Help getting her running in four weeks.
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From: Trumbull CT
Help getting her running in four weeks.
Ok my Mom is coming up from Florida to watch my son while he is out of school in four weeks which means she will need my daily driver during the day. I took my 77 for a run over the weekend and noted some issues after being stored for the winter. I get a hell of a groan (new) from under the hood when I turn the wheel. It is most apparent when the car is not rolling. I'm guessing it is the power steering pump? I figure I need to swap it out and refill the system. Any ideas? Then the T-tops leak really bad in the lightest of rain (old). I figure I need to replace the seals and adjust the latches. Anybody know a good thread on this? Last but definately not least a mile from my house the car started to pull really bad to the right. After stopping in my driveway smoke started pouring out from behind my right front wheel. I guess the caliper froze up. should I just try to break it loose or replace the whole thing. I've done many pad replacement but never changed a caliper. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
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From: Boca Raton Florida
OK, pretty good list but not to bad.
#1 check/refill PS fluid, noise might go away, let us know
#2 T-Top leaks, new seals at corvetteruber, ecklers, dr rebuild, wilcox....not a bad job, scrape off old ones, clean surface, glue new ones on with 3m adheasive, sat am and a couple beers.
#3 bleed brakes get ALL the air out, see what happens, if that doesn't fix it, new caliper is a few bucks at autozone with a warrenty. pull wheel, 2 bolts caliper is off, swap hose connection, reinstall and bleed.
should get you goingGood Luck
Danny
#1 check/refill PS fluid, noise might go away, let us know
#2 T-Top leaks, new seals at corvetteruber, ecklers, dr rebuild, wilcox....not a bad job, scrape off old ones, clean surface, glue new ones on with 3m adheasive, sat am and a couple beers.
#3 bleed brakes get ALL the air out, see what happens, if that doesn't fix it, new caliper is a few bucks at autozone with a warrenty. pull wheel, 2 bolts caliper is off, swap hose connection, reinstall and bleed.
should get you goingGood Luck
Danny
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From: San Diego - Deep Within The State of CONFUSION!
Originally Posted by sfallison
You can also check to see if the caliper pistons have simply rusted and won't work. Just free them up (gently tap em) and check the others too.
But remember that when doing brakes, you NEVER do one side. Don't replace just the ONE caliper, do both fronts as bare minimum.
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From: Trumbull CT
I was thinking along those lines as well. I'm going to get into the brakes tonight and see what I find. I figure at a bare minumum I'll be replacing the pads so I'm going to get those and a bottle of power steering fluid from auto zone at lunch. If the calipers are just stuck I'll lube em good with molly lube and cycle them a bunch of times. I'll do both sides. Thanks for the help so far.
Team Owner
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From: Southbound
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Originally Posted by 1tuffref
....If the calipers are just stuck I'll lube em good with molly lube and cycle them a bunch of times.....
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From: Trumbull CT
I picked up the calipers and pads today for the front for less then $200 so I am going to replace them. I'll paint the new calipers and then tear down everything for assembly tomorrow. Hopefully the rotors will be in decent shape. I agree on the rear calipers too but I have to take care of this growling from the steering system and T-top leak first. Unfortunately, I bought a classic car and a classic house at the same time. You can guess which one gets most of my evening time. Well, off to get my hands dirty.
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From: Trumbull CT
Well, I got the right front caliper replaced with new pads. I used a one man bleed kit and and I'm pretty sure I bleed that caliper pretty well. My power steering pump was so low on fluid it didn't even register on the dip stick. I filled it and running out of time put the wheel back on and dropped the car off the stand. The "groan" from my power steering pump is gone, thanks Danny, but after pumping the brakes I could tell something was still wrong. I rolled her into the street but as soon as I started forward the wheel pulled to the right again. I turned right around and put her back into the garage. The right front seems to be locked up again because the car felt like it was braking and wouldn't coast. I'll do the left side caliper and pads tonight and bleed all the brakes as well. Anybody have any other ideas???
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From: Trumbull CT
Well it turns out it wasn't the caliper but the rubber hose connecting the claiper to the hardline. I read about that possibility in onther thread. I broke the upstream fitting and the caliper was still braking hard but as soon as I broke the fitting on the caliper it freed right up. i don't know if it swelled shut or just got clogged but I couldn't even plow air through it. So now both sides have new calipers hoses and pads and she brakes just fine and no pull at all. Now to finish off those T-tops.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2006
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From: Nashville TN
Your making short work of your list, you still have a three weeks left. Maybe we can get you to overhaul the engine or some other mods! lol
Glad its going well for you, nothing like doing it on your own and being able to cross it off that imaginary list of to do's.
Glad its going well for you, nothing like doing it on your own and being able to cross it off that imaginary list of to do's.
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From: Trumbull CT
Thanks for the encouragement and the help so far but this last issue seems to be the toughest from reading other threads. I stripped off the old weather stripping on the T-tops and honestly just looking at the design I can't figure how the GM engineers figured on these things not to leak. The seams where the center piece of molding on the birdcage meet the two outer pieces on the top of the windshield are huge. How are the seals supposed to fill this gap? I think I am going to loosen the molding up and shoot some clear silicon into these joints to give myself a fighting chance at least. Oh, anybody know what is the best adheasive to use on this weatherstripping? Another thing remember this list was just to get her going I still have to replace the rest of the weather stipping, fix the dash gauge lights, AC, clock, and then she could really, really use a new suspension. After that maybe a little work on the interior and if I hit the lottery a paint job.