I got the passenger side rear caliper done today, and it was very different from the front one. Instead of using the brake system like the front, you have to jack the pistons out with adjuster screws, as well as separating the caliper halves. Looking back now, it wasn’t that bad, and a lot less messy. An added benefit from separating the halves was to get to hone the cups. After getting it all back together with all the new seals and flushed out, I ended up busting out the caliper paint. They’re going to be red, it looks quite good. I think I’m going to pull the front one again, pop the pistons (hopefully with air this time), hone the cups and paint them. Then I’ll rebuild the left rear, then left front. Then I’ll be done with the brakes. Woot!
I’m sure my injectors will show up before I get the brakes finished.
Another win. I got the front right caliper rebuilt. I had to get a new vise grip to hold one piston in while I jacked the other one out with the brake system. Worked like a champ. I got it cleaned up and installed the new seals with a good coating of caliper lube. I pulled the right rear caliper, but I had to stop there with a skull crushing sinus headache. I’ll get that one tomorrow.
I racked up too much windshield time today, way too much. My GPS says I put in just shy of seven and a half hours. My butt, a truck seat, seven and a half hours. I think I now know all of Clutch. Oh, and my GPS gets all naggy and pissy when I know where I’m going and am not dutifully following the damned things orders. I get a chuckle every time I hear it mumble “recalculating”.
The lights of the chemical plants reflecting in the river of Charleston, West “By God” Virginia was quite beutiful. I especially liked the tall skinny towers with tall yellow flames at the top. I was reminded of scenes from Bladerunner. I think that was the best part of my journey today. A fleeting moment, captured in my mind at 70 mph.
I’m kind of bumed about one thing. I don’t think it’s legal to put aircraft landing lights on my car, so I’ll have to settle for some H-4’s I’m definately going to put them in the mains, and I’ll probably upgrade the driving/fog lights as well. If the 14 wasn’t so stock, I’d love to have a pair of rally lights and go for the “wall of light” effect with those bluish halogens. Yeah, that’d be awesome.
Well, maybe not all the way just yet, but still, I gotz fire! I pulled the distributor assembly today and replaced the points, condenser, rotor, cap and wires. Special thanks to NoFuel’s Dad for the pointers on setting the point gap and all. Looking back now, it really wasn’t as hard as I thought is was going to be.
Still, I think I have some injector issues. I re-plumbed the upper fuel lines with honest to goodness fuel injection hose. A pain, but it had to be done. After getting everything back together I tried cranking it with some starter fluid, and it coughed to life. Maybe just for a second or two, but the fire was back, and it sounded good.
I went ahead and ordered a set of injectors and trigger points. I’ve come this far, why not have a completely new fuel and ignition system? I think it’ll be best in the long run.
The worst thing is I can still smell the ether from the starter fluid.
Woot. Parts are here. I was hoping that it’d be warm tomorrow so I could work on the distributor, but I think it’s going to be cold. The good news is that the primary coil is hot, it’s just not firing on the secondary. I’m going to pull the dist assembly and replace the points, condenser, rotor, cap and wires. If that doesn’t get some fire, then I got bigger problems.
Dear M$,
I hate Vista. No really, it sucks.
401
ps, I’m carboning Firefox because I just lost all my bookmarks from a BSOD on your wonderful OS.
Vintage 1988, shortly after restoration and upgrades. There’s a couple of pix of Dad and I at an autocross school in Radford, and a race here in town. It’s hard to believe that we were that young once.
Ok, so now I’m learning all about ignition systems, old school. I found my spare brain, and it has a Bosch referb sticker on it. I pulled the installed one and it looks like it’s original equipment. I swapped them out, but still no fire. And then there’s the distributor…..
There’s another kick to the nuts, I got no fire and no joy. Yet another subsystem that needs working on. I’m about ready to tow it to a shop and get them to fix it. It’s cold as a bitch and I’m frankly getting tired of finding shit to fix. I completely understand the fuel system thing, and the brakes, but damn, not even a weak spark at the plugs. Oh, and it’s not the coil, I checked that already.