DanHoug
Samba Member
Joined: December 05, 2016
Posts: 4789
Location: Bemidji, MN
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 Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 2:55 pm Post subject: Merry Christmas Maintenance |
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had some days off over Christmas and in addition to the oil cooler install:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=371101&start=40
i did the rear brakes completely. everything was a rusted, dirty mess but did it up nicely. most important, i now have a wonderfully functioning parking brake with new cables and a moveable adjuster nut. here's some take-a-ways from the job:
- had ordered new brake cylinders from the local FLAPS. $9 mistake. they were Chinese 'good enough' copies but the piston design lacked the inner spring and was far less detailed in design. i had 1 NOS seal kit for the cylinder so i honed the bore with emery cloth wrapped around a dowel, worked perfect, and put the new seals in. the other side had a pretty nasty pitted cylinder but the Chinese cyl was of the same dimension. so i cleaned up the good OEM piston and re-used the seals installed on the Chinese bore. worked fine and i think it'll be just fine. lesson learned: buy your cylinder from Van-Cafe and get a real one with a spring.
- i was determined that the parking brake rod was not going to beat me. so with heat, penetrating oil, 6mm x 1.0 die, and patience i was finally able to get the nut off by cleaning the rod with the die up to the nut and then working the nut back and forth from the intial 20 degrees of arc to finally hit clean threads. new cables, a free adjuster nut, and life is good.
- the replacement steel ferruled parking cable also would not enter the angled sleeve attached to the drum. pounded on the ferrule more than i should have and loosened the guide up from its drum mounting. eek. wire brushed it shiny and brazed it solid to the drum and the heat of the brazing cleaned out some rust and crud that allowed the new cable to slip right in place without a beating.
this all took an inordinate amount of time. there is no way a general garage is going to spend the time to do this correctly. they'll get it together but it will be a kludge. i know what i did is right and works great. i've come to the conclusion that everything i do on this van is going to be a process. bolts will be rusty and frozen, parts needed, ingenuity applied. i'm approaching things now with a restoration mentality and i enjoy it more that way instead of assuming i'll get something done in a couple hours. a time estimate is the Devil's grin with these vans.
-dan |
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