And so it begins.....starting with stopping (i.e., braking!)

[Cptmoney]

So the boys and I are jumping in on our '71 project car (she's been five years out in a field) - and we're tackling the brakes first. I ALWAYS make 'em do the brakes first, because once the car is running, the urge to take her for a spin is just too much. Can't say no. Thus the brakes are always in first place on the list.

We had a bit of a wrestling match just getting the lug nuts off, but once we managed that, we're moving right along. What we've discovered so far has been very interesting, to say the least, and hopefully not indicative of the way the rest of the car was assembled. Here's one of the young men pulling the hard line from the top side:



Moving along, here's our first discovery:



This is the hard line to the right front disc brake. No wonder the brakes are almost nonexistent! The brake line is pinched off like a backyard garden hose! This is our first question: can we simply order a replacement line? Or are we going to have to make one? From the catalogs we have, I can only find complete brake line sets (enough for most/all of the car's hard lines), but so far we really only need to replace this one. We've never made new lines ourselves; is it that difficult? I'll be calling the local auto parts stores in the morning, but I'm guessing we'll be stuck making our own if we don't wanna drop the $200 for the set.

Next up - the pads. Can we use the existing pads, even though they're likely pretty old? They look to be in good condition, with plenty of materials still on them - but they've got to be 5-10 years old. Here's a quick pic:


Quick pic of the caliper reveals the dark, gooey junk that was partially responsible for the frozen piston on both calipers (look at the nasty stuff in there!):




The pistons on both sides cleaned up very nicely, and I'm hoping that we'll be ok to just rebuild the calipers and save a few bucks.

That's where we're at for now; we'll be ordering parts tomorrow (caliper rebuild kits, along with some hard line stuff as well), and hopefully by this time next weekend we'll know more about our front brakes.

Anyone see anything terribly wrong with what we've seen so far? Any red flags?

[dammitmitchell]

man caliper rebuild kits last i chek were close to the same price as a caliper itself.

but have fun! i think your booster is going to be bad, they dont last very long anymore when a car is just parked.

[Cptmoney]

To be more precise, we're hoping to salvage the lion's share of the calipers.

We'll replace the dust seal and the small metal sleeves and rubber o-rings, but otherwise I think we can use the majority of them. Pistons cleaned up nicely, and the calipers themselves will be fine once polished up. That should save us quite a bit, I believe. The dust seals and sleeves are just a few bucks, but even the reman calipers are upwards of $50 each.

I bet you're right on the booster as well - we haven't made it that far in our investigation yet....but I suspect you're exactly right.

[77LT1]

Advance Auto Parts has rebuilt calipers for just $20 a piece. And they have excellent online deals where you order them online and pick them up at the store. I usually use the discount code of BIG30. $30 off $75 . Or A123 $10 off $30, $20 off $50.

Unless you want the experience of rebuilding them yourself, I would just go for those instead.

B

[Cptmoney]

Really? Man, that's a great price.

Too bad there are no stores close to us. I'll look into shipping and go from there....

Thanks for the heads up on that!

[Cptmoney]

WHOA! For real? $17? SEVENTEEN?

Just the replacement piston costs more than that! How is that possible? That's remarkable....might be going this route. Too hard to pass up. The bummer is the shipping time, at 3-4 days. I'll go see what I can scrounge up locally and make the call.

Thanks for the heads up on that.

[usmcz28]

Some of you guys on here honestly make me laugh trying to rebuild everything like it's 1975 again. Honestly some of the guys in here posting act like reman parts are the devil and you should only go t a pic and pull for stuff. It is generally cheaper and easier, time and money wise to just buy reman and sometimes new parts these days than sit there and go through the hassle of rebuilding things. And yes I know you can find some gems in junk yards but then again the car is usually there for one reason or another.

If you have to ask if you can reuse a part buy a new one. No I would not recommend reusing those brake pads. Brand unknown, age unknown......why chance it since you say you like starting with new brakes from the get go.

Just buy a flare it and some line and have at it for that kinked front line. You wont find a single line already prebent for sale unless someone is parting a car out.

Also I'd suggest replacing all 3 rubber lines, they get old and rot from the inside out.

I'd also suggest replacing the rear wheel cylinders and all associate hardware and drums. Why not start fresh if funds permit to exclude any of these as an issue when you get this car running.

[Cptmoney]

Originally Posted by usmcz28

Some of you guys on here honestly make me laugh trying to rebuild everything like it's 1975 again. Honestly some of the guys in here posting act like reman parts are the devil and you should only go t a pic and pull for stuff. It is generally cheaper and easier, time and money wise to just buy reman and sometimes new parts these days than sit there and go through the hassle of rebuilding things. And yes I know you can find some gems in junk yards but then again the car is usually there for one reason or another.

