It's been a very long time since I've posted updates, though some work has been done. Activities with the children, helping others with some projects as well as some sort of bronchial infection the children gave me and my father has taken up a lot of time. In that time, thanks in part to the sickness, I even managed to get some rest.
The AC is still working well, even in the high humidity 95-100 degree weather we've had. The car never even gets close to overheating and the electric fans come on high and low exactly as they are supposed to. The only issue is that with no carpet or insulation the exhaust puts some heat through the floorboard. I'll be glad to get the roof fixed and re-install the carpet and I believe that issue will be resolved.
As stated in the last post, the brakes indicated that they had a leak in the system. As suspected it turned out to be rear wheel cylinders. Summit racing had sent me a virtual gift card for spending enough money with them to fund a small middle eastern military for a year, so I used those dollars to buy a coolant system pressure tester and a one-man brake bleeder kit.
Up on jackstands The Caprice does her impression of a Caprice in the ghetto. As I was working on the brakes it began to rain... a lot. If I wanted to be able to drive the car the to work the following Monday I wouldn't have time for setbacks, so I continued working in the pouring rain, and pour it did.
I had thought I had the rear brakes replaced when I had the front ones done a while back. That turned out to be wrong. Apparently I'd never done them since I'd owned the car.
Pictured below are new wheels cylinders and a hardware kit. Also in the picture is the set of impact sockets I picked up at a huge discount from the local Sears right before they went out of business. I got metric, standard, and some torque sticks. Unfortunately my 5 gallon compressor doesn't have enough oomph to get the job done. I have a large, 220 compressor, and a two post lift for that matter, but no shop. One day soon, hopefully.
That looks a bit better.
This is the brake bleeder kit. You put the special lid on your master cylinder, add brake fluid to the tank and then pressurize it by pumping it up. Then all you have to do is open each bleeder valve until fresh brake fluid comes out. The kit was a huge improvement and pretty cheap. I wish I had purchased one of these a long time ago. I don't ever plan to go back to the two-person, brake pedal pumping method, and I'm sure my wife and friends won't mind that fact. After this the brakes feel better than they ever have.
Skip several weeks and I had finally decided on what type of gears to get for the differential. I had previously thought if you wanted posi-traction you would just select the brand you wanted. I was surprised to find how many different types of limited slip differential options are available. I knew there were lockers and limited slips and open diffs, but I didn't know of all the sub-categories of each.
My friend Brian, who has been a professional mechanic for many years, just opened his own shop. Since a rear end must be set up exactly right or the parts can be ruined, I didn't want to take the risk of wasting all the money I'd spent on new parts by doing it wrong and ruining them, so I had him install the new gear set. I had known for a while I had bad pinion seal and when I had checked the rear end grease it looked like a melted milkshake thanks to The Caprice's past adventures of creek stomping over the years. Brain was nice enough to take picture along the way and email them to me.
There is so much information out there about so many different types of rear gear sets I had trouble decided what would be right for me. I eventually settled on a Yukon Dura-Grip limited slip with a clutch pack system and a 3:42 ring and pinion, from Yukon as well.
Fortunately the axles were not pitted so new axle bearings were installed and the original axles were retained.
Checking the run-out on the ring and pinion. The contact is in the center front and back.
Checking the backlash. The original pinion bearing was failing and there were metal shavings all in the bottom of the pumpkin and axle tubes. All of that was thoroughly cleaned and now I've got to break the rear end in for 500 miles before changing the oil and inspecting the lash again. I'll be glad when this 500 miles is over.
