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1963 PV544 rat rod

If you have a real unobtanium one that's really crusty, machine shops can bore them out and sleeve them again.

I already bought the one from VP.

I'd have pondered putting something dual circuit on and making it a little safer, but I don't want to have it out of commission for a while right now - since I'm putting the LS in the 245 it sort of eats up my limited 'farting around modifying old Volvos' bandwidth.
 
...pondered putting something dual circuit...

Bore diameter affects hydraulic pressure. Years ago, I installed a master from a Blazer to a small pickup truck, and those brakes were touchie.

A dual circuit would be nice, but finding one that mates might be an issue.

Btw, does this Slave Cylinder fit your 544? It's much cheaper, unless S/H is high.

Just from photos, it appears your Slave Cylinder does not have a face to bolt on firewall...if true, finding a dual circuit might be hard, unless UK/Europe vehicles had that format.
 
Main brake cylinder, brake pipes P1800 E/ES double circuit B52VOAM

FGG_3040530000.png
 
That one might work, I think it's the earlier version. You can tap the cap on it for the line leading up to the later remote reservoir. Then you have two reservoirs.

The pedal setup on a PV is really archaic - with low pivot pedals that have the pivot underneath the floorboards. Most of the lever is outside, just some curved extensions through the firewall to the pedals. The master cylinder is mounted down really low on the front subframe, mounted by the side with bolts into the subframe.

They don't have many options on size (err. one option) - but here a tandem side mount Wilwood: http://www.wilwood.com/MasterCylinders/MasterCylinderProd.aspx?itemno=260-11097
 
That one might work...


That one had a hydra-vac unit...check bore diameter, and compare. In a master setup, each chamber is exerting its own force, whereas with a slave, it is powering all wheel cylinders. Also, wheel cylinder diameter determines how much force is required. Hence, the bore diameters of Slave/Master and wheel cylinders determine how much pedal pressure is required. If your front brakes have larger pistons (surface area), then front brakes might grab before rear brakes. Vehicle's weight proportion also is factored into this equation...

If your emergency brake is fit for duty, and you have good brake lines, I'd use OEM setup.

I know 1980 GMC 7000 trucks still had a single slave cylinder, which powered a hydra-vac using a Master setup. It's called a "master cylinder," but I call it a slave.
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I was responding to your earlier post, you got two more posts in before I responded.

Bore diameter affects hydraulic pressure. Years ago, I installed a master from a Blazer to a small pickup truck, and those brakes were touchie.

A dual circuit would be nice, but finding one that mates might be an issue.

Btw, does this Slave Cylinder fit your 544? It's much cheaper, unless S/H is high.

Just from photos, it appears your Slave Cylinder does not have a face to bolt on firewall...if true, finding a dual circuit might be hard, unless UK/Europe vehicles had that format.

The earlier PV master cylinders do bolt in, they just have a large cast in reservoir way down low on the frame, but AFAIK you can still use the late model reservoir cap that has a line fitting up to a conveniently mounted remote plastic reservoir, up where you can actually see it.
 
Only thing of note with the PV lately is that I was going to drive it a few weeks ago, went to open the driver's door, and POP, something broke and the handle flopped down, the door opened but wouldn't stay shut.

I figured the spring holding the bolt out had broken (again) but when I pulled it apart not only was that broken (the POP), but apparently the body of the latch (that guides the bolt) had been broken for a while. Probably why that door latch had been so noisy and poorly working (I developed a habit of bumping the door with my shoulder to open it from inside). I'd have tried just welding the frame/case back together again, but since the rest of the latch was fairly worn (droopy door handle syndrome) I decided to just replace it.

I checked in a few places for used ones, but at $150 I decided to just spend a bit more and get a new one instead of another one that's 60 years old already. I find it mildly amusing that theyr'e still making new parts like this for PV's, I guess lots of people are willing to spend $$$ to keep them working after all these years.

