Taking things as they come

Spent a few hours in the garage today in the oddly warm weather - it was 62°F today - double what it should have been for this time of year.

I took the rear drums off and fixed the spring clip issue.  That's knocked off the list of things to check out.

I pulled the pedal assembly apart, cleaned the pan on the car and pulled out the blue Bentley to check on the brake plunger rod length.  It's listed at 149.5 +/- .5mm so I adjusted the rod to that length and installed the pedal cluster.  The rod is too long - there's no 'resting' of the pedal even after I adjusted the pedals to be as loose as possible via the floor mounted stop. The pedal cluster will have to come back out and I'll swap it out for a rod that's 5mm shorter and hopefully that'll solve the problem.  I'm wondering if the book accounts only for the ATE master cylinder in one variation or if I'm missing something else in my adjustment.

I didn't tackle the turn signal cancellation issue yet.

I have to assemble the pneumatic brake bleeder before I can bleed the brakes - hoping I can get to it next week.

Then some wiring issues to tackle and I should be in good shape...in theory.

*dead air*

I bought this exhaust tip - either as something to use or as a potential part to be resold another day...depending on if I keep the stock exhaust on the car.  I've now got three for one car.

I haven't had time to do much about the brake spring clip that's on backward - the holidays are quickly creeping up on me and I'm unprepared - so the brakes and the turn signal cancellation issue are on hold.

A little over a week ago, I stopped in and dropped off a set of hub caps and two horn bars to be stripped and hard chromed.  The lead time is 12 weeks right now - seems a lot of other people have Winter projects going on - good thing I'm not in a rush.  They quoted me $350 per bumper to straighten and chrome...which is about what I expected it to be.  I'm rather happy that I don't have much to chrome because it's very expensive.

In the meantime, I'm either buying or selling parts.

“I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking”

I took the day off today so I can get to some things that have gone to the back burner.  But I had some time for the car this morning so I went back at the brakes knowing that I'd missed something simple.  Something that I didn't do correctly that caused the issue.  Human error, yeah?

I first loosened the already loose parking brake cables until there were 2-3 threads on the nut at the lever in the car.  Just to make sure they're not the issue.

After various methods of comparison between the right side, which went together fine, and the left side that was troubling me, I discovered one error:  The parking brake 'spreader bar' was installed upside down - pushing the shoes out and likely preventing me from installing the drum and having a freely rotating wheel.  I set about pulling the brakes apart and flipping the spreader bar around to the proper orientation.  With that done, I again attempted to install the drum...no dice.

Wondering if the brake shoes were incorrect or warped/shaped poorly, I pulled out a NOS set that I bought a long time ago and placed them in the drum...and they fit as expected.  I removed one of the two shoes from the car  and placed it in the drum and it fit properly. It's not the shoes.

Not the shoes, not the parking brake cables, not the spreader bar orientation...springs/retainers are largely irrelevant here so I eliminated them as a culprit.

Took it all apart again and replaced the adjusting stars while I was checking that I'd oriented the adjusting screws correctly.  No issues so I can add those to the slowly growing list of 'what it's not'.

The only other semi-logical thing to do was to remove, one by one, the new parts and replace them with the old parts until things fit again.  So, for the fourth time in 90 minutes, I was taking it all apart again.  If swapping the old part with the new part didn't resolve the issue, I put it back on...you know, just to complicate things a bit.

After fifteen minutes of swapping parts, I found the culprit:  The new spreader bars were 6mm longer, both externally and at the contact points for the brake shoes and lever arm.  The old spreaders are a little beat up but they still work.  I swapped both new spreader bars with their old counterpart and both sides went right back together.

Unfortunately, I've way over-scheduled my activities for the day so I had to stop after it all fit back together to do what I'd originally planned for the day.

As I sit here, ready to post this and reviewing my photo I realize that I've got to take it apart again because the clip for the top spring is on backward.  FUCK.

Photo from the workshop manual that I had open while I was working on the car...yeah, some days I'm the guy who needs the Denny's menu.

