Bloody brakes...

...as Jan says "blood letting", at any rate I got the flex line in for the rear brakes and installed the new clutch flex line.  The clutch flex line was a bit time consuming as it is difficult to get at with tools but finally got the old one off and the new one on.  After bleeding the clutch I checked the free play and reset it to spec, hopefully this will improve shifting as it had a 1/2" play.  Of course it is a Moss Box which has been likened to stirring a bucket of coal so my expectations are low (this should get a rise out of Jerry who loves his Moss box and views anyone who can't shift it gracefully with just a slight bit of disdain ;-)

Didn't have many pictures to day so here's a crappy picture of the new flex line to the IRS

Bleeding the brakes with my homemade pressure bleeder, seemed to work quite well.  Could not get the rears to bleed at all using the old up-down helper technique.

The upper master cylinder with massive amount of play,  seeking advice from Jerry makes me think the piston may not be coming to it's fully out position and it may have to come apart-naturally since the lines don't seem to have any leaks.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all,
Cheers,


6 hrs

Two steps forwards....

...and one step back?  Planned on flushing the brakes today and bleeding them using DOT 4 fluid.  The choice of brake fluid is somewhat controversial,  Glycol based vs Silicone based fluids and each has it's pros and cons.  Glycol based fluids such as DOT 4 AND DOT 5.1 can damage paint and are hygroscopic while silicone based fluid, DOT 5 is not and will not damage paint.  I use DOT 5 in my '68  and DOT 4 in my 73, both work fine BUT the DOT 5 fluid needs to be changed as often as the DOT 4 IMO.  While the DOT 5 is not hygroscopic water still gets into the system from condensation pooling in the lowest area leading to corrosion.  The glycol based fluids hold the water in solution and are easier to bleed the water out, often when I bleed my car with the silicone fluid I will loosen the lowest line in the caliper to get the water out of the system.  One other thing I've noticed is that with silicone fluid one has to be very careful to avoid having air in the system to the point I'll put the fluid in the reservoirs the day before (sucking out the old stuff from the reservoirs) so that the air bubbles have a chance to settle out.

With RJ, knowing what was in the rear calipers I decided to flush the system with 91% isopropyl alcohol then blow them out with compressed air then replenish with DOT 4.  I did this with the clutch lines as well but ran into problems when I decided I had flushed the rear line (hadn't hooked up the flex hose as I didn't want any debris getting into our newly refurbished rear calipers).  Well the hose that that came with the kit had the wrong fittings and was too short.  Dang it, stalled and will have to order a correct line.  I wonder if I've run into the same issue as I had with the rotors, the transition from 3.8 to 4.2 cars?

So when I stalled on this part of the project it was time to do something else and the resonators needed to be installed.  If you look back to one of the early pictures they looked pretty snaggle toothed, one was longer than the other, they weren't parallel and just looked bad.  Well that's ancient history now, the correct mounts fixed that right up and they look acceptable IMHO ;-)

The other thing that I addressed today were the tie rod ends, there has been a problem with some of the tie rod ends that have been shipped to people and I was concerned but with the assistance of Dick Maury of Coventry West I determined that we do indeed have the right ones-thanks Dick!

This is what was in the calipers

Tie rod ends held in position, the ones for later cars such as the XJ6 look identical except they don't have the same range of motion that the E Type units do and if used in the place of the correct ones will damage the rack.

Well, that's all folks.

Cheers,

5 hrs

Re-United and it feels so good...

Well, maybe not that good but it's nice to have the IRS in it's proper place.  The motorcycle lift made the job doable and relatively safe for one person.  The IRS is held in place by its rubber 'isolation' mounts and getting them to line up is a bear requiring the jack to be moved, the unit tilted and so forth.  But I'm happy to report that it is back where it belongs.  Future tasks include tightening all the rubber bushings(wait till it's down on it's wheels or the rubber bushings will get locked in a 'hyperextended' position and subject to premature failure as Jerry mentioned in the comment section yesterday).

Rolling it under the body and preparing to raise it up into position.

In position, awaiting the rocking and jockeying that is required to get the bolt holes to ling up, sometimes taking a fair amount of persuasion to accomplish.  Needless to say challenging. 

Jack out of the way and radius arms in place. Drive shaft connected, parking brake hooked up but the brake line isn't and wont be till I flush the brake system with isopropyl alcohol in preparation for changing the car to DOT 4 brake fluid.

All together now.... except as mentioned above. Tomorrow, flush the lines, check on tires and....

Cheers,

5.5 hrs

A day with the IRS....

Lots of pictures today, so that means not much substance right?  First thing I did today was make a trip to Home Depot to find a piece of material that I could use for the special JD14 tool that I would need to hold all the pieces of the outer fulcrum shaft in proper position during the installation process.  I was able to find a 5/8 inch steel rod that fit the bill almost perfectly, if it had been the right length then it would have been perfect.  As a side note, I've had to make or acquire several special tool for this job, I guess that's part of the fun? Right!

