This is your brain:
this is your brain on Challenge:
yes, I recovered the OE tube nuts that were rusted to the twisted-off tubes. It went faster than I expected.
This is your brain:
this is your brain on Challenge:
yes, I recovered the OE tube nuts that were rusted to the twisted-off tubes. It went faster than I expected.
That's not normal?
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Don't you have like huge bins of brake fitting parts kicking around your office? If not, why bother working there?
PS: why not chuck them up in your lathe?
In reply to TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) :
We do, but i try to avoid being that guy since I'm the only gearhead in the group.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) :
We do, but i try to avoid being that guy since I'm the only gearhead in the group.
What are they so into? Watching their investments? Sports-center? Lawn care?!?
People these days...
NiCopp FTW! Replaced hard lines for LF and RF, I didn't know how well my flares would seal but I'm 3 for 3 leak-free. Needs another bleed after being driven a bit.
so, this all started as fixing a darty clunky front end, and ended up with new UCAs, LCAs, tall ball joints, Bilstein OE replacement dampers, and jounce bumpers. In addition, since it needed pads and rotors, I grabbed a set of 2wd S-Blazer knuckles and bearings from the JY, which gave me floating rotors and 2-piston calipers, as well as gen-3 wheel bearings with integral wheel speed sensors. New calipers, rotors, and pads. JY bearings may have been a bad call. Bearings are smooth and quiet but I'm getting occasional ABS activations at end of stop that didn't happen pre-swap. Maybe sensing a slip delta side to side. I'll bleed the fronts again and maybe it'll go away.
tall lower ball joints definitely dropped the nose a little. They say 1/2" but I didn't measure. I can see it, and (I think) I can feel it in my seating position. The tall ball joints are also supposed to give a better camber curve.
Took her up to Belle Tire for alignment, didn't give them specs so they went with the book. Which is to say they didn't change a damn thing. Apparently book allows -1 to +1 deg camber, so +0.7 and +0.4 are "green". No time to fight today, I'll take it back next week and get it shimmed to a target -0.5.
Took the long way home and hustled her around a couple off-ramps. Lateral asselerometer says better front grip, and speedometer says a couple more mph around the ramp, with no tire noise so I wasn't at the peak. Overall, pretty happy with how it came out. I like this truck.
Time to organize the tools and get the E60 up in the air for front brakes, tension struts, and sway bar end links.
I like the ultra-long brake bleeding hose. I'll have to try that!
In reply to TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) :
The long clear tube is great for watching bubbles, clean vs dirty fluid, etc. A more squeeze-friendly bottle would be a better choice. Drill the hole for the hose to pass such that the hose is tight in the cap. Then connect hose to bleed screw, squeeze bottle, tighten cap, open bleed screw, and you've got a low-vacuum slash gravity bleed combo.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
1/4" tube?... really??? I would swear it was 3/16" to each front corner and 1/4" to the common rear. I'm questioning all my S-series knowledge now 
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:Installed rotor and caliper on RF, installed new hose and it's very obvious that the Sonoma hose bracket won't work with the Blazer brakes. Not sure if I'm gonna modify Sonoma bracket (probably) or make JY trip just to get Blazer brackets (last resort).
What was the final resolution of the bracket/hose mismatch?
I like this truck.
Needs a 2" drop, but must say I (still) like it too
JT said:In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
1/4" tube?... really??? I would swear it was 3/16" to each front corner and 1/4" to the common rear. I'm questioning all my S-series knowledge now
Don't question _all_ of your S Truck knowledge, and perhaps '01 is different than '94, but all 3 HCU outlets are 1/4".
JT said:What was the final resolution of the bracket/hose mismatch?
I reused the Sonoma hoses and brackets. At full droop and full steer it's a little tight, but if I'm ever at full steer and full jounce I'm probably more worried about the landing than the brakes!
i'll get blazer brackets one of these days, maybe, then rework the hard lines and install the blazer hoses.
JT said:Needs a 2" drop, but must say I (still) like it too
Says the guy who installed, and later removed, the 2" drop. 
so I introduced this headlight:
to this product:
and gave that headlight a makeover:
I also installed Philips Extreme Vision bulbs, high and low. Wipe New and bulbs both recommended by dusterbd13 as "the best", and we all know that dusterbd13 knows headlights. Haven't driven at night yet but anticipate a nice improvement in light output.
That turned out much better than the direction I anticipated this post was headed. I was afraid you had introduced the headlight to some solid object....
Surprised that worked so well on the headlights. Interested to see what they look like in a year.
solfly said:Surprised that worked so well on the headlights. Interested to see what they look like in a year.
It took about an hour to prep both lights. Wet-sanded with 1500 (not included in kit), then with the supplied 2000 and 3000. Rinsed and dried, then waited a while to be sure they were dry. Actually, I did the prep yesterday, then waited overnight and wiped on the secret sauce at about 11AM today.
IIRC, duster says this stuff lasts 18-24 months on cars that are parked outdoors. On day 1, it looks better than any other headlight resto product I've ever used.
I don't have a before, but here's the after:
and I can tell you that there's significantly more light on the road than the last time I drove it at night. Very happy with this 90-minute upgrade.
and I guess JT was at least part right, I do need to drop the tail a little. I'd like the light to be more than 40 feet in front of me.
I hate and enjoy bending brake lines so so much.
With sunny blue sky and temp near 70F, I decided it was time to do this:
to make this:
go away. Got out some implements of destruction and some PPE, and got to work. Figured out where to cut to preserve factory hangers. WWE tag team champs Death Wheel and SawZall came in off the top rope for sure, and before long I had this:
and this:
that muffler is OE, date code 09/2000. The cat is a MagnaFlow piece that Jay installed many years ago.
i 'm reusing the pipe from cat out to muffler in, so I had to remove one broken stud as seen above. my center punch was a little off-center, but I drilled until I broke thru one wall, then used a cold chisel to knock out the remains:
replacement muffler will be here tomorrow morning. I borrowed my buddy's flux core welder again and will melt it all back together, hopefully with no issues.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
That OE muffler doesn't owe anybody anything! Can't believe those c-clamps are were still down there, lol!
In reply to JT :
Re. the c-clamps staying in place: my baling wire game is strong.
I'm looking forward to this truck being quiet again. I almost took it to Midas, but thought an expensive new V6 exhaust would just serve as a deterrent to the potential LS swap. So I'm cobble-berkeleying it with a universal Walker muffler, with gaskets and bolts I should be in it less than $60.
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