update on Rich's build

[hiball3985]

It will settle faster if you add some weight. When I put new springs on the rear of my F100 truck I added 6 90# bags if ready-mix in the bed over the rear axle for about a month..

[RICH MUISE]

Good idea...now I just need to find some 50# bags so I can actually lift them in there.!

[hiball3985]

Good idea...now I just need to find some 50# bags so I can actually lift them in there.!

That was many years ago, if I did it today it would be 50# and even those are getting hard to handle.

[RICH MUISE]

Got the passenger side e-brake hooked up yesterday. Now with both cables hooked up to the front, and the driver's side now in it's final position, I do have some interference with the exhaust on both sides.
I was barely able to get the second cable hooked to the bar, both threaded rods were near the end of the adjustment to get them hooked up, so I'll stand by my original thought that the cables could be an inch longer, maybe more for a Fairlane setup as previously mentioned. I need to weld a brake line bracket to the differential, and add a hose clamp to the frame before I put the wheel back on, hopefully get that done today and jack up the front and get the front shocks mounted.
On the cable being a little short, yes, there is some extra length on the back end, but that extra is good there to get the cable away the leaf spring. So, if anyone is doing this setup on a Custom, I'd add an inch to the overall cable length as determined by the pn that Bob and I used.

[RICH MUISE]

Well, I mispoke in an earlier thread. I got the car set down on it's back wheels today, and found out the jackstand on the right side was raising up the left side much more than I had expected. The wheel well opening is now only about 3/4" above the wheel. I like the way it's sitting there, so I probably won't do any lowering to the back. In the future if I want to go to a wider tire in the back, I think I can if I use a 1/4" wheel spacer. Not sure though how wide I can go with a 7" wide rim.
I also mispoke about the wheels being centered between the suspension and the fender well lip. The closest thing on the inside is the leaf spring, and the tire is 3/4" from it. I have 1 3/8 clearance on both sides from the tire to the fenderwell lip at it's closest point. Same dimension both sides tells me the body is centered on the frame.
The left side e-brake cable is rubbing on the tire, so I've got to go back and take care of that problem. I had noticed that before I did the right side, so that side is good.
The car's back end is sitting on a 2 1/4 tall platform I had made with 2 x 6's and 3/4 plywood, the front end is sitting on the dirt floor, but that position is just an inch or so shy of the rake I want to end up with. Just for grins I checked the engine angle in that position, and it's 2 1/2-3* down. I think It's gonna end up just about what I was shooting for.

[RICH MUISE]

I got my front shocks mounted, so another thing off my to-do list. Next is bleeding the brakes.
It finally got warm enough the past few days for most of the streets to dry out from the snow and ice we had last weekend. I was thinking I might get to take it out for a short ride after I got the brakes bled, then my wife just told me they were expecting 4-6" of the white stuff tonight. #@%$$!!

[RICH MUISE]

Post #6000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I finally got enough brake pedal to test it out....man that took hours. Did power bleeds, the old 2 person method, and my first time doing a gravity feed. The gravity feed worked great on the front, not the back. Not sure why, but in the back with the bleeders open, nothing would flow. The front was slow, but eventually got all the air out.
It's suppose to warm up tommorrow for a few days, hopefully the mud in my back yard will dry out so I can get it up on the driveway without making a huge mess. Then it's test time.

[Limey57]

Did you try one of those vacuum gadgets that attach to the bleed nipple and actually draw the fluid through rather than pushing it through?  I've got an "Easy bleed" kit that attaches to the master cylinder and uses air pressure to push it through, they work well BUT I haven't got an adaptor to suit my master cylinder (it's designed for British stuff) so I'm looking at the vacuum type.

[RICH MUISE]

