Re: Brakes!

To replace the front brakes: remove calipers and brake lines; remove hub grease caps, clamping nuts, nose washers, bearings, and brake discs; remove and clean piston retaining plates; align pistons and set the piston retaining plates; tap bearing tracks into new discs; pack the bearings with grease; mount the wheels, nose washers, and clamping nuts (note reverse thread on left side); replace the calipers and brake lines; bleed the brakes.

I expected rebuilt calipers to have the correct piston alignment (for the piston retaining plates to fit), but they did not. I called Larry on this: Larry says he doesn't know why the guy who rebuilds calipers does this, you just have to rotate them. Use a screwdriver and mallet.

Removing the grease caps was difficult. Use the claw end of a hammer.

Step 5 (front brakes) is complete. I washed the car.

Re: Front Brakes

Purchased: two rebuilt front brake calipers ($100/per), front brake pads ($40/set), two front disc rotors ($60/per), two inner bearings ($10/per), two outer bearings ($9/per), two bearing seals ($4/per), one liter superblue brake fluid ($15), one jar wheel bearing grease ($7).

Rich gave me some advice on seating the inner and outer bearing shoes and seal, packing the bearings, dust-caps, etc.

Notes from the mechanic

Car stalls when hot—also difficult to restart
Hotter is harder!

Found engine running ultra lean when cold.
@ warm up—stalled. Adjusted A/F meter wiper (*)

Check valve adjustments
all valves tight zero clearance

(*) To enrichen mixture—set timing & CO.
Many air leaks in intake system!

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2 valve cover gaskets
1 oil cap seal
1 oil cap O-ring
2 feet 9mm hose

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@ $125/hr * 2.75 hrs
+ $16.80 (parts)
+ $1.36 (sales tax)
+ $3 (environmental surcharge)
= $364.93

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Brakes are soft, unsafe. (They were worse before my recent brake work, pumping the pedal helps.)

Could be: (1) front brake lines (old rubber), (2) front calipers (have leaks), (3) air in the master cylinder from recent brake work.

Note: Haynes manual says, if air enters the master cylinder you must bleed all four wheels. Larry says, if air enters the master cylinder you must bleed the master cylinder. There are no bleed valves on the master cylinder, you have to disconnect brake lines directly from the cylinder.

Clutch cable needs adjustment.

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Now I can start the car easily, hot or cold. Still stalls occasionally when hot (probably due to vacuum leaks), but much better than before. AWESOME.

Somehow between starting the brake/fuel-line work and taking it in to HPH, the tachometer decided to start working. Cool.

Rich suggests re-checking the valve-clearances in 500 miles (because the clearance was zero, adjustments will need rechecking); the speed-o-meter and odometer still do not work.

Still smells like coffee and sour milk.

Re: Test drive (brakes working)

I flushed the brakes with ATE superblue DOT 4 brake fluid. The Haynes manual reads (ch 8.14),

"1. Bleeding the braking system is not a routine maintenance task, but is necessary if any part of the hydraulic system has been disconnected...

"2. To commence the bleeding operation, first locate the bleed nipples. The rear ones are on the inner side of the calipers...

"6. A second person is needed to operate the brake pedal at your instruction. The pedal should be depressed smartly one full stroke to the floor and allowed to return slowly. This should be repeated until no more bubbles emerge from the tube in the jar. Smart operation of the pedal ensures that the air is forced along the pipe rather than by-passed. Keep a watch on the level of fluid in the reservoir. If it gets too low it will let air into the master cylinder and then you will have to bleed all four wheels...

"8 Repeat the procedure for the left rear, left front and right front wheels, in that order..."

Adjust rear pads to 0.008" before bleeding and again after. I'm glad to have the new 10mm inside-rear adjuster retaining screws, because 4mm hex wrenches are difficult to find in the right length (to pass through the trailing-arm access hole but not hit the exhaust pipe on the other side) and because as Larry at HPH says, "brake adjusters are worth their weight in gold". Probably exaggeration, but that's why they sell rebuilt calipers w/o adjusters and I can easily see losing one as you retract the adjuster. Reinstall pad retaining springs ("anti-rattle springs"). Double check brake lines for leaks. Thanks to Neal for the smart pedal work, the brakes are bled and feel mighty good. Thanks to the guys at Workingman's Headquarters for the used tools (second set of jack stands: $15, finding the proper flare-nut wrenches in stock: $_).

(26th St, Bryant St, Precita Ave, Alabama St, Bernal Heights Blvd, Folsom St, Precita Ave, Alabama St, 26th St.)

Still AWESOME. Still stalls when the engine is hot, so a cross-town drive is difficult.

(26th St, Florida St, So Van Ness, 15th St, Divisadero St, Oak St, park, Octavia St, US 101 South, Cesar Chavez St, Alabama St, 26th St.)

Good thing, the parking brake now works. Step 2 is complete.

Re: Rear Brakes

Task: replace Porsche 914 rear brakes, including rebuilt calipers ($300/per), new pads ($60/set), new stainless-steel flexible brake lines ($90/set), and new rotors ($60/per).

Tools needed: 11mm flare-nut wrench for the brake-line connectors, 19mm open-end wrench for the caliper retaining bolts, 17mm flare-nut wrench for the original flexible-line connectors (my replacements were standard 11/16), 6mm hex wrench for the old caliper plugs, 10mm socket wrench for the new caliper plugs

I paid a little extra to buy parts from HPH in Redwood City so I can drop in and ask questions. The chief mechanic Larry has answers, but when I ask about removing the rear brake lines, "oh, those are the hard ones." True.

Problem: the flexible line is connected to the frame by two clips, which pin the metal/flex connection to the body. The lower clip is fully exposed, but the upper clip is buried underneath the chassis, above the heating duct, motor mount, emergency brake cable, and fuel pump (right) or master brake cylinder (left). Larry's answer, do it with a small vice-grip pliers and/or a screwdriver and/or whatever works. After many attempts, I got it: attach the pliers and rotate the clip about 30 degrees, use the screwdriver to pry it loose. After you get the clip out, pull the metal line down several inches so you can get the wrenches in.

Putting the clips back in is another challenge. Larry's answer was again, "whatever works". He showed me an arm-length pry bar and hammer, "and, put a little grease on the clip so it'll be easier to remove next time". The grease was key, but Larry has a lift and I have jack stands. You really have to get creative here.

I did all this pulling and prying of clips on the right side first, there was an accident before I could continue (*). It takes about as long to replace each brake line as it does to replace each caliper/rotor/pad assembly.

Time estimate: 8-10 hours (without the final "brake bleeding" step)

(*) Watch out for fuel lines (see next post)!

Re: Brake Parts

Purchased one rebuilt left-rear brake caliper (without adjuster) and replacement rotors, pads, and stainless-steel brake lines, all to fix the parking brake and improve rear braking performance ($605.93). Still need a 0.008 inch feeler gauge and a lesson in bleeding brakes.

Step 2: Fix the brakes

The parking/emergency brake uses cables and actuators, not hydraulics. The left side is broken, has no resistance to tension on the cable, and since the system relies on a tension "equalizer" between left and right side, this effectively breaks the entire system. They call these "emergency" brakes?

The brake pads are nearly exhausted.

I changed the oil.