So today was sort of an interregnum or single day floater between shifts and I didn't really want to get into anything evil or nasty, but it will come so decided to finish up a few small chores. Since a buddy had expressed some serious interest in a 9 inch that I had acquired ???? years ago and just parked on the rack, and wanted to see it, I had to dig a route into there so he could get a look-see. That meant moving the rear end for the Monte which is still sitting on its custom dolly, waiting for me to get back to it.
One of the glitches that I encountered along the way with that project was the remounting the distribution block for the rear brakes. As you can see in the picture above, I did score a pair of -04 AN x 3/8ths invert flare fittings as part of the conversion of the brake system to S/S and A-N. The problem here was that I could not get them in 45 degree bend configuration. Ninety degree only. With the stock steel brake line you can generate fairly tight bends and not get kinks but stainless is not so friendly that way. The 45's would have solved that problem but with only nineties I had to come up with Plan, Ah, Hmm, J, Q, X, ?? I dunno, just needed an alternative.
Here, on the left, you see the stock mounting bolt for the distribution block. Oddly enough it is not metric thread but 5/16ths NC so a fast trip to the bolt bins netted me a Grade Five capscrew as a likely replacement.
The next trick was to replicate the shoulder. For that i went digging through a bottle of orphan bushings and sleeves and metal grommets and found one that was already drilled to 5/16ths but not through drilled. From some fast test fits I knew I that I had to shorten the bushing anyway so it got introduced to the grinder and the close end shaved off to remove the cap and open it up, along with shortening it to the right length to fit in the pocket that the shoulder on the original bolt would have occupied.
That left me with one final step. How to raise the block away from its mounting pad to gain the necessary room to let the hard lines line up with the block?
On the far right, meet my solution. Back when I was ca-noodling a design for a power steering pump belt tensioner I had scored an aluminum turnbuckle to try out as, at the time, I thought it had been threaded completely from end to end. NOT. Turns out that the body was hollow and just the ends had threads. Threw the body and one end, probably into the bits and scraps bucket, but kept the other and just parked it on a shelf. Today it came off that shelf and became the blank for a pedestal/spacer; made by chucking it into the lathe, drilling out the remaining threads to achieve a 5/16ths smooth bore hole, and then facing off the flared out end to make it flat.
And here it is, mocked up on the tonneau cover on my S-10. From right to left, the bolt, the block, the sleeve and the pedestal/spacer. What you see here is actually backwards to how it finally got installed as I elected to add an anti-vibration washer and have the bolt come in from the factory side of the block like it used to. Here, in the picture, it is actually coming in from the wrong side as I had thought mounting it in the flipped position might work better, Changed my mind.
F***. Five tries and this is the clearest of the blurries. For some reason this shot just would not come clear. Anyway, if you close one eye and squint at it with the other while looking at it in the mirror you might see the final assembly. The distribution block sits nicely on its pedestal and can be rotated to gain space in either direction, giving the fittings room to accept the lines and nuts. It also still sits low enough that the upper control arm passes over it safely and cleanly. I may try to take this shot again... sometime..... maybe....... whenever............ZZZZZZZ.
Nick
