Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium

[Bob Heine]

Interesting. In 2004 you were 17 or 18 and your dad didn't want to buy you a six year old car. In 1966 I was 17 and my dad wanted to buy me an eight year old car, a 1958 Thunderbird for $800. I insisted on a $100 1950 Chevrolet (16 years old) with a caved in left rear fender. I never regretted my decision and did not think to ask for some of the $700 he saved. Dang, he's gone now and it's too late to go ask.

(if the tires survived 100 mph they could have gone the distance until they were bald)

Andy, my father knew I loved cars more than anything else in life. He used that knowledge to try to control me. My brother (two years older) got straight A's, as requested and got his license when he turned 16. I didn't get straight A's so I didn't get my license at 16 or 17 and didn't get to drive a car until I was almost 19. It was a $20 death trap, replaced with a $150 death trap. The week before my accident he bought a new '65 Buick and was going to give away his '62 Rambler. He reluctantly gave it to my wife when she drove him home from the hospital in our rotted-out '56 Chevy that popped out of third if you took your hand off the shift lever. He suddenly realized his only two grandchildren's lives were at risk.

I down to only five pickups and trucks, so it's a little iffy around here sometimes, as to whether I'll survive.

I'll have you know I throw away lots of stuff. I used to keep all the styrofoam peanuts in case I ever had to ship something, but I throw some of them away now, and I no longer keep all the boxes. Poor country folks use sheets of cardboard as creepers. They actually work very well, a little padding, clean (for a while) and they are low to the ground.

OK Andy, you win. I had to change into dry pants with that one. I threw out one of my garbage bags full of styrofoam peanuts earlier this year (when my wife wasn't looking) along with a stack of flattened boxes. This freed up space in the garage attic. I couldn't bring myself to throw out all the small boxes because I occasionally need dividers in drawers and cut-down little boxes work well for that. I also save the best and brightest made-in-the-USA cardboard boxes from Southern Polyurethanes Inc. (SPI). Only a dove-tail wooden crate is better than their boxes.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Andy, my father knew I loved cars more than anything else in life. He used that knowledge to try to control me. My brother (two years older) got straight A's, as requested and got his license when he turned 16. I didn't get straight A's so I didn't get my license at 16 or 17 and didn't get to drive a car until I was almost 19. It was a $20 death trap, replaced with a $150 death trap. The week before my accident he bought a new '65 Buick and was going to give away his '62 Rambler. He reluctantly gave it to my wife when she drove him home from the hospital in our rotted-out '56 Chevy that popped out of third if you took your hand off the shift lever. He suddenly realized his only two grandchildren's lives were at risk.

OK Andy, you win. I had to change into dry pants with that one. I threw out one of my garbage bags full of styrofoam peanuts earlier this year (when my wife wasn't looking) along with a stack of flattened boxes. This freed up space in the garage attic. I couldn't bring myself to throw out all the small boxes because I occasionally need dividers in drawers and cut-down little boxes work well for that. I also save the best and brightest made-in-the-USA cardboard boxes from Southern Polyurethanes Inc. (SPI). Only a dove-tail wooden crate is better than their boxes.

No, your story of a car guy being almost 19 before getting a driver's license is the winner. Incredible!

The sad thing is how hard it is to throw away a dirty cardboard creeper with all it's memories and battle scars.

Great updates on the Corvette, by the way

 

[Jeepster04]

Jeepster04, I feel for you. I just did a quick search and those chrome plated alloy rims are unicorns. I also looked up the 1998 Grand Cherokee 5.9. My cousin has two Grand Cherokees but neither is a 5.9, in fact I think they are 4.0 inline 6 equipped.

We seem to have similar taste in cars although yours seems much more practical:

I turned 12 in the fall of 1956, when the 1957 models arrived. It was the first year Chevrolet offered fuel injection in their cars, including the Corvette. It meant you could buy a car from the dealer that had a 1 horsepower per cubic inch power output. The 283ci fuelie with a Duntov solid lifter cam put out 283 horsepower.

My father made sure I never owned or operated a car while I lived under his roof. I got a marriage license before I got a driver's license (after I moved out).

Ive got a 1994 I6 Grand Cherokee also. Its my current DD, rolled over 240,000 this past weekend. Parents bought it new in 1994, I was 8... It was the vehicle I drove when I turned 16 also. To say the least it means a lot to me.



Ive done some stuff to my 5.9...

 

[Bob Heine]

No, your story of a car guy being almost 19 before getting a driver's license is the winner. Incredible!

