The GM52 Hustler clone conversion

Grease Monkey said:
I've got my head a few times in this process

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I've got a pretty nasty Porsche 911 and a beast of a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T and I love snapping necks when I am out just running errands in either. I know you've got to love snapping necks in this monster. Looks and a beast motor to back up the aesthetics = perfect package. 

 
Brought the car home for a health check.  Dropped of at Outfront. 

All good to go.

And picked up a few ponies.

First pull at setting 3 on my integral AEM boost controller.

Second pull on setting 4.



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The feeling when you put all that work into building/rebuilding a car and you finally get to drive it..... I love the uncluttered dash that still has everything you need.

 
All right. Going to bring this thread up to speed. Had some issues and posted in the transaxle thread. Sean at weddle was a great help and has led me into a different direction. Initially I thought I was having a transmission problem and it was stuck in a couple of gears. While I haven't ruled this out yet, I am digging into the brakes and finding some issues that I'm not certain are really causing the problem.

For those that haven't been following in the other thread, my car locks up at a hard stop and can't roll again for another hour and a half to 2 hours. I've bled all the breaks bled the master cylinders in the car will still not roll. It acts like it's line locked and won't move like there's an anchor out and the car is just stuck to the ground..

The cars at the shop now. I remove the caliper removed the brake pads. Have some good scoring on the brake pads in a little bit of wear on the calipers but nothing major. Going to mill the pads flat again. Make them true so I get a good smooth flat surface against the rotors. Next step is to put the pads back together. Keep the car on jack stands, put it in gear and let it run for a while and ride the brakes. Put some heat in the brake pads. Put some heat in that area and see if I can replicate this on jack stands. Tomorrow. I'm going to drop this kid plate, drain the fluid from the transmission and see if I've got anything on the magnet.

Here's some photos of the brake pads and rotors as they were removed.

I've got about six trips on this setup. All of it as new 2 years ago.

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Not saying this is your issue but I had a similar problem once. Guy at Kartek gave me power steering fluid instead of brake fluid once. I didn’t realize it until after I had the brakes all bled. I drained it and blew everything out and used brake fluid. First trip out cruising around about 20 minutes into driving the brakes locked up. I cracked a bleeder and hot fluid sprayed and smoked its way out. Drove with no brakes for the rest of that weekend. Fast forward to next season I flushed and bled the brakes again. Every so often I would walk in the garage and see the brake lights would be on.  Usually on a hot day. But they never locked up on their own again. Moral of the story is weird stuff happens with brakes if the wrong fluid is used. 

 
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Jtmoney714 said:
Not saying this is your issue but I had a similar problem once. Guy at Kartek gave me power steering fluid instead of brake fluid once. I didn’t realize it until after I had the brakes all bled. I drained it and blew everything out and used brake fluid. First trip out cruising around about 20 minutes into driving the brakes locked up. I cracked a bleeder and hot fluid sprayed and smoked its way out. Drove with no brakes for the rest of that weekend. Fast forward to next season I flushed and bled the brakes again. Every so often I would walk in the garage and see the brake lights would be on.  Usually on a hot day. But they never locked up on their own again. Moral of the story is weird stuff happens with brakes if the wrong fluid is used. 
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Yeah, had that discussion with Grey Area, the manufacturer.  They have been great to deal with even though I had a leak due to a pinched o ring on their assembly. They sent me a seal kit over the holiday week so I could work on this and have parts on hand.  I have  a caliper off and apart. No swollen o rings or issues there.  I will pop out the pistons while is off and give it a good check over.

They recommend DOT 4 fluid only.

 
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Really doesn't appear that I have a caliper problem. Had to check the o-rings between the case halves as I had to replace one of the small ones that was pinched before my last trip. So had to remove it just to check to make sure it wasn't swollen or causing brake fluid to pressure up on one half of the caliper. But I'll give these pistons a pop out tomorrow and give it a good check. Just because it's off and I have the seals. Got the brake pads milled down. They're ready to go back in. These come at .800 of an inch as new. 

I took off about 25 thousands to smooth them off.

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Do you have turning brakes? Maybe piston isn’t returning fully keeping slight pressure on the caliper. Pads heat up and expand, locking up a wheel. If issue is with both wheels than maybe a faulty residual valve?

 
Sandkist said:
Do you have turning brakes? Maybe piston isn’t returning fully keeping slight pressure on the caliper. Pads heat up and expand, locking up a wheel. If issue is with both wheels than maybe a faulty residual valve?
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Considered the turning brake as well. IMO if and when I moved it opposite or just worked it back and forth it might release the pressure. That never helped. Also, I cracked the brake lines at all 4 corners. At the masters and also the bleeders at the rear calipers and the car was still locked down. 

Front pads loose and jiggling. 

 
Sandkist said:
Maybe something is going on with the brake pad material. Have you tried changing the pads?
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Super soft material after researching the brake pad manufacturer. But... It's what Funco used and supplied to me by Funco. 

Spoke with John@outfront today.  Johns a brake pad slayer. I've gone thru a set in the past but not like this nor with this pattern. 

John says it's normal. 

 
Mystery for sure. Caliper is parallel to rotor? No kinked hard line or hose? Have you tried flushing out your brake lines to remove any possible debris or obstruction?

 
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Sandkist said:
Mystery for sure. Caliper is parallel to rotor? No kinked hard line or hose? Have you tried flushing out your brake lines to remove any possible debris or obstruction?
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Flushing all of it tomorrow. Need to check all the boxes. 

 
my two cents and I am no expert but I think the problem is in the trans. I hope NOT but thats my feeling.

 
Whether the issue or not, that really looks like a lot of wear for the short amount of time on those rotors and pads. I kind of think you may be on to something there.  

 
the pads sticking is plausible for sure, however im still leaning towards the trans having a quirk. the way it was locked up and not moving even after we rotated the tires by hand makes me think that.

 
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