Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Bleedin' Brakes!

I am still looking for little jobs to do while waiting for weather to warm enough for the painting I want to do.
I decided I may as well flush out the brake lines and feed in new fluid. I was a little wary of the bleeder screws on each wheel cylinder being rusted tight, but was pleasantly surprised to find that a little WD 40 freed them up just fine... well at least that was what I was lulled into thinking with the first three wheels! When I got to the fourth wheel, the left front, I sprayed it and gently pulled on the wrench like the others. This time however, when it began to move, my delight turned to dismay as it snapped off! So, now what? I could try drilling it out, but I would need a replacement wheel cylinder on standby in case I was not successful. Well, I thought, I do have the parts car! Oh, but wait, the parts car has disc brakes on the front. Might the rear cylinders be the same? No such luck.
I have decided that I will do nothing at this point. 90% of the fluid in the system is now replaced, and there does not feel like any air in the system. The broken bleeder valve is not leaking, so the system is as tight as ever. I will watch for somewhere to buy a rebuilt wheel cylinder, and will keep it on hand until the next time that I will want to bleed the brakes, at which time I can replace the cylinder.
I took on a few other smaller tasks for the rest of the day, re-oiling the small air filter on the cylinder head, cleaning the cylinder heads and around the intake manifolds, and refitting some of the trim that lines the trunk. It is pretty nice trim actually, well fitted to cover all of the metal framing around the inside of the trunk. Pretty spiffy!

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