The sad thing is how hard it is to throw away a dirty cardboard creeper with all it's memories and battle scars.

Great updates on the Corvette, by the way

Andy, I actually got my license when I was 17 but had nothing to drive until I quit college and got a job. I did take driver education in high school. I had been driving in my dreams since early childhood and memorized the driving handbook long before I took the class. I spent so much time mentally preparing myself for driving that actually driving the dual-control car in driver's ed seemed perfectly natural. My instructor asked me to participate in the National Driving Rodeo but his mouth dropped open when I told him I didn't have a permit to drive and could not practice. He called my father and I got a permit (practice not so much).

I screwed up the parallel parking -- I was 7-inches from the curb. One inch closer and I would have tied for first place (out of 200 kids). Had to settle for second place with several other drivers.

I don't have to rely on cardboard creepers any more. Our great room had pink Berber carpet and tile that my wife didn't like so I put down Pergo in it's place. Because I did the job myself I couldn't dispose of the carpet in the trash unless I cut it up into little pieces and put it in trash bags. Because I illegally dumped the tile that way, the garbage truck driver threatened to turn me in ($100 tip was a lot less than the fine or renting a dumpster). The carpet became the floor covering in the first and second bay of the garage. When I replaced the guest bedroom's beige Berber carpet with Pergo a year later, that became the third bay floor.

I eventually cut up the carpet in the third bay and got rid of it. Cleaning up even minor spills from oil changes and brake jobs is too much of a hassle so dirty work gets done in the concrete floor bay.

Carpet doesn't go well with grinding and welding so two years ago I replaced the nasty pock-marked pink carpet in the first bay with gray Berber from the master bedroom. Spray cleaner with bleach and a dumpster-rescue carpet sucker does a wonderful job keeping the stuff looking decent (not beautiful, but decent).

My '72 Corvette has been an evolving project for more than 30 years. Every time I see a car I really like, something on the Corvette gets changed. Not sure I'll ever finish it but I really like having a car I can work on and not be on a "gotta finish it so I can get to work" schedule.

 

[Toolfool]

Kyle, my wife hates to drive anything, anywhere. Except for the USS Lincoln Town Car we owned a few decades back and a '93 Buick Regal I sold when we bought the PT Cruiser. She loved those cars and still thinks we should buy another of either or both of them (she drooled all over a triple black '77 or '78 Town Car at the dealer that didn't have our wheel stud). I think the real wire wheels caught her eye.

We have owned the '87 Corvette for 25 years and she has never driven (or wanted to drive) it. I told her the Caddy is just a car. Yes, it's the most expensive car we have ever bought but it's still just a thing that can be replaced. We spent more for this car than for our first and second house combined (I didn't mention that). With some nudging, I took her out to a very large church parking lot for a test drive. She seemed OK with the car but wanted a second test drive on some back streets near our home. She may actually take it out by herself one of these days.

I should mention that I don't drive much anymore either. We've owned the Caddy for almost 6 months and put less than 900 miles on it.

I had to promise not to put performance springs on the Caddy (like I did on the PT Cruiser). She made me swear not to change the intake or exhaust so I did. I may have failed to mention the Caddy already had an AirRaid cold air intake and cat-back Corsa exhaust but I did swear I'd leave it alone.

My wife is very insecure about money. She wants to know exactly how we'll pay for something before considering the purchase. Then she wants to know if we can find scratched and dented, used or some other stupidly low priced alternative. 95% of our clothes come from the thrift stores in and around our city. Her frugality and unwillingness to buy "nice" things meant we could pay cash for the house we're in without relying on the sale of the old home.

As far as cars go, we would probably still be driving the '47 Ford we bought 53 years ago but she knows what a car nut she married and has allowed me to indulge my illness within reason. She knows from her friends that taking a car in to be repaired is a form of financial suicide -- me being able to fix most problems reduces the damage.

Bob, when I met my wife she was driving a stripped down Ford Pinto. She moved from Ohio to NY after graduating law school at OSU and her first job was in Brooklyn. I didn't like her driving the Pinto on the Belt Parkway in rush hour traffic so I gave her my '83 Olds Toronado. At first she was afraid of it , but grew to love that car. We sold it, and several other vehicles, (same disease) when we moved West. She can still spot an old Toronado on the road before I do.

 

[Bob Heine]

Ive got a 1994 I6 Grand Cherokee also. Its my current DD, rolled over 240,000 this past weekend. Parents bought it new in 1994, I was 8... It was the vehicle I drove when I turned 16 also. To say the least it means a lot to me.

