Bamfster's Chevelle, the History & Coming Attractions ...

[Bamfster]

So I totally forgot to snap any pics when I got the brake parts home. Picture this: a 71 monte that has been sitting for about 10 years outside. It was a daily driver back in the 90s. I cut the brake lines and unbolted the spindles and took each side complete.

Bearings look real good, no rust/corrosion/sconge inside the hubs .... the grease actually looked nice and clean and the seals looked new. A good degreasing and a pressure took care of the big chunks, and a bit of time in the blast cabinet made everything but the backing plates look brand new. I hit everything with a coat of engine black. I was able to get the pass side bolted on yesterday. Only had to enlarge the brake line bracket to fit the new disc brake hose ....

Here is the break down of cost for this swap:

Used disc brakes off of 71 monte carlo ..... $50
New rotors and hubs $44 X 2 .................. $88
Caliper rebuild kits and grease seals ......... $11
Brake hoses ..........................................$18
New disc brake master cylinder .................$38
Total ............................................... $205

So far I have about 4 hours into cleaning, bead blasting, and watching paint dry (quick tip, I set the parts out in the sun to get warm, rattle can them and let them bake in the sun to speed up dry time).

[Bamfster]

Finally had time to wrap up the brake swap today ..... MAN I SHOULDA DONE THIS 20 YEARS AGO!!!!!!

There were zero complications. Only had to get one inverted flare adapter to connect the factory rear brake line to the newer prop valve .... no biggie.

[milner351]

Great! being able to stop when you want to can be pretty handy.

[BBR]

Good job!

[Bamfster]

Now I'm digging up Reb's story on adding the hydro boost to his imp .... I know where there's a 1 ton gmc being parted out ....

[Bamfster]

So the other day while hanging out at my friend's shop, I notice a new-in-the-box power brake booster.... and I took it! I had bought a vacuum can years ago when I was thinking of adding a power booster to the drum system. So today just for grins, I cobbled the vacuum can in and added the booster just to see. Wasn't really thinking it would actually work since the engine only pulls 8" of vac. Low and behold, it actually works fairly darn good .... from and idle it's ok, but from my drive to the stop sign (about 1/2 a block) it works as well as my truck. I took it for a short drive and it is actually pretty decent.

I'll get some pics up once I solid mount the can and run some vac lines ....

[TheSilverBuick]

Did you tell your friend you took it? Or did you wait for him to call the cops?

[Bamfster]

Did you tell your friend you took it? Or did you wait for him to call the cops?

Yea he said to take it ... LOL

Delco/Morraine, judging from the layers of dust on the box, It's more than a few years old.

[TheSilverBuick]

That should be a good upgrade for you. I'm interested to hear more about how you like your brakes at lower vacuum as I keep thinking of going more aggressive on my cam and kill off a few more inHg.

[Bamfster]

And if it's too much of a pain at low speed, I pulled this out of the parts book @ car quest this afternoon:

http://www.dormanproducts.com/p-30657-904-214.aspx

Dorman claims 16 psi ... a lot better price than the $2-300 price tag for some of the others.

[TheSilverBuick]

My brakes are way over kill. 12" vented on the front, ~10" vented rotors on the rear. Doesn't take much. I'm running the stock V6 booster on it, which the V6 was a dog enough to have a tough time getting vacuum.

[SuperBuickGuy]

When I had the blower motor in the Buick, I ran a vacuum reserve cannister. Worked fine, it solved the following problem: The booster itself stores the vacuum until you need it, so if you're in stop and go traffic, it generally doesn't build up enough vacuum to use the brakes more than once (with boost) so if you get a vacuum reserve, you get twice, maybe even 3 times before you're back to manual brakes. Just my 2cents.

I can just hear what would have happened next if his friend had called the cops. Cops arrive, and say "Bamf, long time no see buddy, remember the time when {insert civil right violation here}" Bamf replies "good times, man good times," Cop looks at friend "so why did you call us" Friend explains situation. Cop says "I see there's dust on this box, you know that's a violation of __.__.__ subsection (2)?", Friend expresses amazement/concern. 1st cop gets out handcuffs, "we'll have to take you in", friend says "but I didn't know", Cop, "ignorance is no excuse buddy."

[Bamfster]

I can just hear what would have happened next if his friend had called the cops. Cops arrive, and say "Bamf, long time no see buddy, remember the time when {insert civil right violation here}" Bamf replies "good times, man good times," Cop looks at friend "so why did you call us" Friend explains situation. Cop says "I see there's dust on this box, you know that's a violation of __.__.__ subsection (2)?", Friend expresses amazement/concern. 1st cop gets out handcuffs, "we'll have to take you in", friend says "but I didn't know", Cop, "ignorance is no excuse buddy."

Isn't that the way it's supposed to work?

[Beagle]

You guys remind me of "The Big Chill" where the cop and Harold are discussing what to with Harold's buddy Nick, the yankee drug dealer. "What do you say we take him out back and kick the sh*t out of him"...

when I was wildly ripping all the power junk out of the Lincoln, I neglected to notice it has (had) what looks like a hydroboost unit. My theory is, if the car needs power brakes, it weighs too much. haha.

Did you pull the trigger on the vacuum pump or is it doing okay without it?

[Bamfster]

Beag's, after several months of driving it and a few thousand miles (hooked up speedo back in April ..... 3000+ miles as of today) it definitely needs a pump for anything more than 3 successive stops in a short period. It works pretty well as is, but can be better.

The flip side of the update .... I'm getting bored with the combo! I keep thinking new wheel and tire combo ..... maybe new paint ..... idk.

Definitely want to do away with the 'glass bucket seats and add something more comfy. It'll be getting heat barrier/sound deadener and tail pipes this fall to make the 4 hour drive thru the Rockies easier on the ears.

Throw some ideas out there guys .... should I pull my famous walk-away-from-it-for-a-few-months-and see where-I-go tactic? I've been thinking autoX or something where I don't hurry up and wait all day (bracket racing) .....

Let's hear it.