86 12 Brutus Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 I'm jealous Dave... It's official. Brutus becomes the daily driver as of tomorrow. Still much to do, but finally we can drive it and give the poor crown vic a rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted November 1, 2020 Author Share Posted November 1, 2020 It's official. Brutus becomes the daily driver as of tomorrow. Still much to do, but finally we can drive it and give the poor crown vic a rest. Congrat's, George & Nick! Well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 Progress. The new rotors are on the hubs. The only challenging thing using the arbor press was getting it propped up to press the studs back in. When the assembly is sitting on the rotor to push the studs out it's stable. But when you flip it over to press them back in they are hanging out past the hub so it wants to tip over. I had to scrounge up some scrap metal to prop it up. Otherwise the challenge was schlepping the heavy 1 ton hub/rotor assemblies from my garage to the Bronco and then to the shop at work. And back. Well they're in the back of the Bronco now. Hopefully it'll all go back together smoothly this weekend. It's back together and back on the road! But there are still a couple loose ends to tie up. The axle shafts went in fine, and the spindles went back on fine. I was trying to decide what I was going to do with the rusted out dust shields. They were so bad they were rubbing on the insides of the wheels. I looked a little for replacements but gave up. So I was trying to decide if I should trim off the outer rim (the part that was falling off and rubbing the wheels) or just leave them off. Geddy Lee said "If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice." So I guess I chose to just leave them off . The wheel bearings went together fine too, except that I REALLY hate hand-packing bearings when it's only in the 30s! Then the locking hubs went back on with no drama either. The drama came with the brakes. My old pads were down to nothing and the vew pads are about 3/8" thick, so I had to compress the calipers about 3/4". I was able to do the passenger's side, but I couldn't turn the hub after I'd done that. And I could only get one of the pistons in far enough on the driver's side. The other needed another 1/4". So I made another trip to Napa and got new calipers. That meant I had to take the passenger's side apart again, but I feel a lot better about it now. The down side to replacing the calipers (other than another 2 trips to Napa and the money) was that now I had to bleed the brakes. Lesley came out to help me. I did the passenger's side first and it went as expected, quite a bit of air as the new caliper filled, then just fluid. But the driver's side never had any air . We did a few strokes anyway, but it wasn't getting any air out, so it didn't seem to have any point. So I buttoned it up. The first few stops were pretty poor, with the rear brakes locking and the front not doing much. But by the time I got around the block the fronts would lock too. The pedal feels pretty low and soft, but I don't know if that's because it's low and soft or if it's because I've been driving my hydroboost Bronco for the past week! So I took it to the grocery store and it was feeling more normal by the time I got home. I think I'll leave it as is for at least a week or so before deciding if I'm going to do anything else. The loose ends are that I still need to put a clamp on the boot on the slip joint in the right front half-shaft. And I need to check the level of the lube in the front diff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 It's back together and back on the road! But there are still a couple loose ends to tie up. The axle shafts went in fine, and the spindles went back on fine. I was trying to decide what I was going to do with the rusted out dust shields. They were so bad they were rubbing on the insides of the wheels. I looked a little for replacements but gave up. So I was trying to decide if I should trim off the outer rim (the part that was falling off and rubbing the wheels) or just leave them off. Geddy Lee said "If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice." So I guess I chose to just leave them off . The wheel bearings went together fine too, except that I REALLY hate hand-packing bearings when it's only in the 30s! Then the locking hubs went back on with no drama either. The drama came with the brakes. My old pads were down to nothing and the vew pads are about 3/8" thick, so I had to compress the calipers about 3/4". I was able to do the passenger's side, but I couldn't turn the hub after I'd done that. And I could only get one of the pistons in far enough on the driver's side. The other needed another 1/4". So I made another trip to Napa and got new calipers. That meant I had to take the passenger's side apart again, but I feel a lot better about it now. The down side to replacing the calipers (other than another 2 trips to Napa and the money) was that now I had to bleed the brakes. Lesley came out to help me. I did the passenger's side first and it went as expected, quite a bit of air as the new caliper filled, then just fluid. But the driver's side never had any air . We did a few strokes anyway, but it wasn't getting any air out, so it didn't seem to have any point. So I buttoned it up. The first few stops were pretty poor, with the rear brakes locking and the front not doing much. But by the time I got around the block the fronts would lock too. The pedal feels pretty low and soft, but I don't know if that's because it's low and soft or if it's because I've been driving my hydroboost Bronco for the past week! So I took it to the grocery store and it was feeling more normal by the time I got home. I think I'll leave it as is for at least a week or so before deciding if I'm going to do anything else. The loose ends are that I still need to put a clamp on the boot on the slip joint in the right front half-shaft. And I need to check the level of the lube in the front diff. Congrat's, Bob! Lots of hard work. On the brakes, I can understand what you mean about