Ive done some stuff to my 5.9...

Jeepster04, my cousin's two Jeeps also have well over 200K miles on them. They live a hard life in Wisconsin, spending the whole year in the driveway. The garage houses the '63 Split Window Corvette he bought in 1965 and had restored a few years ago. The '84 Corvette he bought new shares the garage but not the increase in value the other one has experienced.

Yeah, we share that modified car DNA thing. The '72 Corvette has a few engine mods...

Unfortunately there aren't a lot of choices for big block Corvettes so I had to go with ****** headers.

The '87 Corvette also got a few mods. Roller rockers led to taller valve covers and a really sick exhaust system required some stainless Chinese headers.

Even the PT Cruiser got modded. Stage II engine controller, cold air intake, composite intake manifold (stock one is aluminum) and bigger, smoother intake and intercooler piping help it smoke the tire (doesn't have posi).

I welded up a new 3-inch downpipe with a free-flow cat and an extra O2 bung for air/fuel gauge but haven't finished it. I have to get the angle right before I do the final weld.

 

[quadrcr87]

I spent an hour or two on the bike but when my crotch blisters broke I had to get off. If you’re not familiar with crotch blisters, that’s a good thing.

I about spit my drink out when I read this. Thank you for taking the time to make this thread Bob. I am really enjoying reading along.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob, when I met my wife she was driving a stripped down Ford Pinto. She moved from Ohio to NY after graduating law school at OSU and her first job was in Brooklyn. I didn't like her driving the Pinto on the Belt Parkway in rush hour traffic so I gave her my '83 Olds Toronado. At first she was afraid of it , but grew to love that car. We sold it, and several other vehicles, (same disease) when we moved West. She can still spot an old Toronado on the road before I do.

Hi John, great story and I completely understand your fears with the Pinto on that road! My early memories of the Belt Parkway were from Sunday night travel home from Vermont, Taconic State parking lot to the Whitestone bridge, Van Wyck Expressway and then the Belt Parkway to the Southern State Parkway. In my adult life I used the Belt Parkway to get from my in-laws in West Babylon to Kennedy Airport. It wasn't the worst traffic on the island but it would scare the daylights out of a tourist.

 

[Bob Heine]

stripped down Ford Pinto.

John, I was trying to picture a "fully optioned" Pinto. I found the option list for a '71 Pinto:

• Cruise-O-Matic transmission ($175)
• AM Radio ($61)
• Chrome window moldings ($60)
• White sidewall tires ($33)

I had forgotten about the later editions. I guess this one from 1977 was about as fancy as they got...
By Ford pre-1978 - 1977 Ford Pinto brochure, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22633399

 

[Bob Heine]

I about spit my drink out when I read this. Thank you for taking the time to make this thread Bob. I am really enjoying reading along.

Quadrcr87, I apologize for catching you off-guard. Maybe I should make the warning in my signature a bit larger.

You are very kind and thank you for the compliment. The older I get, the more important it is for me to write this stuff down. I appreciate Ryan letting this thread live.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Jeepster04, my cousin's two Jeeps also have well over 200K miles on them. They live a hard life in Wisconsin, spending the whole year in the driveway. The garage houses the '63 Split Window Corvette he bought in 1965 and had restored a few years ago. The '84 Corvette he bought new shares the garage but not the increase in value the other one has experienced.

Yeah, we share that modified car DNA thing. The '72 Corvette has a few engine mods...

Unfortunately there aren't a lot of choices for big block Corvettes so I had to go with ****** headers.

The '87 Corvette also got a few mods. Roller rockers led to taller valve covers and a really sick exhaust system required some stainless Chinese headers.

Even the PT Cruiser got modded. Stage II engine controller, cold air intake, composite intake manifold (stock one is aluminum) and bigger, smoother intake and intercooler piping help it smoke the tire (doesn't have posi).

I welded up a new 3-inch downpipe with a free-flow cat and an extra O2 bung for air/fuel gauge but haven't finished it. I have to get the angle right before I do the final weld.

Wow! Fancy work! But I don't understand the angle with the flex joint.

You don't TIG weld, do you?

 

[Toolfool]

Hi John, great story and I completely understand your fears with the Pinto on that road! My early memories of the Belt Parkway were from Sunday night travel home from Vermont, Taconic State parking lot to the Whitestone bridge, Van Wyck Expressway and then the Belt Parkway to the Southern State Parkway. In my adult life I used the Belt Parkway to get from my in-laws in West Babylon to Kennedy Airport. It wasn't the worst traffic on the island but it would scare the daylights out of a tourist.

