Two Steps Forward...

Forgot to mention in the other day's post about the NASCAR race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Local Connecticut boy Joey Lagano won under a green-white-checker. Pretty good race all in all and the boys had fun. We got pit passes this year, too, so I got some good pics of cars up close...like this one.

Danica Patrick's car, in case you didn't know.

On a side note from that, there were probably about 90,000 people there. Last year I was incredibly impressed by how quick we got out of the parking lot. From the highway to the track (or track to highway) is about 8 miles, give or take. Imagine moving that many people from track parking to the highway. I timed it again this year...28 minutes. From the moment I started the car until I was at highway speed on I-93 heading south towards home...28 minutes. There were NH State Troopers at EVERY intersection and tow trucks standing by in case anyone broke down. But, in the world of crowded events (baseball games, etc), this is by far the largest audience that has moved so efficiently in my experience. Just sayin'...

Anyway, I was hoping the UPS guy would show up early today since he had my "around the block" parts from SpitBits and I was hoping to get some good progress on the front brakes. Alas, he didn't show up until just after 4pm, so there was no work.
The PO also stopped by today to drop off the title and take a look. Started it up for him, of course. He was impressed by the amount of work that I accomplished so far. Of course, given the fact that I haven't started my new job yet, I've pretty much done nothing else between the hours of 9am and 4pm since I bought the car (at least on weekdays when the kids are in school).
So, I pulled out the handbrake cable today. Couldn't figure out how to get it out "properly", so I ended up just cutting it. Since I sheared it so badly, figured there wasn't much point in trying to salvage it. However, now I will have to get a new one in...future me.

The cut handbrake cable with partially sheared threaded end.

I am also missing the return spring on the passenger's side of the handbrake. The reason is the retaining clip has worn through. So, I guess the handbrake was used quite often, but I'm not quite sure what to do about this. I think I will try JB Weld, but I'm not positive that that will hold up. The driver's side has only a matter of time before that one goes, too. Unfortunately, the clips are spot-welded to the back of the brake housing, so I cannot easily replace them.

Handbrake return spring retaining thing. Sorry, not a great angle. This is about the size of a thumbnail, so not very big.

I also gave a once over to the back brakes. Turns out the bottom springs were installed wrong. I found one spring still new in the package in the "box o' parts" so I was able to fix that, but the other new one was installed and "modified" to fit. I was able to bend it back and get it installed properly. While I was there I also removed and cleaned up the adjusters as they were not replaced. Everything else looked in good shape mainly because it was all brand new. Except the drums, of course. One is pretty bad. The other...maybe I can get it turned enough and not exceed the minimum thickness.

Like craters on the moon.

So, the rear brakes, with the exception of the handbrake, are ready to go...er, stop...whatever.
I looked at the calipers again today, just to make sure, and they still look good. I forgot about the residual grease that may still be in the passages, though. Not quite sure how I'm going to get that all cleaned out...and not quite sure that I really care.

So, in my "around the block" box I got the caliper pistons, various brake line mounting hardware (copper washers, star washers, etc), brake pads and clips and a clutch slave cylinder (guess I don't really need that). I also got the boot lid seal so that will go well with the new boot lid.

Tomorrow I intend to fully rebuild the front calipers. The weather is supposed to be very wet tomorrow, so I'm not sure that I will actually be able to work on the car itself. Maybe if it stops for a little while I can get the boot lid seal on (that will take about 3 minutes), but we'll see. She's double-covered tonight.