The next morning we went back to get the line they had made. It was a pretty good match on first look. I had them flare one end with a fitting, leaving the other end open with a bit of extra length so I could fit it and mark it for cutting later. Then I’d return for them to flare the other end.
Once I got home, an initial fitting showed it was way off.
At the proportioning valve it was just about touching the header, and that obviously wouldn’t do, so with a little help from some vice grips, and vice grip fingers, I reshaped the whole line. My fingers are tough, but by the end of it I had a blood blister on my thumb, mostly out of concern of kinking the line. I have to say, I am quite happy with the results. The picture might look off, but it isn’t.
The reformed line dropped right in the old clips with only minor tweaking,
the end I needed to cut had plenty of slack to move around a bit for fitting on that end, and off I went back to the shop to have them flare it.
Yes, I love to walk (not), but just wait… it’s not over!! Hurrah.
Back at the ranch, that line dropped in again nicely, and it was time for the hose and caliper.
Getting close now. but because I had busted off the bleed screw to the caliper, I had to come up with a way to bleed it. I say “I”, but really, I mean “we”, because it was a two person job. Period.
After filling it manually and waiting for bubbles to rise, I held the caliper with the hose fitting to the top. Removing this caliper from the car, I purposely left it extended, thus full of fluid. With me holding the caliper in one hand, bending the hose into place with the other, Cass could thread the nut through the banjo fitting, and I would crank it down. Then, a C-clamp would squeeze any bubbles all the way back to the master cylinder. It sounds easier the faster you say it. 😉 Not so much. On the first try, brake fluid was dripping out of the banjo fitting a drop a second, and the bolt was tight. 
Without the verbose version, one of the two copper washers had been stuck to the underside of the banjo fitting, and I hadn’t noticed it (I was looking for it, and thought it odd there wasn’t one) because of the dirt. The shop had to cut and weld the old fitting onto their new line, and the washer disappeared in the back of their shop.
That explains the hammer mark I had to file out of the edge of the fitting later, but that is the conclusion, not the journey to it.
Initially I thought the weld was too big and was impinging on the mating surface, so I filed that down,
thought I had it solved, and it tried again. Drip, drip, drip…
By now we’re working in the dark, we’re tired, cranky and impatient, and working really hard to not bite each others head off.
Just for some color, we’re starting to really go through the brake fluid now, whatever cardboard we had laid down to kneel on had become a sponge, paper towels were flying about all over the place, all the while having to keep an eye on the level in the master cylinder so as not to get air in it, etc, etc…
That was the final straw for the day. Both of us were at and end. Cass was a trooper, and thank God for a program. That we didn’t tear each other up though this part of the adventure still amazes me as I write.
Googling “just what the $^&$ went wrong” doesn’t bring up many hits, by the way, but eventually I came to the conclusion I mentioned above.
I guess you do get the verbose version after all. LOL
The next morning, as you may have guessed by now, found me back at the shop asking for “arandelas de cobre”, which you would think I would have left there with the other day, y’know, because being a brake shop, you’d think they’d know I’d need that sort of thing or it would leak. Go ahead, shake your head. I did. A buck a piece! #$%^#^$ers. Anyways…
A cab ride there, and a walk back, and we’re getting to know that stretch of David pretty good now. I could probably do it with a walking cane. We bought some more brake fluid down the road, and tried it again. Success!!! Our funny little pre-job walk throughs are really paying off now. What PITA this has been, and now we’re on the doorstep to victory. Bahahahaha! Not.
After pumping up the brakes, blowing the pistons out of the drivers side wheel cylinder because I forgot to put the drum back on, and repairing that error, I tried again with all parts in place. I pumped up the brakes and they felt solid. Physically turning each rotor while Cass pressed the brake stopped each rotor dead. Doing the same with the drums (car in neutral) worked on the drivers side, but not the passenger, so I bled off the passenger side some, saw a bubble come out, then clear running fluid, and tried again. Nope.
Next test was to start the car and put it into drive hoping the vacuum assist would help. Nope.
Please, let me introduce…
THAT is how I discovered that the passenger side wheel cylinder had been seized all along.
Is that right? Can it be true? I pulled the drum off of that side and had Cass hit the brakes while I watched the pistons on the cylinder. Nothing. No movement at all. I just happened to have a C-clamp handy, so I tore out the springs and pads – again – and put the clamp across the pistons. It would not budge (bleed screw opened). Yep, that thing is seized, and seized good.
It looked fine. There weren’t any drips, it appeared clean except for some dust, and it wasn’t pivoting in the hole like the other side had been. Ohhhh, the learning.
Now, I’ll admit, there was some pouti
ng involved at that point. This is a part I know I cannot get locally, and three out of four wheels does not make a proper set of brakes (or does it?). It won’t pass inspection, anyways.
That lasted about an hour, then, with no other course of action, Cass and I were back at it tearing out that caliper, and snapping another brake line – we’ve now got a nice collection, y’see.
I’ve now saturated the cylinder with penetrating oil, and after I’m done writing this, I’ll go and see if I can work those pistons back and forth a weee little bit. If I get any movement at all, there’s hope, if not, www.rockauto.com ships worldwide, FedEx will have the parts here by the 2nd of December, and I’ll put a plug in the T going to that wheel so I can move this car, however humbly, at least around town.
That’s it for now. Off the to back to see if I can move that piston.