having driven the Bronco with the hydroboost. Big Blue's brake pedal is HARD, and he stops NOW. In fact, I've set him down quickly several times just to enjoy such good brakes - and I've had no squealing tires. Nothing locking up. But the vacuum-boosted systems don't usually feel that hard. So, if driving it around doesn't firm it up then I'd check that driver's side again. It is odd that it never had any air. On the boot clamp, I was told most people are going with large zip ties. I couldn't find the size of metal clamp I wanted for the front driveshaft on Big Blue so am using a very large zip tie and it seems to be working fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scbill Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 Congrat's, Bob! Lots of hard work. On the brakes, I can understand what you mean about having driven the Bronco with the hydroboost. Big Blue's brake pedal is HARD, and he stops NOW. In fact, I've set him down quickly several times just to enjoy such good brakes - and I've had no squealing tires. Nothing locking up. But the vacuum-boosted systems don't usually feel that hard. So, if driving it around doesn't firm it up then I'd check that driver's side again. It is odd that it never had any air. On the boot clamp, I was told most people are going with large zip ties. I couldn't find the size of metal clamp I wanted for the front driveshaft on Big Blue so am using a very large zip tie and it seems to be working fine. Nick and George... That is one fine looking truck, job very well done. What model seat is that, and was it a direct bolt in, also the side trim, is that a standard Ford trim? Love them old trucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86 12 Brutus Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 Nick and George... That is one fine looking truck, job very well done. What model seat is that, and was it a direct bolt in, also the side trim, is that a standard Ford trim? Love them old trucks Thanks for the compliment. The seat is out of the 88 parts truck, so it bolted right up. It had a similar seat originally, was the same seat but with the high backs. The seat in there now has the head rests which aren't installed yet. But generally is the same seat with the exception this one also has the power lumbar. The upholstery is a seat cover by Dash Designs and I absolutely love it, fits beautifully and i love the material. They also sell the material by the yard, i plan on buying some and doing the door panel inserts. All of the trim on the truck is original. except for the door panels, they are from an 83. The original door panels were plain and had the 87 door pockets. the 83 door panels are of a much higher quality then the ones that came on the truck. the padded inserts we bought off ebay from a Bronco, and the trim piece on the door panel was originally chrome and not in good shape, so we painted it to match the instrument cluster bezel as well as the steering wheel. The gray bezels are original. Nick did the work on the instrument cluster. The steering wheel had the woodgrain and was painted as well. Brutus is a half year special edition truck and has some 87 trim pieces and stuff that dosent exist. I call him Ghost truck alot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason2215 Posted November 5, 2020 Share Posted November 5, 2020 This might be cheating, as I didn't do all this "today," I did do it in the past couple weeks so I'm going to make my first contribution to this thread anyway. First, got my leaky radiator replaced. Isn't she pretty? Then we tore out the old carpeting to see how bad our floorboard repair was going to be...it's worse in the front for sure. Finally I replaced the old Holley carb with this shiny new AVS2, which seems to be doing pretty good! Just can't quite get the kickdown to work even after using the adapter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Wyatt Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 This might be cheating, as I didn't do all this "today," I did do it in the past couple weeks so I'm going to make my first contribution to this thread anyway. First, got my leaky radiator replaced. Isn't she pretty? Then we tore out the old carpeting to see how bad our floorboard repair was going to be...it's worse in the front for sure. Finally I replaced the old Holley carb with this shiny new AVS2, which seems to be doing pretty good! Just can't quite get the kickdown to work even after using the adapter. Looks good Jason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramttocs Posted November 6, 2020 Share Posted November 6, 2020 This might be cheating, as I didn't do all this "today," I did do it in the past couple weeks so I'm going to make my first contribution to this thread anyway. First, got my leaky radiator replaced. Isn't she pretty? Then we tore out the old carpeting to see how bad our floorboard repair was going to be...it's worse in the front for sure. Finally I replaced the old Holley carb with this shiny new AVS2, which seems to be doing pretty good! Just can't quite get the kickdown to work even after using the adapter. Looking great and a shame the radiator has to be hidden under the shroud Didn't do anything on the truck but found a couple NOS parts for sale locally so went and picked them up. Extremely nice former Bullnose owner who showed me a photo of a beautiful tan/blue 6.9 F250 with a GVOD. Ended up with a headlight bezel, door lock bezel, and some near, if not new, booklets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted November 6, 2020 Author Share Posted November 6, 2020 Looking great and a shame the radiator has to be hidden under the shroud Didn't do anything on the truck but found a couple NOS parts for sale locally so went and picked them up. Extremely nice former Bullnose owner who showed me a photo of a beautiful tan/blue 6.9 F250 with a GVOD. Ended up with a headlight bezel, door lock bezel, and some near, if not new, booklets. Yes, Jason, that's good progress! Scott - That's a good score! How did you find it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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