I don't understand what you mean; we're rebuilding our calipers for three reasons: 1) save time, 2) save money, and 3) to teach the boys the principles behind the systems. Simple as that.

I'd love to buy the reman units, but since the nearest "deal" on them is 200+ miles away, we are rebuilding them. Plus, once a group of 13- or 14-year-olds manipulate the parts with their hands, then understanding begins to take shape. Would a quick swap with some reman parts leave them with as much of an understanding? Maybe - but this way I KNOW they're seeing the nuts/bolts of it all.

I have no problem with reman parts. Not sure how you got that from any of the posts in this thread. Just trying to bring an old car back to life, while keeping a few boys out of trouble - all as affordable as we can.

I agree with you on the pads; we'll be swapping anything that's in question. Too much at stake, especially when you're dealing with other people's kids. All front rubber parts are being replaced (lines, seals, o-rings, etc.), and we're going to take a stab at the front hard lines that need replaced (that's new to us - so who knows what might unfold with all of that). I have found a pre-bent front kit for $59 that covers all the front hard lines and is complete with protective outer wrap - which seems like a pretty smoking deal (especially considering that the flare kit costs $73 at our local auto parts place!). If our first attempt at the hard line remake fails, we'll probably just order the new lines. Be a bit more coin than if we do it ourselves, but it will be right and fit right.

We haven't seen the rear brakes yet - that's today/tomorrow's project if the front wraps up nicely....

[usmcz28]

That makes more sense, I was unaware this was a student project and obviously my reading skills got ahead of my mouth. I'm so use to seeing some folks on here wanting to rebuild things that are easily purchased remanufactured for about the same price.

In that sense I would also suggest still making your own brake line as this is a great skill for kids to learn. I remember spending hours trying to figure out how to double flare a line.

BTW I like the fact you have the kids working on something older. It lets them see how modern cars progressed and I bet these kids remember this for years.

In all hoensty I'd say let everyone know this is a student project and see if we can't get you some "gently used" donated parts or what not. I'm sure many of use here have some old parts laying around. I'm sure I could dig up some parts from my car I have laying around I'm not using.

[nonstopgo68]

yeah making a brake line aint hard . it will have to be double flared for a brake line .you-tube how to make one . and watch out for a lot of autoparts stores , they tend to carry metric stuff.
you can have the flare tool and line and nut for about $50 . dont forget to put the nut on before you flare lol

[nonstopgo68]

By the way teach the kids to always change all fluids on a car thats new to you. I had to learn that one the hard way.

And as far as your brakes are concerned always replace the friction material to a newly machined surface .i.e rotors , drums

[Cptmoney]

OK - here's what we're seeing....

Fronts are back together; we can see a bit of the piston from the top - is this normal? I can't remember seeing this when we disassembled her, but it all looks ok. Just checking. Here is one of the calipers:



One of my boys doing his Mr. Goodwrench imitation on a caliper:



We purchased a bender and some brake line and now have the fronts ready to rock! Still have a master cylinder to work on, and we're seeing some serious voodoo with the line headed to the rear as well. This thing was put together by some hacks, looks like. Stripped fittings, kinked lines, etc. A mess. Practically every hard line headed back will need replacing. Oh well - think of the learning opportunities! Haha!

On the right rear brake, we're looking it all over. Here's the e-brake plate; does it look like it's attached correctly? The Haynes manual calls for a connector, but we can't tell if this has it or not. I BELIEVE it's there, as the left rear looks the same. See anything out of place? It just attaches to the rear shoe via the notch at the top, right? We didn't get any pics of that, but we could if it would be helpful.





Additionally, we've spun the starwheel adjuster all the way in, so that it's at "zero", but upon reassembly, the brakes already seem a bit tight....like they're catching. Could it be our e-brake? We have pulled the pedal release lever, but it still seems tight.

And while I'm thinking about it, the front shoe is the "primary" shoe, correct? The rear the secondary? Our Haynes manual calls for the "short lined shoe" to be the primary - meaning that the shoe with the least shoe material goes on the front/forward spot, right? One def looks like it has more lining than the other...but they're not labeled front/primary or rear/secondary. Just want to make sure we're getting our new brakes all assembled correctly.

Appreciate any input - we're doing our best! I'm trying to stay one step ahead of the boys....acting like I know what I'm doing - fake it 'til you make it, right?!

[Cptmoney]

Anyone?

Any thoughts?

[Jet]

If you have access to a Mityvac, you can hook it up to the brake booster, pump it up to about 17-18, and see if it holds the vacuum...if it does, the booster should be okay.

[Jet]

Here's a good step-by-step rear brake job link...
http://www.handymanlyness.com/archiv..._96_Yukon.html