1964 bonneville rebuild

[64 kiwi boni]

Brake drums all machined and brand new shoes fitted to my old units 👍👍👍👍

 

Reset springs back from the spring makers 

I also have new discs to throw on the ram 

so ... i have plenty to do this weekend!!!

 

[64 kiwi boni]

this is all great stuff to get out of the way while the trans is being rebuilt !

plan is to fit the springs, then assemble the brake linings and trial fit the drums... my brake guy has custom blended each shoe to each drum.... so they contact 100% ... but each shoe has to go in its respective drum.. hence why you can see the shoes sitting in each drum... then i have to check if the linings are too thick to fit the drum over... if they are they need to go back to the brake shop to be milled down a 100th or so !.

 Then all the drums come off and the fun starts!! i have to blast each of them with the fine glass median. and i have to work out which way is going to work best... paint each drum first then polish up each blade.... OR 

polish up each blade THEN paint each drum...

i will test the blades first... kind of hard to explain but... if you look at each of my 8 luggers you will understand what i am banging on about "blades"

Note for Andy.... short contact shoe is called the leading shoe and goes at the front . brake 101 according to my brake guy... who is younger than me!! hahaha ..

[Fitzy]

Nice work fella. You're doing a good methodical job. Did he chamfer the ends of the linings to prevent grabbing & chatter? My brakes are really powerful but they're a bit grabby. One day I'll pull them apart and do what you did: resurface the drums (all my shoes are brand new) but will also chamfer the lining edges. Probably a good time to clean up the rusted 'never work' adjusters to make future adjustments a little easier too.

I don't know about you but I bought a generic brake shoe adjustment tool (like a bent screwdriver) but of course, Pontiacs are a bit special and it was never going to work. I caved in and bought a Pontiac specific one from Ames and it works a treat. I recommend one if you're running out of swear words as you try and make something else fit!

[64 kiwi boni]

no mate i am not touching the shoes as they are true to the machined drums... if anything goes wrong i can blame my mate at the brake shop!! hahaha.....

Today was all about getting chores done then hitting the installation of the  springs and brakes ... 

first job, stick new disc on the ram ,,,, 

Box ticked 

Edited January 15, 2022 by 64 kiwi boni

[64 kiwi boni]

Next was .... clean bathroom floor !!! Boring!! Then rubbish to dumb!!! More boring !!! Then make wife lunch,,,,, .....

...... 

then !!! Exciting stuff ....

springs back in 

assemble all the brake linings in their respective locations ....

[64 kiwi boni]

I started sand blasting the drums with this super fine glass media ... worked great 

but super slow ! 

 

I quickly worked out that I did not need to be so soft in my approach !!

and found the best results came from  my small Bosch sander with 180 grit 

then 400 wet then 1500 wet 

followed by a buffing wheel !!! 

... tomorrow I can show some results 

here you can see all the nicks and marks showing.... not happy with this....

so here i started using the 180 grit on the sander.... and blended all those marks out..

Edited January 16, 2022 by 64 kiwi boni

[64 kiwi boni]

my first attempt left all the years of small marks in each blade as i cleaned them up....you can see them in the first picture above...

i was not happy with the result.......

but with the sander i was able to blend all the nicks and blemishes... picture number 2 above

then the wet sand smoothed everything!!

Edited January 15, 2022 by 64 kiwi boni

[Bonneville convertable64]

3 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

my first attempt left all the years of small marks in each blade as i cleaned them up....you can see them in the first picture above...

i was not happy with the result.......

but with the sander i was able to blend all the nicks and blemishes... picture number 2 above

then the wet sand smoothed everything!!

Looks great

[TWO LANE BLACK TOP]

👍👍👍🍻🍻

Professional grade work..looking good

[JUSTA6]

7 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

Next was .... clean bathroom floor !!! Boring!! Then rubbish to dumb!!! More boring !!! Then make wife lunch,,,,, .....

...... 

then !!! Exciting stuff ....

springs back in 

assemble all the brake linings in their respective locations ....

Lookin so good.  JUSTA WOW.

[Andy H]

9 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

I started sand blasting the drums with this super fine glass media ... worked great 

but super slow ! 

 

I quickly worked out that I did not need to be so soft in my approach !!

and found the best results came from  my small Bosch sander with 180 grit 

then 400 wet then 1500 wet 

followed by a buffing wheel !!! 

... tomorrow I can show some results 

You are making a lot of us look bad and lazy 😆 you are getting so much done, nice job.

