frustration

i was all geared up to get rotors and calipers on last night. well, i got neither on. the first problem is that i was pretty confused by the kit directions on where the bearings actually went. but thankfully my bentley manual has nice pictures that helped me figure this out. it then took forever for me to press the outer races down to where they should be. but once that was done, i slipped the packed bearings into place, slip the rotor on and then couldn't figure out how far to push the rotor on. it kept wanting to slide all the way to back on the spindle but that totally interferes with the caliper bracket. the directions just say to slide it on, then put on the thrust washer and screw on the clamp nut. then check for end play. but no idea on how far to go. so i've emailed the people i got the kit from in hopes that they can help.

after that debacle, i still had daylight so i decided to do some small stuff. i bought some speed bleeder's to put in the calipers and rear drums, so i thought i'd put those in. too bad the ones i got don't fit in the caliper! argh! i bought all this stuff from the same place assuming that they would fit. that's what you get for assuming.

next, i thought i'd try and start tearing down the rear brakes. pulled out the cotter pins, broke the lugs and then went to work on the 36mm castellated nut. i was using a 1/2" breaker bar and a 3' section of pipe. i ended up bending the pipe and getting nowhere. i liberally soaked the nuts a few different times but to no avail.

at this point i was ready to break something, so i just cleaned up and went inside. what a horrible night! i won't have time to work on it tonight, so hopefully by friday i'll have figured out the rotor problem and get these things done. i was hoping to have all my work done by monday but i don't think that is going to happen. sigh... the joys of working on a car.