Bob , I have friends here on Whidbey whose daughter accepted a scholarship to play softball at Hofstra. After their first visit to LI their biggest impression was " the lanes on the highways are only as wide as a car, and everyone drives 65 mph bumper to bumper !!!" I responded, "So, you were on the Belt Parkway." They said, "How did you know ?"

 

[Toolfool]

John, I was trying to picture a "fully optioned" Pinto. I found the option list for a '71 Pinto:

Cruise-O-Matic transmission ($175)
AM Radio ($61)
Chrome window moldings ($60)
White sidewall tires ($33)

Well, if I had known it was loaded I would have asked more than $50 for it ! (we actually gave it to my youngest sister , her first car, to run around East Rockaway. )

 

[Bob Heine]

Wow! Fancy work! But I don't understand the angle with the flex joint.

You don't TIG weld, do you?

Hi Andy, my picture probably doesn't show how the two pieces connect. This might be clearer.

I found a 3" turbo downpipe on the bay of fleas. It was advertised to have a 2.5" outlet that would connect to the 2.5" Borla exhaust system I had already installed.

This seemingly simple pipe had four flaws: 1) it didn't have a catalytic converter, 2) it didn't have a post-cat O2 bung, 3) it wouldn't reach the 2.5" section of the exhaust pipe and 4) it had a 2.25" outlet.

The Borla exhaust is 2.5" except for the first few inches, which is swaged down to 2.25 inches. It also leaks so I'd like to have a better connection.

I bought a short high flow catalytic converter, a 3" to 2.5" stainless reducer and a stainless O2 bung. I then cut the pipe up.

The catalytic converter is a little longer than the piece I cut out so I trimmed it as much as I could. To get the extra length I wanted on the horizontal run, I spliced in the piece cut out for the cat.

Those band clamps are actually 3" alignment clamps with windows in the bands so you can tack the tubing.

I realized the exhaust system might hang lower than stock with my new downpipe. I wanted to fit it to the car. Because it's the only car my wife is comfortable driving, I don't want to do the final fitment until I have a few days to take it off the road.

One of these days...

I did some of the welding using my TIG but most was using my stainless MIG setup. I am trying to teach myself TIG because I haven't found any one-handed TIG instructions on YouTube. I've done some fusion and tried dipping rod but I foul the tungsten every time I take my eye off the arc and look to the filler rod.

 

[Guster]

Thin and curvacious. Tube welding is about as tricky as it gets with TIG. Try the lay-wire technique which is halfway between dipping and fusion. Helps if the filler thickness is matched to the material. You can still push more wire in if needed but the alignment seems to help some people.

I have just the thing to mess with your coordination!
Wirefeed TIG -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iS8YvElWBw

 

[oldironfarmer]

Hi Andy, my picture probably doesn't show how the two pieces connect. This might be clearer.

I found a 3" turbo downpipe on the bay of fleas. It was advertised to have a 2.5" outlet that would connect to the 2.5" Borla exhaust system I had already installed.

This seemingly simple pipe had four flaws: 1) it didn't have a catalytic converter, 2) it didn't have a post-cat O2 bung, 3) it wouldn't reach the 2.5" section of the exhaust pipe and 4) it had a 2.25" outlet.

The Borla exhaust is 2.5" except for the first few inches, which is swaged down to 2.25 inches. It also leaks so I'd like to have a better connection.

I bought a short high flow catalytic converter, a 3" to 2.5" stainless reducer and a stainless O2 bung. I then cut the pipe up.

The catalytic converter is a little longer than the piece I cut out so I trimmed it as much as I could. To get the extra length I wanted on the horizontal run, I spliced in the piece cut out for the cat.

Those band clamps are actually 3" alignment clamps with windows in the bands so you can tack the tubing.

I realized the exhaust system might hang lower than stock with my new downpipe. I wanted to fit it to the car. Because it's the only car my wife is comfortable driving, I don't want to do the final fitment until I have a few days to take it off the road.

One of these days...

I did some of the welding using my TIG but most was using my stainless MIG setup. I am trying to teach myself TIG because I haven't found any one-handed TIG instructions on YouTube. I've done some fusion and tried dipping rod but I foul the tungsten every time I take my eye off the arc and look to the filler rod.

Thanks for the 'splanation! I was seeing the original and a replacement piece, not two replacement pieces.

