Trinten's SBC/F23 build - The work has begun! (Page 8/76)
Trinten SEP 05, 02:17 PM
L67 - yup! That's why I'm going to the Lebaron brakes. Since they're larger and vented. It's crazy how the thread (if I understand right) said that the back rotors are different from the front ones... and how few parts supplies actually differentiate. Makes making sure you get the right parts a little tricky!

Here's the threads I was using for brake upgrade reference:
http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/109048.html
http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/048271.html

Now unless I missed something, both threads hve called for the master cylinder upgrade, but one doesn't mention the brake booster (yet). The other thread lists the brake booster (along with a link to another thread) as an OPTIONAL upgarde.

Now it was mentioned that puttingon the bigger MC with the stock system is going to make the brakes LESS responsive? Did I understand that right?

Yet it was just mentioned that doing the MC and Booster is asking for trouble. So the MC change makes MODIFIED brakes more responsive, just not stock ones. So I shouldn't worry about the booster - just hold off putting on the MC until I do the Lebaron upgrade... right?
L67 SEP 05, 02:26 PM
The master cylinder is a larger bore, so it will move more fluid. Why you would need this:
1. You're using a larger caliper that requires more fluid to operate.
2. Your brake upgrade is twitchy, too "on/off". The blazer MC will move more fluid but reduce mechanical advantage. So the brakes would come in gradually with more effort.

In your case, neither is what you need. The booster is the upgrade, not the MC. If and when you get the Lebaron brakes on, you decide that they're twitchy or engage faster than you'd like, "you want more control or less pedal travel", then I would recommend looking into the larger bore MC. You do NOT want a harder pedal with the solid rotors you have on your car now. Which is why John was curious why you were talking about using an S10 MC.

[This message has been edited by L67 (edited 09-05-2010).]

Trinten SEP 05, 09:54 PM
Hey L67! Thanks for the breakdown! So when I do the upgrade, just see how it goes with the stock MC and booster, and if it breaks too hard, pop in the bigger MC to ease it up a smidge?

Thanks again guys.

I have not heard from Joe yesterday (After I got home) or today. Called the shop and his cell phone. :/
Trinten OCT 16, 12:09 AM
Well,

The good news is that the engine was actually running in the car!

The coolant system is filled and was burped once, the wheels are on, the engine is in.

The bad news is, stuff is yet to be done!

The "mysterious red wire" is still in play. I'm positive it was what was supplying power to the electric water pump, and that the connection it had running to the C500 was to close the circuit when the key was on the accessory or run position. Right now Joe has it hooked up to draw juice through that block. I don't think that's a good idea.

Jeff is positive the wire was feeding the pump too. He'll be there on Sunday to check that part out as well as help put the rear clip back together.

The rear clip is still apart, transmission has no fluid yet. Joe said he still had some odds and ends to secure into place, but everything was hooked up. Minus the LEDs for the PONTIAC symbol.

The headers have (According to Joe) been at the coaters since last Wednesday. He tried getting ahold of them Thursday to get an ETA on when they would be done, because he said that if he got them back Friday he could (likely) get my car back to me this weekend. Unfortunately he couldn't get through to anyone, no answer the first time, on hold for a while before hanging up the second time.

Not to be too much of an ass, but at least he has some idea of how I feel when I leave him multiple messages and don't hear anything for a week. He said he was going to drive up to their place on Friday to see what was going on and call me, but haven't heard from him. I'll call him tomorrow.

So right now the plan is for me to go out there Sunday early afternoon, meet up with Joe and Jeff.

If we do get the car up and running and ready to roll and for me to leave with it on Sunday... I'm going to see if I can convince Jeff to follow me home in my Town Car and Joe to follow behind in his truck, and then Jeff carpool with Joe back to Charlotte. No sense in my car sitting there done for a week, and no sense in dragging my roommate down to Charlotte if there's no promise the car will be ready to drive away.

We'll see what happens. Story of my life right now. lol
L67 OCT 16, 05:14 AM
It was August 23rd 2009 when Jeff put blame on me that your car wasn't getting worked on, because I parked the station wagon in front of the shop door the previous night. Me thinks I wasn't the problem.

[This message has been edited by L67 (edited 10-16-2010).]

Trinten OCT 18, 12:13 PM
lol, well, here's the update from yesterday (and strangely, I didn't get a notification of your reply...)

So I worked on the cooling system yesterday, discovered that at one of the couplings the pipe is crimped a hair. Looking around the coupling it appears it's been that way for a while. At some point I'll likely replace all of the piping anyway (stainless if possible) so not going to worry about it too much for right now - since if it was leaking before, it wasn't noticable.

