Great day for brakes

 Another big job done.

Today the weather was great, a perfect day to drive the Mustang out of the garage, put it up on axle stands and fix the brakes.

The factory brakes are drum all round with no power assist. In order to get the car roadworthy, I have decided to just fix the brakes as they are and then in the future convert the front drums to disk brakes.

Fortunately, parts for the mustang are cheap. I was able to pick up a new replacement master cylinder for $125 and wheel cylinders for $25 each corner. If it was a Aussie built Falcon the prices for parts are about 4 times the cost in some cases.

My good mate Nev came over in his 66 convertible Mustang in Spring time Yellow to help out for the day.

We got suck into it in disassembling all the drum brakes, gave them a good clean and reassembled the drum brakes. During the reassembly process we found that one of the rear wheel cylinders that I was supplied with was incorrect in that the brake line entry point was in the wrong spot. Usually there is a left and a right brake cylinder, however, for my car they are the same. Im not sure if someone has installed the incorrect one in the past and the brake lines re-bent tosuit or if the 7/72 Mustangs are just that way. I just dont know. After a quick spin to Just Mustangs in Riddell's creek to replace the problem wheel cylinder, we returned home to continue the works. The master cylinder was replaced and the brake lines cleaned out before the brakes were blead and wheels put back on. The rubber brake lines to the front brakes had already been replaced, so there was no need to change them. The brake line to the diff was the original, so I replaced that brake line during the process. 

Nev was impressed with the car and commented that the body looked great with no rust in the usual places. Sure it is not a show car, but will be great to cruise in.

Here are a few pics of the works being done.

The front drum brakes are rather large!.

Once the works on the brakes was done, we turned out attention to the radiator. It has a small leak in it and not holding water. Nev had a spare reconditioned 3 core side tank radiator as a spare for his XB GT. So brought it over to loan to me while I get the one for the mustang fixed. The original radiator is a single core side tank unit. I will look to get it rebuilt as a 2 or 3 core and swap it back into the car at a later date.

While I was under the car, and planning for new exhaust hangers on both sides, I located and cleaned the diff tag. I have now confirmed that it is date correct, is a 2.75 ratio and is not a LSD.

All this work is ensuring that I get through the jobs list.

The tasks left to complete are:

Replace seat belts.

Replace muffler and rear part of exhaust. Will change to a twin system.

Replace rear main seal on the gearbox.

Repair the rust in the bottom of the quarters.

Replace tie rod ends.

The list is getting shorter fortunately...