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Reply to "Thunder Ranch build thread"

OK guys! 2 days 'til Carlisle and I went ahead and rebuilt the rear brake lines using some soft lines with banjo fittings that shipped from Latvia. The hard lines to the rear calipers had to come up and over and make a sharp bend down into the ports, and I found that the apex of that bend hit the inner fenders on strong bumps.

The car was stopping fine but for how long? The banjo fittings make for a lower profile connection at the top of the caliper and now the high point is a bolt head. Plus it's now a flex line that goes to a hard line running along the frame rail to a bend where it goes to the T fitting, instead of a hard line from the caliper running along the spring plate to a soft line bending to another hard line to the T fitting.

No leaks and she stops OK.

This morning I strapped the hard lines in neat and then got after the sump plate.

IMG_7524

It's been dripping a while now (no, not that bad!) because one of the studs was short and the acorn nut on it was missing the copper washer and only had like 2 threads. I figured while I was in there...

So I got a new gasket and stud/nut/copper washer kit. When I checked the stud it was just turned in too far, not pulled out or stripped as I'd feared. All the rest were solid so I left those and went with the new nuts and one new stud.

Decided while the plate was out I'd put in a drain plug, as the other one I put in the sump is less than perfectly accessible with the underpan on the car (you can see it in the lower left).

So I got a quarter inch NPT drain plug and the requisite tapered 18 thread tap. The plate was already center-punched on the thicker boss, so it wasn't too tough. Three quarts of Brad Penn and we're back to just above the "add" line, which seems to be the sweet spot with this engine.

IMG_7526

I'll run it tomorrow and throw it back up on the lift before stepping off for the hotel. May have to once again sideline my Filter King as well. Hope it's all good.

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