Joe went to Calico... my exhaust was still not coated, so he just picked it up to put it on the car. I did find this nifty stuff that you can put on yourself with an airbrush gun or touch up paint gun (after you blast your parts), the stuff air dries and cures from exhaust temperatures. Kento is familiar with the stuff so he said he would help me out getting all that done. And it'll be alot cheaper. (this stuff: http://www.caswellplating.c...e/index.html#exhaust )

Joe is fabricating a bracket that will attach to those extra holes in the bottom part of the hinge bracket, that will hold my oil pressure sensor thing and two relays that currently won't reach to where they were before, instead of them just hanging there. There's also a fitting he's waiting on (or can fabricate) to hook up to the water pump to get my heater core put into the loop.

Brake lines are hooked back up, sway bar is partially in place (connected to the cradle).

Fuel line needs to be redone, but the rest of the fuel system is done and in place, the engine compartment's new temp gauge is nicer than my old one, and mounted in a nifty way. The new trunk floor is in place.

We found an electrical gremlin. I was right about the red wire running the water pump, and it seems that it's lead from the battery is worn/touching the chassis someplace, causing 12v-to-chassis issue. Jeff just needs to hunt down exactly where this is taking place and get it fixed. I think almost all of the other wires that were dangling under the car are now hooked up. Among them were the A/C power, and one other wire clip, and then one loansome wire hanging by itself with some weird cap/scoop on it.

And lastly... the new intake I have is laid out differently, so we need to figure out how to mount the return spring(s) for the throttle on my carb since the bracket won't hook up the same way.

Things left to do (at Vixen):
Eletrical gremlin (and then reassemble the interior - again)
Fabricate relay-n-oil sensor bracket
Heater core hookup to water pump
Brake bleed
Refill cooling system and reburp it
Transmission fluid filled
A nice fuel line setup from pressure regulator to Carb
Reconnect A/C lines to compressor
Throttle return springs
Decklid/scoop (but thankfully it's almost done)

Then off to get it inspected, then to an A/C shop to vacuum the lines and recharge the system.

Damn... it doesn't seem like anything got done... but I know stuff did, I was there! lol
Trinten OCT 28, 10:57 AM
Okay, got texts from Joe, plus two pictures!

First up, my new fuel line fitting to the carb with the new fuel pressure gauge:



Next, my finished decklid! (well, finished painting and such, still need to move the lock and electric release over to it next).



Jeff had been out there some last week (not sure if he's been out there this week or not) and found the short - the wire coming off the battery to power the water pump had worn through coming through the firewall, and was touching the metal there.

So - to my knowlege, here's what's left to get done:

Things left to do (at Vixen):
Reassemble the interior - again
Fabricate relay-n-oil sensor bracket (Joe says it's done, but I haven't seen it)
Heater core hookup to water pump
Brake bleed
Refill cooling system and reburp it
Transmission fluid filled
Reconnect A/C lines to compressor
Throttle return springs
Move lock and electric release to finished decklid.

Then off to get it inspected, then to an A/C shop to vacuum the lines and recharge the system. -- well, at least the list shrunk a tiny bit.
MooCow OCT 28, 01:59 PM
WOW just caught up on your post. Hopefully you get your car back soon. Give me a heads up next time you are down this way. Hopefully if I am around I can stop over at the shop.

Glad to see the list is getting smaller.

Ken~
Trinten OCT 31, 07:50 PM
I was out there yesterday for about 9 hours. Didn't feel like we got much done, but I guess that's bound to happen.

I had an (initially very confusing) conversation with Joe on the wiring. By the time we got on the same page, I understand that all the electrical is working the way it should, but from my emails with Jeff, he still had to finish making sure the short wouldn't reoccur.

Jeff had said he would be out there around "lunchtime", however later on he told me (via email) and John (another guy there, working on a Monster Miata), via text that he was out there in the morning and no one was there, and Joe didn't leave him the key (Which confirmed as true, Joe blamed his mom, said she might have taken it to get in at some point). John (with the Miata) then explained he had a key and lived five minutes away, so we made sure to let Jeff know that if he ever gets there and can't get in... to just call him and he'd come out to let him in - then he can finish the wiring issue and put the interior back together (and work on the Miata's wiring).

Swaybar issues (ultimately fixed). Joe realized it was on upside down. There's a... "bent notch" in the swaybar for where the exhaust pipe passes. I hadn't noticed it when I got it it bolted to the chassis the first time.. and of course we discover it as we're bolding it to the arms. So we undo that, flip it around, bolt the bastard back up.. and then dick with the arms again. Definitely a learning experience as things we did to make it easier to line stuff up ultimately worked against us. Joe got it fixed in the end though, which I'm grateful for, I was really frustrated with it! That damn thing ate up at least two hours.

