Posts Tagged ‘brakes’

Small things

Monday, April 20th, 2009

I ordered the wrong size lugs so I sent them back for smaller ones.  The screws for the batteries measures just over 5/16″ so I thought I needed to order the next size up – 3/8″.  Turns out the lugs, at least the ones I got, are oversized so they were 0.05″ too big.  The connections was a little sloppy so I’m going with the smaller size.

It works out well, because with the battery swap I’m going to need to use the SAE posts on top of the battery.  The new battery has both SAE terminals on top and screw post on the side.  If I want to put the batteries in rows front to back, the screws posts would not be accessible for the cable.

I also found a leak with the vacuum pump.  When I put the muffler on the o-ring slipped to the side and wasn’t sealing right.  While I had the reservior and pump off I added a pad beneath and to the side of the pump to keep it a little quieter.

Other progress was painting and bolting up the motor mounts.  I need 2 bushings and 2 more bolts and they’ll be done.  I should take some more pictures.

Vacuum Pump

Saturday, March 14th, 2009

The vacuum pump was purchased as a kit from EV Source.com with the reservior. The reservior is actually from Summit Racing, but it is about the same price from either source.

I do recommend reading the installation instructions from both EV Source and Summit prior to doing anything.

Thoughts:

Mount the reservior close to the vacuum pump.
Locate mounting surface for the pump, which must remain vertical so the oil doesn’t leak.
If you drill holes to mount anything, be sure you have access to the backside to place and hold bolt or screw.
While laying out the hose plumbing, keep in mind the wiring has to connect to certain places as well (positive battery, live wire to activate relay, frame ground).
Don’t install the reservior before you remove your light.
I think that the relay activation wire should tap into a line that is live with the key in the on position.

More later…

Vacuum Pump Install

Saturday, March 14th, 2009

Today I installed the vacuum pump for the braking system. I ordered a kit to make it easy and am very impressed by it’s contents. I think the instructions could be a little more clear but overall it’s a good package.

I chose to mount the pump in the vacancy left by the air filter box. This places it on the driver’s side, right in front of the ABS unit and the power brake booster. There was already an opening in the frame I could put the pump’s mount through, and also a hole adjacent that I used to bolt it down. I’m very happy to reuse existing holes and not cut up the Trans Am too much.

Mounting the reservior was a little more difficult. In that location there aren’t many flat surfaces large enough for the tank to reside. One location that looked promises was ruled out because of possible clearance issues once the hood is reinstalled. I ended up using that spot, but rotating the reservior by 90 degrees. This actually worked out better because the hose connections are able to point in the right direction without much hose bending.

I’m still thinking about the wiring. I need to access the positive battery which is on the other side of the car, but the cable connected to the motor isn’t long enough. If I keep the fuse and relay assembly under the reservior, I’ll need to add about 4 ft to the wiring harness for that connection. If I put the fuse and relay assembly near the battery, I’ll need to run 3 wires across the radiator support instead of only 1.

Here are some steps of the installation:

Reservior parts

Reservior parts

Summit says to wrap the threads in teflon tape to seal leaks.

Summit says to wrap the threads in teflon tape to seal leaks.

Summit includes instructions to install the check valve last so this doesn't happen, but I didn't get those.

Summit also says to install the check valve last so this doesn't happen, but I didn't know that.

The completed reservior.

The completed reservior.

The vaccum pump installed.  The silver band rotates and slides up and down to mounting options.

The vaccum pump installed. The silver band rotates and slides up and down to mounting options.

I used this trick to pull screws from a not very accessible backside to the mounting holes.

Reservior mounted on the bracket.  The pump is just to the right of it.

Reservior mounted on the bracket. The pump is just to the right of it.

These are the remaining parts of the plumbing between the reservior and the brake booster: check valve then pressure sensor.

These are the remaining parts of the plumbing between the reservior and the brake booster: check valve then pressure sensor.