Brakes, Steering, Evaporator

 I'm still taking a brake from sanding and am working on other stuff I can do that won't interfere with the paint job.

First thing I did was to install the AC Evaporator in the cabin.  I did this so I could get all the holes cut into the firewall before the fenders went on to make it easier.  My grand daughter Mikayla helped me to make a template that copied the shape of the evaporator.  I used this to mock up where all the holes had to be drilled.

This is the template she made me.

I put this up inside the cabin on the firewall where I wanted the evaporator to go and marked the holes and cut them out.  Surprisingly it fit!

You can see the evaporator hanging down behind the glove box.  Unfortunately this does not leave much room for a glove box but we will figure something out.

This is the engine compartment side of the evaporator install.

I worked on the steering column next.  Now that the car is off the dollies I can't move it around as easy anymore so I need the steering wheel and brakes installed.  That went pretty well.

Here the wheel is install with the black column.  Can't see the wheel too well because I have to leave it covered so it does not get dirty or damaged during construction.  You can also see that the parking brake, brake pedal, and accelerator pedals are installed.

This is the other side of the firewall.

This is the master cylinder and brake booster.  All the brake lines for the wheels are connected to the proportional valve below the master cylinder.  So far nothing leaks.

This is where the steering column comes through and the new steering shaft that connects to the steering box that drives the wheels to turn them.

Pretty soon I need to get back to bodywork so I'll be ready for April painting but today I went over to storage to pick up the fuel tank and parts of the exhaust system.  The rest of the exhaust is in out kitchen.  We are hoping to get that out of there soon.

I am hoping to start work on those things next week.  Then I will have to decide if I am going to finish the engine or get back to sanding.  I think I will probably get the remaing body work done on the main part of the car and get that primed.  When that it done I will be ready to paint that part of the car which is the part I need the help on.  If I don't get the fenders, trunk, and hood ready to paint before April its OK because I can paint those myself.

I have the primer and pretty blue paint now so we are ready to go in that regard.

Yesterday I ordered the driveshaft custom built.  I is custom because we a putting in an overdrive transmission that was not available in the 68 Chevelle.  It had to be built 3" shorter because of the longer transmission.  This extra length also affected the emergency brake cable installation so I had to fabricate a new bracket for that.

Thats all for now, see you next week.