Saturday, April 14, 2012

It's Spring..

time to come out of hibernation.

Most of the time over the past 4 months that I have spent in my garage has been to make it a use-able work space.  The previous owner left it a mess, and all the electrical and lighting needed a lot of improvement.

I have finally arrived at a point where I know where most things are, and have sufficient lighting and power to see and do everything I need to do out there, so now it's time to start working on the van!



I gotta tell ya...

it's so nice having my own garage and having all my tools in one place finally!


It has been a VERY long time since I have touched the brakes on the Ghost... when I first bought it I did everything, drums, shoes, spring kits, rear cylinders, rotors, pads, etc...that was in 1995.  Since then I have done the pads a couple of times, but that's it.  So I decided that this spring it was time do go through everything again.

Last weekend I changed the oil (Amsoil Signature series) and did the front brakes.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover the rotors were still in great shape with plenty of meat on them, so I only had to do the pads (which were in dire need of replacement!)



 In the process of doing the front brakes, I took the old dust seals/end caps and cleaned the rust off of them and painted them, no one will ever see them, but I will know!



Such a minor detail, but it made me happy, lol!



This weekend I did the rear brakes, the drums looked to still be in good shape, but I replaced them anyway.  I will sandblast the old ones and repaint them and keep them for spares.






The old shoes were just about gone.. so new drums, shoes and springs.
I feel a lot better about driving it this summer now.









I also lubed the front end and took care of some other pre-season items.
I bought a creeper, was all excited thinking it would make life easier working on the van... the van sits so low that I can't get under it!  DOH!  oh well.