Making the JD14 tool

Simple but precisely engineered ;-)  

Getting ready to load the JD14 with the spacers and shims that would drop out of position

Driving the bolt in that in turn pushes the tool out leaving all in the correct position

One thing that puzzled me was having to install the radius arm AND tighten it prior to installing the hub carrier.  There is no way to get to the radius arm bolt head once the carrier is in position so I tried to have the control arm in a 'neutral' position so as to avoid undue strain on the radius arm bushing.

The right side completed now moving on to the left side

Poor picture, but shows threading the inner fulcrum arm through and fastening the lower control arm in place

Almost there, need to put the bottom plate on

Completed unit, now trying to figure out how to man handle this 350 pound unit onto the jack

Decided to try putting the wheels and tires on it so I could roll it over

Bingo, now just need to turn the jack around-Doh!

There we go, ready to feed onto the car, needs a few things to finish the job but by this time next week RJ should be back on his wheels- Michelle, might be time to start thinking about tires and tubes!

That's it for this week, stay tuned for future exciting developments.

Cheers.


7 hrs

Speaking of saddles...

Making some progress with the IRS, the pumpkin is back in the 'saddle' and some of the other pieces installed.  One of my sources recommended installing the mounting bolts in a 'sequential pattern' like one would do with tightening the lug nuts on a wheel, then pull one out and put the locktight on it and retighten.  Repeating the procedure on each one, then lock wire the bolts.

This is the IRS housing with the differential mounted to it, next I had to flip it over and start putting it back together.

Checking the endfloat on the hub after the axle was installed and the nut torqued to 140 ft/lbs.  When your putting the axle back in make sure that the split pin hole lines up with the hole in the hub otherwise you'll never be able to get the split pin back in and you'll have to break it back down and start over.

Coming together, need to find something that I can use for a dummy shaft to hold all the pieces in place for the outer fulcrum shaft, need a piece of dowel .42" diameter so off to Home Depot tomorrow morning.

Cheers.



6hrs

Back in the Saddle again....

After a two week hiatus I'm back at it and hoping to get some movement on this project.  I received the new rotors from SNG and they fit! Turns out this was a transition car with the 4.2 style rotors instead of the 3.8 that one would have expected.  Spent a fair amount of time installing, removing and installing the rotors as it seemed like I had too much run-out on them.  I flipped them around 180 degrees and reduced the run out to an acceptable amount by doing that.  I think that the run out was related to the output flange on the differential rather than the rotors themselves and so "it is what it is".

Installed the rebuilt drive shaft (prop shaft for those of English decent) and made sure that the nuts are tight and secure with Nylocks and lock tight, they were loose when I disassembled it not to mention the U joints were shot and the engine or rear suspension have to be out to get to it.

Also got the new shocks prepared for installation by installing the spring on their perches.  A some what tedious job with a spring compressor that is slightly spooky since there is a lot of pent up (potential energy if I recall my basic Physics class) energy in those compressed springs.

Refurbished drive line with new paint, U joints and rubber sleeve 

Definition of 'potential' energy, compressed spring getting installed on the shock absorber

The rear drive unit with brakes, parking brakes installed, next step is putting it back in it's cage....

Should really make some progress tomorrow, the springs, shocks etc ready to go.

Cheers,

6 hrs

I'm tired of being the bug...

....I want to be the windshield/windscreen!  Was going to assemble some of the parts on the differential this morning after I put the cover on it, however it became very apparent that the new rotors wouldn't work.  I took a picture of them to try to show the differences but it comes down to the difference in location of the 'access' holes. The new ones do not line up with the holes for the bolts.  Will clean up the old ones unless SNG has some bright ideas and use them.  Next I had to hone out the inside diameter of the oil seal race to get it to fit on the axle shaft. This got me a sharp whack on the  wrist from the hone but I got it to fit.

A couple of bright spots in the day, got the brakes parts from White post today and they look very nice, helped Terry T. with his carbs and they seemed to be working well when we were done.

Show how far off the access holes are for the caliper bolts, can't use a socket on the bolts even if I can get the bolts started.

Installing the axle shaft in the hub, the bearings are greased and will press the axle into the hub

Rebuilt caliper pistons, ready to install.

A couple of caveats for the day, the metal for the grease seal race on the hub is very soft so be very careful with them, it is 'impossible' to replace the grease slingers on the hub axles. I removed them so that I could pull the bearing off the axle shaft thinking that I could just press them back on-can't do it as they are 'pined' in place.  As best I ca tell they aren't mandatory and won't affect the function or safety of the axle.

Cheers.

5.5 hrs