Starting the overall replacement of front suspension today :-) drop time.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Well got one side fitted up today, will need to make about 1/2" clearance for a brake hardline near and behind upper control arm. But everything is looking nice and should be giving me a 4" drop. I want to get started on the rear this weekend and need to get to it. All new parts are belltech and wilwood. They went in well, only issue was front drop shocks needed to have an extra washer or two added to bolt for clearance from frame when truck is on jack stands. It needed to be pulled outward about 5/16" from frame for proper fitment.

[jmking9]

Everything is looking great. I just seen where you had asked me some questions about the Wilwood master bolting up to the booster in my build thread. Sorry, I don't check in on that thread too much anymore. It looks like everything worked out well though. Keep up the good work!

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Yea thanks, came together good with factory replacement Delco booster, straight bolt on, i refinished factory booster bracket and linkage from original front disk setup. I didnt have much diffculty once I had proper booster rod length set. Stock long rod gave no play and was contacting inside of master dead even when installed and would eventually cause a prebrake from booster vacuum. I didnt use the bullet because my truck was already set up with a longer push rod. To solve the no play issue I used the included rod with the replacement booster, about 3/16" shorter, and it was a perfect gap before engaging master while no vacuum is on booster. Will there be any issues you can think of with 3/16" play? Haven't fully tested it yet, I believe that will be perfect.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

I used your rust bath recipe (Must for Rust etc). Even though I let it soak near twice as long as the first one, which had more vinegar & "less" phosphoric acid.

Honestly, I unintentionally left it in MFR bath too long. Based on color, it seemed to be less harsh as what I had been using, which was just white vinegar with a splash of water. Well, then I got some on my hand, it's plenty harsh HA!. It also caused much of the rust to flake off into the bottom of the bath. I hadn't seen that reaction. The rust turned white. I was expecting black, which is what vinegar does. No harm to the metal, but I won't leave it for 18 hours again (yikes)......

That said, I like the MFR and your recipe, and will definitely use it, thank you. I even let the first one soak in the MFR bath some, because it doesn't leave rust discoloration after the final rinse. I'll use it on the hardware I've already hit followed by a baking soda bath for more better.

On a side, the MFR is a phosphoric acid mix. Like you say though, probably not as harsh as the KS Prep & Etch.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Glad it worked, those look good. Another trick I use to remove rust is Bar Keepers Friend for chrome. I works well and extremely efficient and safe for chrome. I buy it from Wal-Mart also about $4, mix a tad of hot water to make a medium thick paste and apply in swirl motion with a tooth brush and let it sit for 10 min and make sure it does not dry. Go back and hit it with tooth brush for a few min and it will make chrome look new with a nice polished finished and no rust. Used it on my Moroso air cleaner, I forgot to take a good before picture. But there was tiny rust spots fairly on the top in areas and inside on bottom plate. It blew my mind how well it worked. The air cleaner looks good as new.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Ok here is a good before picture, lets see how well this BKF works, my valve cover has a thick rust spot unlike my air cleaner. About to knock it out and make it look Purdy.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by PaPaStewySnipes

Glad it worked, those look good. Another trick I use to remove rust is Bar Keepers Friend for chrome. I works well and extremely efficient and safe for chrome. I buy it from Wal-Mart also about $4, mix a tad of hot water to make a medium thick paste and apply in swirl motion with a tooth brush and let it sit for 10 min and make sure it does not dry. Go back and hit it with tooth brush for a few min and it will make chrome look new with a nice polished finished and no rust. Used it on my Moroso air cleaner, I forgot to take a good before picture. But there was tiny rust spots fairly on the top in areas and inside on bottom plate. It blew my mind how well it worked. The air cleaner looks good as new.

Those look great, and thanks for another tip. Local Walmart doesn't sell the Rust for Must, and I bet they don't have Bar Keepers either. Common for this town, they usually don't have what I need, and when they do it's cheaper on Amazon. So I ordered two quarts on-line. Don't know if I'll use both, but it's there if I need it. I'm real anxious to use it on the hardware. I just took the paint off must be 300 pieces (yikes), so that's coming soon.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

