Dana, the match looks better in real life than the photo.

Tim, good point, may have to reconsider that hitch ball!!

Thanks Guys!!

quote:

Originally posted by Duane88:
Dana, the match looks better in real life than the photo.

Tim, good point, may have to reconsider that hitch ball!!

Thanks Guys!!

I guess I should have told you “it looks good” I was just saying an exact match would be tough.

I see you also switched your Avatar looks good.

Still putzing around trimming the carpet, looks better with every trim and fit. Got warm inside 71 today, so thought it might be a good day to test the roof A/C. Surprise, surprise works like a champ! Maintenance log say it was new in 97 so it has had very little use should last a long time.

The passenger side front brake shoes look like they are soaked in what I assume to be brake fluid, DOT3. If my grandson makes it here tomorrow, gonna change the shoes and even though the wheel cylinder is new it might be leaking if it is old stock. Bought a new set of shoes and have a new wheel cylinder rebuild kit. It is the 4th so he may have other plans.

Happy 4th to all, love this country!!!!

Decided to not yet replace the right front brake shoes, the wheel cylinder does not seem to be leaking. Not sure what was going on, cleaned the shoes and drums with brake cleaner, tested like it is working and could not see any reason for the previous leak problem. Gonna give it another try as is!

The left side rear wheel locked up when the brake was applied hard, not the right, took the right side rear brake apart. More difficult than the front by a long shot and the drum itself weighs like 70 pounds. Grandson has been working out for his college Lacrosse and was able to take the thing on and off!

The Maintenace log said the shoes and wheel cylinder had been replaced like 5000 miles ago and they showed no sign of wear. The whole brake area was saturated with differential fluid and dirt. When they put the system back together the seal was damaged and allowed differential fluid to penetrate. My bet is this side never worked from the "get go" of the brake rebuild.

Was able to get a new seal, but not shoes, might take 2 weeks before they could get them so again, we just cleaned the whole system and shoes, tested and seemed to work ok.

In all likelihood will need to rebuild this side of the Barth brake system front and back, but will try it for a bit as is. Do a test ride today, will be easy to tell if it stops better.

The P.O. was not able to get the engine running, but the brakes are giving me much more trouble than the engine did.

My test ride got postponed!

The rear air ride system was not working, the pump would not start. Took the control box with the valves apart. Checked for power to the pump, 12 volts!

After an hour or so, thought it was time to get under the unit and check the pump, did one more check and the damn thing began to run again.

While the control was apart, I heard a hissing noise, one of the valves was leaking at the connection to the manifold. Got new O-rings and reassembled it, still hissing, turns out 3 of them were leaking, 30 year old rubber!! A smart guy would just rebuild all 7 valves.

Must be some kind of pump safety device if it runs to long, that shuts it off and then resets.

Test ride tomorrow, Maybe!!

Got in a test ride today, just to check out everything. A Barth that has been sitting for about 20 years has it quirks for sure!

Put in 5 gallons of gas at the gas station, 71 is still not happy with the gas supply it is ingesting! But when it gets above 1500 RPM or so it does ok, maybe when the timing can be checked and set that might help.

The brakes are better, but still not up to snuff! Pulls pretty hard to drivers side, so going to have to replace the shoes on the passenger side front, should of just done it when it was up on stands. Always the optimist.

The air ride system is a pain in the ass for sure. still not working as it should. The air bag on the drivers side, came off its mount and guide. Tried everything to try to get it back, no way! Guess the guide is going to have be removed, the bag put back where it belongs and then reassembled. Have rebuilt all the valves, not sure what caused this to come off its mount, anyone have this problem or know a better way to fix it, help!!!

Tried deflation, inflation and prying, hammering, pushing, as shown is the max separation possible between the frame and differential. Gonna try removing all the air in the bag, remove the nut from the stud that mounts the guide, hope there is enough room to push the guide up, move it and realign the bag properly and reassemble.

