[Dragsix]

So I woke up this morning and told Patrick we were going to take off the defroster and heater box because I was really really not happy with the way it installed. I don’t know exactly how I am going to fix it but we are going to get those parts installed a little better then they are.

Turns out, no problem for Patrick. He was apparently watching You Tube videos on how to install his rain gear wiper and it is apparently way easier with the diffuser, defroster and heater box removed.

I was taking it easy today. My days of really carrying on new years eve are long over but I wanted to be lazy, read the paper (I know old fashioned but I still get and enjoy reading a Sunday paper), cup of coffee, the wife and I were out to visit some old friends for brunch. Later I wanted to tinker so I finished mocking up the master cylinder, line loc, pressure residual valve, proportioning valve and the bracket I bought that I had to cut apart to get it to work.

Today, weld a spacer between the two pieces to lengthen the bracket, cut, grind, grind some more, make a mess of it, mock it up and viola, a workable set up. I think I will take a stab at front brake lines next week if things aren’t too crazy at work, and then take it all apart and make the bracket look nice, well at least make it look like it was not made in a basement, lol.

 

[Dragsix]

 

[KRUNK !!!!]

nylon bushings on the idler set-up ? if so... I have had them on my car for about 30 years.....they work perfect

 

[Dragsix]

I had them on my 57 in the 70s. After that you could no longer find them. We were having a discussion on this site a few years ago and I mentioned them and that I actually preferred the feel of the nylon set to the metal set I installed later on my own 57. Bruce the Hotrodhandyman got in touch and told me he had a couple of sets of the nylon and was willing to sell one of them. So I did and saved them for a rainy day. Well that rainy day arrived, my boy wanted to rebuild a car so that set is installed on the front end of his car!

look at post 224 and 226 and you can see the entire kit and install.

 

[KRUNK !!!!]

i kept an eye on ebay the last few years and found a few sets for my own needs.......they are getting hard to find now

 

[Dragsix]

So today was a short day for car stuff, long day for everything else. Patrick and I are both really juggling more then usual at the moment but with the weather as mild as it’s been (relatively speaking for an east coast January) we did not want to loose the entire day so we carved out a couple of hours this morning to do some car related stuff. He assembled the rain gear and took down the heater stuff we installed last week. Apparently easier to install without the heater components installed.

I finished up his brake lines. Still have to paint the master cylinder, and the bracket needs more massaging and some paint to make it look nice. Not a lot of progress but a little bite out of the elephant anyhow.

 

[Beachcomber]

I would comment, but at the moment all I can do is stare at such nice work on the details. Yep Bite by bite, Winter has been kind!

 

[Shadetree55]

looking great!!! makes mine look like I need to run over it with a bull dozer.

 

[Dragsix]

You are all too kind. There was some drama. I have some really nice American Grease Stick silver plated 3/16 brake lines. I carefully bent two of them up for the rear lines, twice as a matter of fact because I suck at bending lines. Went to install them and the fittings were somehow not the same size as regular fittings. So there were four nicely bent brake lines strewn in my drive way where I threw them out of frustration, lol.

Now it can’t be a Dragsix and Drag Six Jr project without some part of it being a sh#t show. This is how it’s always been so I prepared. I had plan B. A roll of Nicopp, a bag of correct fittings and an 8 foot piece of stainless brake line spring. I got the spring on eBay, was not too much, $17 including shipping. Its from Inline Tube. Might find it a bit cheaper elsewhere but for me I was lucky just to find it so home it came. The Nicopp was, as expected, way easier to bend and shape, and way easier to flare with my standard old school crappy flaring tool. But I thought the Nicopp needed some dressing up and the stainless spring wrap does just that. Also, the Nicoop is softer then regular steel lines so I wanted just a bit more protection from rubbing and vibration.

But even then it took me two tries with the Nicopp to get the long rear brake line to work. So in addition to the four pieces of AGS steel line in my driveway, there was one long piece of Nicopp. In the end, throwing it in the drive way is just fleeting satisfaction as I of course have to go pick it all up anyway, lol.

