Real Progress!

So for the last few days, I've been amassing parts to finish off these disc brakes. Got the bearings up in Olympia at AutoZone, the Volare rotors yesterday at Shucks, and the Camaro calipers today at Napa. The only parts I'm waiting on are the spindle washers. I ordered a pair on Ebay ($.49 each!), but probably won't be here for a couple days. Unfortunately, I can't finish assembly without them. Here's a couple pictures of what I've been up to:

Here's a view of the spindle with the bearing adaptor installed


And a side view


View of spindle with caliper bracket installed


Side view with caliper bracket installed. Note where I redrilled and tapped the upper spindle zerk. I also turned around the axle lock nut to increase turning clearance.


So now I had to get ready to get the rotors and calipers on. The instructions say that you have to sand down the bearing adapter so that the inner wheel bearing slides over the adapter. It required a lot more metal removal than I had anticipated. I started out with some 120 grit emery cloth, but I realized it was going to take a while. I busted out my Dremel with a little sanding drum on it to speed up the process. Removed a little material at a time, then polished the adaptor up with the emery cloth. Took a little while, but they turned out great.

One of the other things required is to knock the outer wheel bearing race out of the Volare rotor and replace it with the one that comes with the bearing. There was no notch on the back side, so a punch and hammer wasn't going to work. My bearing driver set didn't have a small enough one to get down into the bore. A 1-1/16" socket was too small, so I ran to Sears and bought an 1-1/8" socket that worked like a charm. I didn't already own one so it was a win-win.

I got the calipers about 3:30 and put them on just to see if they fit. They fit perfectly!

All that's left to do now is install the brake pads in the calipers then permanently mount the rotors and calipers and I'll be all done with the front suspension. Felt good to make some progress over the last few days.

The next project will be to install the Toyota steering box to get ready for power steering. I'll order the mounting bracket and custom Pitman arm so I have them for my next days off.