Project C4, 85 Corvette

[Steve85]

My hydraulic throwout bearing finally gave up the fluid for good. I had to fill the reservoir a couple times over the years and now it was just emptying out after a few presses of the pedal. This is the old one, a "stock" version from Speedway motors since I'm using a stock C5 clutch.



Turns out, using the threaded rod there as the stopper was eventually going to kill this thing anyway, it had rubbed a good indent in the bleeder outlet!

The new one is an updated heavy duty version from RAM, recommended for street car use. I made room in the garage, pulled the car in, put it up on jack stands, removed a bunch of bolts and this fell out:



I just looked on my phone and apparently I was NOT in a picture taking mood during this job. This is it. It makes sense though, I was on my back almost the entire time. There is a little area on the garage floor now where can see that I rubbed everything that fell off the bottom into the floor   Drained the old fluid (most by accident) and replaced with new gear oil. I had to take a few measurements to set up the bearing clearnace so I had to go back in and remove the clutch and flywheel. I measured about 15 times and felt pretty good I had the right number of shims in there.
This pic is from the original install of the old bearing, the gold rings are the shims to give an idea how it is set up. This new bearing has more travel and took less shims.
 

Had a delay in getting new lines, the old bearing used -4 lines and the new one -3 lines. I tried to source locally but all the hose makers around are more industrial focused and don't have anything that small.

I really thought it would be easier but forgot the LS sits farther back and only tilted a few degrees before it hit the firewall and made it difficult to clear the trans tunnel with bellhousing. There was jusssssst enough room, which meant going back in was going to suck. And it pretty much did, try this, try that, then another thing and finally it jumped right back in. Didn't help at all that I was trying to balance it on a regular jack. There is a C beam that bolts the trans tail shaft housing to the rear diff nose and it makes everything a real PIA. Put all the other parts back on, bled out the bearing and hoped like hell it didn't blow out right away, I've heard horror stories. It was a little soft at first with some tiny bubbles coming up into the reservoir but after a driving it a bit the pedal firmed up and has been good!

While I had it up in the garage I decided to tackle a couple other small things.

The power steering setup used the orginal reservoir with some molded hoses to the pump. It's like they were made to fit except belt clearance was minimal and I had a ziptie providing insurance. The hoses were also slightly different sizes so it never really seald at the reservoir. I went with easy button and ordered a kit from Summit that came with a factory C5 reservoir, bracket, correct hoses etc. Took about 5 minutes and it's much cleaner look and no leaks!

I also needed to finish my rear brake job and put new pads and rotor on the right side. And since it was up in the air I finally decided to tackle the parking brake which hasn;t worked I think ever. I broke out the manual, followed the adjustment procedure and got it working again. Until I put everything back together and pulled the car out... I pulled the brake handle and it wouldn't hold. I got out, kneeled next to the car, pulled the handle and...it worked. Got back in the car, pulled the handle, no worky.   

So, while in the car I pulled the handle up and pushed it a bit towards the outside at the same time and it worked. (When you are sitting in the driver seat, the parking brake handle is at your left knee. After it's pulled up and engaged it goes back down to get out of the way) It seems the ratcheting mechanism has become a bit finicky after 30 years and a million pulls and just the different angle made  the difference! This is one of those little things that is soooo nice to have working again.

It's been a good / bad few months with new inner barrel and fresh rubber up front, new leak free fuel tank, working fuel gauge, some new found power up top thanks to a proper pump, good rear brakes, good clutch and working parking brake. Some much needed stuff after a few years of overall neglect and it feels good to drive again! 

Plans ahead are to clean up the bottom and under the hood now that the leaks are fixed. And I have some cracks in panels I want to try my hand at fixing and prepping for paint.