How to kick depression in the face

mopar_man

Good time party boy
As some or most of you know, the Mirada has been hiding in NAD's back yard since last fall. It hasn't run for quite some time before that. Last weekend we figured out the balancer had spun and that caused the distributor to be out when I installed the vacuum advance one. This weekend, even with the rain today, we got it out of the back yard. How do you kick depression in the face you say? Take one Mirada, back it out of said back yard into the alley, mash gas pedal to the floor. At the end of the alley, repeat. Slide up in front of NAD's house with the front tires locked (rears don't work but we'll get to that later). Do small burnout on the wet pavement and head for gravel backroad. Beat upon the car some more around town, head back to NAD's place. Slide in front of his house with front tires locked again, looking all hillbilly with a crooked and loose-fitting hat along with a plaid flannel work jacket in a raging pile of a car. Had I felt a little more outgoing, I would've yelled out "Ya'll watch this" and would've proceeded to do another one-legged burnout. That's the cure for my depression today. I felt a lot better beating the hell out of a car I don't really care about even though the transmission is f*cked.

Anyway, for the rest of the day, I worked on the brakes in the back of car. Bent up a new line from the distribution block on the axle to the pass. side brakes. Found that because there had been a line lacking on that side for so long, the cylinder needed to be replaced. As for why the line was missing, I'm not sure why it was but it sure makes for interesting stopping distances with just the front ones working. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow but some genius decided that instead of replacing the brake line, they'd just stick a nail in the fitting that still had a left over piece of brake line still inside and thread it into the distribution block hoping that the one side would still work. The cylinder will go on tomorrow and I'll have to get Bruce to take a picture of me doing another peg-leg burnout.

Might I add that it makes one quite nervous when working under a car and you find a wasp nest under the bumper [smilie=e: Another tidbit is that there are easier ways to paint your fingernails blue besides smashing them into a backing plate:
[img]http://moparman.demoni.ca/Temp/DSC00969.jpg[/img]

Makes that finger quite tender for typing with your fingers on the proper keys too.
 
Ouch. Gonna lose that one looks like, bakers are good pressure relief for sure-carry a spare. [smilie=e:
 
Awww, did Shane get a boo-boo? Try working on 'em for a living, you get used to busted up hands. [smilie=w:

Beaters [i]are[/i] fun no doubt, how about a nice burnout pic? [smilie=e: [smilie=e:
 
beeper*71 said:
Awww, did Shane get a boo-boo? Try working on 'em for a living, you get used to busted up hands. [smilie=w: [/quote]

If I worked a little smarter, it probably wouldn't happen.

beeper*71 said:
how about a nice burnout pic?

Later today ;)
 
OK - You can deal with wifey when she gets home..... [smilie=e:

You've never seen her when she's truly pissed off, have you?
 
No burnout pictures this weekend :( The trans is slipping REAL bad. Maybe before it goes into the garage to get another transmission I'll do one just in case it fails at the same time.

Here is the fitting that was in the distribution block in hopes of blocking off the hole. Needless to say it didn't work [smilie=r:

[img]http://moparman.demoni.ca/Temp/fitting.JPG[/img]

This is the wheel cylinder. I tried running a line to it but it wouldn't thread in all the way. Even if it had, it wouldn't have work. I don't know if this is the original wheel cylinder or not but it's a Chrysler piece anyway.

cylinder.JPG
 
You actually took the time attempt threading a line into that wheel cylinder? :D

So does it have brakes now?
 
beeper*71 said:
You actually took the time attempt threading a line into that wheel cylinder? :D

It was all of 5 minutes so yes :D My fat head doesn't fit behind the wheel so I didn't know it was that bad.

beeper*71 said:
So does it have brakes now?

Sort of. The power booster has a leak so it's disconnected. I need to try and hit up the yard for a manual setup from something.
 
mopar_man said:
The power booster has a leak .

Got the original off of the waGOON, shold be the same. It worked great but didn't leave enough room for the 440 valve cover.

Pay shipping and it's yours.

Coulda taken it along last summer. [smilie=e:
 
Manual parts to fit the F,M,J bodies are not easily found. The only other Mopars that are a bolt-in is a 76 A-body.

...not to mention the hassle of changing the pedal, manuals use a different fulcrum point. The power units are setup with a bell-crank to increase the pedal ratio. [smilie=e:
 
68... being pre-'79 your car is still the old four-bolt iron master. All J-bodies, and all 1979-up M-/F-cars, use the two-bolt aluminum master cylinder setup. A-car parts won't fit--in fact, the firewall changed a little. Mopar_man, look for F-cars with the manual-brake adapter plate, or I can send you the specs on mine and you can make your own.

Also, I've swapped literally every body style with the exception of an E-body (which is the same as '71-up B anyhow), and I've never seen nor heard of a "manual pedal". The Z-shaped linkage is the only difference--it's simply not used on the manual setup. Pull it out, fling it, and mount the pushrod directly to where the pedal in the same place, using the same bolt. The only modification required is that, on some cars, the firewall hole needs to be enlarged a bit to clear the back of the master. I had to do this on my LeBaron, but not my '80 Aspen, '80 LS, or '81 Imperial.

It's a great swap... braking is smoother and more controllable, plus you get rid of that obnoxious, ugly, heavy hunk of crap on the firewall.
 

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