Technical Stude Pickup Warehouse Find

Thanks. I checked out your videos, you've got some cool stuff going on at your place. Quite a stash.

 

I had an 81 Cutl*** that the wheel cylinders were like that. After changing them I had trouble keeping them in, so after them coming out a couple of times while driving I tack welded them to the backing plates and that cured the problem

 

Those cylinders aren’t bolted in? Seems odd to me. With the lower one how difficult (if at all) to bleed them?

 

Thank you! I was in a bit of a "buying phase" for awhile. Haha. Part of the reason I started the YouTube is because of the reaction I was getting from people that come over. I'm having fun! Thanks for watching.

 

I had a set of these Knock Off look a likes on my off theme 65 Pontiac GTO. I used them on some chrome wheels I purchased at the time. Had a guy back into the quarter panel of the car and I dropped off car at body shop after they closed. Back when you could leave the keys under the floor mat. Anyway got a call from body shop next day telling me they thought they were real knock offs so whacked it with a big br*** hammer destroying the bracket that bolted to wheel. Back then readily available and they replaced it.

 

Each cylinder has one 5/16 bolt on the end. (yellow circle) That bolt also holds the inner plate to the outer backing plate. You have to put several of the main backing plate bolts in to align everything before you tighten the wheel cylinder bolts.

 

I bet that guy was surprised when he whacked it and it fell off!
They were very popular on muscle cars where I lived (near LAX), even on Corvairs. I saw a lot of them when I worked gas stations in the Santa Monica/Pacific Palisades area, lots of money and new cars around there.

 

As far as bleeding them, I’ve been thinking of maybe “bench bleeding” each front pair by using my little “puller pump” with a hose connected to the lower bleed fitting and submerged in brake fluid. That way I can move the backing plates whatever way I think I need to to get all of the air out, then cap it and install it.
I can cap the front hard lines and bleed the rear cylinders and the lines, then hook up the fronts and do a final overall bleed. Once it’s pretty well purged, I think it’ll bleed like normal systems.
I was going to do some research this morning, maybe check the good old Motor Manual. The big question for me is; will the Treadle Vac will let me bleed the system without the engine running?? The vacuum side (hoses, check valve etc) hasn’t be active for 50 years. Anyway you look at it, I’m sure it will be a messy pain in the ***.

 

Those wheel cylinders had clips that held them in place. Pain to install but worked.

 

I'd be inclined to use an old pressure bleeder and push fluid from the master. But mainly because I hate vacuum bleeding for the potential of small leaks, and I like to make huge messes with the pressure bleeder.

 

Funny you should mention the pressure bleeder, I was looking for something the other day and I ran across my little old pressure bleeder (that I’ve never used) packed away in a box. I’ll need to service it and make an adapter to fit the Treadle Vac cover. Too much holiday family stuff going on right now to get out to the shop and get dirty.
Merry Christmas to everyone!!

 

I don't remember the clips, but that was about 35 yrs ago. If they were there they weren't working good enough

 

I set up the backing plates on my bench and did a “bench bleed” on each one and capped the flex lines. No rain on Thursday so I got the backing plates installed. I also finished converting both hubs to nice normal studs and nuts - no more Mopar bolts. I also flushed the front lines and the distribution block. The lines all look good. Once the rear lines are flushed and the wheel cylinders are replaced I can finally put in some fluid and bleed the brakes.
My hoist is outdoors so the rainy weather has slowed the progress somewhat.

 

You guys are definitely getting hit with the weather right now!

 

We got it good this morning. I’ve never seen so much rain all at once. Then it hit us again this afternoon. Not too much got into my shop though. The big problem was the power being out most of the day. I did get some roadster work done though.

 

Must have been around the same time we got it too. Looking like better weather in a few days though!

 

It's cold and windy but it's not raining so I set the siphon hose to draining the water that ac***ulated in the tarp in the Stude bed. That cold water never fails to drip on me when I'm working underneath. I'm also not a fan of the greasy grease that ac***ulates where leaks spread preservative all over the ch***is. So, I did a little cleaning.
Before....

After.... I'll pull the springs and do the outer part later, once it's running. At least, no more grease on the old noggin.

 

Previously, during breaks in the rain, I put the front brakes back together. I went ahead and hooked up the hard lines.

 

Then I moved to the back brakes, everything looked pretty good, so I installed the new wheel cylinders. I also cleaned the adjusters and got them working smoothly. They were stuck. I can't believe how long it takes to do this little stuff.
I took the lines out, flushed the inside and cleaned the outside. The lines were sound but they went all over the place, so I cleaned up the routing a little. (Picture in post #257 above)

 

I'm feeling pretty good now. The brake system is all fixed, flushed and back together. I decided to add some brake fluid and see what happens. I poured in about a half a cup and decided to see how the pedal moved now that it had some fluid in it. It was stuck! After a little "influence" with the palm of my hand it depressed and stuck again. It did that about four times before it started acting normal. I figured it would need the lubrication of the fluid so other than a quick exercise on the bench I haven't moved it until now. With it moving normally, I added more fluid and gave it a few more pumps. I looked underneath the truck.
Hmmm.... I really didn't want to see that.

