The New, Newer Project: Part Tres...

[njsteve]

More tinkering. The heat buildup in the rear drums caused by the swelled up hose, ruined the original set of brake return springs. I replaced the entire set with some NOS ones I had as it seemed like the shoes were dragging and not returning to their original positions. After a test drive the rear drums were around 300 degrees. When I pulled the springs off, including the small ones that hold the shoes to the backing plate, all of them were permanently stuck in their stretched position, except the little ones that hold the shoes to the backing plates - they were permanently compressed. The brakes seem to be working properly now.

So now I have a little collection of original parts removed from the car - all nicely labeled in separate ziploc bags.

Another lesson learned: old brake components are not good to have on a survivor - if you want to survive driving it.

[njsteve]

I was getting the old girl ready for a photo shoot today and took it for a half mile drive when suddenly the car starts wobbling. Yup you guessed it. Another one of the NOS 1973 Firestone 500 tires exploded. This was one I got off craigslist a few years ago. I had an NOS spare tire and rim from a 1974 T/A in the garage so I bolted that on the car and we were good to go. Those Firestone 500s are real widow-makers. I was only going 15 MPH at the time. I can't imagine what people went through with these things when they were new, back in the 1970's and Firestone denied that there was any problem whatsoever.

Here's what it looked like while still inflated. It continued snapping the steel cords and shredding as I was taking the photo.

[njsteve]

And after I deflated it. BTW, those are steel cords sticking out of there, not polyester.

[njsteve]

The photographer got some good shots on a nice day.