WhitsEnd Transformation

[Manny]

Looking at that it's a good weld just a little undercut. Undercut is a little to hot by the book but your burning in good there. Like briansbronco said maybe one notch down or tweak it a little to drop the undercut but hey its got good penetration

[WhitsEnd]

Parts came in to finish rebuilding the 1970/1976 steering column. I'm trying to make an auto column for my 1970, using a 1976 donor column.

I ordered a new clip to actuate the neutral safety and backup lights, and a new lower bearing to replace the useless plastic one. The bearing gets tacked in through the tab slots previously used by the plastic bushing




Also got a new indicator assembly, since the donor unit didn't return anymore. You can also see the brand new PRNDL plate with my greasy prints all over it...
The indicator assembly came with a 2nd copper contact used for some later speed control that I don't have and it interfered with the screws on the horn ring of my '70 wheel. So, it got yanked. Haven't decided if I'm going to wire this hazzard switch or keep the current unit functional in the dash.

[Manny]

Don't know if i have ever seen a column conversion multi column build. Thats neat looks good.

[WhitsEnd]

Don't know if i have ever seen a column conversion multi column build. Thats neat looks good.

Well, hold on to your seat, because it's about to get interesting...my goal is to finish it off with the 1970 steering wheel, because I want it to look as original as possible. The later wheel is just too different.

However, this presents a couple issues. First, the wheel drops on without seating the taper. In this picture, the wheel is touching the collar and the taper isn't bottomed out:




So, out came the modification devices.



In addition, the threaded end of the shaft is too long and protrudes too far beyond the nut, causing interference with the horn cap.




This is simple. I'll just cut it shorter and it should be fine.

[WhitsEnd]

Well, the steering column is ready for paint, so that will be set aside for later installation. Time to move on to the brakes...

Stuck the rotors and calipers on to mock up the location of the brake lines.



I'm using stock Crown Vic flexible lines, so I'm going to fab some brackets to put the inboard connection where it is on the Crown Vic. I think this is very important. Ford engineers did their homework and this location allows full turn and suspension motion without pulling too tight or kinking.

[WhitsEnd]

Photos of the brake line brackets will follow, but my short attention span was diverted when my new power booster and master cylinder showed up.

For the record: Pirate Jack is mostly a GM oriented outfit, selling brake booster conversions (among other things) on eBay. After hearing a couple recommendations, I went ahead and purchased a dual 8" conversion unit with a master cylinder and proportioning valve. I am a little more than disappointed.

Zero instructions come with the kit.
Several parts come with the kit that simple aren't needed and get thrown out (booster to brake arm linkage)
Hole in the firewall gasket plate was not large enough for the brake rod to fit through it.
No rubber boot to fit the brake rod.
Hole in the end of the rod is a different size than stock and no bolt is provided.
Master cylinder is clearly a GM piece, but I knew that when I ordered it.
Top surface of the master cylinder has grinding marks in it. If it leaks, I'll have to take my own grinder to it.
Proportioning unit requires spacers so the warning sensor will clear the bracket. No spacers included.

Anyway, I worked through the issues, threw out the parts I didn't need, and got it mounted to the firewall. Sourced my own attachment bolt with locking nut, cut the through hole larger in the gasket plate, modified one of the boots intended for one of the two flat rods that get thrown out to work with the round rod and provide a firewall seal, and then got to "bench" bleeding it. Of course, with the truck blown apart, the firewall serves as a nice bench.

[WhitsEnd]

Forgot to mention I painted the master cylinder. Why is the standard to let it rust? I don't get that. Sure, brake fluid removes paint, but I have a simple solution for that: Don't spill fluid all over everything.

No excuse to not paint it. I understand it has no effect on performance, but neither does painting the exterior of the truck.

[WhitsEnd]

I need to pick up a couple line fittings and a new bottle of MIG gas, so in the meantime, I thought I'd install the sway bar. When my sway bar was removed by the salvage yard, they lost one of the centering clamps and I didn't get either of the mounting brackets.

So, I had ordered some brackets from Dorman and centering clamps from Whiteline on Amazon.

Here are the clamps for the 19mm sway bar



And here's a shot of the poor quality and my tap about to fix it.




And here they are, installed.

[popeyes71]

Good progress! I like your reasoning on painting the master cylinder; it makes complete sense! By the way, it looks nice painted!

[WhitsEnd]

Just got an email from Pirate Jack for me to review the master cylinder and booster package. I was completely honest and also mentioned this build on this site. My guess is my 2 star rating won't get published on their site.
If so, that's too bad. It's an opportunity to improve their product offering. By the way, the components themselves aren't poor quality, it's the packaging and communication that is poor...which is the only thing they actually have to do. The parts are sourced from suppliers and thrown in a box. In my opinion, you are better off sourcing your own. They provide no service. I wish I had sourced my own so I wouldn't have a Chevy MC under my hood, but I thought it was worth it at the time to have a complete engineered kit.

In the box is a piece of paper asking that you call their tech line before giving a poor review. In all honesty, I didn't call because I didn't have a technical problem. I knew what had to be done and how the components work. The tech line wasn't going to fix a poorly packaged product. The fact that this note is in the box says a lot to me.

At the time of writing this, their site says that this package has no reviews. Really? I'm guessing they received reviews but chose not to approve them for release.

Oh well. Live and learn.

[Manny]

Sorry you had a bad experience with them. Stinks to have bad vendors but you said it live and learn. The main thing is that truck looks fantastic!!! The column donor swap is slick, and the front end coming together nicely. I'm curious to see if it handles like a crazy machine or not when you get it out on the road!

[WhitsEnd]

Fabbed up a couple brackets for the brake lines, setting them 2" off of the frame and essentially locating the soft-to-hard attachment point at the same location as a stock Crown Vic.

[WhitsEnd]

Since I'm building new lines, I didn't want to use an adapter to connect SAE fittings to the metric bubble flare fittings. However, finding the M10 X1mm bubble flare fittings was extremely difficult, since auto part stores really don't carry fittings anymore. If they do, they are generally standard SAE.

O'Reilly Auto Parts had these short lines with the fittings I needed.



So, I set up my Eastwood tubing flare tool and got busy.



Each of the front lines got an SAE double 45 flare on one end to connect to the master cylinder..



And the other end received a bubble flare to connect to the Crown Vic soft hoses...

[WhitsEnd]

Front lines are done, with the exception of a couple fasteners to attach the passenger side line to the crossmember.

This first picture shows the driver's side line with the steering at full right turn.

[cdnwillyg]

Great job on the brake lines! Coming together very nice.