[Josue]

5 out of 6 ain't bad! Got it all done minus filling up the rear end, but I decided that while I had access to the trans, I'd put a new filter and pan gasket on since the trans has been saturated since I installed it! So that took up the rest of my time.

Also took apart the shifter shaft? Linkage rod? Whatever it's called. haha There was a drip coming from there too, so I threw a new seal at it.






The speedometer cable housing needs replaced too, it has a leak coming from the end where the cable screws in. Looks like there's a chunk missing on the end of the threads.




There's nothing left but to install the new master cylinder/booster, so hopefully I can knock that out next week, fill all these fluids up, and work out any bugs!

I need to order some booster brackets to mount this thing though, since my car was manual brakes.

[Josue]

Just about ready for a test drive!

Got my booster brackets from Summit today, so I finished the firewall stuff up...

Had to re-thread both the rod (obviously) and the bracket as well. Not sure if the threads are deep enough, I'm kind of wondering if I'll strip it right out pushing the pedal too hard in a panic stop or something? haha Once I get it all dialed in and working 100%, I'll throw some tack welds at it to keep everything in place.




Used some bolts to shim it down a bit. Sits pretty level, just as I wanted. Also used the original master cylinder grommet to fill the hole back up.




Had to man-handle the bends in the lines, I wasn't too good with a tubing bender. haha Maybe I'll take another run at these 2 lines someday.

Side note, I can't believe how solid this prop valve is mounted even just being suspended there by the brake lines! Thing ain't going anywhere!

[/URL]


Now all that's left to do, is get a bung for my intake manifold so I can hook the booster up, see if I have enough vacuum to make a difference in pedal pressure.

I also want to try re-bleeding the rear brakes, the driver side caliper gave me some problems that I'm concerned about. I'm not sure if a bleeder screw can go bad, but the thing was acting weird. It was VERY hard to break loose, so I ran it in and out a few times when I did get it going, to clean it out. Then during bleeding, I'd tighten it down, but fluid would still come pouring out if it? I'd loosen it up, then the fluid would stop. Loosen it up more, then the fluid would come out again! I finally damn near stood on the wrench to tighten it, and it seems to be sealed up now, no leaks, but we'll see what happens overnight.

[Josue]

Maiden voyage!






I know, I know....needs lowered. haha

[tom s]

I can get past the yellow plug wires but not the yellow block!Tom

[Josue]

Haha...definitely not my choice! My dad did that years ago, and since an overhaul is on my short list, I don't feel like taking the time to respray the block in the car.

I guess I shouldn't show you guys a picture of the yellow neon lights he had installed under the car either, eh??

[Josue]

And so far, the kinks are as follows...

Steering - It did ok on the first drive, but it developed an intermittent binding, clunking noise after that, so I'll have to track that down.

Performance wise, it feels much like manual steering? I'm not sure if that's just the nature of the beast with these quicker ratio boxes, or if there's a problem somewhere? I LOVE the response of it now, but I wish it was a little easier to turn. Maybe some more miles will reveal the answer...

Brakes - I had hoped I'd throw all this on and voila, modern braking feel and performance just like that, but I knew it was a stretch. haha As I expected, little to no improvement on pedal feel due to my low vacuum levels, so I'll need to see if I can throw a better tune on it, and/or get a vacuum canister.

I couldn't even lock the brakes up at all though, so I'm not sure if the addition of a working booster will help with that, or if there's still air in the lines or some other issue preventing instant braking performance like that?

Axle - I can definitely feel the difference with the 3.08's, so I'm pretty happy there! I thought I had the axle centered in the wheel arches, while being squared up off the front hubs, but after getting the wheels on and having it sit on it's suspension, the driver side wheel looks like it's sitting back a bit....weird.

While cleaning up the barn though, I found an old set of original leaf spring pads from the used rear end. I'm going to clean them up and throw them in on top of the leafs....should allow the rear end to sit exactly where it needs to now.

Torque converter - The new stall speed is spot on with the car now, MUCH better than the 2600-3000 that was in there last season!


Overall, pretty happy with the results. Could be better, but could be a LOT worse too! At least I don't have any leaks anywhere...everything is sealed up as it should be. Just gotta get some miles on it, and work things out as I go...

[Josue]

Got about 30 miles on the car now, only glaring issue has been the tune, and now an issue with my booster...

The brakes were applying themselves the other day for some reason? They weren't locked up completely, but they were definitely dragging. There was little to no travel in the pedal too, like something in the booster was preventing me from depressing the pedal. Happened driving the 4 miles to my parents house on Sunday, it took just about all the car had to keep moving!! I was getting worried I would glaze over my rotors/pads or blow the engine up! Parked it there, and came back a half hour later, and it was fine again.

