1 hour ago, Patcon said:

Did you check vacuum on the booster after rebuilding it? Many times the leaks is in the fold at the bottom of the booster. It is caused by brake fluid leaking into the booster from the master cylinder and degrading the rubber. Also were the seals around the center pushrods good. I have attempted similar fixes with mixed results. I found reassembly easier if you apply pressure to both halves, like in a vise or press before trying to rotated the upper half

i did check it. 100 times better! the rubber was in great condition, and i had a new rubber seal for the pushrod. i did apply a bead of the silicone around the outer rim before putting it back together and used those bar clamps to hold everything in place. i do believe that there needs to be a small amount of leakage on the brake pedal side to allow the pedal to come back up. what i found is that when you press the pedal, it moves maybe a 1/16th of an inch before contacting the "piston" i think there is a rubber seal in there that seals when you press and opens when you let off. there is also a felt washer in there that i think is to make it quiet. im not 100% sure, but i think thats how it works.

I hope it works good for you. This is one of the parts I come across all the time that's needs replacing but the rebuild parts aren't really available. It would be nice if a DIY approach could be developed. You can buy them remanufactured but that is suspect too. The little early booster is sort of unobtainium now, so rebuilding is your only option for a purest...

Sweaty, that was a ballsy move. I've always wanted to open up the booster but was afraid I would tear the rubber diaphragm and have to order a rebuilt one. Was there a pool of brake fluid in there?

Good on you, I might give that try now, looks pretty simple in there.

Chris

It's pretty simple inside but getting them open and closed can be a challenge. We drilled a wooden plate for each side. Clamped the bottom plate in the vise and screwed 2 3' 2x4's to the top one to get enough leverage to get it open. It is spring loaded inside but not crazy tension

On 4/3/2016 at 3:52 PM, grannyknot said:

Sweaty, that was a ballsy move. I've always wanted to open up the booster but was afraid I would tear the rubber diaphragm and have to order a rebuilt one. Was there a pool of brake fluid in there?

Good on you, I might give that try now, looks pretty simple in there.

Chris

there was a little, maybe 2 tablespoons full if that much. to open it up, i clamped a pair of vice grips on the stamped "V" that locks the 2 halves together. then i put a crescent wrench on the vice grips and twisted. this "undid" the "V" and and the 2 halves popped apart with a small whack of a hammer.

my thinking is this: if it IS broke, try fixing it, you got nothing to lose, and you learn something. if you do fix it, you are $$$ ahead. 

well t has warmed up and all the bugs are back, so no more paint for now. i have started on replacing all the brake lines. i got the front brake tubing ran and the found that in order to do the rear line, i needed to pull out all the rear suspension. so.....

and that led to dis-assembly. cut-off wheel in a grinder and a few whacks with a bfh, and done!

then the struts. these are koni 82r-1812. they look like they have been in there a while and the sticker looks old-fashioned. any ideas as to how old they may be?

 

brake line replacement. i covered some of the tubing with 7/32" vacuum tubing where it is close to metal. maybe protect it from wear. this is a copper type of brake line. VERY easy to work with. easy to bend without kinking. i think i paid $44 for a 25 foot roll

 

old bushings out. hole saw works wonders. just keep it lubed with some type of oil.

 

i bought the energy suspension master kit and it came with these. does anyone know where they go?

 

Could be some sort of spring perch rubber insulator? They didn't come in the kits 4 years ago. How many came in the kit?

there are 4. maybe for a later year?

Those weren't in the kit I got for the 78, either. Someone in packing got mixed up, I think.