Not good. And right under the master cylinder. It's leaking from the cover gasket in one corner.

I put together a few 1/4" extensions and a screwdriver tip and was able to tighten each screw about 1/8 of a turn but I think I should have used sealer on it. It sits at a little more of an angle in the Stude than it did in the '53 Olds it came out of, and I extended the dipstick tube so that I could actually get to it to add fluid. That means that there is more fluid above the gasket than normal. I'm hoping that the extra tightening will stop it, but I won't hold my breath. I'm not looking forward to pulling the Treadle-Vac unit out again. It means removing the head pipe and starter, maybe the exhaust manifold again. Ugh.
I may just continue to add fluid and push it through the system, filling the lines. I can cap the main line while I pull out the T-V unit. With our cold and damp weather. I'd like to have some brake fluid in the new wheel cylinders so that they don't rust.
Thinking about it, I think that they glued the cover down with Permatex when they installed it years ago, the cover was hard to get off and it was hard to get the gasket remnants off.

 

With my being out of town and then it raining when I’m home, I haven’t gotten as much done on the old Stude as I would like. The other day I pulled the exhaust manifold, head pipe and starter out again so that I could remove the Treadle vac unit. For some reason I decided to divert to the throttle linkage.
The truck came to me with Rochester fuel injection. The FI required the throttle linkage to pull up and back. The carburetors require a straight back pull. I removed the arm at the firewall, cut and reshaped it to pull back. Then I made a rod to go from the carburetor to the arm. Piece of cake. So now the gas pedal works.

There’s still the little matter of the throttle pressure/kick down linkage. Luckily I had saved some old hydro linkage that included this old bell crank, rods and a throttle pressure lever. The bell crank bolted right up to the pad on the Pontiac intake manifold. I had a 1/4”x5/16” Heim joint that screwed right onto the Jetaway throttle pressure rod. I drilled a new pivot hole further back and down to line up the rods better. By drilling a few new holes I should be able to get the ratio needed to work the throttle pressure rod correctly. I need to shorten the existing rod and make one to connect to the carburetor.
Once again, I’m glad that I save weird stuff. And it’s all era correct.

 

Sorry that this thread is crawling along at a snail's pace but that's just the result of having too many projects, I guess. I think I have successfully sealed up the leaky master cylinder cover. I used good old Permatex #1 (hardening) and sealing washers on the screws with sealer. Then I set it up for an on-the-bench test. So far, no leaky. Tomorrow, I will reinstall it if there's still no evidence of leakage.
I spent the day tracing and redoing some wires that were easier to deal with while the M/C and starter were out.

 

Years ago, I had a nice Chevy powered '53 Stude post. 327 Chevy, PG and Chevy Posi rear end. I loved that car but it didn't love me back. I would fix something and something else would go wrong. I could never get that car to the point where I trusted it to go anywhere but around my little town. I traded it for a '56 Chevy sedan delivery. That Chevy served me reliably for 12 years, no problem. I'm beginning to think that this truck is related to my '53.

The telltale evidence this morning....aww, come on....

 

It's true. The damned thing is leaking again. I only put enough fluid in to fill the reservoir. Well, out it comes again.


I had a feeling that I'd better have another plan....
The old clutch pedal from my old sedan and a Mustang M/C. Some new brackets and sayonara Treadle Vac.
I gave it my best shot, and $200 of my hard-earned money. Screw that old piece of ****, it's outa here.

 

On the brighter side, I did finish up the throttle pressure linkage. It's made up of old bits and pieces ac***ulated at swap meets and left over from other projects. It kinda looks like it has been on there a while. I also shortened up some too-long spark plug wires and added separators/looms.




Lots going on in this little area.

 

never seen that type of 'disconnect'- kind of like those puzzles!

 

Have not worked on three carb setup in ages. Middle, back & trans kick down looks fine but where is hookup for front carb? Or did u explain earlier & I forgot?

 

The two end carbs are hooked together on the other side. The rod with the slot that connects the center carb to the rear carb provides the progressive action. If you look closely at the previous pictures, you can see the extra lever sandwiched onto the rear carb that provides the ratio required to have all three arrive at full throttle at the same time. The whole mess seems to work smoothly and with less pedal effort than I expected.
I love working out these little mechanical puzzles.

 

I got the Treadle Vac unit and pedal ***embly out and ***essed the possibilities. Not a pretty unit, I won’t miss it. I was trying to keep it all just as it was built but sometimes you just have to drop back and punt.

 

I'd advertise that TV over on the Cl***ic Olds sitr or on the AACA forum. I have seen posts there before from members looking/inquiring about replacing or rebuilding those things.