Projects Mild custom '51 Pontiac Chieftain

Dig it man... cool lil car for sure, even if its a 4 door, I'm glad to see it getting some love man...

P.S. I like 4 doors also...

 

Isn't working with what you got all part of it? I think so!

More-door, sure.. still looks good to my eyes. It's not like the roof line suddenly got really ugly because of it, they did a good job of keeping it fairly well proportioned without looking too dumpy.

Phil

 

Honestly have not read all 15 pages, but from what I've see early on, looks fantastic!! Nice attention to detail. Doing something similar, with my '64 98. Thanks for sharing.

 

This afternoon I decided that I needed to actually do something on the car.


So, front left brake. This one's been snatchy and horrible.


Dust cap off. Not very pleasant in there.


Outer race apart, not too bad overall. Dirty.


Cleaned it all down. The grease scraper is broken because some tool bent the cotter pin round in it's sweep. I've picked a few pieces of it out. The rest is probably in the gap between the races in the hub.


And pulled the drum off. Grease has gotten onto the shoes. Ugh. Recommendations?

Phil

 

(Obviously I know the standard recommendation, which would be to clean the drum, replace the seal, replace the shoes and readjust).

It's chassis grease so pretty heavy stuff and it is only on the first quarter inch or so of the inside of the linings. Would it be worthwhile trying to burn it off?

Phil

 

Clean them up with brake clean or something similar then put the heat to them and burn out the rest. It will take a few helpings of cleaner and not too must heat. Not the best way but back in the day that is all we could afford.

 

Yeah, that's kinda where in at with it. Gonna clean up and inspect the race seal, hopefully the last person in here just slathered it all over with little regard for how it works.
Bought a new can of brake cleaner. Maybe tomorrow I'll clean the hub and drum and take a look at the mechanism.


Bought a condenser. Not much change which means I have a good working spare to keep in the car.

Little at a time right now.

Phil

 

I beat the grease cap back into something near to the correct shape and gave it a coat of paint.


Strange cooking ahoy.


Brake soup.

More to follow

Phil

 

That looks delicious Mr. Phil

 

There we go. That's better.

Phil

 

Do it if you've got the time some day; I found it very entertaining and enjoyable.

 

Please make sure your brake cleaner is non-chlorinated if applying heat.
I am sure everyone has read about the dangers associated with heating chlorinated brake cleaner but figured it was an opportune time to remind everyone.

 

That's a very valid point, and a good reminder. Check your MSDS and follow the instructions on any chemicals you use.

Phil

 

Does your wife know what you are cooking? I would be dead meat.

 

Yup, I got an old beat up pot from my neighbor that he was willing to swap a couple beers for, hammered it back into shape and started boiling it all up outside. It didn't make the house smell bad or mess up any of her good crockery so I'm not in trouble!

--Phil

 

I'd recommend boiling the brake shoes in Dawn dish detergent to degrease them. Probably at least two changes of water.

 

Those aren't the hazmat old style asbestos brake shoes, are they? The ones we all handled and blew off with an airhose back in the day? Then sat there and ate our lunches...if so use caution and a respirator lol. I wonder how you can tell?

 

Yup, all asbestos. Care is being taken to minimize ingestion and inhalation of the dust. I'm well aware of the hazards involved.

Phil

 

Well, I had a quick go at seeing what is what with the front left brakes- there is quite a lot of friction material left on the front shoe compared to the rear.

Propping my phone up on my step-stool, setting it to film video then going inside the car and pushing down on the brake pedal a bit gives us this result.


Yup, front shoe isn't moving. I'm going to hold the rear one in with a lever and have Glamorous Assistant press the pedal down to see if it is truly stuck or just a bit reluctant to move.

If it's stuck of course I'm going to try free it up but ultimately I'll be seeing about getting a new hydraulic assembly for it.

Phil

 

Phil,
If I was working on your car & getting paid to do brakes, I'd have the other side apart, doing the same operations. I'd have pulled the boots back on the cylinders to look for seepage before I pulled the shoes … I'm hoping your cylinders aren't pitted inside so you can hone them & replace the cups … Most everyone on the HAMB would tell you to replace both hoses, too.
BTW, the brass deal that broke in the cap is a static eliminator for the radio.

 

The other side was good, did that already. Shoes are good, surfaces smooth, both pistons move evenly and smoothly, visible parts of the bore were good. Lubricated
the sliding parts with brake grease and adjusted it all up. That side used to snatch, now it brakes progressively until finally it locks under very hard pedal.

This side... Be not so good

The hoses need doing yes. If I replace this side, I'll be doing both. I'm going to go round the entire system before buying anything.

Didn't realize that was a grounding spring, funny. Aftermarket?

Phil

 

The brass thing came with the radio package, along with condensers for the gen., voltage regulator, suppression plug wires, and sometimes a special distributor rotor.

 

Thank you for that information. Very handy to have- also gives me an idea how susceptible to interference the original radio is. That's a good sign it should be fairly sensitive to signals too. The circuit is a pretty good design but more suited to being a fixed position radio. However, I'm going to put it back into the car as an AM device. Hopefully it won't pick up too much whine from the alternator...

Phil

 

Well, with assistance today I held the rear shoe in place and got the front piston to move. It freed up with a CLOK and now subsequent applications of pedal result in no movement and plenty of hydraulic fluid, so that answers that one.

Phil

 

Also, not viewed as a setback; I would much rather have catastrophic brake system failure in a controlled environment rather than at 65 miles per hour on the highway.

I'll pull the shoes off and remove the cylinder and see what kind of shape the bore is in. Hopefully the cup seal failed, more likely it's rusty, has drawn that rust up under the seal and is now leaking as a result.
New flexi pipe and cylinders ahoy by the looks of it.

Phil

 

Best laid plans, and all that. Didn't get to do a whole lot to the car this weekend.

Went check on it and saw it's been sat weeping hydraulic fluid.


I bought a little 3 gallon compressor at Harbor Freight because they had them on sale with a coupon for $37


Checked the air suspension in the car, which still works but leaks badly.
Spent the rest of my weekend doing things for other people. That's the way it goes though.

Phil

 

I made a little idiot light panel to clip up under the edge of the dash, tucked in between the vent knobs and heater bezel. Generator and oil pressure warnings. Gauges are excellent but I'm all about having an attention-getter for critical things. See: aeroplanes. They're a bit square but that's what I had to hand. Not so bad when you realize they're just over a half inch tall.

Phil

 

To keep people happy (no LED's):

Proper 12 Volt midget flange incandescent bulbs for the warning lights and a set of go no go feelers to do the final adjustment on the lifters.

Phil

 

You are having too much fun!!! And getting new tools too! Keep posting, I am having fun following along.

 

I'm trying not to stall out working on the car- as others say, try to do something, no matter how small it is and you won't lose the enthusiasm for what you're doing.
So, late last night I went curse at a small piece of metal and some old Dialight lights from a long since retired phone exchange. Tonight I may try find the time to duplicate the piece. We'll see. Between the weather being so changeable and not really having a great deal of money to throw around right now I'll call this a good task to have.

--Phil