BKF is by mops, ajax... Etc. MFR is by paints hardware section if they have one. I didnt work on truck suspension today because I was sore from yesterday's task, so picked a few chrome pieces to refinish today. Well my first valve cover turned out very good if compared to the before pic above. Not as good as new because Bar Keepers Friends will not repair a tiny chip or a dammaged spot. I can not complain it is much cheaper than a new set and looks like new 3ft away. I will do a chrome polish buff to it and in sure it will have a more brilliant but smooth shine when finished.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by PaPaStewySnipes

BKF is by mops, ajax... Etc. MFR is by paints hardware section if they have one. I didnt work on truck suspension today because I was sore from yesterday's task, so picked a few chrome pieces to refinish today. Well my first valve cover turned out very good if compared to the before pic above. Not as good as new because Bar Keepers Friends will not repair a tiny chip or a dammaged spot. I can not complain it is much cheaper than a new set and looks like new 3ft away. I will do a chrome polish buff to it and in sure it will have a more brilliant but smooth shine when finished.

I'll say it works well. I don't have any rusty chrome, but I do use 3M Chrome & Metal polish. It will take out blemishes, and works out surface scratches. Here are two examples. They're truck original.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

I used your rust bath recipe (Must for Rust etc). Even though I let it soak near twice as long as the first one, which had more vinegar & "less" phosphoric acid.

Honestly, I unintentionally left it in MFR bath too long. Based on color, it seemed to be less harsh as what I had been using, which was just white vinegar with a splash of water. Well, then I got some on my hand, it's plenty harsh HA!. It also caused much of the rust to flake off into the bottom of the bath. I hadn't seen that reaction. The rust turned white. I was expecting black, which is what vinegar does. No harm to the metal, but I won't leave it for 18 hours again (yikes)......

That said, I like the MFR and your recipe, and will definitely use it, thank you. I even let the first one soak in the MFR bath some, because it doesn't leave rust discoloration after the final rinse. I'll use it on the hardware I've already hit followed by a baking soda bath for more better.

On a side, the MFR is a phosphoric acid mix. Like you say though, probably not as harsh as the KS Prep & Etch.

On one of my tests with 50-60% MFR and water for 36 hrs on a very rusted piece of metal, When there is no agitation, it will remove flaky rust and put a coating on top of the remaining thin rust. That stops rust for a year until paint or fully removed from what bottle says. That grayish change is most likly a capsule chemically reacted on rust if you do not eventually scrub off the remaining loose rust, and it is very hard to remove after it sets in. Does stop the rust too.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

I'll say it works well. I don't have any rusty chrome, but I do use 3M Chrome & Metal polish. It will take out blemishes, and works out surface scratches. Here are two examples. They're truck original.

Thanks for sharing good to learn what helps out. I just finished up afterwards with Meguiars chrome polish I had laying around and all chrome parts look great. Couldn't throw on polish from get go because I felt rust was so bad and would loosen and scratch or damage the thin chrome as I polished. That valve cover was extremely rusted on it's side. Was simply going to buy a new set but told my self what the hell lets see what it will do for now until I fully dress engine bay. BKF did good on stainless with surface rust also, very easy and I simply rinsed it of to a nice shine when I was done. A hour of my time saved me some $$ for now.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Ohh yea I found out I have 462 double camel hump heads. Nice to know the PO put the better of the bunch on the block when he rebuilt. 350 Block was bored 40 over with a 327 crank is what I was told and mild cam. So a 331/333 She's a screamer.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Hope I'm not high-jacking your thread here. I used your 15/10/2 "potion" on these. They're half the tiny parts I hadn't hit yet, and I added the battery retainer, because straight vinegar hadn't done the job.

I polished some of these up a tad, for pretty. The soda leaves a black coating, as seen on the washers and some of the threads, but no grime and no rust.

I put them in 50/50 vinegar and water, for maybe 13 hours, because I'm not yet comfortable leaving stuff in your mix over-night. Then I put them in the "Papa" mix, for couldn't have been more than 45 minutes.

What a difference. They were easy as heck to clean. Your timing was perfect, and I now realize I should have cleaned this stuff in bulk to begin with.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

Hope I'm not high-jacking your thread here. I used your 15/10/2 "potion" on these. They're half the tiny parts I hadn't hit yet, and I added the battery retainer, because straight vinegar hadn't done the job.

I polished some of these up a tad, for pretty. The soda leaves a black coating, as seen on the washers and some of the threads, but no grime and no rust.

I put them in 50/50 vinegar and water, for maybe 13 hours, because I'm not yet comfortable leaving stuff in your mix over-night. Then I put them in the "Papa" mix, for couldn't have been more than 45 minutes.

