuring out the brake pedal linkage will surely solve this. As for the spindles and anything else like that, I have always gotten stuff like that Agri Supply. Although as they have been having trouble keeping stuff in stock who knows if that will still be the place to go. I used to buy everything from Surf & Turf in Selma, but when I found Agri-Supply carried more in stock for a better price I started going there instead.

Bailey was the man of the hour today, he spent some time under the dash and saved my back for sure. Once he figured out the reason the brake light was staying on was that the switch was under constant pressure then it was just a matter of time figuring how to solve it. I wouldn't have thought a kit made specifically a 66 Mustang would use a pushrod that was too thick to fit in without depressing the light switch but a few minutes on the grinder to clearance it took care of that.

I have been working on the brake lines tonight any time I get a break, I decided not to remove the rear brake line and redo it. I had enough of the loops that I straightened it out, cut off the excess, flared on a new fitting, then bent it back to fit into the proportioning valve. But it is very tight to the shock tower, not the best place for it, but looking at all the other ports there was not much other places to put it I guess.

Currently I have both front brake lines fed into a tee, then one line to the master. But the new setup has 2 front brake ports from the proportioning valve, so I'm supposed to route them individually. I hadn't paid attention that before but now I need to remove the tee and see about making those lines fit.

I did not understand the master cylinder to brake booster fitment even though I saw it with my own eyes. If the tool showed interference then how could it fit without engaging the master? The only thing I can think of is maybe the diameter of the rod is different and able to fit further than the tool was able?

 

Glouster is in the middle of nowhere in what's called the down east portion of the state. A lot of folks will state they are down east, myself included but the reality is it's an entire area made up of several communities. They even have their own dialect and traditions.

Glad progress is being made on the mower. $200 isn't bad if you can keep it running and cutting. New ones, even the cheap box store ones are crazy expensive these days.

John, the brakes look outstanding. Sorry it wasn't a direct plug and play system. But it sounds like you are on the short road to having them complete. You could have at least spent a few buck on some new dust caps to really set it off. You got Ferrari calipers and rotors and pinto dust caps.

 

The kit came with new dust covers, but they were not a good easy fit. Dave tried pounding it on with a rubber mallet and had no luck, so he reused the old dust cover. On my side I figured I had nothing to lose, so I used a regular hammer and beat the snot out of it to get it on. Lord help me when it's time to get it off!



I gotta run some errands today, and Dave has his needle-in-the-eye appointment, will be a day to take it easy for the most part. I only have one more line to make before I fit the master cylinder into place. It's a lot of lines in a small confined space, I tell ya that.

 

John I would not of removed the Tee for the front brakes and run the other line to the block as it would just make for more work.
I know we talked about using a plug in that 2nd port and that is what I would have done just that the plug would need to have a flare end to fit the seat in the block.
It should not work any different with 1 line or 2 into the block as all masters only have 1 line out for the front brakes and 1 for the rear and then a Tee somewhere down the line.

I did not want to use that old dirty cap but as John said I was beating the crap out of the kit cap and it would not go on.
I have seen post of caps not fitting and said that to John. The kit caps were made in China so the sticker said inside the cap

When I checked the prices online for my son's deck parts, both on Amazon and Agri I found Agri to be pretty high.
You could not buy 2 spindles for what the everything went for on Amazon and if you are a Prime member you get free shipping.

When I was in there getting fuel line, the wrong size BTW, and filter and shut off valve I seen they do have a lot of other little parts for like weed whackers and blowers.
There was a gas blower and weed whacker left behind at my son's house that I said I would look into if they can be fixed or not.
They were dirty so when I power washed the tractor I hit them and they look almost new.
I see 1 needs a primer bulb and I know if that is cracked they will not run but I have not checked them out too much.
Maybe this weekend I will check them out more as the weather is calling for rain on Saturday & Sunday and it would be nice if I can get them running as he can use them now LOL

Needle went good when I got home had something for breakfast and then fell asleep in my chair on and off most of the day.
Wife asked when I was going to cut the grass, it is pretty tall, and told her maybe I would do it later today when my eye felt better.
You would think I kick one of the cats she yelled at me no way with my eye so maybe Thr after it dries out some?
Fri day I plan to go to my son's to get the tractor finished so he can use it safely, read working brakes.
Dave ----

 

She didn't even want you to have an "rest" day after your eye needling?! She's a slave driver I tell ya Oh well the grass ain't going nowhere, and the weather is getting so much nicer so it's not as terrible a job as it was at 95 degrees.