Didn't you paint something before and then used acetone or something to take the paint of the shiny part on the piece? Is that how you are doing this?

[64 kiwi boni]

16 minutes ago, Andy H said:

You are making a lot of us look bad and lazy 😆 you are getting so much done, nice job.

Didn't you paint something before and then used acetone or something to take the paint of the shiny part on the piece? Is that how you are doing this?

Yes Andy !!! 

I repainted the grill sections then wiped each polished bar with acetone .... worked really well. And I think I will try that with these today 👍👍👍

I have a very good reason for trying to get as much done now as I can !!! 

The boss has a major home renovation for me to do in March ... so once that starts , there will be no work on the bonneville 😩

Edited January 15, 2022 by 64 kiwi boni

[Andy H]

1 hour ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

Yes Andy !!! 

I repainted the grill sections then wiped each polished bar with acetone .... worked really well. And I think I will try that with these today 👍👍👍

I have a very good reason for trying to get as much done now as I can !!! 

The boss has a major home renovation for me to do in March ... so once that starts , there will be no work on the bonneville 😩

Oh yes, brake shoe, short one in ft, make sense that's what I have seen on most cars.

Yes the acetone trick kind of stuck because that one will work for some of my stuff also.

Yes know about " home work" we just had that discussion this morning and i think we agreed to wait with the next one until fall, still waiting for my A/C guy to get time to install my mini split in the family room and somehow it will probably create some more work also.

[64 kiwi boni]

I decided to completely finish one drum to ensure my plan works !!! 

Here is number one finished 

I will leave the paint to really cure and just do a light polish in a few days time 

but here it is ,, a before and after !!

All the work is getting rid of the nicks and marks in each of the blades 

Edited January 15, 2022 by 64 kiwi boni

[64 kiwi boni]

So they come up like this .... with added time and effort. i was wayyyy more happy that each blade was mark free!!

its up there with sanding steering wheels!!!! 

Edited January 16, 2022 by 64 kiwi boni

[JUSTA6]

So sweet yo makin my teeth hurt!

[Fitzy]

What a great result. There's something totally satisfying about hand finishing something and then looking back at it's condition before you started. Those nice wheels are gonna lift the look of the entire car, once fitted.

Do you ever catch the Boss peering out of one of the windows in the house and shaking her head as you tinker away? Women don't understand the satisfaction that we car nuts get from performing the simplest restorative work. Mine has given up and just accepts that I'm a lunatic and that's that.

[64 kiwi boni]

Mission complete !

time to go clean up and head to the pub for beers n steak ! 

Today has been a very productive day 🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻

[64 kiwi boni]

2 hours ago, Fitzy said:

Do you ever catch the Boss peering out of one of the windows in the house and shaking her head as you tinker away? Women don't understand the satisfaction that we car nuts get from performing the simplest restorative work. Mine has given up and just accepts that I'm a lunatic and that's that.

oh my boss certainly gets peed off at me working on the car every day!!! 

but i randomly do some thing nice and she stops banging on at me for a while!! 

like for instance.... this morning i wanted to make a early start on sand blasting !  so i made her breakfast in bed !! 

 i got 4 hours of peace n quiet before she walked out and looked at what i was doing.... she said " oh they look good" and walked away!! hahahaha

so this afternoon being sunday i will knock off early and we will head to the pub for a sunday wind-down and dinner..

 life is ALWAYS a balance mate !! 

[Andy H]

1 hour ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

Mission complete !

time to go clean up and head to the pub for beers n steak ! 

Today has been a very productive day 🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻

Very cool 👍

[Wrongway]

Damn those look good Kiwi!!!

[64 kiwi boni]

1 hour ago, Wrongway said:

Damn those look good Kiwi!!!

thanks mate lots of work. but worth it 

[Frosty]

Alright boys - shopping list time. Ol' Frosty plans to hit the winter swap meet trail this weekend. On Sunday is a small indoor swap meet, but a gent I know that carries Pontiac parts is usually there. He often has bits and pieces. He may know where some '64 and '65 parts are. So let me know what your short list of hard to find parts are. I will see what I can find or see what he knows / has.

[64 kiwi boni]

Frosty, i have bugger all left to get, but one little thing is the interior door lock buttons!! my car is missing both of them !

 the other is a pair of stainless wiper blades they are 18 inches long and have the push in blade connection 

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by 64 kiwi boni

[Frosty]

Kiwi - to be clear - are we talking manual door lock buttons correct ? This thing does not have power door locks?