What a difference. They were easy as heck to clean. Your timing was perfect, and I now realize I should have cleaned this stuff in bulk to begin with.

They look good, thanks for the props that papa mix is the trick. I use that same mix to do exactly like you have on nuts and bolts all the time it makes them factory bits look new very easly.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Got one of my rotors in today for driver side. Stop Tech 127.66000L. Summit had them for 119.99 each got them to drop price to 80.00 shipped, matched car parts.com price for me and got them to my door less than 48hrs, Summit is great, I do not like dealing with company's whose service is based in India so I get Summit to price match a lot of my parts as low as I can find. Good quality, it has races installed and came with no rear seal or bearings. Picked these because the "style" match my wilwood rear rotors best the best. Machined rotor hat is coated very well, vanes and all non contact surfaces look good, I'm happy with them. If you need new tie rod boots or yours are torn order a pack of the poly bush I have in the pic below, $4 bucks a pair. I tore one of mine and other one looks aged. Joints are smooth and serviceable so will not replace.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Fit is good for rotor and boot. I used the timken bearings that were in great shape already in the factory rotor, set3 and set5 if you need part numbers, they are Amazon if anyone is interested. Poly boot is perfect fit under that part# in pic above. Amazon has it also, I questioned myself before I ordered the boots if they would be a perfect fit for my '71 like many people have I'm sure, so here is a picture. If you are ever removing a tie end rod you might as well replace boot with a poly if your joint is fairly new, was $4 a set and 10x better than the rubber on replacements, I have zerks so greased them up and good as new.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Ordering right rotor from autopartswarehouse. If anyone has been following my suspension thread, few weeks ago I got them to give me $110 dollars off my rear setup $680 for a wilwood d154 ebrake drilled and slotted rear disk conversion kit, best price possible using a coupon. They have one running right now for 20% off: apwbest20. Well I got points also, 200 for signup for apw rewards and 800 from some of my orders. 1000pts=$50 off $100 order. Will order a right rotor and fuel filter for $50 after using that discount. So my front rotors and a fuel filter was $130, great deal :-) could be helpful to you guys. Did similar deal for master and prop kit, got summit to price match sportcompactwarehouse for prop, master, bracket and line kit, saved me $75.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

I forgot to mention how i did to save about $75 bucks on my master/adj prop kit. Went to link below. That is natural color though cheaper than the black if you want to save few $$. You pay a bit more for wilwood compared to china junk, but their quality is top notch. I wouldn't recommend if otherwise and I am sure many will agree. Can save a little bit more buy buying cpp... etc, personally I wouldn't do it.

https://sportcompactwarehouse.com/wi...1-12-w-p-valve.

261-13270 is prt# $245, 1.12 bore, natural color summit price is $311. Call price match it, I did but for the black powdered coated kit for $273, everything you need if you are running a booster behind it, I did got mine for $93 from AutoZone, refinished brackets and whole job was finished but you get the idea. $380 cost for my whole booster setup, some paint and few new zinc coated nuts and bolts:-) can not beat the price.

[beaterku]

What length braided brake hose did you use up front?

[PaPaStewySnipes]

16"

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Universal Braided SS Brake Hose, 16" Long with 7/16" Banjo (Includes hardware)

Seller: Thestopshop $40

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by PaPaStewySnipes

14" if I can remember, from Thestopshop on Amazon $40 shipped.

Thanks. My stock rubbers are 13.25". I had planned on going with 16" to give me a little extra length.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

When/if you run new brake lines you can simply clip the line on stock location on upper control arm and screw a normal 3/8" inverted flare tube nut from your brake line to stainless flex line. Simple, do not need extra adapters etc, means less likely to leak. I did that. Bought their 25' copper nickel brake line kit with all the fitting you need for $35. Same seller. Called and spoke with them about a shipping price error (should be free shipping on their stuff) and they fixed it asap and were some helpful guys.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Braided lines have a clear silicone/plastic coating as well. Wilwood set was $60 and if I can remember you had to use adapter to bolt up to factory lines. Was very happy with ones I got cheaper from Thestopshop.

[PaPaStewySnipes]

Originally Posted by beaterku

Thanks. My stock rubbers are 13.25". I had planned on going with 16" to give me a little extra length.

I was mistaken they were 16"