The Donkey In The Well

 

 

When I think about how difficult my childhood was I temper those feelings of anger and resentment with the belief that my experiences when I was younger helped make me who I am today. Seeing how my life turned out so far I wouldn't have it any other way either. My childhood not unlike the story of the "Donkey In The Well".

 



  

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. He cried for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

 

Finally, the farmer decided that since the donkey was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve him. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him seal it up. With the donkey at the bottom of the well.

 

 

They all grabbed shovels and began to dump dirt into the well. At first, the donkey didn’t realized what was happening & cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw.

 



With each shovel ­of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off & take a step up. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of him he would shake it off and step up.



 

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off.
 

The Master Cylinder - I Know It Was You, Fredo

One of the great things about Godfather II, which I've always believed to be the superior of the first two Godfather films, is that there's so much room for interpretation. For instance, I  believe that Michael Corleone had to have had a feeling all along that it was Fredo who tried to have him killed. When he confirmed it, it made for one of the most memorable scenes in one of the most memorable movies of the 1970's if not of all time.

 

 

Back in November when the rear brakes failed on our 1977 Corvette, I had a feeling it was the master cylinder that had gone bad. I filled up the empty rear reservoir but it quickly bled out  because of a cracked brake line. Although I remained skeptical of the master cylinder's viability given the amount of fozzilized brake fluid around the booster, with the rear cross over line cracked and the rear lines in general being in atrocious shape, I put thoughts of a bad master cylinder in the back of my mind. Way. Back.

 

 

After literally months of work to replace every rear brake part on our car, with the exception of the left rear caliper, I am proud to say that the brakes work beautifully. Best is I saved thousands of dollars doing the work myself.

 

 

My only issue now is that after a drive, there's a large glob of fresh brake fluid on the ground under the car right below were the proportioning valve is along with my freshly installed front to rear brake line. Thing is, the proportioning valve and new line is not leaking but the master cylinder is down a little after every drive. This picture, for illustrative purposes, is of the proportioning valve with the old front to rear brake line still attached.

 

 

Frustrated and heartbroken at the same time, late this past Sunday afternoon I laid down under our car for a good half hour or so attempting to track were that brake fluid was coming from.  

 

 

 

You'd be surprised how difficult a process that is but sure as sh!t, there it was. A small, almost innocuous drip coming down from the steering column which is directly underneath the, yes, you guessed, leaking master cylinder.

 

 

I know it was you, master cylinder. You broke my heart.

 

 

 

Little Red Corvette Brake Project - Thank God Almighty, Finished At Last!

Four. Months. That's how long it took me to replace every rear brake part, with the exception of the left rear caliper, on Rockn77.

 

The fun began late last summer when I noticed this Rorschach test on my driveway. That' power steering fluid that, luckily, washes off concrete.

 

 

I had originally planned to not store Rockn77 this past winter and instead use the funds that I would use on storage to replace this busted up dashboard pad. It's a big job that would require me to disassemble the entire lower dash board. The leaking power steering cylinder would take precedence, of course but I figured that as soon as I got that done I'd dive into the dash board project. While I had everything apart I also planned on redoing the tachometer, speedometer, dash lights and stereo.

 

 

You make plans the Corvette laughs. Last Thanksgiving weekend, I backed her out of the garage and when the posi-traction rear end hit an ice patch, with the front still in the dry garage, I noticed that the rear tires were still spinning despite all the pressure I could muster on the brake pedal. Rockn77 had no rear brakes!

 

 

At first I thought it was a bad master cylinder but the problem was much worse; it was a cracked brake line. This line right there, what's called the "cross over line" that carries brake fluid from the left side of the car over to the right side, was cracked. You can't see the crack in this picture but there's a sizable crack in the line right by that plug.

 

The removal and replacement of the cross over line was fairly straight forward. Biggest problem was getting the old line off the brass block right there. Corvettes are what are called "catalog cars"; you can get literally anything you need from after market parts distributors and that helps out greatly. I also sprung for new hoses and new trailing arm lines.  

 

 

I didn't count on having to replace the right rear caliper. I broke the insider bleeder off of this when I attempted to bleed the system the first time I thought I was near completion of the project. Getting this blob of iron off took two weekends of prying, plodding, screaming, yelling and praying. Eventually I got it off.

 

 

The biggest hassle was when I broke the front to rear brake line. This necessitated my removal of entire brake line from the proportioning valve back here to the left rear of the car.

 

 

This was an incredibly difficult process start to finish that took me the better part of three weekends to complete. There were many times during this process that I honestly believed I was not going to get it done. The thought of towing Rockn77 to a shop to finish the project made me nauseas. I soldiered on.

 

I have to hand it to myself and my perseverance for I certainly did get it done. Now, while at this point the front to rear line leaks a bit at the proportioning valve, I'm confident all it needs is more torque on it. Hopefully.

 

 

After that's done it's off to the power steering cylinder and then I'm done for the season. With strong brakes and a solid power steering rack, Mrs. C and I plan on taking some nice long drives this summer in Rockn77. Thank God Almighty, Finished At Last!