Monday, July 16, 2012

first rollings and third brakes

Ouch.



The rear tires were attacked by the rear fenders. Eaten, one might venture to say. A friend of a friend had a eastwood rolling kit, not to mention a free afternoon. Thanks Vergil.




It took a while to adjust the roller correctly, everything set to minimum. It even required special spacers on the hub in order to push the roller out a bit to get the right starting angles.

You can see the under lip that cut into the tires. The goal is to bend this upward, as flush with the inner metal as possible.





The passenger fender cracked from bottoming out on the tire on the ride over. This was a bit worrying, not because it cracked, but what it potentially implied. Unlike purists, I don't care if the previous owner used body work prior to paint, but if it was to fill rust or repair an accident, that's entirely different. I'm not going to start stressing now as every other panel on the car is clean. This will be sorted out during paint and body work, but doesn't affect the need for rollings now. Did you see those tires?!





I'll have more closeup shots later of the final results. The driverside was easier to roll than the passenger and Vergil did a great job, but both needed a bit more after one afternoon.

Some engine shots.





Rolling in the shop.



This is where it gets mildly entertaining. After rolling the fenders I took it out for a test drive to the ATM about 3 blocks away. No less than three separate people rolled down their windows and commented on the 24o. This was great, but not as notable as the brakes getting VERY squishy at the cash box, and disappearing entirely on my way back. I entered the shop parking lot way too hot, ripping the ebrake, skidding sideways, hopping onto the inclined driveway.

As it turned out, the front master reservoir emptied completely, and there was a loose joint between the caliper hardline and the stainless steel connection on the passenger side. WOW.


This was more frustrating than anything. I had already bleed the brakes once myself with Haydn, and then paid for it to be done a second time at mieneke of simpsonville, sc. They charged me 25o$ to pull the wheels off, flip flop the front calipers, pull the master and booster off, adjust the push rod, reinstall everything, and re-bleed with my fluid.

I had to take the car in because I was moving that day and simply out of time. I actually ran out of gas on the way home and Deepak showed up, bailing me out with a few gallons of 93. Either way, I spent the entire week getting the car road legal and safe, pulled the car out of the garage, and the brakes didn't work. Apparently the calipers were upside down (ie on the wrong side). The system would have never bleed with the bleeders on the low side of the calipers.  

This was a big help, but I would have appreciated re-connecting the brake line to reduce my chances of killing small babies, not to mention myself.


I called mieneke to let them know what happened, and the manager proceeded to inform me how it wasn't their fault and how I must be lying about what happened, even though they swapped the very calipers that leaked and I had pictures of it leeking all over the parking lot. Whatever happened to customer service, let alone the customer being right? They wouldn't tow it to the shop to inspect, they wouldn't even cover it if it turned out to be their fault, and by the end of the conversation, the manager was actually yelling at me.

I'm always very straight forward about these things, and this isn't the first time it seems to have actually backfired and pissed off the recipient even more. It's like they want to fight because they feel personally offended, and get even more angry when I'm calm and logical. It really doesn't matter to me, I'm safe and alive. I just wanted him to make it right. Instead, he hung up the phone on me, slamming it down while he was in the middle of yelling, which is actually impressive, all after I politely informed him that I was not going to give his shop a good recommendation.

Vergil was a great help, running to the store as I watched the shop to pick up some dot4 synthetic. We pulled both front wheels, tightened the passenger side line, filled the fluid, and attempted to bleed the brakes for the third time. It was still very squishy, but stopped with the pedal on the floor as the car was coasting down the driveway. That was enough for me and I rushed home before it got dark.

DO NOT GO TO MEINEKE OF SIMPSONVILLE, SC. THEY MAY KILL YOU.

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