What did you do today on your 1955-1957

[Ward 57]

I think the technology is sound. Just trying to understand it. Once I got back into the brake system I'm learning. It was just drums & shoes and leaking slave cylinders years ago. Never got into the top end. A whole different ball of wax.

Got'r all back together. More air came out of the booster than expected. At rest I now have some resistance and then a hard pedal. I'll fire it up tomorrow and check the booster. Feels like a nice feather able pedal. So it's true, these need to be blead on the car.

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[knuckle47]

Over the weekend and today,I I pulled all four wheels, checked the fit on some new rear brake drums…and disassembled the front hubs, bearings, master cylinder, wheel cylinders and backing plates. Weather dependent, I am going to start the installation of the CASCO disk brake conversion kit and the dual master cylinder with the proportioning valve. Also started spraying the rear leaf spring bolts and allied parts with PB Blaster for the last 3 days. This can of Kroil came today. I have no clue how much trouble they may be during the removal process so I figured I’d get a jump on it.

Took a break occasionally to get some wood split. Getting too old for one of these jobs…I don’t think it’s the car

 

[Ward 57]

Never have heard of kroil. Must be an east coast thing. PB blaster here. Yah a head start on that is a great idea. I like those double safety jack stands. Oh unless it comes with your new brake set up CASCO has an elongated heat/drip shield that bolts on under the dual M/C.

 

[CSPIDY]

Kroil is probably the best penitrent oil I have ever used
When heat is combined with it, it works even better
Another great penitrent oil is mouse milk

 

[Ward 57]

Kroil is probably the best penitrent oil I have ever used
When heat is combined with it, it works even better
Another great penitrent oil is mouse milk

Never heard of that one either and I've been wrenching since my teens.

 

[knuckle47]

I can only say …’it ain’t cheap”. $21.00 for an 8 Oz can

 

[Ward 57]

WOW! If it works you might find a second job as a salesman.

 

[jimntempe]

Knuckle - if that photo's of your 57 front brakes it's missing the little spring that goes between the two shoes. Don't know how important it is but my 57 still had it. I thought I had a photo but can't find it.

 

[jimntempe]

Here's the catalog listing. and where it goes, the same holes the main springs anchor in.

 

[knuckle47]

I was in the middle of taking them all apart so it is not a complete picture. The disk brakes are going on this week if the weather is decent… above 55…this 56 has the worst brakes on a car I have ever driven.thanks for pointing this out @jimntempe . Re-assembly will be front discs. Had 2” of rain and 50 mph winds last night. That added to my list: new weatherstripping

 

[jimntempe]

I was in the middle of taking them all apart so it is not a complete picture. The disk brakes are going on this week if the weather is decent… above 55…this 56 has the worst brakes on a car I have ever driven.thanks for pointing this out @jimntempe . Re-assembly will be front discs. Had 2” of rain and 50 mph winds last night. That added to my list: new weatherstripping

Ok, then doesn't matter. I think only the 57 had the extra spring anyway.

 

[knuckle47]

@jimntempe YOUR video on the brake booster was so engaging. I would take a few photos of my motorcycle restorations but after decades of doing it, most pictures I have are the initial basket case and then a shiny finished product with very little in between. I am trying to overcome that gap on the car by taking a bunch of photos and video (at least when my hands aren’t greasy). Likely when I was showing what I got done over the weekend, they looked good so I selected those photos. Those iPhone thumbnails are hard to see anyway.

On the other hand: I have a GoPro video camera and I am going to make myself a few videos on the rebuilds and replacement of a few systems. If I learn to edit them together, I will post them…it won’t be soon though. I looked up that spring on the CASCO exploded view… did not see it

 

[jimntempe]

@jimntempe YOUR video on the brake booster was so engaging. I would take a few photos of my motorcycle restorations but after decades of doing it, most pictures I have are the initial basket case and then a shiny finished product with very little in between. I am trying to overcome that gap on the car by taking a bunch of photos and video (at least when my hands aren’t greasy). Likely when I was showing what I got done over the weekend, they looked good so I selected those photos. Those iPhone thumbnails are hard to see anyway.

On the other hand: I have a GoPro video camera and I am going to make myself a few videos on the rebuilds and replacement of a few systems. If I learn to edit them together, I will post them…it won’t be soon though. I looked up that spring on the CASCO exploded view… did not see it

I looked in the shop manual, doesn't show it there either. But they did install them. I saw a discussion on the subject somewhere in the past month or two. And at least the one vendor sells replacements. I've had the best quality videos when I use my iPhone but I also have a $30 "go pro" clone that's fairly decent. The iPhone can do 4K videos and that allows you to zoom in during editing and still have a clear video when you are done.

 

[knuckle47]

@jimntempe if I might ask quickly, which app do you use to stitch all of the videos together to make them 45 minutes long? You should know, I watched your brake booster 6-7 times!

 

[jimntempe]

@jimntempe if I might ask quickly, which app do you use to stitch all of the videos together to make them 45 minutes long? You should know, I watched your brake booster 6-7 times!

I've used different programs over the years, all are fairly similar. I used Video Studio for a while, then Pinnacle, now I'm using PowerDirector 365. There is a built in program in windows, Video Editor in Win10, earlier version I think called it Movie Maker. If you've not done any video editing I'd do a couple with the windows one (if you have windows) just to get familiar with how it works. The nutz and bolts of the process are fairly straightforward for the simple stuff like I do. After you do a few you find you automatically have learned some does and don'ts such as how to start a clip when making it so you can easily do "cuts" in the program, the plus's and minus's of short clips versus one long take, and other stuff the pro's have figured out. The part that gets complicated, and you don't need to worry about for a while, is when you are doing multiple streams of video with one overlaid on the other along with multiple tracks of audio. Not really needed for these kinds of How To videos. Here's one with some fancy stuff in it.