1954 Plymouth Suburban Project

[pflaming]

My knee is slowly improving so I'm ready to resume the build but will have to be extremely careful.

Yesterday I did some shop cleaning and moved the suburban center stage. All up front wiring has been tied into fixed sub lines and are hanging on the firewall. So the front frame is ready for the engine reinstall. 

Brakes are next. I pulled the hubs, it appears the PO had rebuilt them just prior to parking it, so I'm going to cap off the rear line, flush the front lines, bleed, and then build the pressure and see if they hold. 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2017 by pflaming
Updated the content and added photos

[pflaming]

I'm back on the suburban but must be very careful. I have my front ready for engine reinstall for later this week. 

[pflaming]

Old brake lines are NOT to be trusted!  These are the ends from my front brakes flex hoses. I wonder what lurks behind the drums? 

[pflaming]

The drum is off. These shoes have not seen much use and the drum appears to be near new, never turned. It has  spring around the outside, new to me.

[Desotodav]

I have found a few drums with outer springs fitted on my trucks over the years.

There are a few theories to the spring around the outside of the brake drum: used to dampen harmonic resonance (vibration), used as additional surface area to disperse heat when a drum has become thinner due to machining, used  to prevent the drum from over expanding and breaking. I find at least the first 2 theories plausible.

Keep up the good work Paul - gently as it goes for now though!

[pflaming]

"Gently as it goes" is very accurate, but so difficult to do. For the most part, I now have very little pain, especially during the day when I'm semi active, night is different, so I feel ok then forget that automobile rims and tires are no no's!  

Back to the brakes, I think I'll pull off that entire brake assembly and put on discs, I really like the ones on my truck, great coming down the mountain grades, always pull straight to stop, no adjusting, maybe someone can use this entire assembly. 

Today I'll pull the rear drums, that's a bit more challenging, will need to get out my puller. Maybe go discs there also. It's like Shakespeare wrote, "Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow beats this thing called life!"  

Got to check out Rusty Hope on rear disc brake plates. 

Chow! 

[casper50]

Paul I used AAJ on the rear of my coupe.  Went on slick.  Stock wheel still fits.

[pflaming]

I recently purchased an 80 amp flux wire welder, by Chicago Engineering,, at Harbor Freight. I understand the gas bottle upgraded model is superior to this one on thin metal like car bodies, floors, etc. since I have access to a commercial Miller welder for such work, will this welder fit most basic shop welding needs? I have a great deal of welding experience both with wire and stick so that will not be a challenge. 

[pflaming]

1. Welder: i read Miller Welders' explanation of flux wire and plain wire with gas welding and will keep the flux wire welder.  2. The clutch assembly is interesting. I need the two end bearings in this connector piece. Suggested sources are welcomed. The upper picture shows the assembly for the late '40's cluthch. My '53 is a little different.  3. The stock drum brakes are in excellent condition so I won't install disc brakes at this time. 

The new knee and healing leg do not like the body stretching and twisting required for such installation work so need to remain cautious, yet I'm back in the shop. 

Edited November 12, 2017 by pflaming

[RobertKB]

 Don't you have other cars you could use for parts. Those are four small pieces, two per end that surround the balls on the ends of the other pieces. I have two parts cars with those pieces that can be reused in any of the three cars I have that use them. You can never have too many spare parts.

[DJ194950]

Check out oldmoparts.com  -andy bernbaum in their clutch parts.

 

http://www.oldmoparts.com/parts-clutch.aspx

DJ

take it easy on that knee, Paul!  

[pflaming]

Robert, found an extra part complete. That part with the secure end sockets has to be removed before the engine is removed or one of the secured sockets must be released. I don't recall this connection when I removed the engine.  Now I need to clean and paint these parts. I wonder if I they were painted when new. 

Note that the pedal connecting rod has elongated holes. Special spring clips hold it in place. See manual for particulars. 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2017 by pflaming
The first pic was inaccurate so I replaced the picture.

[pflaming]

Rims: I used the truck to spin the rims so I could sand them for painting. All went fine until the last one which has a.huge wobble. So now I have two (2) 15" X 4 1/2 rims and one (1) 15" X 5 . Oh and two very nice 16" with clips for which I have no use.  

I can't upload, only allows  3 ........... damn frustrating. Been deleting attachments also.  

Now I can, seems a bit of profanity hills!!! So I could upload two, I deleted one to upload a different pic and now can't upload again. So I deleted the other pic and now I can't upload again.

Edited November 15, 2017 by pflaming

[pflaming]

Yesterday I pushed the suburban out of the shop for a bath. I hate to work on a dusty car. I've got black steel rims on now, seems to be a more current look.  Engineand transmission  will go back in next week. I need to finis some of the floor shifter parts before it can go in with the engine .  Very slow going with my gimpy leg yet I do a little each day.

[pflaming]

IF for any reason you remove this special selector lever from a three speed transmission, or R10 OD transmission, if you do not replace this special washer, lock, and nut as shown, that lever will not engage R and 1st. 

[pflaming]

Well, its crude but it really shifts nicely with a back and forth movement of less than 5". When I discovered the NEED for that washer, above post, it all came together. Now with good shoulder bolts, true connecting rods and levers, brass bushings at all rotataton locations and a nice main shift lever with a knob on the top, it will be very nice, fun to drive, and all that linkage of the "on the post"  lever will be GONE! The preceding accomplished, I can install it with the  engine and let the good times roll. These creative ideas gobble up tons of time and patience.   

 

 

Edited November 19, 2017 by pflaming

[pflaming]

I have this '89 Wrangler dual cylinder mounted in my suburban. Lines are now installed and tonight I lengthened the push rod so it now reaches the wrangler MC.  Question: does that MC need to be bled before it will move fluid? 

[Niel Hoback]

Yes

[pflaming]

Today I put my extra R10 OD on the work table and bolted on my floor shifter. It is still in the crude fabrication stage but works very nicely. This week end I plan to put it in my suburban and give it a real life test, on the OD. Once accomplished, will pull it, do a cosmetic fab on the parts and sell it. Will keep this shifter for my use. 

The silver transmission is a standard three speed.

 

[pflaming]

Murphy's Law.  Master cylinder bled, fluid to front drum plates then all was solid. So I pulled a drum, removed the shoes, and one cylinder which is frozen solid. That means new cylinder kits and probably new shoes which are possibly drier than a pop corn fart so need replacing plus a lot of hard work probably $350 or more in parts, assuming the cylinders are fixable and then I only have drum brakes!   So, Rustyhope will get a call in the morning. 

The bleed bottle on each corner really is a time saver. 

[pflaming]

Well, I'm committed! The front brakes are OFF and an order for Rustyhope's disc kit is being prepared. I'm not certain what I will with the rear brakes. So now I have a complete front oem set.

[pflaming]

One rear drum is off, will need new cylinder kits and shoes, not much of a surprise.

[RobertKB]

Based on the leak, you will also need to replace inner and outer rear axle seals. If one side is bad, the other probably is as well. You can check rear axle bearings at that time as well because the axles have to be pulled to do the seals.

Edited November 28, 2017 by RobertKB

[pflaming]

1. I had to heat that hub to get it to pop so I wonder if that damaged the seal. The other drum popped free without any heat and the backing plate et.al., is dry.

2. I received my front disc kit from Rusty Hope today, so now I have work to do. 

[RobertKB]

Guessing it was not heating that caused the leak. It appears that that seal leaked for some time. Once again, while things are apart it is much easier to do now and not have any oil leaking onto the backing plate, then the drum, and then the shoes. Never hurts to check rear axle bearings either. Do a job properly once and you won't end up doing it twice.