help make my 88 safe for 14 thousand feet

[deepsleep]

Brakes should only be applied here and there on a decent, like coming up to a sharp switchback. The rest of the time your engine should be doing the braking through lower gear selection. In other words, don't just put it in drive and ride the brakes all the way down. Been there, done that in my youth, it wasn't pretty. Then an Alpine master taught me the proper way.
Nowadays I drive a 13 mile stretch of rural highway that has alot of stoplights... alot of 65mph-0 panic stops, and my Wagner Severe Duty pads on stock sized brakes have held up just fine with no problems.

Yeah I'll make sure to use low gear and now after reading a little bit on gear installation and big break upgrade, I'm not so sure what I can do myself. I'm a total noob and havent even bought any tools yet.

I want to try to stay simple and bolt on. I would be willing to take 10 plus minute breaks throughout the decent if I can get away with just some better pads.

This leads me to my other question. I think the front right brake is sometimes engaging or getting stuck. Some times the car starts pulling to the right and the car and steering wheel starts shaking. The faster I drive the faster the shaking. It goes in and out the front right brake area was the only place that smelled kinda burnt. My rear drums are warped and I'll be replacing those also. I'm going to buy a jack today and see if I can find anything loose in the brake area but is there something I should look out for?

[mrltd]

The 88's dont' have traction control. Just lots of wieght and no power.

[deepsleep]

Okay so at this point, I think I'll leave the suspension stock. Can I run rear discs w/stock 15 inch wheels? How much do you think a shop would charge to install 3.72 gears,track lock and a rear disc brake conversion? Thanks for the help guys.

[ss_mini14]

The 88's dont' have traction control. Just lots of wieght and no power.

even less power at 14,000 feet. i bet he's lucky to get 100hp from a lopo at that altitude. on gravel roads though, the only thing that will help you is skill.

[deepsleep]

Here are some pics! yes the angles suck, I'll take better pics once I'm back on top of Mauna Kea.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_nkTTsYjwXtk/Sn...0/DSC00291.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_nkTTsYjwXtk/Sn...0/DSC00292.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_nkTTsYjwXtk/Sn...0/DSC00293.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_nkTTsYjwXtk/Sn...0/DSC00294.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_nkTTsYjwXtk/Sn...0/DSC00295.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_nkTTsYjwXtk/Sn...0/DSC00296.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_nkTTsYjwXtk/Sn...0/DSC00297.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_nkTTsYjwXtk/Sn...0/DSC00298.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_nkTTsYjwXtk/Sn...0/DSC00272.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_nkTTsYjwXtk/Sn...0/DSC00283.JPG

[johnunit]

Sorry, those links are all dead.

[deepsleep]

pics of the car http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...923#post460923

[p71towny]

Hell, I'd have just used a donkey. I guess an 88 MGM will work too.

[gadget73]

This leads me to my other question. I think the front right brake is sometimes engaging or getting stuck. Some times the car starts pulling to the right and the car and steering wheel starts shaking. The faster I drive the faster the shaking. It goes in and out the front right brake area was the only place that smelled kinda burnt. My rear drums are warped and I'll be replacing those also. I'm going to buy a jack today and see if I can find anything loose in the brake area but is there something I should look out for?

Replace the front calipers and the rubber hoses. Probably one is sticking, causing heat, which makes the front rotor warp. That would explain the pulling and shaking. Do both sides, if you do one, the one on the other side will fail next week. I've been to that movie too, though in my case it only took 2 days You may also want to stick a set of pads and rotors up there if yours are in bad shape. You'll also want to re-pack the wheel bearings while you're in there. The rubber hoses are just a precaution since they do fail from age, and once you disturb them, they're just that much more inclined to fail.

I would also highly suggest fully flushing the brake system. Use a turkey baster to suck the old nasty fluid out of the master cylinder, and bleed the brakes until clear fresh fluid comes out. Old fluid absorbs water, and besides the fact it boils at a much lower temperature, it also makes brake parts fail sooner.

[deepsleep]

Little update. I had all the brake stuff replaced w/stock parts. Otherwise unchanged I drove the car to 14k feet few days ago! During the trip I did noticed a few things but in terms of power to get up and brakes to get down, it had no problems. Heres a link to my brake thread http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthread.php?t=30592

The first gear is fawking awesome. I hated how long it was at first but now, I can just leave it in first all the way up and down. Now that trip was with only me in the car so we'll have to see what happens w/5 or 6 people in the car!

Also, I didnt bother to stop or take breaks to cool the brakes on the way down. I just drove slow and tried to stay off the brakes. But as I said before, things may change when I'm loading a bunch of people on so we'll see how it goes.

So as of right now, I think I'll leave it stock and try to get it into tip top shape. I'm just hoping my trans isnt blown from driving it without the TV cable hooked up for who knows how long. (just bought the car) I have noticed some shifting issues but cant distinguish whats what yet as I have a backyard fix for the TV bushing but as soon as I get the bushing, I'll have a better idea.