Thursday, March 3, 2011

Brake lines finished

I finished the brake lines this week. The final step had been to secure the lines running from the master cylinders to the couplers on the frame that got run a long time ago.




I ended up doing it twice because I was not happy with the way it all came out the first time. Mainly, I did not like that the manual called for the use of #10 screws going into the footbox. I did it the way the manual said at first, but then removed the screws and replaced them with 5/16" rivits. Now there is nothing pointy poking through the footbox around my feet.

I also ended up slightly rerouting the lines to get a little more clearance around the big fuel line. I am still not overjoyed with the way the three lines (front and rear brakes, and fuel) run, but it will do, I guess.



A more troubling clearance matter is that there is only about 1/4" between the brake lines on the footbox and the headers coming out of the engine. The headers get extremely hot, and can do bad things like overheat the brake fluid effecting their performance. Here is a blurry picture of just how little room there is. (The header exhaust holes are covered in green tape and eventually connect to the sidepipes).



I have no idea if there are leaks in the system or not. I suppose I could fill the system with brake fluid to test, but it seems less likely to be depressing to just assume it is okay. And I still need at some point to hook up the brake fluid reservoirs, but that comes much later in the build.

Next up is to attach the inner fender liners. Boy, it is really unclear to me how to make the pieces I have work. Everything is so tight and the clearances around the suspension pieces and power steering pump look almost impossible. Better do the passenger side first.