Talking to a GM tech friend of mine, turns out the booster is bad. All this time, it's had a massive vacuum leak under the dash, coming from around the rod. Like, a LOUD sucking noise! One of 2 things had to happen; since I got it from a salvage dealer, maybe it got messed up when the person got into the accident from their foot being on the brakes? Or, I spun the rod around too much, and damaged something inside the booster. I didn't know you weren't supposed to do that, so I guess it's a lesson learned. lol That's why I'm not going back to the yard to ask for a different one, it might have been my fault, and at this point, I'd rather go new than used.

Maybe that's why the car was running so differently too? I'm sure a big vacuum leak like that isn't good. Rock Auto has a AC Delco reman for $99 plus a $10 core charge. I'm waiting for my friend at O'Reilly's to give me player pricing on their brand before picking one. Weather is going to get crappy later this week anyway, so I won't get to this until next week. Gives me time to go buy a new timing light too!

[Squidward]

Waiting to see how you get this dialed in! Nice work, hope you get the booster sorted out.

BTW, you should be able pull the bleeder screw to make sure nothing is broken or damaged.

[Josue]

Which bleeder screw? On the driver side, rear caliper? Or is there one on the booster somewhere?

[1FIRE]

Nice thread- and excellent work.......

Noticed you had the 68 original steering wheel hanging on the wall.......

Interested in selling it?????

[Josue]

Thanks!

And not at this time, it's making for good garage art. Haha

[1FIRE]

It would also look really nice on my car..................

If you get tired at looking at the art.................let me know

cheers

[Josue]

Hopefully fixed my axle issue!

The original pads didn't work out either, the rear end was still sliding around on the leaf springs. I just couldn't get enough squish to the pads to keep the rear end in place I guess, the shock plates were touching the leaf spring perches, so I couldn't tighten them any more...

My dad had the idea to use some old sockets to center and keep the rear end from sliding, so I gave it a shot.





You can see how much I would have had to open up the hole in the shock plate to fit these A/M pads....terrible.



Originals all beat up now...







Finished...




And, probably shouldn't have drove much when the rear end was all jacked up like that...haha

[Squidward]

Can't imagine it's gonna come loose now. Nice!

When are you gonna let the smoke out of them expensive tires?

[Josue]

You mean tire, right? hahahaha

Got a wicked vibration that starts around 45-50mph this whole time too, not sure where to even begin with that one. It's worse than an unbalanced tire, so I doubt that's it. I don't think it's anything internal in the rear end either. Maybe an unbalanced drive shaft? The shop I called to get a balance quote said if the rear end isn't sitting in there right, it could be a wacky pinion angle or something like that.

Doubt it's in the front end, since all I did was change the box, and it wasn't doing this last year on the original box.

[68 Firebird]

Mine had a weird vibration at highway speed and turned out the cure was to rotate
drv shaft 180 degrees at rear U-Joint. I never thought of that when I removed drive shaft
to install new U-Joints. Anyway hope its tat simple for you too.
Mine has a 3:08 rear gear set and it did it only 55 and up.

Gerry

[Josue]

How did you end up giving that a try? Did you go through a bunch of other possible solutions prior to that?

I would have never thought to try that, I wonder why it makes a difference?

[68 Firebird]

Searched a bunch of threads on PY and came across that one. Something about
balancing and vibrations. Also make sure U-Joints are truly centered in straps no
slop from caps being too far apart.
Gerry

[Josue]

Interesting!

I don't think there could be any slop in the caps on either side, the yoke has those tabs that the caps sit inside of, and I used the inside clips the drive shaft side.

The straps were for a larger size cap though, and don't truly sit all the way around the cap. They had them in stock at the local parts store, so I gave them a shot instead of ordering online. They still do the job in holding the u joint in though.

[JLMounce]

Vibration that comes on at speed is typically a balance issue in the drivetrain. Remember, it's not just the driveshaft that is spinning. You have a harmonic balancer, connected to a crankshatk, connected to a flywheel/flexplate, connected to either a clutch and pressure plate or torque converter which is connected to spinning components in the transmission, through the driveshaft, into the carrier and passed at 90 degrees through axles and finally on to the wheels themselves.

There's a TON of areas where you can start stacking tolerance of things being out of whack. By rotating the driveshaft 180 degrees at the pinion, you're segregating two halves of the reciprocating parts in your driveline. It usually completely cures the issue, or pushes the vibration much sooner or much later in speed. If it doesn't cure the issue, the only cure is to find what's out of balance enough to be causing it.

The wheel/tires and driveshaft are primary culprits most of the time, so make sure they are balanced correctly. From there you move on to the next easiest/cheapest parts.