ALL DONE!

Everything is back together! Took it out for a test drive last night and everything seems to be working properly. Aside from one burnt out headlight, I shouldn't have to do anything else to it for a while. I guess this blog is finished now. If there are any further repairs or upgrades I'll be sure to post them. Thanks for following. And thank you Eric for your advice and expertise throughout this project. It's always nice having a second opinion.

I should also add a couple of notes about some issues mentioned earlier. The smoky exhaust is gone now and the issue with the timing being slightly off hasn't seemed to affect anything. So it looks like we're good to go!

Brake Cleaning & Adjusting (+ Fluid Replacement)

All cleaned up

Master cylinder components

Since I couldn't get the backing plate off to replace the wheel bearings (without resorting to serious violence), I had to remove the brake lines and drain the system. No big deal, because I wanted to replace the fluid anyway. Once everything was cleaned and reinstalled, bleeding the air out of the lines took way longer than I thought it should. It didn't seem to build any pressure to push the air out, and I thought the master cylinder was shot. I took it apart and everything looked OK, so I put it back together and kept trying. After pumping the master cylinder with a screwdriver and cracking the bleed screws over and over and over, air slowly started to escape. It seemed like the master cylinder needed some back pressure in the lines before it would start pulling the new fluid in. It all worked in the end, (with lots and lots of pumping). Everything is back together and the adjusters are set.

New Front Wheel Bearings & Seals

Old bearings. There is an inner and an outer with a spacer in between. I drove the old bearings out with a punch up against the inner race. I couldn't get the backing plate off (rust/loctite?), so I had to work around it.

Old bearings/seals/spacer

New inner & seal. I used a press and a piece of round bar to install them.

New outer & seal

Before reinstalling everything