Time to update the blog. Sorry for the delays, folks. Going to do this one post at at time, so there should be a few flowing through in the next couple of days. First topic: brakes.

This isn’t a finished project yet because I haven’t mounted the pedals, but it’s done other than that. I’m holding off on the pedals until I can move the telescoping steering column (requires wiring & power), can mount the seat and can mount the pedals. All three work in unison to create a comfortable driving position, so they need to be fitted as one. Plus, I want to fit Stengelita-sized people all the way up to about 6’2″ drivers.

I’ve been able to get most of the rest of the brakes set up though. The brake lines came pre-bent, requiring just a small amount of work to achieve the proper fitment. The front brakes run through the aluminum monocoque which makes for a natural point to create the junction from hard lines to the braided lines between chassis and caliper. In the rear, things are more open, so I had to build some clips which would allow the hard brake lines to mount to the braided lines. Here’s a shot of one of those brackets (on the right):

In the front, I created the connection between the fluid reservoirs for brakes and clutch to the master cylinders. The cylinders are mounted on the pedals inside of the monocoque, so the lines have to go through it. The lines are just a regular hose, so they’re simple to work with, but it did requireda huge drill bit and some very specific grommets to get through the monocoque, be sealed snugly and not rub under vibration. The grommets were the trickiest part in some ways. I spent an ungodly amount of time tracking down a part which costs $12 for a pack of 50. Ugh.

I got the final pieces of the brake hardware, but in the rear the fitment of the braided line to the calipers wasn’t great with the parts I got. Instead, I ordered some new fittings which worked out really well. In the picture below, you can see the bracket I made on the very left, the braided line running to the right and then a shiny 90 degree fitting mounted to the caliper on the very right (the caliper is the dark thing). That piece in the kit came as a straight fitting, not 90 degrees, so the fitment was a bit wonky. 90 degrees worked out much better.

In some ways this isn’t the most special thing the world, but what it did mean is that I now have a fully plumbed brake system short of the final mounting of the pedals. It’s only 15 minutes of actual work to drill and mount the pedals from here, but I want to be sure I get the fitment right before I do that.