Day 43

Another great day in bug progress.  I got to work first on getting the body/pan bolts out of my rust removing solution and wire brushing them.  They were probably the worst bolts and washers I had so far this entire project because they were rusty and also had a bunch of undercoating on them.  Some are back for a second soak.  Others turned out okay.  And yet others will need to replaced entirely.  I'll be looking for original bolts for this purpose.

I also got my front drums mounted and realized I didn't do much of a tutorial on the rear drums or putting the pedals in.  So I figured I'd do it for front drums.

Cleaned, painted, ready to go!

Installed the inner bearing race.  Used a special tool to seat it properly.

The ball bearing rides around that surface.

Packed the cavity with grease.

Greased and put the ball bearing in place.

The other race makes a perfect circle for the bearing to ride around.

Installed a grease seal to keep all that goop where it needs to be.

There is an outer bearing as well, it goes by the same process.

That went well.  I also attempted at bleeding the brakes with a power bleeder.

Rigged up the reservoir temporarily as it usually rests on the body, not the pan.

Headed back to the store!

I never got it to work quite right, always drawing air in the system from around the bleeder screw.  So, I will try again tomorrow with the manual method and rigged up a broom handle so I could reach the brake pedal and do it single handedly!

Should also have my tie rod in tomorrow so I can finish up the steering.  Then I need to wash my wheels so as to not mess up my nice finish....and I should be rolling....and maybe stopping!