Battery box hold down
After spending the weekend in Vegas with some buds, I didn’t have much energy for the project.
An order from Van’s arrived. I try to keep a list of little things I need and then place an order once I have a half dozen things or so. This order included master/starter contactor diodes (I could get these from Radio Shack, but Van’s sells them all nicely soldered together), parking brake valve (finally broke down and decided to put in a parking brake), Ray Allen relays, some copper bus bar to connect the contactors together, and some AN3 and 4 stop nuts that are suitable for high temp use.
I fabricated the little copper strip that the plans call for between the contactors. I’m going to order some boots to cover it up. I’m a little nervous about having that much hot copper exposed.
I also fabricated the battery box hold down. I screwed up the original one, but I ordered replacement stock.
The last thing I did was prep the battery box and related parts for paint.
November 3rd, 2005 at 7:23 am
Here are some emails I swapped with another builder about filling the brake lines.. for future reference:
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I have.. it isn’t too bad but messy as hec!
#1!!!! - Make sure all your fittings are tight first! (I have a leak on my parking brake valve that may force me to redo it all.)
#2 - Go to hardware store and get a little oil can.. and some tubing that will fit on the nipple at the caliper and the tip of the oil can.
#3 - Fill the oil can, connect tubing to can and nipple. Pump fluid until you get past the brake cylinders. Once you get a little fluid past the brake cylinders have someone tap on the cylinder gently while you pump a little more.. air gets trapped in that cylinder and tapping helps it lodge free. Pump until fluid goes into brake resevoir… and get enough in the resevoir to cover the inlet hole but not too much.
#4 - Here’s the hard part… now you need to close off the nipple but the tubing is attached to it… I unhooked the tubing from the oil can and did my best to turn the tubing, which turns the nipple closing off the system. This is where it gets all messy.
Repeat for other side.. as you pump, you’ll see the air bubbles traveling through the clear tubing…just keep pumping until they are all gone.
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Nope.. just open the nipple, connect the tube and pump away. The trick is getting a good connection between tubing and nipple. I used a zip tie to hold it on and seal it as best I could.. it still leaked when I pumped. The tip on the oil can was bigger than the nipple, so the tubing was a bit loose at the nipple.
I went a little more than finger tight on the teflon connections and had no leaks there. I think a lot of people do get leaks in that area though from not being tight enough. I did have leaks at some of the AN fittings, some not appearing for days… so keep an eye on it.
A pint should be plenty… the lines don’t hold much.
Have a stack of rags handy…. put some under the brake caliper so when you disconnect the tubing you don’t make a mess on your floor.