TIG with no filler metal I can see. I was trying to envision how you would singlehandedly TIG, maybe holding the filler metal in your mouth, stray currents I guess one could cut filler metal into short pieces and place them on the weld in strategic locations then "no filer" weld. Don't think you could use your doughnut maker effectively. I guess it would also be conceivable to make a strap-on torch holder for the wrist and manipulate the wire with thumb and forefinger. Maybe not long welds but definitely could manipulate the torch with the forearm and wire with the fingers.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob , I have friends here on Whidbey whose daughter accepted a scholarship to play softball at Hofstra. After their first visit to LI their biggest impression was " the lanes on the highways are only as wide as a car, and everyone drives 65 mph bumper to bumper !!!" I responded, "So, you were on the Belt Parkway." They said, "How did you know ?"

John, the prevailing wisdom on Long Island was that the accident would be less severe if you were all traveling in a pack. I wonder if your friends experienced a New York Turn. That's when two cars approaching on a 2-lane street, both with left turn signals on, cross the highway without slowing down, let alone coming to a stop. Like this...

What could possibly go wrong???

 

[Bob Heine]

John, I was trying to picture a "fully optioned" Pinto. I found the option list for a '71 Pinto:

Cruise-O-Matic transmission ($175)
AM Radio ($61)
Chrome window moldings ($60)
White sidewall tires ($33)

Well, if I had known it was loaded I would have asked more than $50 for it ! (we actually gave it to my youngest sister , her first car, to run around East Rockaway. )

Oh John, if you had held on to it, you could probably sell it for $55 now!

I should mention that I sold my '71 Vega GT for $75 in 1977.

 

[Bob Heine]

Thin and curvacious. Tube welding is about as tricky as it gets with TIG. Try the lay-wire technique which is halfway between dipping and fusion. Helps if the filler thickness is matched to the material. You can still push more wire in if needed but the alignment seems to help some people.

I have just the thing to mess with your coordination!
Wirefeed TIG -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iS8YvElWBw

Guster, I love it! Looks like I need about $3,000 to get started. I was having palpitations over the $500 TIG machine I bought so I may never get to use this one.

 

[Bob Heine]

Thanks for the 'splanation! I was seeing the original and a replacement piece, not two replacement pieces.

TIG with no filler metal I can see. I was trying to envision how you would singlehandedly TIG, maybe holding the filler metal in your mouth, stray currents I guess one could cut filler metal into short pieces and place them on the weld in strategic locations then "no filer" weld. Don't think you could use your doughnut maker effectively. I guess it would also be conceivable to make a strap-on torch holder for the wrist and manipulate the wire with thumb and forefinger. Maybe not long welds but definitely could manipulate the torch with the forearm and wire with the fingers.

Andy, I tried the small pieces but the argon was just strong enough to blow them off. I think Guster might be on the same page with the filler rod fitted to the tubing. I use my artificial arm to hold the filler rod but the movement from my stump is just not precise enough -- yet! I haven't given up but lately I've been spending more time typing than tacking.

Thanks to all who stop by and a special thanks to those who take the time to post. I do appreciate it!

 

[Bob Heine]

In Lyndon's thread I mentioned that I buy new rotors when I replace pads. It might seem to be a waste of money but I found on a number of occasions that it was an absolute must. The original rotors on the PT Cruiser had 45,000 miles on them. When I pulled the rotors, I found their wear specification cast into the rotor: 21.4MM.

For some reason I don't own a micrometer but I do have a digital caliper. Because of the ridge on the edge of the rotor I couldn't get an accurate reading on the wear surface of the rotor with the calipers. I filed away the ridge on both sides of the rotor and took a measurement.

Sure enough, the rotor is scrap metal. I'll have to check the spec for the new rotors but I'm starting with a lot more material. The new rotor is on the left and the original is on the right. The caliper bracket shows why I had to buy new calipers and the correct brackets to mount them.

 

[Bob Heine]

I am a sucker for tools. Many of them make my life easier but some are a disappointment. My right-handed tent wrench worked just fine but I had to go buy a left-handed tent wrench and it's a waste of money. My collection of brake bleeding tools is another example of helpful and not so helpful tools.

I started bleeding brakes when I was but a child. I had my wife pump the pedal while I opened and closed the bleeder. When she was busy doing something else I bled them by myself using a piece of rubber hose and an olive bottle (relatively tall and skinny).

Connect the hose to the bleeder and submerge the other end in the brake fluid at the bottom of the olive bottle. Open the bleeder, stand on my head while pumping the pedal and when there are no more bubbles showing in the bottle, that wheel is done. Repeat process three more times, re-filling the master cylinder after each one.

