phoenix

I decided to forget cleaning the house when I saw that it was sunny and 70 out today.

Pleasure Pig came over and we took a ride in my 73 after having cleaned off the front suspension and removing the spare tire carrier. (I am painting the rear crossmember and frame with POR15 and rebuilding the front suspension in a couple of weeks)

I noticed two new problems.

First, my brakes REALLY suck. I can barely stop at all in reverse and slam the pedal to the floor going forward stops it.

Second, twice while turning to the right, the steering wheel caught for a second, then finally turned. It felt like a gear catching.

I was planning on rebuilding the front suspension (have the parts) and then looking at the steering system, but now I am worried about the gear box. I really don't want to have to take the steering column apart.

As for the brakes, when I got home, I took the rear wheels off and found a pinhole on the top of both rear calipers. I had my wife pump the brakes and NOTHING moved. Arrrgh!

Now it looks like I need new calipers too.

Any advice on the steering? or a good place for new calipers? The ones on the car are not GM so no core value.

Smokehouse69

If you are in a hurry, Autozone has C-3 calipers (Stainless Lined) for about $60-70 dollars. You don't have to worry about core charge with them either, most of their guys don't have a clue about if your core is any good or not. Just carry them back in, in the box the new one came in and get your core back.
I've been told by a couple of guys that the Autozone calipers are just as good as any sold by most of the 'vette suppliers.

LT1driver

Do they have a lifetime warranty like rest of parts have?

woodworkr

Muskegon brakes. I got the whole package from them. 4 ss calipers, pads, rubber and ss lines, new master, and 2 qts dot5 fluid. I think that was $350 maybe. I also got 4 new rotors @ $60/ea, inner and outer front bearings and seals, all new lug studs and lug nuts. I think the whole job after core charge was $600-$650. My pedal is right up there now. As far as the steering, doent have to be in the steering box. Could be a tie rod end hanging up on a bad ball joint, could be in the slave cylinder or power control valve.
Good Luck
JoeB

Jvette73

On the steering problem, it could be low on p/s steering fluid.

phoenix

Thanks for the advice. I'll take a trip down to the local autozone today.

Would small pinholes in the top of the caliper cause problems? I am not losing fluid through them. I figure I'd better just change them. I don't want to risk anything with the brakes.

How do I check if the rotors need to be replaced while I am there?

As for the steering, the fluid level is full. It may very well be the ball joints or the slave cylinder. I am replacing the ball joints and rebuilding the cylinder at the same time. Should I also rebuild or get a new gear box at the time, or wait until I get it all back together and see if it still has that problem?

I have fallen into the "while I'm at it" pitfall :D Apparently it's a deep hole :rolleyes:

Shutdown1

HI Phoenix,


Glad to hear the weather's still nice up there. Just thought I'd drop in on this steering glitch you're going through.
That "catch" in your steering sounds like something I went through once when I tried to screw an extra quage to the top of my steering column. Even though I only used a screw about 3/16-inch long it still messed up something and my steering had a rough place in it. I took the screw back out and glued the gauge(mounting bracket) on the column and the "catch" went away. You might be experienceing this if you have attached any extra gauges to your column (about the only place to put them on these models). I would also like to reccomend that you go ahead and put a new steering box on your car if it has over 80K miles on it. I went through my whole front suspension (shocks, coil springs, ball joints, bushings, sway bar, tie rods, idler arm, new BF Goodrichs') and still felt like I was following the car, instead of driving it. I bought a rebuilt steering box from Paddock for $140 (plus $40 core charge) and it made such a big difference that I have decided not to order the $1000 dollar rack&pinion set- up from Steeroids.
Just where I've been on the steering and handling on my C-3. Hope this helps a little and you don't have too much trouble fixing your brakes. Regards

'74 Turbocharged 350, "Molested to Perfection" , class of '71