the never ending project. 71 super build

doubtful, the drivers side rear works. all i did was adjust it and bleed it to get fresh-er fluid in the wheel cylinder and it works. the front brakes work as well, even the leaking passenger side front.
the passenger side rear is acting like it's not getting fluid but i know it is cause i can have someone press the peddle and i can crack the bleeder screw and fluid comes pouring out under pressure just like it should. i think the pistons in the wheel cylinder are stuck. i might be able to free them up idk. im thinking maybe spray some penetrating lube in under the boots and compress them with a C clamp or something. im having a MAJOR case of the Mondays otherwise id go mess with it. but the weather is supposed to be good the rest of the week so maybe ill pull the drum off and have another look tomorrow or something.

Penetrating lube may harm the cylinder's rubber parts.
Regardless of penetrating lube - if you're able to free the piston the cylinder will leak after a while most likely.
Your bug sat for quite a while. There's a good chance all brake cylinders are defective. :(
Just my two cents.

iv used Prolong SPL 100 on rubber and plastics before without issue (mostly on RC car parts). seems safe. i did get the pistons unstuck.
i pulled the boots off, sprayed the pistons. let it soak for about 10 minutes. then used a screwdriver to try to spin them. they freed up with little effort. pulled the pistons out, cleaned them with brake cleaner lubed them up with brake fluid and reinstalled them. they move freely and the brakes work again, noticeable difference in the peddle. going to let it sit for a few days to see if they leak any.

im not looking for a permanent fix, just something to hold me through the summer sense the rears will be getting disc brakes at some point as well.

today's update. wheel cylinder isn't leaking and still works!

wheel cylinder still seems to be holding fluid and working!

also, this happened.

ok, Magna Spark installed. idle has smoothed out, it's not dropping or surging anymore. timing at idle is a solid 8 degrees and 30 degrees at full advance. i have a VDO tach i need to wire up so i can tune the carb. i attempted it by ear and got it better. the big bypass screw that wasn't doing anything is now doing something! it actually sounds pretty damn good now, and isn't smelling nearly as rich.

also ordered some 5.5 wheels from CIP1. they're being shipped to to my work so hopefully ill have those sometime next week.

and the unstuck rear wheel cylinder is still holding up and functioning.

so i just spent 6 hours running 3 damn SAE spec 16 gauge wires from the engine to the trunk. :evil:
so maybe next weekend i can finish mounting and wiring up the gauges in there permanent home under the dash.

rear wheels came today! according to tracking DHL got them from BC Canada to So Cal in 4 days! :shock:

gauges are in and wired except for the lights. which i started and then had a small wire fire during testing :shock: luckily it only took out the red power wire that goes for the fuse box to the headlight switch. it only lightly damaged the insulation on 3 other wires. i "fixed" those with shrink tubing (it was more of a precaution than necessary) id say it was fun but i was sitting in the trunk with it when it happened! it happened 3 hours ago and i can still smell it.

i also got the tach mounted and mostly wired up. still don't even know if it works, or if it'll work with the new distributor/ignition. i can't remember the details, but i may have to put a diode between the coil and gauge. i know some of the pointless systems have this issue. need to research it.

also not sure my oil temp gauge is fully working. the needle moves when i turn the key, but after running for about 4 minutes it's still not showing any temp. which brings up the question how long does it take for the oil to get to at least 120 degrees?

edit:
forgot i took a couple pic's of the damaged wire

so the gauges are in and functioning. the oil temp gauge is now functioning as well. not sure if taking the wire off the the gauge and putting it back fixed it or if the oil wasn't getting hot enough, but it works so im not complaining.
also, while i was in there i replaced hazard switch. been meaning to do that for over a decade but didn't want to take the back of the dash apart.
also readjusted the carb. its now holding about 850 rpm at idle and has a nice crisp throttle response. also not running nearly as rich anymore.
and checked the rear wheel cylinder again. still no leaks and brakes are working. just need to bleed them and im calling the rears good.

hoping to have the tires mounted on the new rear wheels later this next week. we'll see how that goes.

That's some great oil pressure!

that's cold. when its warm it drops down to just over 40 at idle. which is still really damn good at idle

rear tires mounted (and that's not ride height, the cars still on jack stands)
im liking the offset difference between the 5.5's on the rear and 4.5's on the front.

^ ^ ^ Very nice! 8-)

and now the eccentric bolt on the passenger side is stripped (threads) so i can't do anything with the alignment until i replace it :roll:

which also means i was driving the car on a stripped eccentric bolt and would have had changing chamber :shock:

alright im looking for everyone's .02 cents.
im planning ahead, the seats are the last part of the interior i need to finish (well aside from wanting to redo the headliner do to crappy install) and i got some color samples form TMI. i know the seats will be #90 smooth Saddle vinyl. but i want an insert in the seats, which leads to this question. which color? iv narrowed it down to 2 with a questionable third. im not giving my opinion, but using these pic's, what combo would you pic?
left to right. #74 Sand Tweed, R5 Brown/Beige Velour, #54 Beige Velour. i snapped some pic's in sunlight and shade for comparison. moving square is the #90 Saddle vinyl.

and cause options and angles are always good when it comes to color here they are on #90 Saddle door panel

#2 and then #1 are my faves.

I'm totally NOT into Velour so I opt for #74 Sand Tweed.
I also like the color combo #90 Saddle / #74 Sand best.

i actually like the #54 Beige Velour with the Saddle vinyl best. but im a bad back and butt sweater and always seem to be dirty so im not sure how well that Beige would hold up. it would probably wind up smudged, stained and/or discolored in no time flat. it's a driver not a show car so durability means more than looks (at least to a point) so im 90% sure going with the #90 Saddle vinyl with #74 Sand Tweed insert.

anyone have any experience with velour interiors? Maddel im looking your direction sense you seem to have an opinion on the material :P the only thing iv been able to find was a post on the samba where someone said they had a velour interior back in the day and it wore out fast and the seams got dirty. but didn't mention how long it lasted.

Super_Randy wrote:

... anyone have any experience with velour interiors? Maddel im looking your direction sense you seem to have an opinion on the material :P the only thing iv been able to find was a post on the samba where someone said they had a velour interior back in the day and it wore out fast and the seams got dirty. but didn't mention how long it lasted.

I was kid in the '70s you know... Over here it was common to wear corduroy trousers and velour shirts back then. :?
I hated it :evil: and made desperate efforts to convince my parents to buy me a pair of jeans (plus a jacket of course). :D
So I'm prejudiced against velour (may be even traumatized) and never had a car with such an interior. :lol:

Below a pic of the velour interior of a Mercedes-Benz 600. Not my cup of tea but must be durable stuff if they chose this material...

You'd break into cold sweats if you had to sit in the El Camino :)

that pic reinforces my thinking that velour will get dirty/stained. that drives seat looks filthy and i bet it won't clean well.

Super_Randy wrote:

that pic reinforces my thinking that velour will get dirty/stained. that drives seat looks filthy and i bet it won't clean well.

I'm no fan of it but that being said, I don't know of a lot of fabrics that will stand up to 35+ years of dirty asses. The hard vinyl steering wheel is filthier than the seats. The vinyl/cloth seats in my Bronco are ruined as well.

well i broke down Sunday and ordered a front disc brake kit and chamber bolts. they came today. so iv got plans this weekend 8-)

sense the passenger side is the one leaking i figured id start on the drivers side :P that's as far as i got today. installing the bearing races in the disc took longer than expected. and fought me more than i expected. :x