There doesn't seem to many build reports on the forum at present and my progress is not very exciting but here's what I've been up to over the last couple of weeks.
I spent a not very exciting day cleaning up the rear brake caliper carriers. They were badly painted by the original builder but had also rusted!! I had to start with some old fashioned paint stripper and then cleaned all that mess off followed by de-rusting and cleaning up with Scotch brite and lots of elbow grease.
I then gave them a coat of Hammerite Smooth and left them in the greenhouse to bake hard.
Rear brake caliper carriers by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
I have bought some Pagid recon brake calipers as I didn't fancy rebuilding the old ones because the Sierra calipers have a fiendishly complicated handbrake mechanism which, despite being well described in the Haynes manual, still looked like a potential nightmare. The calipers are very pitted and must have been very rusty before being recond but do have new pistons fitted. They came painted but a bit thin so I couldn't resist giving them an extra coat of paint.
Rear brake calipers by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
And I bought a new set of sliders and dust covers....
Rear brake caliper sliders by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
I've also started installing the brake lines. I'm using Automec Cupro Nickel tubing. I was worried that this would be more difficult to flare than pure copper but it turns out is very easy to bend and flare.
It sounds strange but I started in the middle of the car and will work back and forward from this point. First up to be fitted was the Ford rear brake deceleration valve.
Sierra deceleration valve by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
The rear brake deceleration valve reduces brake pressure to the rear brakes under deceleration force. It's supposed to stop the rear brakes locking up when braking hard. There is a heavy weight inside that slides forward shutting off the supply to the rear brakes. The short rubber hose is just for protection.
I then had the challenging task of bending a length of tubing to follow the path back to the two way splitter that divides to the two rear brake calipers.
Rear Brake line routing by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
Rear brake line to splitter by
marlinpeter, on Flickr
The original builder's mounting position was a bit high and made the right angle out of the top a bit challenging. (Having now studied this photo, I think I'm going to move the splitter down a bit.)
Well that's all for now and unfortunately I've embarked on repainting all the window frames on our 17c cottage, so car building will be limited to spare time when it's raining
...peter