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10/8/19: I picked up a flaring kit and a tubing bender from from HF yesterday in addition to a 50” length of 3/16” steel brake line with pre-made ends from my “FLAPS” in case I couldn’t re-flare the the bad flare that attaches to the master cylinder. I attempted to double flare the end that was leaking last night and was unsuccessful. It appears to me that the cheaper flaring kits aren’t strong enough to do a proper flare on steel lines consistently, so today my plan was to form the new brake line using the old one as a template. The routing of this line was not run as the original, but due to the limited room I decided this was my only viable option. I plan on replacing all the lines when I do the frame off restoration so at least this will get her safely back on the road.

The first problem I faced was the new line was 50” long and the old was 46”. If I was confident that I could re-flare the end, I would have cut it down to fit, but wasn’t the case. I figured I could make a u-bend to shorten it. I duplicated the installed line, then put a u-bend in it and I was still too long by about an inch. I added another small u-bend and that did the trick. I finished making up the line and prepped to bleed them. I previously bench bled the master so I needed to bleed all four lines going to the wheel cylinders. I own a vacuum bleeder but it is in South Carolina where I spend my winters. Not any help here!

I took a 2’ length of tygon tubing that fit the bleeder valve and found a salad dressing bottle in the recycle bin. After unscrewing the top, the shaker hole in the inner cap matched the tubing perfectly. I added a cable tie under the lid to keep the tubing from pulling out and submerged in the brake fluid. I added some tie wire twisting it around the neck then formed the remainder into a hook so I could hang the bottle.

I opened the bleeder on the drivers side, installed the tubing then started pumping the brakes. This was supposedly a one man bleeder I found on Youtube. This worked, however I could not see what was going on. I surmise, if you pumped it enough times you would purge the air, but you would go thru allot of fluid. Before I purchased my vacuum bleeder, I relied on my wife to pump the brakes, so off to get my helper. With my wife pumping the brakes and I, operating the bleeder, I quickly ran the master out of fluid. I didn’t even get one wheel completed. Apparently not much of a reservoir. Adding fluid and a few short pumps purged out the air from the master so I continued this bleeding and filling until I did all four wheels. With the help of my wife, this went relatively well. A bit tedious working thru a 3” hole, getting the cap off the master cylinder, filling without overfilling, reinstalling the cap then repeat another dozen times. You get the picture. I did overfill it a couple of times, “cleanup on aisle four”, but the job is done.

After frying the points the other day, I purchased a set of points and condenser from O’Reilly’s Auto Parts yesterday. I tried installing the points but quickly found out they were not the correct ones. This was the second time that I received the wrong set. I need to figure out what the difference is so it doesn’t happen again. Off to town to get another set of points. The local Napa didn’t have a set in stock. Living in the Adirondack Mountains in NY, I have always considered it as a blessing, however, cell phone service is scant at best. I wanted to see if there were any auto parts store nearby and I had no service. I decided to drive to the next town a couple of miles away, to see if reception was any better but no such luck, so I headed back home to clean up a set of old points that were not previously burnt. On my way home I passed a Car Quest that I never noticed and they had a set. Once I got home and installed the points and a new condenser and after a long road repairing the front end, I finally got her started. After sitting for over two months, the hydraulic lifters were clattering like crazy. I figured a short drive might silence them and after about five minutes they started quieting down. She also was not wandering all over the road and no longer had slop in the wheel. The braking was better but I suspect could be much better as I still have the rear brakes to go thru.

I took a short 15 mile trip beaming over my triumph. A long fought battle but another big success! On to the next battle!