Yes, I did...that was the "power bleed" unit I was talking about. It has a bottle with a nozzle that hooks up to an air compressor, and another bottle that clips into the master that feeds the reservoir so it doesn't need refilling as often. First, let me say this was the first time I had ever bleed a system where everything was new and full of air, as opposed to just replacing something like a wheel cylinderor a caliper. I don't know how much trouble the 4 calipers added to the bleeding, but I'm 100% certain the master on the hydroboost was the component that made it difficult. I had read those particular masters couldn't be bench bled because there was no internal check valve, so you'd lose the bleed before you got it to the car. The master does in fact have two bleed screws on it, so I took that as a confirmation of what I was reading.
With that in mind, I tried to bleed the master first, front and back then the lines. Frankly, I still read info where they tell you to start with the wheel furthest from the master and work your way closer. Maybe wrong, and I understand that reasoning for the old single reservoir masters....but with the masters "nowadays" (starting 50 years ago) having dual reservoirs, I worked on the front and backs seperatly.
Back to your question on the vacumn pump for the bleeding...Yes it seemed to work great, the problem I couldn't figure out was it seemed like the air bubbles coming thru with the fluid were never ending. I'll bet I bled the front two lines at least 20 times and it seemed like I was getting so much air bubbles I could have filled the Heidelburg twice over. So, was that working...??  I then tried just a gravity feed with the tube hooked up to the bleeder....very slow. The passenger side was still getting air bubbles thru after 2-hours and filling the jug maybe 3 times, but finally fuid started coming thru no bubbles. As I mentioned, I was also bleeding the master intermittently when I was working the lines. All in all, it took the better part of a full day, so I figured I was doing something wrong...I just didn't know what that was.

[Zapato]

Bleeding brakes,one of my least favorite jobs. There is often a grinning gremlin hanging around during that job. Remember  doing it years ago on my wife's Sunbeam Alpine with my then 3 year old daughter. Pushed the seat back sat her on the floor on a pillow and explained her the push and hold process. And by God she did it right. Seem to recall afterwards we walked to the local burger joint for ice cream cones.

One thing I discovered a few years back is to replace all the bleed screws with ones with the check ball in them. Absolutely will not allow any air to bleed back into the system. Not saying it would have solved your problems Rich but they do make it easier. And yes I still start farthest away first and work my way forward to closest, old habits are hard to break.

Glad you got it all figured out,now take it for a CAREFUL spin around the block.

Zap-

[RICH MUISE]

Had an absolutly great day today. I pulled her out of the shed this morning while the ground was still frozen, then a little later took it out for a spin around the neighborhood. Everything was feeling so good I decided to take it for a longer drive. There's a loop that runs around the outskirts of Amarillo that's probably 30 miles or so around, so I headed there. I was grinning ear to ear the whole way. I don't have my speedometer set yet, but at a few spots I probably got it up to 65 or 70. It was freakin' awesome...no vibrations whatsoever, held the road really well, overall handling/response was as good or better as I had hoped. This was the first time out with shocks on the car...made a huge difference. It was also the first time out since I had changed the differential fluid because of cornering noise I was hearing. That noise is totaly gone now...I couldn't believe it. I've got NO squeaks or rattles(except my baling wired exhaust), and even the passenger door that hasn't had the door seal installed yet was surprisingly quiet...and I was wearing my hearing aid. The brakes worked great.
Since he was near the loop, I stopped by the Racing shop that did my rear end to tell him I had it out for a run and the noise we had previously discussed was no longer there. He came out to look at it, and I was honestly expecting him to take no longer than 5 minutes because he obviouly had alot of stuff going on in his shop, but he was out there for half an hour looking at everything, asking all kinds of questions. Told me I had to get this thing in the upcoming shows. Made my day!!. He said..."like everyone else, you talk to guys about their cars and unless you know their work, you just never know, but this thing is just awesome."
After I left his place I drove 180* around the loop and stopped in the see my friend, mentor, adviser, etc who had helped me for so many years. Cody had never seen the car, only pics. He spent an hour going thru everything. Kept sayin "Rich, this is awesome". He said "I notice stuff people never will see...look at your door jambs, man this is great. He needed a ride back from the alighnment shop that also did my '57, so I followed him there and brought him back home. He was impressed with the way it rode and drove....just kept going on and on.
So, yup I had a good day!!!
Tommorrow I'm going to give another shot at getting the speedometer set, and this time I'll remember my GPS as well.
One not so good thing, btw....after fiddling with my speedometer button trying to set it, the tach started acting up. Not sure if it was coincedence, or what, but it was working very well right up to that point!

[Ford Blue blood]

Rich you going to have to buy a bigger hat?

[RICH MUISE]

Nah, soon as something goes wrong the swelling will diminish, lol. Now, if I had won top rod of the year I'd for sure be looking for a new hat!!

[Jeff Norwell]

Congrats Rich!!!!!
You have worked so hard and the efforts of your build are outstanding.There is no other joy than the first real drive and the thrill of your work has paid off.Very very happy for you.
Outstanding!!!!

[hiball3985]

That is great news, you will be burning up the hiways on a daily basis soon..