I had errands to run today when I got up and didn't get to start working on the brakes again until about 2pm. I had all the lines made up and in place except for the drivers side front, which I needed to grab a new piece of hard line for. Of course I bought the one with metric ends by mistake and had to go back to the auto parts store and swap it. But by 3:30 I had the master cylinder in place and all the fittings hand threaded in. The bottom 2 fittings (between master and proportioning valve) took 30 minuts to tighten. They were a bear to reach. You can only get a wrench on going at an angle and the tighter it gets, the closer the fitting is to going in all the way, the more of an angle you need to be. I tried underneath, and above. A little of this a little of that. Finally got them snug. I just hope and pray that there is no leaks! By the time I finished it was dinner time and I was ready to quit for the day.


Using the tee or not, I would have had to make a line to go to the tee, and then put in a plug. Or without the tee, both lines get their own port directly, but I had to redo one line which was a little too short. So the same amount of effort on the front lines no matter which way I went, but that one I had to redo was a little kinked so seeing that I am glad I replaced it.

Here's a general question. If there is fluid in a master cylinder and it's sitting on a bench, would you expect fluid to drip out of it, until the reservoir is empty? Mine is not leaking, but Bailey's Corvette, when we undid the caliper that time and drove to the auto parts store to get a replacement, leaked completely empty while we were gone (say 30 minutes or so). Mine is still where I had it before, about 1/3 of the way up. I wonder if that symptom might indicate that Bailey's vacuum booster is adjusted too far out and partly pressing his master cylinder.

 

No I wanted to cut it and she would NOT let me.
I hate to say it but she was right between the dust and grass kicked up that kills my eyes to start with add the injection site and I should not rub it would have been asking for trouble.
I am going to head out in a bit to start cutting. I hope by the time I get to the banks the grass is dry or the tractor slips down and if I dont get it stuck or worst roll it over it leaves more grass to weed whack

I did not know the line was too short and had to be redone so if there might as well do both right LOL
So Bailey's master was mounted to the car / booster and the caliper removed so the hose was open was there a puddle were the open hose was?
When I seen your master it had the rubber plugs installed after the bench bleed, yes I did see they leaked a little but not much that I would worry unless you did not have a lot of fluid in the chambers.

If there was not a puddle under the hose I would say the fluid filled the lines from master to the hose but just did not leak out yet.
When I did my truck the brake system was removed and empty for a long time. The master / booster was from the parts truck so I dont remember bleeding the master but when the system was all together I filled the master and opened all the bleeders to let it gravity bleed. When I got fluid out of a bleeder I closed it till all where closed to do a better job of bleeding.
So Bailey's master going empty just sitting I dont think it a big deal unless you cant get a pedal. The ports in the master should be open and to let the fluid pass like my gravity bleed so I would not worry.

I was looking at your set up, master / block & bracket.
I would have used nuts & bolts to hold the master & bracket together on the bench and then installed the 2 lines from master to block this way they would get tight and not have to work in the small area.
Then when time to install remove the nuts / bolts and fit the master & block into place as 1 unit then install the last 2 or 3 lines.
I know it all had to be a PITA because of room.

So are all the lines installed so you can start the gravity bleed at the wheels as you have to do the rears too being the lines & block is new and air could get into the system.
Dave ----

 

Oh see I had it backwards, and in that case I'd agree with Mary, to avoid the yard work after the eye needle.

Bailey's issue was, caliper leaking. He had disassembled them and rebuild them using new rubber seals, but this one was still leaking. So we removed it and went to Autozone to get a replacement and came back to am empty reservoir, the catch pan underneath had all the fluid.

I thought about doing as you described but I was worried that I would then be having to hold the master & bracket & prop assembly in one hand while trying to get the 3 brake lines started. So the way I did it made those lines easier, but the master-prop lines harder. If I has to come out for any reason I am doing it your way.

I'm not really getting any pedal, and the brake pads are not even touching the rotors yet. When I press the brake pedal all the way down I am touching the floor mat, so that could mean the master is not fully bottomed out. So maybe I need to adjust the brake pedal height more.

My rear brake line is pretty ugly. The more I look at it, the less I like it.

 

I would not worry about the pedal to the floor just yet.
I am guessing the master is full? If so I would crack open the bleeders to the calipers till you get fluid out then close them and do a proper bleeding of the system rear to front.
Once the bleeding is done and all wheels are working without a road test is when I would see how high the pedal is when pushed when running.
If low then I would adjust the push rod to make it feel right.