With Joes help I got the A/C lines in place, which is great. There's still one more wire that needs to be hooked up to the compressor, Jeff is going to need to come up with a different way to fit/crimp/connect it, though. Damn I hope this compressor is good. Getting this thing replaced would be a ***** . It should be good, it's the same one that came out of my car originally, but it's been sitting for a few years.

Brakes are bled, transmission fluid is in.

We tried to bleed the clutch... I was getting ZERO pedal resistance! It was light as air. We tried bleeding it the traditional way for about an hour with no results, and the travel of the slave cylinder wasn't even an inch (from what Joe was saying - I was pumping/holding the pedal). This is confusing to me, since at no point would anything of the clutch system have been "open". So not sure how it got this soft to begin with.

I called CowsPatoot (Greg), and he said that he's never had luck doing it that way, and uses a vaccuum line. So we went to a few auto-parts places till we found one that had one, and hooked it up, and followed Gregs recommendations. The crap in my clutch system is BLACK. Very icky looking. Not sure how normal that is. Joe said the system used brake fluid, so as we vaccuumed garbage out, I was watching the Master Cylinder and topping it off as it slowly lowered. No leaks anywhere that we can see.

Joe climbed under the dash and saw that the rod that comes through the firewall from the master cylinder is bent. He thinks that's the issue... but I don't think so. There was no pressure in moving the rod AT ALL so this did not happen yesterday - my guess is that it's been that way for a while, the pedal did used to travel a bit before the clutch engaged, I just thought it was normal. Apparently not.

Greg also agreed to come out there with me next weekend and help me with odds and ends and stuff like the clutch and the electrical/interior if Jeff doesn't get out there during the week to get it done. Very grateful for that.

Joe was unusually bent towards getting the clutch issue fixed so he could crank the engine (again bringing up doubt that he ever had it running before... and not something I confronted him with, just not worth it). He kept falsely insisting it was "practically the last thing to do." So I set my foot down and rattled off the remaining things to do, after each item he'd say "Yeah." so when I was done, I said "So there you go, alot of stuff for you to get finished first, then we can worry about the clutch!" his reply? "My work week is going to be boring, then." .... I didn't make a comment besides saying "It's all stuff that needs to get done anyway, and that I can't do."

Joe also said that he didn't like the way the bracket for the oil sender and relays looked. He redid some wiring so the relays went back to their stock location. He showed me a few things he wanted to do with the oil sender and I told him, definitively, what I wanted it to be like. He agreed.

Also Joe started getting the modified carpet into the modified trunk. I worked on that for a bit, trying to finish the fit. It's still a long way from looking good, but I got it all "laying" now, which is great.

But a few more things off my list! Things left to currently do (assuming no more hangups or setbacks):

Touch up the hood (Joe spotted some places that he needed to spray a little more clear and rebuff, found that out yesterday)
Finish paintjob on the decklid ( I thought it was painted already by the pics, but it wasn't).
Reassemble the interior
Fabricate bracket/mount oil sending unit
Heater core hookup to water pump
Refill cooling system and reburp it
Throttle return springs (figured out how to do this, just need to get it done, car was up in the air too much to set it up)
Move lock and electric release to finished decklid.

Then off to get it inspected, then to an A/C shop to vacuum the lines and recharge the system -- and pray the compressor works.
Trinten NOV 04, 03:45 PM
In light of this weekend, and the possibility of replacing my slave and master clutch cylinders, I have ordered replacements for both, plus gotten the MR2 piston to upgrade the slave. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out this thread:

http://gafieroclub.org/bbs/index.php?topic=66.0

I got the piece from OReilly's for 7 bucks!

http://www.oreillyauto.com/...9&pt=01353&ppt=C0015

Greg (CowsPatoot) is still going to try to bleed things, but given that I got a bent arm from the master, and slave is pretty much just surface rust... might be time for a change. lol

A thank you to Greg for helping me out with the clutch stuff, and both TopNotch (for the thread and answering my questions about his upgrade) and Capt Fiero for answering my clutch questions.

Oh! Some places have the updated master clutch cylinder for over a hundred bucks, found it at napa for 30-odd dollars.

Part numbers from Napa for the slave and master for the 4 speed:
NNC 39719
NNC 37795

Capt Fiero had made some recomendations on what to cross reference for the parts, which I tried to find without much success (I could have been doing it wrong and/or the places I talked to were doing it wrong), in one instance where I lucked out, it was around 110 bucks. So for right now, given how quickly I needed the part, I'm hoping that the 30 dollar part holds up. If time was not so much an issue, I would have taken his recommendations!