The Great Pumpkin - '71 Duster
Did the rear line and Line Lock yesterday. I used most of the pre-bent line I had on hand which was much easier than bending a whole new one. I can only get 6ft. sections from my local NAPA which wouldn't have been long enough anyway.
Here's the OE line in place with factory clips.
While mocking up the Roll Control, it occurred to me I had an old B&M Line Lock sitting on my shelf so out of curiosity I dug it out and cleaned it up. It's essentially the same device as the Hurst but the B&M is a simpler and more compact arrangement which made plumbing easier. When mounted horizontally it lined up almost perfectly.
Here is the B&M Line Lock mocked in place. The wiring will run up through the floor through the existing outer bench-seat bracket stud hole. Undecided yet whether I will run the switch wiring under the carpet or under the dash.
Here's the solenoid with the rear line installed. It's protected by the frame connector. Almost like it was meant to be. Again, waiting on some more fittings to arrive to complete the job.
One thing I will mention now which I hope does not come back to bite me is that I didn't bench bleed the master cylinder before installing it. Because I have brand-new paint, I didn't want to increase the chances of getting brake fluid anywhere near it. Suppose I still could do it but it's a PITA to take it off and re-connect everything. I can gravity-bleed the system on the lift but it's probably wishful thinking that I'd get all the air out with that method. May have to bite the bullet and do it right and just be extra careful when re-installing it.
While it seems unrelated, working around the radiator opening convinced me to find another radiator. I got a Griffin universal cross-flow with AN inlet and outlet fittings. It was actually way cheaper than my existing Griffin that is supposed to have been an exact factory replacement. For a 'direct fit' radiator, it never lived up to that billing and I ended up modifying it more than once to accommodate my setup. It cools fine but the mount brackets were nowhere near factory and there were no provisions to attach a shroud. I still shake my head about that. With the electric fan it weighs a ton too, hopefully the cross flow is a bit more svelte.
As I've stated several times throughout this thread, I like to use AN fittings for plumbing where possible. Recently I've seen more and more cooling systems utilizing AN fittings and woven-type hose so I jumped on that bandwagon. Unlike regular radiator hoses, it's going to cost x amount more money to get all this stuff together - hose ends, hose, AN t-stat outlet etc. The water pump has a threaded boss already but will need an adapter. I always pause to consider that I'm paying more for a better mousetrap with this kind of stuff but I prefer to have all the plumbing connections easy to deal with and leak-free. Bottom line is that it's one less thing to worry about.
More to come.
Did the rear line and Line Lock yesterday. I used most of the pre-bent line I had on hand which was much easier than bending a whole new one. I can only get 6ft. sections from my local NAPA which wouldn't have been long enough anyway.
Here's the OE line in place with factory clips.
While mocking up the Roll Control, it occurred to me I had an old B&M Line Lock sitting on my shelf so out of curiosity I dug it out and cleaned it up. It's essentially the same device as the Hurst but the B&M is a simpler and more compact arrangement which made plumbing easier. When mounted horizontally it lined up almost perfectly.
Here is the B&M Line Lock mocked in place. The wiring will run up through the floor through the existing outer bench-seat bracket stud hole. Undecided yet whether I will run the switch wiring under the carpet or under the dash.
Here's the solenoid with the rear line installed. It's protected by the frame connector. Almost like it was meant to be. Again, waiting on some more fittings to arrive to complete the job.
One thing I will mention now which I hope does not come back to bite me is that I didn't bench bleed the master cylinder before installing it. Because I have brand-new paint, I didn't want to increase the chances of getting brake fluid anywhere near it. Suppose I still could do it but it's a PITA to take it off and re-connect everything. I can gravity-bleed the system on the lift but it's probably wishful thinking that I'd get all the air out with that method. May have to bite the bullet and do it right and just be extra careful when re-installing it.
While it seems unrelated, working around the radiator opening convinced me to find another radiator. I got a Griffin universal cross-flow with AN inlet and outlet fittings. It was actually way cheaper than my existing Griffin that is supposed to have been an exact factory replacement. For a 'direct fit' radiator, it never lived up to that billing and I ended up modifying it more than once to accommodate my setup. It cools fine but the mount brackets were nowhere near factory and there were no provisions to attach a shroud. I still shake my head about that. With the electric fan it weighs a ton too, hopefully the cross flow is a bit more svelte.
As I've stated several times throughout this thread, I like to use AN fittings for plumbing where possible. Recently I've seen more and more cooling systems utilizing AN fittings and woven-type hose so I jumped on that bandwagon. Unlike regular radiator hoses, it's going to cost x amount more money to get all this stuff together - hose ends, hose, AN t-stat outlet etc. The water pump has a threaded boss already but will need an adapter. I always pause to consider that I'm paying more for a better mousetrap with this kind of stuff but I prefer to have all the plumbing connections easy to deal with and leak-free. Bottom line is that it's one less thing to worry about.
More to come.