When I bought my first Corvette, brake bleeding got harder. Each of the four calipers on my '72 Corvette have four pistons and getting all the air out of 16 pistons is a long process using just the hose and olive jar method. For that job I bought my first fancy brake bleeding tool.

It's a pressure bleeder and you fill the tank with fresh clean brake fluid. The company (I don't remember the name) offered an adapter plate you clamped to the top of the rather large dual chamber master cylinder and hooked up the quick-connect on the hose. I used a bicycle pump to pressurize the tank.

This is what I mean by a large master cylinder.

Unfortunately I used that pressure bleeder to change the brake fluid from DOT 3 to DOT 5. Those fluids don't mix and the DOT 5 is very hard to get out of the system. The pressure bleeder is garage art now.

I spent a couple of hundred bucks to replace the rusty original calipers on the Corvette with rebuilt calipers that had those 16 cylinders re-lined with stainless steel sleeves. I was under the mistaken impression that DOT 5, which doesn't absorb water, would prevent the brake system from rusting. Turns out it does the opposite. Water condenses in the system and flows down into the lowest point and collects in the calipers. Bleeding the DOT 5 fluid does nothing to remove the water and the un-sleeved part of the calipers happily forms rust.

You have to disassemble the calipers to get the water out when you use DOT 5 brake fluid. It's best used in cars that are regularly raced and whose brakes are rebuilt often.

 

[1/2 Cup]

, thank you for you explanation in regards to the brake fluid. noted..

Defiantly time to replace your rotors..

Regards

 

[Lyndon]

Bob,

Did u ever have those rotors machined?

Seems a lot of where in that amount of mileage if you haven't.

And thanks for the tutorial on bleeding.

Lyndon
About to go car shopping. . .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wasfast]

For us "older" folks, it seems downright wrong to throw away rotors when it used to be so common to get them turned and reinstalled (includes drum brakes as well). The last time I had rotors turned, the "dude" operating the drum lathe took off a HUGE amount of material when there were hardly any grooves in the surface to begin with.

These days, the low cost of having rotors made overseas coupled with the cost/hassle for getting them turned means it's often LESS money to buy new ones. Crazy.

 

[Zeke]

I did some of the welding using my TIG but most was using my stainless MIG setup. I am trying to teach myself TIG because I haven't found any one-handed TIG instructions on YouTube. I've done some fusion and tried dipping rod but I foul the tungsten every time I take my eye off the arc and look to the filler rod.

There are probably not too many one handed TIG welders but it's very possible with a (expensive) TIP TIG set up..

Feeds the wire like a MIG. I made a manual version of this with hard brake line. One finger advances the filler wire. Yes, wire. Rod won't go through the curved line. I think I could make one straight, and have for use with the other hand. But this one would be advanced with one finger of you torch hand.

Also check out the TIG Pen.

 

[Bob Heine]

Feeling embarrassed about my mistake with the pressure bleeder, I changed my approach and bought a vacuum pump bleeder. It works like the hose and jar method but a vacuum pump helps the process along. The vacuum pump I bought is a Harbor Freight item so it wasn't outrageously expensive ($25 without a coupon).

I used the vacuum bleeder to re-do the brakes on my '87 Corvette. It suffered a catastrophic failure that I fixed by replacing the master cylinder (heart of the failure). I had damaged a couple of fittings on the brake system so I expanded the repair to include rebuilding the calipers, replacing the steel brake lines with pre-formed stainless lines and "refurbishing" the Bosch ABS unit. I did the ABS unit because I was told they could not be repaired/rebuilt. I may have confirmed that rumor. The ABS light is permanently ON.

The '87 Corvette was even more difficult to bleed than the '72 Corvette. It only has one piston per caliper but brake lines run from the master cylinder to the ABS unit and from the ABS unit to the calipers. This is the set of brake lines for that car.

Even the short lines are difficult to install and then bleed.

If you have no impulse control you also do things that make little or no sense. I polished the aluminum calipers and painted the brackets even though they are nearly impossible to see through the wheels on the car (I may have already mentioned that...).

On the advice of a large number of left-handed tench wrench experts I bought a Motive brake bleeder to once again pressure bleed the brakes. Unlike the metal pressure bleeder, Motive offers a number of master cylinder adapters.

 

[Bob Heine]

I bought that Motive pressure bleeder several years ago and it doesn't get used very often. When I bought it I ordered the master cylinder adapter for the '87 Corvette and the '72 Corvette. I replaced all the steel lines on the '72 with stainless as well and replaced the rusty master cylinder with a new polished aluminum one. When I first planned to do the brakes on the PT Cruiser I bought the adapter for it as well. Now that I have the Cadillac, you guessed it, I bought the adapter for it as well. The adapters all come with a crimped-on hose and a brass NPT fitting.

