And I do mean South
Here I am in sunny and 77 south florida. Sean is in belize. I'm warm, he's warmer. You are cold. Wear a sweater.... a sweaterr..... (ghostly homer/hamlet Sr.)
We got here Thursday night when it was only 50* and cloudy, but it got better. There is supposed to be another "cold snap" though. HA!
Friday Sean left for Belize, and i fixed the stereo in mom's civic, found a blinker and stop lamp out, and shorted out her tail lights. ooops. Saturday i fixed all of that and talked to Roy (mom's assistant's boyfriend) about his 1977 corvette. I forgot my camera.
The Jeep is done of course. For pics of that, refer to the "Al's jeep" entry and access my flickr account. The axles arrived wednesday late afternoon. They wouldn't slide right in, which addled my brain a bit. They're New! I spent some time measuring, counting splines, and comparing, then just brushed some burrs off the splines of the new axles using a tiny triangular file, and tapped them in. 2 taps and they slid in like butter. Hooray!
It has some 4wd issues i didn't have time to address, but it's not about to lose a wheel anymore. I wasn't aware of the 4wd problem until i was able to drive it w/o being scared sh!tless. Al may be visiting again if he wants 4wd to work right, and his son has some differential issues in a Monte carlo too.
Today i looked at Roy's vette. It has little-to-no-brakes. He backed it out of the garage recently and had to use the parking brake to stop. Anyone who knows these cars can sympathize with this... it sits alot. i was hoping all it needed was a master cylinder, but was betting on leaking calipers. Yup. Leaking calipers. I checked the right rear and the pads were soaked. These Corvettes are different than most cars regarding their calipers. They have the same basic design as other 1967-68 GM calipers, but the vette kept using them into the early 80s. They work REALLY well, but are heavy and sometimes unreliable, esp if they sit for long periods.
There is a company i mentioned before on this blog called VB&P.
They make calipers with stainless sleeves AND redesigned seals.
Roy is getting 4 of them, 4 hoses, and a master cylinder, all in a kit.
It's a good deal IMO. it should survive long sits much better.
he's also replacing all 4 rotors to complete the job. Judging from what i saw, they're pretty rusted and have been turned. Replacing them will be a good compliment to the hydraulic kit and new pads.
I checked out the parking brake shoes on the right rear and they look great (thank the good spaghetti monster). from my experience, and their appearence, the other side should be about the same.
All of these parts i'm replacing look original but serviced. Original from 1977. I really only checked one wheel, but the disc rivets were drilled. I hope the rest are drilled. otherwise i have to find a drill here somewhere. Mine's at home.
parts should be here thursday we hope. i'll see if i can come up with a camera.