Power Steering, Master Cylinder, Parking Brake, and More (Part 8)

I found a local company who would tackle the project of welding my new Z-bar. I arrived with all the pieces cut, fit together, and tack welded in place. I picked the Z-bar back the next day and it was very nicely tig welded together. It is rare I have someone help with a car project and leave the experience happy but this was definitely one of those situations.

I painted the piece with some primer and then VHT engine paint that is satin black. I selected the paint as I wanted the part to be satin black and this was the only variant of that color which I could find in a high heat paint. Overall, the paint turned out well but the sheen seems highly dependent on how wet the paint is a applied. It has a bit of a splotchy look but I'm not to worried about it.

I'm quite pleased to have this piece in hand and ready to install. This was a major hurdle for this project.



I contacted OpenTracker today as well and he indicated he would refund my money for the original Z-bar since it did not work out for my application.  I'll be mailing it back tomorrow.

Power Steering, Master Cylinder, Parking Brake, and More (Part 7)

The Borgeson Z-Bar I purchased from OpenTracker would unfortunately not fit my vehicle due to my Patriot Clippster headers. I spent a few hours researching various types headers that might fit better but most came at a price tag of $700+ and I might still find they don't work and would need to rework my exhaust which is custom bent to fit my current headers. I even considered cable and hydraulic clutch setups but it was all way too much.

I contacted John at OpenTracker with a few pictures of the fitment in my vehicle. He indicated that the best option would be to just custom make a Z-bar that works in the space available. It had crossed my mind that one could be custom made but frankly just wanted a simpler solution it it existed. With this being my only option left, I decided to get to work.

I started by cutting the top part off the Z-bar as it was the only portion which was not shaped well for the new steering box. I placed it in the car and used some cardboard to make a new upper arm. I then used it to make a thin metal prototype to test it further. I then progressed to purchasing some 5/16" steel as that matched the size of the stock piece. In the picture below, you can see the OpenTracker model, my prototype, and then the piece of 5/16" metal that I ultimately used to make the Z-bar.

The newly created Z-bar is shown below with a few spot welds to hold it in place for testing. The template process worked well as the new piece fits perfectly. It looks like something someone built at home due to the boxy nature but I'm glad I have something that works. I won't say how many hours went into this piece as it took way longer than I expected. But it works and fits in the incredibly tight space.





This is a picture of my Z-bar installed for some rough test fit purposes... so rough I didn't even both to put the top link in the right way which is apparent by the firewall boot. However, putting it all together allowed me to cycle it through motion a few times to confirm everything fit together and there were no issues. You can see the damage to the fire wall from the leaking master cyclinder in this picture.

 


I need this piece to be very strong as I can't afford to have the welds break while I'm out driving around. For that reason, I'm going to find someone to finish weld this up for me. I'll then paint it with some height heat paint since it is so close to the exhaust.

Last thing is that I did today was dimple the header where it was making contact with the new steering box. The header is ceramic coated and the dimple cause the coating to come off. I'm going to get some similar colored high temp paint and see if I can touch it up.

Power Steering, Master Cylinder, Parking Brake, and More (Part 6)

The Borgeson power steering system I ordered (#BRG-99920) is for an early 1967 mustang with a 1" sector shaft on the steering box.  The kit adds a rag joint similar to the style used on 1968 and later model Mustangs (shown to the left of the new, black steering box below).  This is an improvement versus the long steering shaft originally used that so many refer to as the spear-o-matic.  However, this improvement requires the steering column be cut down to allow space for this rag joint between the steering box and the steering column.

Over the last couple of days, I've been working to test fit the various components and cut down the steering column as needed.  I started with mounting up the power steering pump expecting to have some trouble as it mounts using the same head bolt holes that are currently used by the Classic Auto Air compressor.  Thankfully, Borgeson supplied two sets of stand off sleeves for installing the pump for those with with A/C and those without.  The stand-off sleeves worked perfectly and installing it was a breeze.

The next step was to determine the best way to run the belt for the power steering pump.  I already have a three groove crank pulley but installing power steering also requires a two groove water pump pulley.  Without a two groove water pump pulley, the belt makes contact with the water pump pulley in a bad way.  My water pump pulley was purchased specifically for the A/C system and isn't very old but I'll be swapping it out with a Scott Drake C6AZ-8509A which appears to be the correct 5 13/16" pulley with the right offset.  At this point, I expect to use a 48" belt for the power steering system so I went ahead and purchased one from AutoZone so I have it ready.  

With this handled, I turned my attention to the power steering lines as I have heard others found them to not be long enough or make contact with the headers.  I found mine fit rather well with a few tweaks to the hard line bends near the box.  They are still relatively close to the headers at points.  I don't want to risk it so I ordered some 3/4" DEI Fire Sleeve which fits perfectly over both lines to keep them safe.  

The last part of the project was to take apart the steering column, mock up the column with the new steering shaft, and determine how much of the column to cut away.  I started with cutting a 6.5" piece off and ultimately cut off another 1.25" to get it just right. 

I sanded down the column as it has taken a few beatings being removed and reinstalled and put another coat of the stock style paint on it.  I then used a Mustang Steve roller bearing at the end rather than the plug Borgeson provided.  This is much better than the rubber plug and worm clamp that Borgeson supplied to use (showed in column picture below).  The finished product looks good and is ready to install.

Power Steering, Master Cylinder, Parking Brake, and More (Part 5)

A portion of this project is replacing the Raybestos MC36440 master cylinder which I installed back in 2008.  The master cylinder is a common replacement when switching to a front disc brake system without manual brakes in part due to the 15/16" bore.  I'm replacing it with a Wilwood 260-14157 which also has a 15/16" bore but has a better sealing lid.  The Raybestos lid would never seal properly and caused brake fluid to spill out down the side of the master cylinder causing it to rust and then the fluid would get on the firewall and steering column below causing the paint to peel off.  A side benefit is that the Wilwood unit is a nice aluminum piece which weights 2.5 lbs compared to the cast iron version which is 5.4 lbs.

I've test fit the Wilwood master cylinder and there are no issues.  However, I'll need to make new brake lines to the proportioning valve because the master cylinder ports are in slightly different places and use different side fittings.  My plan is to bend new lines using 3/16" fittings at the master cylinder as that size will then be consistent front and back and could be adapted to large sizes later if needed.

I purchased some brake lines, fittings, and then rented a flaring tool from AutoZone.  After attempting 8 flares with the rented tool, I recalled why I hated using it so much many years ago.  I then purchased a Lisle 33260 flaring tool on Amazon which changed the process greatly.  Every flare I made with the Lisle tool was perfect so it was definitely a good purchase and I'm glad to have it on hand in the event I need to do more brake lines again.

I was a bit tired of dealing with brake lines at the end of the day and the routing of the lines is not exactly as I envisioned but they are done.  After the test fit, I set these all aside in a safe place to work on the test fit of other items.  The plan is to work through each portion of this project testing fitting everything.  Once that is done, I'll clean and paint the firewall, and then finish it all out with clean and ready to install parts.