I decided to upgrade to a quick connect coupling on the tank and plugs on all the adapters. When I upgraded all my air line fittings to high-flow, I had a bunch of old fittings that I just threw in a box. This is the perfect use for one of the better brass couplers and a few brass plugs.

I snapped a picture of the process and wasn't paying much attention to the cloudy and yellow condition of the plastic hose on the canister. What could possibly go wrong?

That day after I quit because of rain, I got out the bleeder and hooked up the adapter for the PT Cruiser master cylinder.

I then filled the canister with a quart of DOT 3 brake fluid. I pumped the canister up to 5 pounds (instructions said 10 but I had quite a bit of leakage at that pressure when I did the '87 Corvette.

I went around the car, starting at the right rear drum (furthest from the master cylinder) and then the left rear drum. Checked the pressure in the canister and pumped it back up to 5 psi. Bled the right front caliper and as I moved to the final caliper noticed there was brake fluid dripping from the frame. It was bright out so I was wearing sunglasses. When I took them off and looked under the car there was a very large pool of brake fluid.

Turns out the cloudy yellow hose on the canister disintegrated under 5 pounds of pressure and the brake fluid all leaked out.

 

[Bob Heine]

The last caliper and probably the one before it didn't get properly bled so I packed it in again and ordered a new hose from Motive. I could have bought a piece of clear vinyl hose from a local store but two feet of hose and two new Oetiker clamps was $6.75, including shipping, from Motive. I waited for the hose to arrive and it came the same day the Cadillac adapter arrived (from Summit Racing, which had the lowest price).

I had an ulterior motive for buying the hose from Motive. The '87 Corvette used some heavy duty Oetiker clamps that I couldn't close with any of my pliers so I bought Knipex pliers designed for that purpose. This was my chance to use them again.

Now I have all my adapters stored in Ziploc bags and there's a crystal clear vinyl hose on the Motive canister. I'm feeling pretty confident...

 

[Bob Heine]

I bought another quart of brake fluid, put the car back up on jackstands and repeated the bleeding procedure. It appears there is still something wrong. I managed to get the brakes bled but another quart of brake fluid leaked past the seal. Looks like it's back to the hose and olive jar.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Not that I enjoy pain and suffering, but I really like reading about Bob bleeding all over the place.

The saga continues...

 

[Bob Heine]

, thank you for you explanation in regards to the brake fluid. noted..

Defiantly time to replace your rotors..

Regards

Steve, I hope it helps. I listened to people who swore by DOT 5. It doesn't eat paint like DOT 3 so I thought it would protect the paint job I intended to do myself. Unfortunately DOT 5 is silicone-based so the tiniest amount on the surface you plan to paint causes adhesion problems in general and fisheyes in particular. If your car is painted, you rarely drive it and you keep it in a temperature/humidity controlled environment, DOT 5 is great.

I was surprised how little wear made those rotors unusable.

Bob,

Did u ever have those rotors machined?

Seems a lot of where in that amount of mileage if you haven't.

And thanks for the tutorial on bleeding.

Lyndon
About to go car shopping. . .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lyndon, I never had those rotors machined. It was 45,000 miles of wear but that was over 12 years of short trips. Rust formed on the rotors each time I washed the car so that may have accelerated the wear.

Good luck with the car shopping. I hope you find Irene's dream ride! She deserves it.

For us "older" folks, it seems downright wrong to throw away rotors when it used to be so common to get them turned and reinstalled (includes drum brakes as well). The last time I had rotors turned, the "dude" operating the drum lathe took off a HUGE amount of material when there were hardly any grooves in the surface to begin with.

These days, the low cost of having rotors made overseas coupled with the cost/hassle for getting them turned means it's often LESS money to buy new ones. Crazy.

Wasfast, I agree, turning drums was routine and I expected to do the same with disk rotors. Most of my cars only needed a quick skim cut because I serviced the brakes before they started chewing themselves up.

I changed my mind when I took my Fiat X1/9 rotors to be cut. The guy said they couldn't be turned so I was forced to buy new ones. I had to buy the rotors from a specialist for a whopping $8 each. That was a dollar more than the minimum price to have a rotor cut back then (if the rotor could be cut).

Today O'Reilly charges $15 to cut a rotor and RockAuto charges $18.16 for a new rotor for my PT Cruiser. Hmmm should I save $3.16 and have my rusty old rotor turned????