This 2 hour job of course took a day and a half! Took the guide off the bottom support, all jammed up and distorted, had no idea how to get it apart, inflate, deflate, pound, pry, and cuss the bag and guide, finally came off! Pushed the bag stud and center bellows up inside the exterior part as far as possible while it was deflated, pried the guide into its inside location and back on the support. Worked the guide up as far as possible, this left the stud about 3 inches from the support. Luckly one of the air valves still leaks a bit (another thing to fix) and was able to inflate the bag with my exterior air supply and guide the stud to and through the support, stuck the nut on and disconnected the air, whoopie!!

Back to the front brake passenger side, took the drum off, the shoes look like they were trying to work, can see some wear spots, guess they are just saturated with oil can not produce friction. Took them off! Tired dirty and called it a day, rebuild tomorrow. The wheel cylinder is not leaking, wonder how the shoes got full of oil, brake fluid, maybe grease from the bearings.

50 year old machine 80 year old man, labor of old things me and the Barth!

The two items that are really driving me to drink (and I like it) are the air ride system and brakes.

When I got this 71 never thought that those would be my biggest problems.

Well keep plugging away!!!

Reassembled the front brake, put the Barth back on the ground! Trying to work up the courage to go for another test ride. Got the air ride working too, wonder what will break this time!!

Love this old machine!!

Well, as the saying goes: May the road rise to meet you, and the wind be at your back...!

Good look with your projects, take care.

Have Barth, will tinker

Grandson was supposed to be here today, but his mother usurped my request, and wanted help around her house, said she was his Mom and paying his college bills so she has the priority!!!

Took ole 71 out for a test alone, worked up the courage. The brakes are better for sure, and it does not pull to the driver side anymore, but still 71 still does not have that lock up and panic stop, yet! Maybe just needs more breaking in.

The up valve on air ride system drivers' side is only working intermittently and the system is slowly leaking air. Two-person job to trouble shoot, so have to get some help before that can be resolved.

Have to figure out a way to time this engine, no way to see the timing marks, does not have the 2nd timing marker gage the 454 engines on both Nose and 88 had, afraid to get my hands and head in there to look at the upper one with the engine running and it is hot. Anyone have an idea??? Perhaps a mirror??

Just make another pointer somewhere you can see it. A piece of stiff wire on a timing cover bolt, or pan bolt, etc, bent to be near the crank balancer.

Roll the engine over until the standard crank mark lines up with the correct degrees BTDC on the normal scale.

Go down to your new pointer and put a chalk mark on the crank balancer to line up with your new pointer.

Check with light. Your new marks should line up when timing is right, just like the original ones, using cylinder #1.

(The OEM extra pointer that attached to the pan was exactly 90 degrees off the standard position, so they could use the same crank mark but timed to cylinder #5.)

Thanks Steve will take that approach for the timing.

Another bite from ole 71, had the number 4 intake valve push rod pop off the rocker arm. Put it back together and adjusted. The engine seems to run fine, heat checked the manifold outlets, all seem to be firing, kinda funny but the passenger side manifold runs a bit hotter than the drivers side. Hope it is just because this engine has a single exhaust located on the drivers side.

Still a bit worried about the push rod popping out, hope the adjusting stud is not coming out of the head or worse yet the cam is going flat. Hope it was just poorly adjusted by me.

The brake situation is improving with every change, going to adjust the shoes front and back one more time.

Hi Duane,
did you take the pushrod out and check it for straightness? Supposedly a scenario could be that the valve bound in the guide, maybe on a cold startup, and something has to give. It would be the pushrod.

good luck!
Matt

quote:

Originally posted by BarthBluesmobile:
Hi Duane,
did you take the pushrod out and check it for straightness? Supposedly a scenario could be that the valve bound in the guide, maybe on a cold startup, and something has to give. It would be the pushrod.

good luck!
Matt

You know Matt, that was not done before it was put back together. Before any more enegine running I will check that.

THANKS!!