Large Marge: The New Adventures

[Brown_Muscle]

FINALLY got the big brake swap done, been working on it piece by piece. New front brake lines as well. I love the look of fresh brakes.



They fit the wheel nicely.



Now on to the next mess! Then I can go get it aligned.



Question: For those of you who did the BB swap, the passenger side brake line needed to be slightly twisted to make it work, nothing crazy, but it didn't just slip into place, have you experienced this?

[87gtVIC]

To answer your question...maybe.

After putting so many things on a car that it was not originally designed to take I tend to forget what was messed with to make right. I also come to expect having to tweak things to fit.

Great work phil. Love that wagon. Let me know when you get rid of it. oops! did I say that out loud?!

Excellent weather this weekend to knock out all of that work. You will have it running again in no time.

[gadget73]

I don't remember anything particularly odd with the hose routing but its been a long time since I actually installed it.

Now would be a good time to give the balancer a good visual inspection, and rock the crank to check the timing chain for slack. You're halfway to replacing both so you may as well find out if its needed now.

[jaywish]

I swapped the new right and left hoses to provide full drop.

Do you have rear disks yet?

[His Royal Ghostliness]

Jay, yes he has the rear discs, that was done a while ago.

Not surprising at all that some tweaking of the brake line was needed, but that's no big deal really, and quite frankly the way the factory run some of the lines is quite stupid, so nothing wrong with readjusting their shape or even changing their routing entirely. Thought you're replacing that line altogether tho, I seem to recall it not looking too hot?

+1 on the timing chain. Even if it's good, at least reseal the timing cover. Fuck Ford and their stupid fuckin idea of running the coolant thru three sets of gaskets till it hits the block, you take the clamping force provided by the water pump bolts and it's anyone's guess whether the last gasket remaining will still be sealed up properly.

[Brown_Muscle]

Thanks Dave I'll let you know, you can give it a paint job when I'm done with it

I'm way ahead of you guys haha, I have a new timing chain sitting here next to me ready to install, along with a brand new balancer. It is really nice weather, maybe I can get the get the timing chain/waterpump done tomorrow, then i can see if I can put myself through the windshield with the new brakes


As far as the brake line goes, I meant the rubber flex line. The drivers side fit like factory but the passenger I had to twist the end, and therefore the rubber slightly to get it to fit. No clearance issues and it goes lock to lock fine though. The front hard lines are brand new Ni-cop like the rears you did Ivan.

[gadget73]

I will also admit to not being in love with the water pump system they used. Its almost blasphemous to say it, but GM had a much better idea there. Chrysler uses a very similar pump setup to Ford, but other aspects are more like GM. Kind of the worst of both worlds, except the 318 is somehow tougher than either.

[Brown_Muscle]

Yeah, they aren't ideal, but the design is tough enough to last 30 some years, so good enough for me.

Got the new chain, pump and most of the accessories on tonight, hope to have it back up and running tomorrow.

[gadget73]

how sloppy was the chain?

[Brown_Muscle]

About the same as any double roller chain i've changed. definitely some deflection, but not aweful. I'd really like to see how much the chain stretched after the first 100 miles, it might be considerable. They go on tight, but I doubt they stay that way for long.

[Brown_Muscle]

She's back up and running! Re-timed her, she was at about 7 degrees or so, now at 11, for fun. Not sure if it was due to chain slack or the old balancer had slipped a little. Big brakes feel nice overall, much better actuation...however I believe there is air in the passenger side, it pulls to the left under hard braking, and i cant get it out by gravity bleeding (yes calipers are on the correct side).

[86VickyLX]

Jay, yes he has the rear discs, that was done a while ago.

Not surprising at all that some tweaking of the brake line was needed, but that's no big deal really, and quite frankly the way the factory run some of the lines is quite stupid, so nothing wrong with readjusting their shape or even changing their routing entirely. Thought you're replacing that line altogether tho, I seem to recall it not looking too hot?

+1 on the timing chain. Even if it's good, at least reseal the timing cover. Fuck Ford and their stupid fuckin idea of running the coolant thru three sets of gaskets till it hits the block, you take the clamping force provided by the water pump bolts and it's anyone's guess whether the last gasket remaining will still be sealed up properly.

Been there, done that. Replace it all and rip out that smog pump.

[His Royal Ghostliness]

however I believe there is air in the passenger side, it pulls to the left under hard braking, and i cant get it out by gravity bleeding (yes calipers are on the correct side).

So bribe John with food and do a 2-person bleed, gravity alone is rarely enough to get all the air out.

[86VickyLX]

So bribe John with food and do a 2-person bleed, gravity alone is rarely enough to get all the air out.

I am hungry!

[86VickyLX]

Well I got one food payment for aligning the god forsaken thing. Owes me a brake bleeding food. And one for the fuel line that I looked at wrong during the alignment. Hahahahahahaha.

Good news is, the fuel line, at least from the engine to the fuel filter, is brandy new. The car drives straight with no wheel return-ability issues. Front brakes are bled.

What's left to be done on the car to my knowledge. Scary scaly tank to filter fuel line, fuel filter retainer. And the scary vapor line.