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for visiting gentlemen and have a great rest of the weekend. I'm looking forward to a relaxing Sunday and the first Saturday of the week.

 

[Bob Heine]

There are probably not too many one handed TIG welders but it's very possible with a (expensive) TIP TIG set up..

Feeds the wire like a MIG. I made a manual version of this with hard brake line. One finger advances the filler wire. Yes, wire. Rod won't go through the curved line. I think I could make one straight, and have for use with the other hand. But this one would be advanced with one finger of you torch hand.

Also check out the TIG Pen.

Zeke, thanks so much! I wish I had tried welding when I was much younger. Of course I couldn't justify a TIP TIG then any better than I can now. But I love the idea of a manual feed tube attached to the TIG torch. I think I have another fun little project.

Now that I've seen the auto-feed setups, I can picture the manual one you describe. I have a couple of spools of ER 308L stainless steel (0.030") MIG wire as well as some small diameter aluminum, stainless and plain steel tubing. Thanks to Kristofer Henry (fourtyfour) I have a Tillman 24DL TIG glove that's as close to a bare hand as I've found.

The TIG Pen is cool but I am going to try your almost free idea first before I spend $55. I may buy another TIG torch to permanently modify if my prototype (spit and bailing wire version) works out.

If I don't post progress on this, Zeke, please kick me. My forget-ory is way better than my mem-ory.

 

[Bob Heine]

Not that I enjoy pain and suffering, but I really like reading about Bob bleeding all over the place.

The saga continues...

Thanks Andy, I'm glad someone else is not enjoying my pain and suffering. Hey, it's only $8 a liter brake fluid -- I pi$$ed a lot of $50 a liter Johnny Walker Black in my drinking days.

 

[sublime68charger]

Not that I enjoy pain and suffering, but I really like reading about Bob bleeding all over the place.

The saga continues...

X2 on that!

 

[Bob Heine]

X2 on that!

OK Andy and Sub, you guys asked for it!

Here's looking at you!

 

[oldironfarmer]

OK Andy and Sub, you guys asked for it!

Here's looking at you!

Ummmm.....

I don't think we asked for that

Not intentionally.....

Did you ever notice your avatar looks like you're wearing a dunce hat?

By the way, how'd you get lipstick on your chin?

 

[sublime68charger]

Thanks for the selfie pick Bob you looking good for a fella with all that you have been through!

 

[HOTFR8]

Now that is a great photo telling us all to make sure we have eye protection.

Looks nasty so I hope we see an update with it looking better.

 

[Bob Heine]

Ummmm.....

I don't think we asked for that

Not intentionally.....

Did you ever notice your avatar looks like you're wearing a dunce hat?

By the way, how'd you get lipstick on your chin?

Andy, you're right, but it's the least ****** picture I have.

I never noticed the dunce cap but that's just one more reason it's so appropriate!

I was trying to clean myself up to go to Eye Associates (a big group that has all kinds of eye surgeons and specialists. I couldn't see in the mirrore so I took a selfie -- I got most of the blood off my face but missed the dribble on my chin.

Thanks for the selfie pick Bob you looking good for a fella with all that you have been through!

Sub, it wasn't my worst day but it wasn't that good either.

Now that is a great photo telling us all to make sure we have eye protection.

Looks nasty so I hope we see an update with it looking better.

Simon, my daughter manages a materials testing lab for a jet engine company (she used to work on rockets) and I sent her that picture. She posted it in her lab to remind her guys of exactly that.

I was cutting some branches with a pole saw very close to the power line to our house (single phase 220V). As you can see from the picture I was sweating profusely. My safety glasses were completely fogged up and I was afraid I would hit the power line -- so I took them off for the last 1-inch diameter branch. As soon as I cut it through, I ducked so the branch wouldn't hit me in the face. After three seconds of nothing happening, I looked up -- just as the branch flipped off the wire -- and speared me in the eye.

After five of the doctors saw me that day they agreed it might heal by itself. I have an artificial lens in the eye (cataract fix) and the blow dislodged it, folding one edge slightly. I healed up OK and have 25/20 vision in the eye. Unfortunately the dislodged lens keeps my iris wide open all the time. It's like you have the eye doctor's dilating drops in your eye all the time. I'm going to be in big trouble if I roll up on a sobriety checkpoint!

I can't go outside in the daytime without dark glasses and at night I see fine until an oncoming car's headlights blind me. The other eye is permanently turned in so I see double unless I look to the left with both eyes.

It's good not to be blind!