 

[ETriggs]

Nicopp is the greatest invention in tubing in the last 20 (or longer) years as far as I’m concerned.

 

[Dragsix]

Work was an outrage last week so I knew I needed a little mental health garage break today, lol. So I was looking at the master this morning and really did not like the look of the bare nicopp lines. I used stainless steel spring wrap on the longer lines and thought it looked a bit more finished. The bare lines looked like I was being lazy.

So this morning I cut the flair off of the one end of each of the short lines, cut some spring and reflaired the lines. I think they look better all matching. I had to bend the little lines back a bit to get the fitting far enough pushed back to do the flair so now comes the rebending and reinstalling. Fingers crossed they reinstall without too much fuss.

 

[Dragsix]

It’s cold out today but stuff just has to get done. A small thing but the master cylinder needed to be painted so I wiped it down with wax and grease remover, taped it off, and used a spray bomb to spray a little primer.

 

[Dragsix]

Then decided to use a metallic silver paint to dress it up. That and I had some left over so no waste around here.

Just finished spraying some real clear coat over the silver. Used a Preval sprayer instead of a regular gun. Now to see how far I can get it to dry today in the cold air. Might have to bring it in the basement a little later. Can’t really see the clear but it’s there. Don’t know whether this will hold up even a little bit with the brake fluid but better then rust.

 

[Granpa49!!]

I think I must have dozed off during the class. What is that gizmo underneath that looks like a solenoid?

 

[Dragsix]

An old style Mr. Gasket “Stage Loc”. Patrick wanted a front line loc and I had that one new in my stash of junk so on it went, lol. I am pretty sure I picked that up in the late 80s so I have had it a while. I actually liked this style better then the old hurst style but Mr.Gasket does not make this part, or a lot of their parts, any longer. I have all the other parts, the switch and indicator light, fuse, but not the directions. So I have to dig around and see if I can find some Directions. It was a pretty neat kit truth be told.

 

[Granpa49!!]

Does it lock the front brakes so you can do burn outs?

 

[Shadetree55]

An old style Mr. Gasket “Stage Loc”. Patrick wanted a front line loc and I had that one new in my stash of junk so on it went, lol. I am pretty sure I picked that up in the late 80s so I have had it a while. I actually liked this style better then the old hurst style but Mr.Gasket does not make this part, or a lot of their parts, any longer. I have all the other parts, the switch and indicator light, fuse, but not the directions. So I have to dig around and see if I can find some Directions. It was a pretty neat kit truth be told.

not sure this is what you want but------

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static.summitracing.com

 

[Dragsix]

Really appreciate your snooping around for me but the Hurst unit is a little different then the mr gasket. It may not matter in the end but I don’t want to take a chance so I will keep looking for a set of mr gasket instructions.

 

[Dragsix]

Does it lock the front brakes so you can do burn outs?

Yes, that is one thing you can use them for. The other is to take up any slop in the driveshaft and axles at the starting line. Almost like preloading the drive train so the slop does not make the shock not quite so hard on the axles. you sort of let the clutch out a bit, take the slop out and lock the brakes. That is the theory any way, not that we are big racers Or anything. Those days are long over. I am happy just to get to a bracket race once in a blue moon, maybe a nostalgia race, and of course, my favorite, at the nationals where I can get quite a few runs in over the three days.

I do chuckle sometimes. When walking around looking at the cars, you always hear the bragging, the motor made 600 hp on the dyno and all that. Now there just aren’t that many places you can actually use 600 hp but one place you can defiantly use it is at the track at the nationals, but what you generally hear is that the owners don’t want to thrash it a bit for fear of breaking the car, lol.

 

[Dragsix]

Polaris serrated wheel nuts arrived yesterday

So finished the install this morning. I am pretty happy with the way it looks. Way better then I expected.