BUILD THREAD '78 Cutlass Supreme Lichen Edition

[doood]

Whatever knuckle dragger possessed this GN, or was hired to change diff oil at some point in the last 40 years, put some awful countersinks in the differential cover bolt holes. I see chatter marks so it was definitely done with a hand tool. Not sure what the goomba was trying to accomplish. Maybe he was trying to make a pocket of RTV for leaks? Coulda just bought a $4 paper gasket. Gears look kinda burned/smeared contact. After opening it up, I see I will be replacing everything. There are score marks in the carrier races, on the axel bearing surface. I've taken it apart to reduce mass to get it in the basement for winter rebuild. Looks like the head of the long bolt that retains the main pin of the carrier was rounded off with vice grips. Hope to find no more surprises. Frickin' hacks. Like why even open it if you don't have a wrench?

 

[doood]

Bought a Doorman wheel cylinder rebuild kit for $10 and disassembled 4 wheel cylinders I had laying around. I will rebuild two of them. They all seem to have a spot of heavy pitting in the bore, near the brake fluid orifice. It cleans-up with acid and shouldn't affect function since the spring lives in that spot. Should I use mineral oil during assembly, or a bit of silicone grease dielectric? Maybe lube it with DOT5 brake fluid? The cast iron is going to rust quickly.

On other fronts: got my tree stand up in the game preserve. Going to Wilmington NC for a week for some training 9/-16-9/20/24.

 

[78Delta88]

If the pitting is in the center, where the spring is it won't be a problem. If the pitting is in the bore in the portion where the cup rides and then you'll have leaks. With the new boots, you won't have external leaks, but the internal cup is not going to seal properly.

Very few people rebuild wheel cylinders anymore, we used to do it all the time. There is a miniature hone, it looks like a regular engine cylinder hone but just much smaller. It's actually designed to hone the wheel cylinder, and it's not much money.

When you rebuild it, and get it all done, you clean it in regular solvent, is fine. The final rinse use denatured alcohol, acetone, or medical alcohol. Spray the inside with ether or just regular brake clean and let it dry. If you lube the inside at all just use brake fluid don't use any grease on the inside, don't use any petroleum products on the inside.

 

[78Delta88]

On the outside you can wire brush it to get the rust off. Clean that all up with acetone let it dry, put the boots on, put a compressible foam ear plug or bolt, or a wad of foil or paper into where the tubing connects, put the bleeder screw back in and put the rubber cap on. You can put the metal actuator rods in the boots, or foam ear plugs, pen cap, old bolt, just to keep paint from getting inside the clean bore.

From there you can paint it with caliper paint, high temp primer & header paint, or just a good quality spray color like krylon. Or you can just use a good quality clear coat. This will keep it from rusting. Most mechanics don't paint this stuff but if you want to keep the rust down and just to make it look nicer, a good quality red or yellow or black or just clear is fine.

The only time I can ever remember painting them was on a Ford 9-inch and I think I painted them yellow. I think I stuck a couple pieces of vacuum tubing in the holes, and on the end I just used the 2-in wide masking and just pinched it shut gave it a couple coats let it dry and then give it a couple more and that was it.

 

[78Delta88]

Just curious... What is the plate to plate measurement? The 8.5 down here I think it's G body or F, not sure.

 

[doood]

Just curious... What is the plate to plate measurement? The 8.5 down here I think it's G body or F, not sure.

I will let you know. I think it's 58. I have to measure

 

[78Delta88]

Appreciate it...

 

[doood]

Just curious... What is the plate to plate measurement? The 8.5 down here I think it's G body or F, not sure.

F-body shouldn't have UCA ears... I think

 

[78Delta88]

I'll have to get out there lower by frk truck and measure. I ll post a pic

 

[doood]

I'll have to get out there lower by frk truck and measure. I ll post a pic

78Delta88 52.5" outside flange to outside flange. 51.75" inside flange to inside flange.

I also attached pictures of the map holding pocket of the passenger kick panel. It's red cuz it came off a '78 Grand Am with red interior. I reinforced the back with epoxy and glass fabric. The front side has some bondo and some glazing putty at the moment. Just experimenting with filling in the crumbling plastic. If I can get it looking reasonable I'm going to hit it with primer and make it blue.