Mr. Green's Surgery

[Mike]

Did you paint the inside of the tube, or leave it bare metal?

I only painted the outside. It is stainless steel so I don't expect rust. That said though, the tube mount for the fan speed switch is from an old Saab 900 and was pretty rusty on the outside but fairly low on interior corrosion. I removed the outer rust and painted it, but I left the inside as it is. I'm hoping that the patina is a good insulator.

The parts are from Summit Racing and are 1.25" OD, 1/16" wall. If you would like the part numbers, I will happily share them with you.



As for progress:
Tonight, I added a tab to the truss to attach the flex brake line for the rear brakes. Luckily, I had the right drill bit and a bolt that would fit perfectly in the garage stuff. I hope to get the steel lines to the calipers installed this weekend:


I also have taken Art's (aw12345) advice and added a brace between the rear truss and the diff cover. The more that I thought about it, it just is good insurance and easy to do. I painted the cover and the new bits again after this pic was taken:


I'll keep chipping away this weekend. The next two evenings will be taken up by other things that I need/want to do....

[Mike]

Nice progress, when are we going wheelin?

I wish I knew my friend. But I will keep on pushing until we do!!

[Mike]

BTW, I need a rubber grommet like the ones used to pass wires through the firewall or just plug large holes in it. Does anyone have one that I can have? Otherwise, I foresee a trip to the Pick-A-Part soon....

[Mike]

Still making progress when the paying work allows it. The rear brake lines are complete. No E-Brake yet, but I have some ideas. Since the rear brakes are disk from the front of a Chevy, I needed a banjo connection to make them work. I used some spare front flex lines that I had left over from the previous axles:


To finish the gas tank install, I needed to fit the filler neck and cut the hoses to length. This forced me to cut and install the quarter panel armor from Saavy first:


I painted them to match the factory body paint:


I'm pretty happy with the way that they turned out:


The filler neck mount that I made wasn't perfect, but it works for me:


With the filler hoses in place, I could route and extend the fuel line and power for the fuel pump:


Since these are inside the tub now, I made covers for everything and created a drape patch for the hole in the tub to keep the mud and spray out:


Considering that the tank is partially inside the tub, it is only a little invasive to space:


So far so good.

I recently bought my own 220V welder so I can finally give Dr. Dirty's back. I need to get an Argon / CO2 mix tank. At the supply places they seem pretty expensive. If anyone has any ideas for getting a tank at a better price, I could use the advice.....

[dr.dirty]

Looking good Mike. I get my tanks at CAL Tool. they take trade ins so i always just look for a cheap used oxygen tank on craigslist. They dont care if its current or not.

[6spdYJ]

Looks great. I like the way you're keeping the pseudo-stock look. It's definitely a serious build, but will take a trained eye to spot the hard work you have put in to keep it subtle.
As far as the e-brakes, some of the older ElDorado's had a front wheel drive setup with cable e-brakes on rotors that matched a Chevy K10/20/(30?) rotor. Do some searching on rockauto.com to compare rotor widths.

[Mike]

Looking good Mike. I get my tanks at CAL Tool. they take trade ins so i always just look for a cheap used oxygen tank on craigslist. They dont care if its current or not.

So do you think that Cal Tool will let me trade in tanks in this condition?:

[Mike]

Looks great. I like the way you're keeping the pseudo-stock look. It's definitely a serious build, but will take a trained eye to spot the hard work you have put in to keep it subtle.
As far as the e-brakes, some of the older ElDorado's had a front wheel drive setup with cable e-brakes on rotors that matched a Chevy K10/20/(30?) rotor. Do some searching on rockauto.com to compare rotor widths.

Thanks Ted. It has been a bit of a pain to stick try to keep the stock-ish look, but I am happy with it so far.
Thanks for the lead on the cable e-brakes. I'll do some homework.

[dr.dirty]

They shouldn't have an issue with it. The however will only take one trade in at a time. Another option for the E brake is a line lock. I havent ever had good luck with the eldorado calipers myself.

[dirtman13]

yup. I have had zero issues with my line lock. Works great. It's more parking brake than emergency though.

[Mike]

I've heard that line locks can make the brakes a little spongy. Have you guys had any issues like that?

[dirtman13]

I don't have that issue. Mine is just the ball valve type. Not sure about the others.

[aw12345]

They shouldn't have an issue with it. The however will only take one trade in at a time. Another option for the E brake is a line lock. I havent ever had good luck with the eldorado calipers myself.

Lots of people have problems with the eldo calipers leaking

[Ol Man]

I've heard that line locks can make the brakes a little spongy. Have you guys had any issues like that?

A line lock just holds the pressure that is in the line when you turn it on. I have had on two buggys and the brakes worked OK. I say OK, rather than fabulous, because both of my buggies have had very low gearing.

Line locks make a very good parking brake.

In the past I have used someone in the vehicle to bleed the brakes, a vacuum pump to bleed the brake, but a couple of years ago I bought a Motive bleeder and they seem to work the best:

https://www.motiveproducts.com/colle...c-bleeder-kits

I think that my cutting brakes on the present buggy worked better after using this....but can't say for sure, because I don't use them very often.

Oh, and I put a very loud buzzer into the circuit between the line lock and the ignition so the alarm sounds. On my FToy I had the line locks on (front and rear energized with one switch), started and moved forward......this split my transfer case. I guess that is the definitive answer as to line locks working.

[Mike]

Oh, and I put a very loud buzzer into the circuit between the line lock and the ignition so the alarm sounds. On my FToy I had the line locks on (front and rear energized with one switch), started and moved forward......this split my transfer case. I guess that is the definitive answer as to line locks working.

Damn. I'd say that they do the trick then. I like the alarm idea, and I will check out the Motive bleeder too. That chore will be coming up soon.