The story of Schtauffer's 67 Malibu

[Schtauffer]

Re: The story of DaGeneSta's 67 Malibu

Don't worry, I didn't miss it! ;D ;D ;D It made my day. Also made me look forward to the next GG's.

[Schtauffer]

Re: The story of DaGeneSta's 67 Malibu

Re-bushed the throttle pedal, it was really floppy. Also replace the factory rod with a piece of rod and some heim ends. The throttle definitely feels a lot smoother, much less "sticky". Also got the line-loc wired up today. Instead of screwing around trying to wire it into one of the dash lights, I found a neat spot for it: on the tach mount. Now its tucked up next to the dash, where its very non-intrusive. Still hate the button on the shifter, though. I gotta come up with a good way of mounting that.

Also, I had the dash out, and replaced the speedometer bezel. Cleaned everything up good while it was out. Fourty years of crud is substantial.

[fahrenschnell]

Re: The story of DaGeneSta's 67 Malibu

I like you throttle linkage.....I am going to steal that idea and use it on my Malibu. ;)

Thanks.

Seth

[Schtauffer]

Re: The story of DaGeneSta's 67 Malibu

Seth, a car as bad-ass as yours should have heims.

Heims are cool. ;D

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: The story of DaGeneSta's 67 Malibu

dagnesta, I'm debating between stealing your idea with the brake hose(s) or asking you for one of those caliper brake line blocks ;D I'm missing one, and hit the parts store today to look at brake hoses. I'm leaning towards the hoses.

Haven't worked on the car in two weeks. I've been fighting a cold, and figured it would be best to not lay around on cold concrete for hours at a time. If I ever get to build a shop, its gonna have heated floors.

Anyway, farted around with it a little today... the factory way of running lines to the calipers was not very service-friendly-- they used this adapter and ran a hard line right to the caliper:



I thought it might be nice to be able to take the caliper off without disconnecting the line (and having to bleed the brakes), so I got some short hoses. I'll loop them and zip-tie them to the axle tubes, and run the hardlines to them.



Discs brakes are gooder. I put long studs in so I can run my Weld Pro Stars. I had to drill the rotor to 1/2" for the studs to fit. Nothing fancy, just drilled them on the drill press with a 1/2" bit, then reamed them out a tiny bit with a hand-held drill and that same 1/2" bit.



The distribution block/proportioning valve is the factory 4-wheel drum brake unit. Any input as to what I should do about it? Think I can use it? I have the Firebird block for 4-wheel disc, I'm thinking I should plumb that one in. I'm also going to plumb in a Hurst roll control and a Wilwood adjustable restrictor valve (thanks, LS7 GTO).

[Schtauffer]

Re: The story of DaGeneSta's 67 Malibu

PM me your addy, I'll drop them in the mail for you, if you want them.

I reccommend the hoses, though. Make maintenance simpler. Imagine kinking a brake line along side the road somewhere far from home.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: The story of DaGeneSta's 67 Malibu

I'm leaning towards your idea. What application are you using for the hoses? The ones I'm looking at look just like the ones you're using (the parts store let me flip through their stock).

I'm glad you posted the idea, I'm not sure I'd have come up with it after realizing I'm missing the block.

[Mr4Speed]

Re: The story of DaGeneSta's 67 Malibu

The original brake setup on my Firebird that had the iron calipers used a hose on one side and the hardline went right into the caliper on the other. (weird) Hoses are the way to go-much easier to pull a caliper off. You should be able to use any front brake hose that has the right threads and length. The setup on my car uses metric threads and bubble flares-don't know what the 70's parts use.

[Schtauffer]

Re: The story of DaGeneSta's 67 Malibu

I'm leaning towards your idea. What application are you using for the hoses? The ones I'm looking at look just like the ones you're using (the parts store let me flip through their stock).

I'm glad you posted the idea, I'm not sure I'd have come up with it after realizing I'm missing the block.

I'm not sure what the application is. I took the blocks down to the parts store and he matched the hoses up. I would give you the part numbers, but I threw the boxes out.

I'll check my receipt, maybe it will have a part number.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: The story of DaGeneSta's 67 Malibu

I'll just match it up at the store too.

I was looking at Raybestos BH38421 if you happen to look and find the number.

[Schtauffer]

Re: The story of DaGeneSta's 67 Malibu

That should work. All you need is a banjo on one end and 3/16" flare on the other. Application isn't a big deal.

[Schtauffer]

Re: The story of Schtauffer's 67 Malibu

Took it out for a drive today-- just up and down the road a few hundred yards. I've got some serious stoppage issues. As in, no pedal = no stoppy.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: The story of Schtauffer's 67 Malibu

You look like you did the same thing I did on my Buick. You put the caliper in facing forward on the driver's side to avoid conflict with the shock. You can't do that - no stoppy - because you can't bleed enough air out of the line.... I tried even flipping the caliper, bleeding the air, then putting it back and it just didn't work... but I did find that if you eliminate the e-brake weight it will fit like it came off the original car (caliper on the rear of the axle). BUT don't forget that you need to adjust the pad using that e-brake bracket - so occasionally you'll need to get under your car with a wrench and click it forward one click to adjust the pads..... also, even with the caliper the right way, it still isn't as solid as I'd like so I plan on putting 2# residual valves in the front/rear lines - that would shorten the brake pedal throw.

I understand this picture is of the wrong side; but you get the idea

[Schtauffer]

Re: The story of Schtauffer's 67 Malibu

If the brake line comes in the bottom of the caliper, and the bleeder nipple is at the top, how is it possible for air to get trapped?

I must have air in the line somewhere, but where? ???

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: The story of Schtauffer's 67 Malibu

on the calipers I have - 1987 IROC - the line comes in just under the bleeder... wonder if there's a design reason for that? I thought about redrilling the bleeder to the top of the caliper; but took the easy way out by flipping the caliper.