ktm Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 ....otherwise they would not be nearly as great a source of aggravation, frustration, and sheer madness! Just a rant. I recently completed the installlation of the 300zx vented brake modification for the front and 240sx caliper swap for the rears. The car was down all last week as I slowly and methodically did all of the work after prepping the calipers earlier in February. All was well and I buttoned up the car on Sunday. I take it out to bed in the pads and set the bias. I noticed that I couldn't get the wheels to lock-up at all but the cars braking performance was dramatically increased (stock was Powerslot rotors with Hawk HPS pads). I pop the hood when I got home and found a leak.....a big leak. I could not trace the source for nearly 1.5 days until tonight because the leak pattern was odd. Turns out one of the flare fitting at the metric to NPT fittings at the Wilwood valve was leaking. I tightened up the flare fitting and managed to CRACK the metric fitting! @#(@#&$@ Ok....deep breathe. Let's remove the offending brake line from the fitting.....no dice, it shears the cracked fitting and is now wearing a halo. Oooooookaaaaay. Let's try to remove the line from the stock brake pressure switch.....no dice, damn thing is frozen and the PO has stripped the nut. All right.....where F*** is my hammer? I finally managed to remove the remainder of the lines from the switch and got it out, not after losing a boat load of paint under the Wilwood valve, leaving copious amounts of skin and blood, and froathing spittle in its place. I guess on the bright side I will now have new flare nuts in place of the old, rusted and stripped nuts. I am going to just use a 3/16 SAE flare fitting on the one side of the Wilwood valve since the other metric-to-NPT fitting is fine and not leaking. Now I know why I drink when I work on my car! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckolander Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 So.....Feel like doin some work on my brakes???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEW Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 When it goes bad, it tends to go real bad. I am one of those personalities that should walk away if it gets too bad. My problem is that I usually want to get the job done, so I don't. I then turn into the crazy man in the garage, cursing wildly. Luckily it always works out, and its better to vent your anger than swallow it (less heart attacks). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skib Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 I then turn into the crazy man in the garage, cursing wildly. sounds like me haha especially when Im working on my 71' Suzuki and I stand up only to have the clutch leaver hit me right square in the top of my head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatBlack Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 If I may... After spending a day in the cold trying to make a brand new broken timing light work, I decided to go back out to the shop on Sunday to deal with my 'timing issues.' After another trip back to the store to get a replacement for the bad timing light that was sold to me, I tried to set the timing. The timing mark was going crazy, so i popped the dizzy off to find about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of vertical play in the dizzy rotor. I got into the parts bin and got another dizzy, and installed it. While trying to crank the car over to see if the new dizzy would fix things, my gear reduction starter off of my '80 motor crapped out on me. Unfortunately this was Sunday and drinking copious amount of beer to compensate for my stress levels was not a viable option. We must really love our cars to go through all this. Ok, I'm done, back on topic. Yes, fixing brakes sucks hardcore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skib Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 We must really love our cars to go through all this. or mentally deranged I think its an even helping of both most of the time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaggyZ Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 I think the Devil was involved in the invention of front wheel drive vehicles. 15hrs spent just trying to get an engine out of an '89 Corolla and it's still not out. I won't go into details why but it sucks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Well that just doesnt sound right... anyways, how did the 240sx conversion go and whats involved, nvm, Ill search, Ive got access to sooo many free s13 parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m4xwellmurd3r Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 I've been lucky with my brakes (knock on wood) the only issue I had was when my master cylinder took a dump on me when I was accelerating down a side road up to 45, and had an SUV cut me off. Slammed on the brake and crap, it's on the floor. Pull on the e-brake and slid the car a bit but didn't hit the truck. The piston for the front brake was shot. I'm glad changing the master cylinders on these things is so easy. though I should check all my pads, my rotors, and my drums to make sure they're all still good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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