Project '64 Cheapskate

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by 65Gregg

I'm anxious to see the results of your A/C restoration. I want to hear how well it cools.

Gregg-
I'm very anxious, too. I think it's going to work pretty well. I've made a few subtle changes, like a more modern condenser and better connections, and I really want to see if they made a difference. When I get to having it serviced, I'll definitely post up the results.

[Low Elco]

I like the first one. Fits the vibe better.

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

I like the first one. Fits the vibe better.

Yeah Chip, I feel the same way. I just shot the other wheel with some etch primer, and it looks better than I expected, but there's still a ton of work to do, especially in the finger grip area. I decided to put it on the shelf for a later project.

[rusty76]

Looks really clean!

[Low Elco]

Ooooooo, cleeeeean! Yaaay, putting stuff together!
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[Dinos63]

man you do some nice work!

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Looks really clean!

Thanks! I've been spending a lot of time on the little parts, and it's good to finally start putting them in.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Ooooooo, cleeeeean! Yaaay, putting stuff together!
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Tell me about it!! I'm watching my parts boxes start to disappear, and my workbench is starting to have areas where I can actually see the bench top. I feel like I'm starting to finally gain some momentum, and things are happening quickly.

Originally Posted by Dinos63

man you do some nice work!

Dino, coming from you, I take that as a huge compliment! I've been in the aerospace industry for the last 23 years building prototypes, so I'm a stickler for the details. This project has been fun, and I've been really getting after it to get it on the road. I've been without a running hot rod for too dang long, and I'm tired of it! I was hoping to have it ready for Brother's, but it's unlikely that it'll be done by then.

Your "One and Done" event looked like a blast!! You guys knocked it out of the park!!

[chevyrestoguy]

It's been awhile since I've posted on this thread, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been getting anything done on the '64. Quite the opposite, actually. I have been working on the brake system, and there is a design issue with the '60-'66 trucks that has always bugged me and I decided to do something about it. I have never liked the brake pedal height (way too high) and I have always thought that the trucks that have had the disc brake conversion have the wrong pedal ratio. There's too much brake pedal travel. After some thought, research, and fabrication, I may have come up with the answer.

I'm not a fan of buying expensive aftermarket parts because I try to stretch my "project money" as far as possible. I was adamant that this mod had to be inexpensive and utilize as many factory parts as possible.

First of all, let's talk about brake pedal ratio. Instead of going through a long discussion about theory, here's a link that explains it easily:
http://www.piratejack.net/index.php?...d=14&Itemid=21
I calculated the pedal ratio of the stock, manual brake pedal on my '64 and came up with 6.8-1. That's just fine for manual brakes, but wrong for power brakes. After some calculation, I determined that if you move the linkage attach point on the pedal down 1.5", you can get a brake ratio of 4.1-1, perfect for power brakes. So, I got a 3/8" drill bit and drilled the new hole. I mocked everything up, but I didn't like what I saw. Now, the linkage from the pedal to the booster would be going up at a steep angle to depress the plunger in the booster. I didn't like this at all:


I have one of Capt. Fab's booster adapter brackets (HIGHLY recommended) and have a 1996 S-10 booster. The biggest issue (at least to me) about using a late model booster is what to do with the eyelet on the end of the booster rod. A lot of guys will chop them off and re-thread the rod for a clevis or a heim joint. I actually LIKE the eyelet, but just couldn't figure out how to integrate it into my linkage. The only way for it to work was that it had to be supported so the booster rod would stay in a stationary arc. I pulled the pedal/clutch pedal assembly out of the truck and noticed that there was an unused hole about 3" back from the brake pedal hinge pin. It was obviously used on another truck application, probably the C60 and up models. I measured the i.d. of the hole, and came to the conclusion that it was the exact same size hole as the brake pedal hinge pin. Thank You, GM!!


Now, I knew how I was going to support the booster eyelet. I went to the wrecking yard and got another brake pedal and hinge pin. I wound up getting the entire assembly for $12.50. In this picture, you can see the pin slid into the previously un-used hole, and the attach bolt lined right up.


Here's the trial run mock-up. I did a quick chop on the extra brake pedal and basically turned it into a bellcrank. The existing hole in the brake pedal for the factory brake linkage worked out fine. You can see that the clevis on the brake pedal (the pedal painted black) will now attach to the tab on the chopped pedal.


Here's what the chopped pedal looks like after a little grinding and some paint. I want this to look 100% factory.


Here's a picture of the set-up mocked in place. You can see how the bellcrank now supports the eyelet. You can also see the reinforcement pieces around the penetration holes for the hinge pin on the rear pin. I drilled out the spot welds on the piece I got from the wrecking yard and spot-welded the plates to the pedal support in order to make it all look factory. The issue now is how to attach the bellcrank to the stock brake pedal.



It had to be a clevis of some sort, preferably one that captured both sides of the bellcrank/booster rod connection. Brad was at the bolt shop and they had the perfect clevis. It's about 2.5" long, and the span of the jaw was .500", and it was a whopping $5. I measured the total width of the booster eyelet and the bellcrank tab, and it was .585", so the jaw was opened up slightly. The clevis is threaded on the end to accept a 7/16-20 fine thread bolt, just like the factory linkage. The only goofy thing about the clevis is that the eyelet holes are 7/16", so the factory hole in the brake pedal (which is now the bellcrank) needed to be opened up to 7/16". The eyelet in the booster is .640", which means that you will need to find or fab a bushing with an outer diameter of .640 and have an inner diameter of .437 (7/16"). I found a bronze bushing at Lowes with an o.d. of 5/8" (.625) and an i.d. of 3/8" (.375)., and it cost $3.88. The o.d. would work, but I opened the i.d. to 7/16" and chopped the total end to end length to .275. It worked perfectly. The linkage rod is merely a 2.5" 7/16-20 set screw, and it cost $1.80. The through bolt is a Grade 8, 2" long. The bolt head had to be ground down to about .250" tall in order to clear the side of the structure when the brake pedal is depressed. After all of the attach points were greased, the linkage works like butter, and the booster rod depresses the plunger with very little change in height. Another thing that this mod did was move the brake pedal closer to the floor. No longer will you have to lift your leg completely off of the seat to push the brake. Mission accomplished!




