What did you do to your non-G Body project today [2024 edition]

pagrunt

Geezer
Sep 14, 2014
9,679
16,727
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Elderton, Pa
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Finished up on my long needed inventory of my 30+ year collection of Army shoulder patches & DUI's (unit crest). I can't beleive what all I've picked up over the years hitting Clothing Sales, Army/Navy stores & what every I found at flea markets & on Fleabay. Odds are you name a infantry, cavalry, armor or PA National Guard unit I have that unit crest.
 
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Had to work on the van yesterday, over the weekend the water pump finally gave up the ghost. On the way home the radio turned off and power steering stopped working, I was worried it had froze up and ate the belt. I was lucky that I let it sit a few days but was able to drive in to the shop yesterday to do it after work
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Trailer down to its bones. It needs lots of love.

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Over the weekend got the winch on the dolly. Haven't tried it yet but hopefully better than a come-along.

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Today finished the red on the two tone.

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Painting outside in Arizona is a new thing to me. This part of the year its ok even if time window is small. Warms up enough for a couple hours to actually lay down 2 or 3 coats of color, and no bugs.

Summer time, too many times you do some spot work, and in the morning you have a moth or something else embedded in the paint.
 
Brakes on the 1500 yesterday. Brakes that I'd originally ordered December 20th and didn't finish arriving until Tuesday. Fvck!n Amazon.

Anyway these Napa semi-metallic pads that I slapped on in my friend's driveway in ND last year while helping him move had already failed me at 15,000 miles. I was not impressed.

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Turns out the pins were sticking. I didn't deal with them at my friend's place, just shoved them back with pliers slammed the pads in and we set sail for WI, him pulling his 5th wheel and me pulling his Terminator. As I began to dig in, I realized that I'd never done a full on slider seal/boot swap. I'd regreased in the past but that was it. Shame on me. These are JB7/JD7 calipers from an 8 lug 2500 (with matching non quick takeup master cylinder) that I'd nabbed at the pull and pay EONS ago. I did replace the piston seals and dust boots but that's it. Those stayed but the pads included boots and o-rings, so I cleaned up the bores in the calipers for that, slid in new o-rings, slathered some Hawk synthetic brake grease inside, installed new slider boots, put it all back together and it's butter now. I went with Raybestos Element3 pads as they advertised an HH rating and some coated AC Delco rotors (still made in Chy-nah).

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It ended up taking longer than I thought it would dealing with the sliders properly for once, but I'm glad I have a cause of death for those pads. They would have been lucky to make 30,000 miles judging by the gas line depth and that's running them right down to nothing. Still a more realistic number than 15k to the backing plates. It still bugs me the little wear tang never caught my ear. Makes me wonder if the pad on that side didn't just get to a point and crumble? Because I had no noise and suddenly yes noise. The jury's out on the new pads so far. A trip to work and back didn't bed them in, so far nothing to write home about but they were less than $40 so even if they're meh I don't consider it a waste of money. If they really are mediocre I think I'll just go back to Hawk ceramics. They lasted the longest and gave up nothing to the HP and LTS pads.
 
Brakes on the 1500 yesterday. Brakes that I'd originally ordered December 20th and didn't finish arriving until Tuesday. Fvck!n Amazon.

Anyway these Napa semi-metallic pads that I slapped on in my friend's driveway in ND last year while helping him move had already failed me at 15,000 miles. I was not impressed.

View attachment 233198View attachment 233199

Turns out the pins were sticking. I didn't deal with them at my friend's place, just shoved them back with pliers slammed the pads in and we set sail for WI, him pulling his 5th wheel and me pulling his Terminator. As I began to dig in, I realized that I'd never done a full on slider seal/boot swap. I'd regreased in the past but that was it. Shame on me. These are JB7/JD7 calipers from an 8 lug 2500 (with matching non quick takeup master cylinder) that I'd nabbed at the pull and pay EONS ago. I did replace the piston seals and dust boots but that's it. Those stayed but the pads included boots and o-rings, so I cleaned up the bores in the calipers for that, slid in new o-rings, slathered some Hawk synthetic brake grease inside, installed new slider boots, put it all back together and it's butter now. I went with Raybestos Element3 pads as they advertised an HH rating and some coated AC Delco rotors (still made in Chy-nah).

View attachment 233200

It ended up taking longer than I thought it would dealing with the sliders properly for once, but I'm glad I have a cause of death for those pads. They would have been lucky to make 30,000 miles judging by the gas line depth and that's running them right down to nothing. Still a more realistic number than 15k to the backing plates. It still bugs me the little wear tang never caught my ear. Makes me wonder if the pad on that side didn't just get to a point and crumble? Because I had no noise and suddenly yes noise. The jury's out on the new pads so far. A trip to work and back didn't bed them in, so far nothing to write home about but they were less than $40 so even if they're meh I don't consider it a waste of money. If they really are mediocre I think I'll just go back to Hawk ceramics. They lasted the longest and gave up nothing to the HP and LTS pads.

Last set of NAPA pads I bought were comically bad. They were the mid grade ceramic ones. I put them on my mom's Outback and they were the dustiest, noisiest pads I've ever seen. I think they lasted a year. The wheels were always completely covered in brake dust.

Rotors are all made in China. I go with whatever the cheapest coated ones are on RockAuto. I think the grandpa Buick has Raybestos Element3 pads on the rear. They've been fine, although it doesn't tow or see any real heavy duty use.
 
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Last set of NAPA pads I bought were comically bad. They were the mid grade ceramic ones. I put them on my mom's Outback and they were the dustiest, noisiest pads I've ever seen. I think they lasted a year. The wheels were always completely covered in brake dust.

Rotors are all made in China. I go with whatever the cheapest coated ones are on RockAuto. I think the grandpa Buick has Raybestos Element3 pads on the rear. They've been fine, although it doesn't tow or see any real heavy duty use.

Did you find the Element3 to be a more aggressive pad or just a normal stock replacement unit so far?
 

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