Finishing the brake rebuild operation

Now that Thanksgiving is just a memory, we can finally settle down and do some more work on Old Biddy. The two projects which still lingered over my head were to get the calipers rebuilt and to work on fabricating the angle iron lift bar.

Since my workshop is finally cleaned and reorganized, John came over to help with the calipers. I felt like one of Santa’s elves working with him!

After we cleaned out the old rings and scraped the rest of the rust out, I was delegated the job of using the brake cleaner…lucky me! Notice that the mating surfaces were carefully polished.

John reinstalled new rubber rings and gently tapped in the metal locking ring with a 7 ounce hammer.

Then we squeezed the piston into the caliper with my vice, which is a two person job since my vice is not bolted to the bench. (Long story!)

In accordance with the “Book of Highly Exalted Words”, here is John torqueing the caliper back together.

Rebuilt at last! They will just have to be degreased before they get repainted their original black. The new pads, clips, shims, and pins will be installed after the calipers are in place on the car.

John brought the angle iron (an old bed frame rail) for me to fabricate the lifting bar. I will get to it on Friday.

At this point in time, it is crucial that I concentrate on getting the front sub-frame removed. All the planning and prep and forward progress that has been done up to this point rests solely upon this step. The front suspension, motor, steering rack, and radiator installation (etc…) will be very difficult to do with the sub-frame in place. Wish me luck!

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Braking apart the calipers

This week was very busy but I did manage to squeeze in a couple free hours to do some work on Old Biddy. Since he has more tools than me, John figured that it would be easier to disassemble the front brake calipers at his house and to reassemble them here at home. So up to John’s I went with the brakes.

The bolts holding the halves together were stuck. Nothing that a vice and a little torque could not fix.

After taking out what was left of the brake pads, we thought that the pistons were going to be frozen in place.

I read somewhere about using compressed air (instead of brake fluid under pressure) to “pop” the pistons out. It worked GREAT!!

It was a relief to see that the pistons were in good reusable condition. They just have to be cleaned up before the rebuild operation takes place.

Here are all the parts that came out of the calipers. One of the main reasons the “car didn’t have good brakes” (as the guy who sold me the parts car stated to me.)

I also had a chance to swing by Chris’s to drop off the timing chain cover and the starter. The block has been mated to the transmission.

It looks like jewelry! Check out that nicely painted oil filter housing (if I do say so myself)!

Besides his pride in his craftsmanship and attention to details, one thing that I have always admired about Chris is his straight forward honesty. He has painstakingly labored over this motor more than we both thought that he would. But, he is not ready or in a hurry to finish it until it is finished correctly.

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Progress in slow motion

A lot of work was done this week but there is not much to show for it because it was more sanding, priming and painting. Time was a rare commodity but I did what I could when I could.

The brake calipers took a couple days to clean up and prime. They were a rusty mess!! I found out that they were originally black…thus black shall they be again.

As I was cleaning them, they literally crumbled apart.

I have now received all the necessary NOS and replacement parts to rebuild the calipers (as I cross my fingers and hope the pistons are still good.) Now I need to find the time to do it.

I finally got around to restoring the timing chain cover. I just need the time to take it down to Chris who is waiting for it.

I started to make a template out of a cracker box for some angle iron that will act as a lifting bracket. We will need that so we can lift the car body with an engine crane to remove the front sub-frame.

I hope to finish the bracket by the end of the week. The next two weeks are going to be crazy busy!!

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Finding packets of joy.

As some of you may have heard, we had a humdinger of a Nor’easter snowstorm last Saturday night. We had no power for four and a half days and no internet (or cable connection) for nearly seven days. Not to mention the 21.5” of snow we received! So as can be expected the major restoration plans were put aside as we were in survival mode. But, the good news I have is worth passing along.

First, on Wednesday afternoon, the moment I arrived home and found out that we had our power restored, I discovered that my rear bumper from my secret parts source was delivered! The outside of it is very good and will probably only need a good cleaning and polishing.

The inside needs to have the car body sheet metal (that he smartly kept on in order to save the bumper) removed because the nuts and bolts are rusted. It will receive the same wire wheel and chrome paint treatment as the front bumper.

And, somehow John found my brake calipers in a box in his garage! They will be restored and rebuilt. I just have to find out the correct color for them, which will be either red, brass or yellow…I cannot tell until I start to clean them up.

They happen to be the same calipers used on 1963-1979 MG Midgets. The only difference is that the center groove is wider on the Midgets because the rotor is wider.

This is my example of “you never really know what you are going to get when you buy things on eBay sometimes”. This pad set was one of two that I bought from a fellow in Ontario Canada a couple years ago. First he listed them as an auction for one front brake caliper kit/box for an MG 1100. He had two sets available so I bought both sets from him in a relatively inexpensive ”Buy It Now”. When I received them I noticed that each box had a set for a pair of front disc brake calipers. Not only that, but they are definitely NOT for an MG 1100 nor any ADO16 car! So knowing that the calipers are the same as a Midget, I had to order a new set of pads, clips, and shims from Moss Motors today. Now I have to find out what cars these fit and put both sets back up on eBay and be accurate (and honest) in their description!

I hope we can finally get to the sub-frame removal this week.

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy