Well today officially began "brake day" which we hoped would continue the luck we've been having with the fire truck to date. Today Mike, Greg and I decided to look at the braking system and also to double check that the motor was ok....see the previous engine blog for a review.
I started the day over with Rex at the Charles Bloom Secondary School Auto Shop where I passed him the "most valuable carburetor in the North Okanagan" as I called it. Rex has been a huge part of the team and his students will do a great job bringing the old "Holly" back to life.
We began by draining the antifreeze/water into multiple jugs and it seemed like forever for it to be completed but it was a necessary step going forward. Zero leaks. Great sign.
The copper lines were the next big job. Did they leak? Did the lines even survive the years? Well, again the truck surprised us. They didn't leak and Mike traced the fact the brakes didn't work to an old "master cylinder" which we pulled off to check.
It was repairable, but Pat made the executive decision to replace it. Great idea because you don't want brakes to "maybe" work. Back to Gilbert's Auto Parts and ordered a new part. Actually today was a revolving door at Gilbert's.
We then "borrowed" my wife's compressor (note: she still has no idea we used it) and we put air through the lines to clean them out. Everything went perfect and we're ready to get the brakes 100 percent operational soon.
Then something truly special happened....
Mike decided to try to rub orange hand cleaner on the side of the truck.....here's a pic to remind you all of the way it used to look...
Then we got Pat over at Gilbert's to get us some professional polish....
And a whole lotta elbow grease later.....
The oxidization of the paint came right off! I mean it will blow you away!
This is no photoshop. This is polish with a rag....ok and eventually a buffer supplied by the awesome Stone Family who donated us a polisher to allow for this kind of result!
A very special thank you to them for doing that.
The truck is starting to look RED again!
The next step will be assembly of the repaired braking system, installation of the repaired carburetor, and hopefully an actual driving of the truck soon.
Thanks again to everyone for their interest and support.