New RH PV door latch, made in Poland:
IMG_20180406_162659_zpssscbnsle.jpg


Works perfectly. Not the slightest bit of slop in the door handle, no need to 'bump' the door open form inside, w00t.
 
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Annnd now the motor has a problem. Sure don't know how that could have happened.... *ahem*

Anyhow, it's been idling a little unevenly. I tried twiddling on the DCOE's. They practically never fall out of tune like a pair of SU's can. But no joy. Checked valve clearances, no issues at all. Did a compression check and... like I suspected from listening to it crank, I'm down about 50% on #3. Not sure how accurate my ancient pressure gauge is (not at all) but 121, 122, 60, 124 is not a good pattern at all. Nope.

So I did a leak down test just to see what was fubared. After remembering to put it in gear after it repeatedly rotated the motor until #3 exhaust valve was open, I got a positive result. Air was blowing... right out the crankcase vent.

Lovely. Some sort of ring or piston issue. This happened not terribly long ago, that time it was a broken chunk on a piston:
P5202490_zps8296cdeb.jpg


I really don't like having two cars apart at the same time, it rather stresses my casual 'piles of parts' method, so I might just have to wait a while to tear into this and see what went wrong. Maybe this time around I'll rebuild it with some lighter weight/longer rod forged goodies.

Or... just thinking out loud, I do have a perfectly good 16V motor sitting around. The uber zoomie intake and exhaust manifolds certainly won't fit on the PV, but maybe my old log manifold would, and maybe a shortened stocker. Run low boost? 250-ish HP? Hmmm...
 
John, have you seen this?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-z8jMAckgBk" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Always loved the looks of rat rods....nothing like a mother nature paint job to finish things off...

Love the looks of your hot rod for sure.

I will be following along on this build too.

MikeC
 
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Yes. Probably not the greatest swap to do these days, as Amazon rotors and calipers are getting harder to find, and pricey when you find them. Plus, they're not vented, if you drive really hard you could overheat them.

It's ridiculously easy to overheat the original front drum, though.

The Amazon discs are pretty easy to swap on though.

What I did:
1) Move the shock to the front of the control arms. Easier to do than it sounds since the mounts are bolted to the upper and lower arms (no mount to the body, just between the two arms). To maintain full steering lock, I ground a notch in the lower bolt, bent it at a slight angle, then rewelded it. You might also try being more creative with the caliper location than I was?
2) Take the drum brakes off down to the bare spindle. Including the brake back plate. Save these for other PV owners (I sold mine to a local guy who has a really pretty baby blue PV that still has the drums on the front).
3) Strip the Amazon down to the bare spindle.
4) Fit the caliper mount and (optional, I used it) dust shield onto the PV. While the diameter is right to fit over the base of the spindle, the bolts are in the wrong spot. Out of 4 bolts, you'll need to drill 2 1/2 holes. Yes, the 1/2 hole is by far the biggest PITA. Just sort of hold it up, it will be fairly self-evident which single bolt hole is in a pretty good spot. Use that to position and mark the other holes, then drill the caliper mount and dust shield.
5) Bolt the caliper mount and dust shield on, then put the rotor on. Since the 122 used to have the same front drums as the PV did, they designed the discs to fit into the same spindle. Just regrease the bearings, slide it on, tighten that nut to the impossible perfect torque (not too tight, not too loose, easy does it).
6) Bolt the caliper on. Fun tip: You can use 240 disc pads on them, easier to find than 122 pads these days (I happened to have a set of 240 pads laying around last time).
7) Time for some minor creativity with the brake lines. I originally just put the PV's flex lines that used to lead to the drum brake cylinders on the calipers. This fit, worked, but had some very slight issues when the wheel was turned full lock and the suspension compressed. Not optimal, mostly due to the increased movement of the flex line because the caliper moved so much with the steering. After about a year, I redid it with something close to what the Amazon has - a short hard line from the caliper to the hose mount on the dust shield, then new flex lines to the body. It's all standard (non-metric) brake parts that are available at regular parts stores for older domestic cars.
 
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