Sorry for the long explanation, but I think that this mod will help anybody wanting to make their brakes work better and have vastly improved ergonomics. Plus, it was cheap, and I like that!!

[LostMy65]

This is another one of my favorite threads.
Nice job.
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[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by LostMy65

This is another one of my favorite threads.
Nice job.
Posted via Mobile Device

Thanks! I've got a bunch of other things I'm doing as well, but I really want to post up the mods from start to finish in a single posting, so I'm waiting for a few of them to get completed. Things are starting to "come home" on this project, and hopefully, the momentum will continue.

[markeb01]

The brake pedal modification is a very impressive piece of re-engineering. This should be posted in the FAQ section as well. Beautiful work. Thanks for the detailed photos and technical explanations. I really appreciate the effort that goes into sharing this type of upgrade.

[chevyrestoguy]

Thank you, Mark! You're a heck of a craftsman, and I really appreciate your comments.

[earl84]

You do some amazing work, sir. I love this brake pedal modification. Thanks for detailing it so well, it makes imitating ideas so much easier. I like the idea of not having to lift your entire leg to depress the brake pedal. Kind of an increased safety factor as well.
Do you happen to have a picture of where the brake pedal sits at rest now?

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by earl84

You do some amazing work, sir. I love this brake pedal modification. Thanks for detailing it so well, it makes imitating ideas so much easier. I like the idea of not having to lift your entire leg to depress the brake pedal. Kind of an increased safety factor as well.
Do you happen to have a picture of where the brake pedal sits at rest now?

Thanks!!
I'll get a picture of it on Thursday when I get back on the truck. I work 10hrs a day during the week, with a 135 mile round trip commute, so I don't get much time to work on the truck in the evening. Currently, the truck is over at Brad's house, but it will be coming back to my place as soon as we drop the engine and trans in and fire it off. My garage is too full of my other projects to have it at the house right now.

[rusty76]

This is always awesome! Killer work as usual. Too Kool.

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by rusty76

This is always awesome! Killer work as usual. Too Kool.

Thanks, Rusty!! Your comments are what motivates me to finish this thing and finally have something cool to drive again!!

I haven't finished a project in a long time, and I was doubting if I had the ability to do it anymore. I got so focused on my job that I would have a bad habit of starting some really cool projects only to sell them a year or two later because I was convinced that the project would never become a reality. One notable project was a 1967 Nova that I wound up selling to a guy who finished it, and I was crushed. He went 180 degrees from what I had started and wound up putting in a 305 TPI engine out of an 1988 IROC, along with the IROC wheels and gasp......the entire IROC dash and console. It was hideous.

I have to thank Brad (kustombrad on the site) for help keeping me focused and my eyes on the prize. Once he got his '49 on the road I was convinced that I needed to have as much fun as he was having. That meant getting one of my projects finished. It was time to quit being a spectator and start becoming a participant.

[Captainfab]

Very nice job on the brake pedal to booster pushrod fabrication, I like it.

[Dinos63]

always great to see you kat!

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by Dinos63

always great to see you kat!

You too, brother! I hope your trip home to Phoenix was safe and uneventful. Did you have to drive back at a speedy 55 mph all the way home?

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

Very nice job on the brake pedal to booster pushrod fabrication, I like it.

I was hoping you were going to like it. I am a HUGE fan of your booster and power steering adapters. Those things sure take a lot of guess-work out of how to upgrade to the later components. And the quality of the pieces are top-notch.

[rusty76]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

Thanks, Rusty!! Your comments are what motivates me to finish this thing and finally have something cool to drive again!!

I haven't finished a project in a long time, and I was doubting if I had the ability to do it anymore. I got so focused on my job that I would have a bad habit of starting some really cool projects only to sell them a year or two later because I was convinced that the project would never become a reality. One notable project was a 1967 Nova that I wound up selling to a guy who finished it, and I was crushed. He went 180 degrees from what I had started and wound up putting in a 305 TPI engine out of an 1988 IROC, along with the IROC wheels and gasp......the entire IROC dash and console. It was hideous.

I have to thank Brad (kustombrad on the site) for help keeping me focused and my eyes on the prize. Once he got his '49 on the road I was convinced that I needed to have as much fun as he was having. That meant getting one of my projects finished. It was time to quit being a spectator and start becoming a participant.

This is what I'm talking about! Fellas take note.

[Modges'66]

Very slick mod on the brake linkage!
Very nice & simple!

[chevyrestoguy]

I spent a little time yesterday evening prepping the transmission for paint. I gave it a good cleaning, blasted it air to dry it, and did a bunch of sanding to blend out any chipped areas. I gave it a coat of DuPont etch primer last night, and got up at first light this morning and gave it a coat of chassis black.
It's a 700r4 with upgraded internals (better clutches, sprag, servo). It's got about 20K very easy miles on it. The converter is a 2200 stall with lock-up capability. The cooler lines are some scraps I had in order to keep the ports clean, and the Lokar didpstick is going to get swapped to a stock style dipstick. I don't plan on putting any steel braided hoses under the hood, so the Lokar unit would not look right.

[Low Elco]

Lookin like progress! Just keep chippin', one thing no matter how small every day!
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[Bomp]

Diggin' the tranny work man.
Totally stylin'