A '54 named Busty

[Gregski]

I'm a one man band so I have nobody to pump the brakes as I bleed them, so we use the vacuum pumpulator

[8man]

Rotors good, now time for that test flight. Are you ready cap'n?

[notsolo]

I love it when a plan comes together!....Happy birthday Greg....hope you got your seats mounted.....better riding in a seat IMO....be careful out there ....you never know what you'll see.

[Tempest67]

that pic reminded me of this.

and Happy Birthday

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Tempest67

that pic reminded me of this.

and Happy Birthday

love it, and thank you

so the plan for today is Still to Drive It !

you've heard of the Tesla self driving cars, where you sit back and let the car drive by itself and if need be you grab the steering wheel and override it? Well, this truck is sort of like that but takes the concept even further, we don't even have a steering column, a gas pedal, nor gauges, ... yup, absolutely no need and way ahead of it's time.

Video at 11

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by notsolo

I love it when a plan comes together!....Happy birthday Greg....hope you got your seats mounted.....better riding in a seat IMO....be careful out there ....you never know what you'll see.

that's hilarious, I loved the Smurfs growing up, and oh yeah, the seat is in!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 8man

Rotors good, now time for that test flight. Are you ready cap'n?

oh yeah, lemme just find my helmet

[Gregski]

snuck out this morning and decided to get the emergency / parking brake working before it got to be 100° F today

it can be very tempting and seem logical to start by adjusting the parking brake cable, but that is not always the case...

[Gregski]

here we demonstrate (my lovely wife and I) how when the parking brake is applied the brake adjustment is already fully extended, it really doesn't take much, see the greenish spring and how it is completely compacted, well it can't get more compressed than that, so it makes no sense to tighten the emergency brake cable, it's already doing it's job

Note: there aint that much movement, it's maybe 3/16ths of an inch

[Gregski]

and here's How To Adjust the Parking Brake Without Adjusting the Parking Brake

one of the most neglected yet important components in my opinion of the drum brake system is this here star automagical adjuster / brake shoe expander, I believe every time you go in reverse it tries to expand a click if it can

I have seen these completely seized up on some rigs, no wonder the drum brakes get such a bad rap!

[Gregski]

lets show ours a little love, once cleaned up you should be able to fully screw it in and unscrew it by hand while it's off the truck, nice and easy peasy no snags or tools involved

[8man]

Dude, you cleaned the brake adjuster. Yes, they do have to turn to work.

NOW can we go for the ride?

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 8man

Dude, you cleaned the brake adjuster. Yes, they do have to turn to work.

NOW can we go for the ride?

ha ha, yes Robert hold on to your underwear, and bring a mini cooler to sit on

[Gregski]

since these self adjust while you are backing up, one side is usually reverse threaded, passanger side in my case

[Gregski]

I am not a fan of these drums, they forgot to leave a hole open for manual adjustment of this star adjuster, on some models you can get at them from the back through the dust shield, but not on mine, I will look for a set of new drums with a hole in them

Note: when putting your drums back on they should have pretty good drag on them when sliding them back on by hand, no tools, no hammer, just nice snug tight fit with a good palm of your hand double punch in the end, ha ha

[Gregski]

so yeah I am still determined to drive this thing today, so here's a custom T handle throttle, patent pending

Note: it is fully adjustable to male or female of any height and reach

[Gregski]

... and now the moment I've been waiting for, for a year since I got her...

'54 Chevy Advance Design First Drive aka "Busty"

join me why don't you

[LT7A]

First of all, happy birthday! Good work getting the brakes up to snuff and I am also a big fan of those Aero brake pads. But when I saw your throttle device I literally said Lord have mercy. But after watching the first drive video I felt a little better, haha. You've done a lot of work in a short amount of time and should be proud of it. Whether that translates into another busy day in the garage or a good meal with the family or a comfortable chair and some hop infused hydration, I hope you enjoy it!

[nvrdone]

ok, you get extra points for creativity on the "test drive". nice job.

[LT7A]

Thanks for the part numbers on those fuel filters. I will be making judicious use of that. And any day that I get to see BA, Face, Murdock, and Hannibal is a good day. If you want some ideas on door finishes, let us know. Wish I was local enough to buy you a cerveza, but another time. The motor sounds good!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Thanks for the part numbers on those fuel filters. I will be making judicious use of that. And any day that I get to see BA, Face, Murdock, and Hannibal is a good day. If you want some ideas on door finishes, let us know. Wish I was local enough to buy you a cerveza, but another time. The motor sounds good!

yup, thanks, and I just realized they didn't have any sexist eye candy on that show, 80s style, like Dukes, or Fall Guy or TJ Hooker!

[oldman3]

Congrats...Jim

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Congrats...Jim

thank you Jim, it was ... [ahem] exhilarating, ha ha

now to stop all the leaks, aka the Chevy Pavement Lubrication System (CPLS)

first it was oil and water, so I fixed the water by tightening the bottom radiator hose (that is my achilies I always forget about it but am always too lazy to grab a small 1/4" socket and tighten it then and there, I hate doing it with a flat screw driver as it always flings off) no sooner did I nip the water leak when after adding trans fluid I sprung, you guessed it a trans fluid leak, right next door to the lower radiator hose (shocking!) it was a loose -6 AN fitting going into the trans cooler portion of the rad, ok so tightened that, and that seems ok, then I tightened the two larger 1/2" oil pan bolts hoping that would curb Niagra Falls, but nope, so I need to find out where it's leaking from, one thing I will say, is that if gasket replacement is in order, I aint doing it, I will drive the truck around the block and then yank out that SBC faster than AMAZON can deliver a can of SEM undercoating, whaaa haa ha

[NorCalGal]

Happy birthday and congratulations on the drive.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by NorCalGal

Happy birthday and congratulations on the drive.

Thank you for remembering Jan, I really appreciate it. Gonna be another above 100°F scorcher today here in Cali, are you ready for it? I think it's the second day of four above triple digits.