The next task will be to adjust the shoes and parking brake cables and bleed the brakes.  It seems like I've been saying that for months.

In addition to the brake system fun, I checked into the turn signal cancellation issue that I discovered.  I pulled the steering wheel and checked the cancellation ring which is in good condition.  So I activated the turn signal as if I were making a left turn and attempted to trigger the reset manually using a screwdriver.  To my surprise, it didn't work...it's a NOS Koln column that will now need to be taken apart (Noooo!!!!) or swapped with my NOS SWF column.

The rear brakes - almost

After waiting two weeks to get all of the possible pieces to swap out the potentially faulty rear brake parts, the process of replacement was under way.  The left side was fairly straightforward and after some cleaning, the parts went right back in.

I went to the right side and noticed that there was about a tablespoon of  gear oil from the transmission on the floor.  Before I resigned myself to tearing the whole thing apart, I checked the bolts on the bearing cover and found that all four were loose.  After tightening them up, I swapped out the parking brake cable and put everything back together.

Last step was cleaning the NOS rear drums - removing the wax on the braking surface on the inside - and installing them.  My expectation was that I'd at least get these installed and maybe get the brakes bled with the vacuum bleeder...but what wound up happening is that I got it all installed and then the left side seized up on me.  The right side went together easily but the left side is stuck.

Here's where I am:

• Brake adjusters are dialed back completely
• New brake shoes/hardware
• New spreader bar and lever arm
• New parking brake cable
• Everything is tight/aligned.

The old drums came right off after the axle nut was loosened...the new one went on but doesn't turn and won't come off.  The right side was assembled exactly the same and works fine.  It'll be 'hammer time' tomorrow when I attempt to remove it again with a little more force (hammer and wood block) but I can't think of anything that'll keep it from turning.  I have another set of brake shoes I could try but I don't know what else it could be if that doesn't solve the issue...the blue Bentley wasn't much help.

Yet another reason I'd prefer to have disc brakes at all four corners.

It's that time of year...

This popped up in the classifieds for about an hour - it was $125 shipped.  I thought about buying it but decided against it.  Another one will pop up in a couple of years and I'll still have at least one car in pieces so perhaps it'll be more interesting.

It is interesting that a lot of rare parts show up for sale right before Christmas and right around tax time.

311 863 341 A, NOS parking brake boot

NOS parking brake boot I bought today.  I also found a repop in Europe that looks closer to this one than the other one I bought earlier in the year - which is both too light in color and, several months later, smells like a place where old action figures go to die and get melted down.

This one is not anthracite but it's the right shape.  And let's be honest:  the odds of finding the original rubber mat are slim.  It's more likely that I'll install carpet and this one will be a much closer match to the carpet, so I'm okay with it.

Part number checks out.

Black Friday progress

I did get the main front to rear brake line installed.  It was a hell of a lot easier than I expected but not without its challenges.  I wound up using a line I bought from ISP several years back that I forgot I'd purchased.  The location of the rear mount for the T is a real unnecessary bitch.  If it were moved over to the center about two inches, it'd be a straight shot out of the pan and would make reaching everything a lot easier.  I'm thinking about moving the bracket on Ferris when it's time to put it back together.  The current parking brake cables are about 40 years old and are going to need to be replaced since the adjustment is gone from them - and the drums are off, this looks to be the right time.  I don't think I have the cables so I'll have to order them...and wait.

I pulled out one of the two late divider panels that I bought and cut it down to make a bracket to fit the 67 only reservoir.  The test piece turned out okay but I'll definitely want something a little better when the restoration is underway.

I wound up spending the rest of my time cleaning the garage because it was filling up with random shit from the yard and the house.

Turkey day progress

Pulled the rear drums off today with the hope of them being in decent shape so I could help out a fellow T3 owner...alas, they're in rough shape, so they're going into the scrap bin - the NOS drums will go on the car as I've all but abandoned the idea of swapping over to rear disc brakes for now.  Who knows, by the time I get around to getting Ferris up on tires, I may change my mind and shift the lightly worn NOS units to Ferris while I put rear discs on Nigel.  Time will tell.

