After 15 years, finally starting a restoration!

[scogre]

I'm still taking my roadster apart. I'm so scared. lol

[JMartin]

James and Ross:

I got lucky and the rod was exactly the same size, and the line screwed right into the side of the Clutch Master. That's not to say that it might be the wrong (metric vs. SAE) but it threaded in easily by hand.

I was working on putting back some of the wiring, and when I had my starter gone through this fall, I just noticed that they changed the nut on the lead on the starter. It didn't thread on properly, and I need to know if the post on the starter is metric or not, so I can run a die on it to clean up the threads, and get another nut!

[dbrick]

Here is a photo of the console. Very tight fit...wouldn't recommend doing this again. It was way too tight against the defrost ducts. You need to use 90 degree RCA plugs if you use a DIN sized radio here.

Considering what you had to do to get it in there, it looks very good. We can be cruel to newbies now, just post the above pic and say "Yup, Fits right in with a little cutting"

[JMartin]

Dave; that's cruel....I love it!
If I had cut the opening just 1/4" more towards the drivers side, it wouldn't have interfered with the fan switch, etc. really ticked me off that I hadn't taken the size of the knob into consideration when I made the initial cut. Thank goodness the stereo mounting brackets have those little fingers that you can bent outwards to help hold it in place after you made that mistake!

[JMartin]

I managed to put in the rad, brake master, and carbs this weekend. On my overflow tank I had a black push button release on top of the cap. I looked at it closely, and realized that the PO put some type of white silicone inside it to hold it together, as part of the inner metal ring was missing. Thats a new one! I went and replaced it with a 7 lb cap instead of a 13 lb cap as I'm still running the original rad I believe. Is that a bad idea.
I made a posting on the tech link about the master cylinder I put back together, I think I may have to take it back out!
Finally, I put the SU carbs back onto the car. Holy crap, it was hard to get the inner two 1/2" nuts onto them. I must have dropped them 20 times. I thought I was all good until I tried to put the choke cable leads into that infinitely small hole. I ended up over tightening one of the bolts and snapped the retainer off. Lots of swearing as I had to take the rear carb off, come up with a way to secure the choke cable, and reinstall the carb again. I think this is progress...

[JMartin]

Brake line question: I was about to start bleeding brakes when I noticed a leak at the fitting by rear pass wheel. Tightened it up but still heard a leak when my son pushed the pedal. I opened up the fitting and was questioning the fit of the line to the connecting nut at the point where it goes up the rear pass wheel. I saw some light rust and possibly an out of round end to the line. Anyone have an issue here before? Maybe I have an issue further up the wheel arch and the fluid was running down the line to the fitting.

[notoptoy]

This is the subject of another thread, at that connection (large female connector, goes through a frame mounted brace), there is an internal ferrule that is made of unobtanium. If you have lost this, you may be best served by replacing it with a new fitting. I had the ferrule, but it was impossible to get it back in and I gave up trying to keep it from leaking - and replaced it.

[JMartin]

Notoptoy; sorry. I didn't see it in the search (too many hits for my search criteria).I will have to go reread to see if I will be replacing the whole line section or just the fitting

[JMartin]

Thanks Notoptoy and others that gave me suggestions. I got lucky and went out to the old frame I had and took apart the rusty brake lines. "Voila", there was the mystery ferrule I was looking for. I was surprised at how such a small little thing could cause such trouble. There was a thread somewhere where someone welded 2 male flares together, and man did that look exactly like the ferrule.

All you welders out there could make some for those of us that keep losing the small parts!

[fj20spl311]

All you welders out there could make some for those of us that keep losing the small parts!

How about a picture.


I don't what to take you car apart to see what you are talking about.

[JMartin]

Sorry, I should have taken a photo, but I didn't. I still have a couple of leaks elsewhere, but if I have to take it apart again I will be sure to take a couple pics. I know that I saw a photo of the 2 male fitting welded together, but I just spent 10 mins looking for it in the search, and couldn't find it, sorry.

I can tell you that it is a real pain to get back in properly, as I had to balance it on the top of the line coming from the front of the car, and slide it into the large retaining nut. The nut is facing downwards, so it just falls out...trust me...when you think you have just lost the replacement one on the dirty concrete floor, you really start to swear at your self!

[JMartin]

My son got a good lesson on the size of the drivers compartment last night. I was installing the push rods for the clutch and brake pedals, and in order to get the spring connected to the underside of the dash I took out the drivers seat (hadn't fully bolted it in yet), I laid on my back, shoved my head under the dash area, and tried to hold all the tools in my teeth...I think he made some joke about "don't drop the retaining clip, there's no room for me to reach in and grab it" Little bugger, he's only 5 feet tall, I'm 6 feet, why didn't I just let him in there and do it?

[JMartin]

I think I need a new rear wheel cylinder (passenger side). I have fluid in the line up to the cylinder, but no way can I get it to come out the bleeder. I even took out the bleeder tonight. I have removed the cylinder, and remove the round rubber boot over the end. I can't seem to move the piston at all, so I soaked it in a "loosenall" product and will leave it over night. I tried using the search engine to see about removal of the piston, but couldn't see it. I am not sure if it is 3/4 or 15/16 (69 2000)
I saw that some people said NAPA had kits, but I couldn't seem to get that link working. If the bore is pitted, then I will get 2 new ones (the other side always seems to go when one side goes)
-Does anyone have spare kits available
-does anyone have have spare entire cylinders? I will be contacting one of the vendors if no one here has any extras.

[Datsun.David]

I am sure that Ross probably has both... In my experience, new is the way to go... They are kind of critical after all...

[JMartin]

Thanks Datsun.Dave;

I know that Ross is in Calgary this week, he is planning to be home on the weekend, so I may have to do exactly what you said.

BTW, I chased the NAPA brake cylinder rebuild kit #UP1065 (from the WIKI) doesn't seem to be available in Canada, at least my Napa couldn't find anything with that number