1962 Mercury Monterey Project

"Brakes are off" is what people say when they are ready to move forward on something. It is a metaphor for taking action after being stopped. For me it was a long holiday hiatus which got rolled into some delays to progress after the holidays (I mean - it IS after Groundhog Day and Constitution Day in Mexico). Speaking non-metaphorically, front brakes are off for this rust covered beauty. As others of you pointed out - when I tried this last time, I needed to remove the spindle nut to get the drum off. I used a pair of channel locks to remove the dust cap and a some needle nose pliers to get the cotter pin out of the way. I don't know what you call that ridged cap that sits behind the pin and wraps over the top of the spindle nut, but that thing just sort of slides off. The spidle nut was not very hard to remove. It was pleasantly oily. Based on the general crud covered state of everything else, I had been worried these pieces would be dry and ground up - but there was a ...

There is a scene at the begining of the third act of "Avengers: Infinity War" where Captain America, Natasha, and Black Panther go over to the magic shield around Wakanda and talk with the purple lady with the horn head & the big dark guy with the grabber weapon. I don't remember what she says (the dark bad guy only grunts), but Black Panther's response is - [You are in Wakanda now. You will have nothing but dust and blood.] I think Black Panther had recently found a car that had been parked in somebody's garage for 37 years. I suspect Tchalla was a AMC man. Today I went to work on the brakes - at least the fronts where I don't have to pull the axles to remove them. I spun off the lug nuts and jacked up the car. That was pretty much where my efforts to expose brakes came to a halt (pun intended). I could not figure out how to get the drum to move off the hub. I did not heat it with the torch, but I gave it a severe beating with a mallet - even that didn...

Or should I break the master cylinder?! The directions say [a) pull the boot back from the push rod under the dash, b) remove the brake line, and c) remove the 2 nuts holding the master cylinder to the firewall]. Simple enough. I managed to complete step_a. For part_b, that brake line is going no where without a hack saw. I can turn the coupling, but the line is rusted to it so it just twists as the nut goes around. I will saw it off. As for step_c and the nuts holding the cylinder to the firewall - they were hard to turn, then they squeaked, then they got easier. But not. They just went around. So I crawled back under the dash and see that the square head bolts are meant to be held by some bracket that holds the dash in place. And that was no longer holding them. I need my E to come home and either turn the wrench or hold a pair of vice grips on them. Probably will give her the wrench (I hate to make her lie in the bio hazard interior). I am guessing they are rusted solid and that I r...