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Bringin' It Back From The Dead - 70 Catalina Convertible


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Hello Everybody,

   East Pointe, MI though a little bit around there.  My youngest son is a mid-Captain Army officer posted at Selfridge ANG Base, of all places.

 Definitely on the bearings.  There is a noticeably different feel.

  And lastly, Rockauto didn't have that booster a few weeks ago and stated something about there were no available cores for rebuilding.

Rick

 

 

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Hello,

  Today was the day to finish the front brakes though it was tedious work that required me to study a good You Tube video quite a few times. The rear drums will need to be turned this week and their design is similar to the front  - they only add a "spreader bar" between the shoes.   This was using new shoes in ceramic friction material and I kept the original Timken tapered roller inner and outer wheel bearings.  As I previously mentioned, the original bearings felt heavier and smoother than the new bearings that I got from Ames.  New grease seals and new wheel cylinders and I used plenty of the heaviest possible high temperature grease. 

  The passenger wheel cylinder required me to fire up my precision "Bridgeport milling machine" - aka my bench grinder.  This wheel cylinder needed some grinding to get it to fit squarely against the backing plate so that the bolts would line up.  New rubber flex hoses – braided steel is not available.  I tightened the lash out of the bearings and then backed off to smooth spinning with no binding and zero in/out play.  New cotter pins and axel caps. 

  The driver's front was first and it took the longest, of course.  The passenger side with the slightly larger wheel cylinder slowed me down for about an hour for the small amounts of grinding but it still went faster than the driver's side.  I had to go slowly with the grinding to not nick the dust boot.  

  I was worried that the drum metal lost to the brake lathe would have made adjusting the shoes outward enough impossible for best operation.  This was not a problem.  The new shoe friction material thickness solved that problem for me.

Rick

  

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Looks like you took care of business. 

I have to re-build 4 calipers for my 74 Vette. 

When can you be in Augusta, Ga? 

Pads & drums are good but the 4 brake lines need to be replaced.  Those connector hoses.only last so long.

 

Sound Good?

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13 hours ago, Alweeja said:

Looks like you took care of business. 

I have to re-build 4 calipers for my 74 Vette. 

When can you be in Augusta, Ga? 

Pads & drums are good but the 4 brake lines need to be replaced.  Those connector hoses.only last so long.

 

Sound Good?

Agreed with Alweeja, nows the time to replace rubber lines before you bleed the system, saving a bunch of time N work.

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Congrats on finding the build sheet. There might be one more on top of the gas tank (if you haven’t pulled it yet). It could have also disintegrated over time with it being in the elements. 

Next time you are at Selfridge, look us up! We live in the metro Detroit area. There is also the Pontiac Transportation Museum to check out too.

Edited by Frosty
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Hello,

  Yesterday, I finally got around to using the build sheet and Fisher Body tag to find and study the Cat's Pontiac paint code - "47" or some say the later "73" is equivalent.  Also known as "Verdoro Green Poly" - also = PPG Ditzler 2095, GM manufacturing code WA3771 and Sherwin Williams “2612”.  I went to Sherwin Williams Automotive Paint today and had them mix me up a little.

  The paint on the carboard below lacks the thinner reducer and the liquid would lay flatter if it was reduced and on gray primered metal . My wife and I both like the color and it appears that the car might go in for paint a week from this Friday.   I wanted the small sample of paint to know, that I know and that I know that I want this as the repaint color. 

If I had purchased enough of the paint, reducer, hardener and clear coat today to paint the whole car, I would have departed the store $1630.46 poorer.   And this was not their top of the line product variety.

One picture below is without the clear, the other with, of course.

Rick

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20241105_191626.jpg

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Hello,

  What book, Service Manual or Fisher Body Manual describes how to remove the dashboard cover on a 70 Catalina?  I have both of these but they say nothing about the dashboard.  Neither does the Haynes manual.

Many thanks,

Rick 

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