In other news, I also pulled the main brake line out of the center of the car.  I forgot just how much stuff is crammed into the left side of the rear of the tunnel - it's pretty tight.  I got the main line out and found these two crusty individuals as the grommets at the rear end - they don't look anything like their identified replacements, which have a MUCH smaller diameter midsection.

Because I think I've got at least two of everything - I actually have the exact replacement for these two worn out bits and they'd be a lot easier to deal with since my brake line is already assembled vs. the newer pieces.  Someday in the future, I'll be pulling this pan apart to get the floors welded in so they'll get replaced well in advance of ten years from now.  I'm hoping to have some time in the morning tomorrow to tackle some more work on the car.  All I've managed to do so far is take more parts off of the car - I've got to start putting them back if I stand a chance of putting it back on tires again.

NOS Left front indicator housing

Left side NOS turn indicator housing...now I have 3 pair in NOS condition.  I'm going to go through them in the Spring and sell off one pair, put a pair on the car and keep the last pair for the finished restoration.

3 bolt pulley shroud is added to the pile

Picked up an early 3 bolt pulley shroud from a parts pile ad in the classifieds.  It'll eventually replace the super dented one that was slated for Nigel's restoration - I can either fix that one or sell it down the road.  I've now got three lids for these shrouds.

One broken part delays the process yet again.

I bought the small clamps and straps from a guy in New Zealand who is restoring a T34 a few months ago.

I installed them today after having to concede defeat yet again with the brakes.  The car has never had a solid pedal like it should.  An attempt to bleed them today yielded another disappointing result.  Instead of just saying 'fuck it' and blaming myself for not doing something right, I examined the whole system, inch by inch, and I found the problem: The main line from front to rear has three tiny holes in it...just enough to cause havoc with both successfully bleeding the brakes and, likely, successfully stopping the car.  Since I don't have one of these lines handy, I had to stop this process - knowing that I'll have to order / find one and start again.  Since I'm at this point, I'm going to pull the whole system apart (something I tried REAL hard to not do) and replace all of the hard lines (soft lines are brand new).  I've ordered completely new hard lines for both cars (or for me to screw up once and try again).

To make myself feel slightly better, I installed these clamps and did some interior cleaning so that I could accomplish something with the time I had available.  I'll have to remove the seat belt adapter so that I can remove the rear section of the crispy rubber mat...which will then allow me to get to the rear portion of the brake line.  I'm not really looking forward to this repair.

A million little things...

 The car is back up on jack stands - which is both a good thing and a bad thing.

It's good because I was able to address a few things that needed attention.

Up front: Adjusting the steering box because it wasn't quite on the mount where it belonged - unfortunately it didn't 100% solve the alignment issue but I'll get back to that, drain the fuel tank, assess the situation with the brake reservoir and centered the steering wheel once I aligned the center mark on the box.

 In the rear: Replaced the fuel line and filter between the pan and the engine and install the balance of the fuel line on the engine along with the check valve.

There are still a few things missing on the engine but it's closer than it was yesterday.  I've got some clamps to install around the fan housing to heat exchanger yet.  Once I've made it back to the interior of the car and I can get the brake pedal rod adjusted properly, I'll come around back and hook up the accelerator cable and clutch cable.

I still hold out hope that I'll be able to get all of that done AND bleed the flippin' brakes.  It'll be a hell of a lot easier to do with the wheels off (bonus: the car is level right now).  If the weather stays mild, I might fire it up and go for a drive...but I'm not feeling quite that ambitious or hopeful.  It's tantamount to buying a scratch ticket - knowing full well that I don't stand much of a chance of winning while secretly 'wishing' that I could...wishing that I would.

NOS front indicators w/Italian spec lenses

 Last week I sold a bunch of random parts that I'll never use.  That money sitting in my PayPal account was used to buy this pair of NOS housings with Italian lenses today.

 One more thing to scratch off of the list.   Hopefully, they're packed well and arrive in good condition.

The seals look pretty crunchy but they'll come up for sale soon enough.