Oh you have Norms bleeder that pushes fluid from the wheel to the master, I have never used one like that so maybe dont fill the master all the way to the top.
Or do you not fill it at all? I still like the gravity bleed so it has fluid in the lines so it has less air in them.
I think my Motive pressure bleeder came in if you want to use it. Friday I am heading to my sons early, hope to be there by 7am
I can leave it in the black bin by the house garage if you want to come by and get it.
Dave ----
Edit it is in the black bin by the house garage there is a white box inside that has fittings for bleeding masters both SAE & METRIC

 

Looks like it my even cause some problems in the future. Pretty nasty bend right at the fitting. But also looks like a tight spot.

 

I have a bleeder myself that is just like Norm's. He gave it to me as a gift, said he appreciated my help on his brakes and that I liked his tool so much he ordered another off Amazon for me!

I did not do a whole lot yesterday, I slept late, then I had some errands, and the previous night my nail had come off all the way and I was worried about getting brake fluid or brake cleaner in it, so I more or less took it easy. I did some gravity bleeding on the front, once the bubbles stopped and turned more into nice fluid I started finding leaks. Mostly on the bias block / prop valve. I may or may not have gotten them all. I also went under the dash and took out the brake light switch so I could adjust the brake pedal a little further out. That was before I your comment, but anyway did not really matter much as I only had a couple of turns before it was out of threads! Right now it is as far as you can safely make it (which is like 2 full turns in).

James, as for the ugly 90 bend, I found something online that might be of help to me here:

HydraStar 3/16 90-degree adapter

Davbe, those little thing-a-ma-jigs that you use for double flaring, I called them "hats" and you called them "anvils", I keep losing the 3/16 which is the one I use the most. I found them on Amazon, they simply called it "brake line flaring tool". I got a 6 piece set for $7 with free shipping, came with 4 of the 3/16 size and 2 of the 1/4 size. So now my flaring sets are full. I had three sets I can find 2 complete, and the 3rd set I only have the bar with the holes in it, no idea where the rest of it is, but I'm sure it will turn up someday.


I hope you make a lot of progress at your son's today, I meant to ask (can't remember if you said it already). What town is his house in?

 

I was thinking something like that 90* would be nice but I have never seen one before.
If it is not too long to fit between the block and the inner fender up right.
Hopefully you can get the system leak free and bleed the air out and have good brakes again.
It was nice of Norm to get you a bleeder set up but if you need mine let me know.

My son's house is in Hope Mills
Here is a link to the listing https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...9db6f75a8f6cea
It is 20 min from his job where up here it is 45 to an hour. Took me an hour this morning doing 70 to 75 MPH in the pickup.

We were busy today I got there just as my grandson was getting on the bus but they did not see me as he had to run for the bus, you know kids
First was to look into the clutch / brake pedal or lack there of. My son found that the belt listings had 2 different size belts, 81" & 82" and I got the 81"
He picked up a 82" & 83" just in case but I felt the 83" might be too big and if it stretched it would slip so went with the 82"

That got the clutch part working better and thinking when the belt stretches it should get better.
David looking over the manual found how to adjust the brake when I took it apart a way I should not have
I got to say it will lock the brakes up and throw you over the hood and because the clutch is a short throw it gets, for me, hard to drive.

Now that it moves and stops I wanted to mount the deck and try it out but my son ordered deck parts and not all were in yet but would not stop us from seeing how it works.
I won and we mounted it after figuring how as he pulled it off and did not pay much on how it went.
He made a few passes in the front yard and adjusting the height. I dont like it short as the grass burns. Think is the grass is at different heights and was not cutting all of it.
I told him it had to grow and fill in and would be good. Found when making tight turns the front tires were locking up and looking closer they were hitting the front deck armes so had to swap they.
When all the parts come in and he has time, maybe after season? He can rebuild the deck and then level it when it puts it back on.

I gave him a him a hand moving the washer & drier. They are front load and the way the doors open, can only swap 1 door, we had to pull the washer out, drier in the small room where washer was and then washer back in.
To hook up the washer you had to lay on top of them as they just fit between the walls. Oh you could not have them out too far as the door hit the hot water heater and you have to have the outside door closed to work the washer door, did I say small room?

At that point it was a long day and 330 and I wanted home but son was looking to replace some rotten wood on the rear deck stairs and said something about cutting the grass in the back yard as it was pretty tall.
He sent me a text that he did the stairs and the grass and even put feed out for the chickens. The owner left a few but he has not seen them everyday so who knows where they might be?
He forgot to get bedding for the coup when he went out for the tractor belts so he will need to get that ASAP.

During all this work he kept saying "Everyone said buy a house, have some fun"
Dave ----