Re: What Should Come First

Posted by Ross On 2009/10/21 20:49:16

I'm all for the mechanicals first as that will have a huge effect on whether the car is fun to drive or not. All of the Attaboys from friends and passersby will mean nothing if you dread driving the thing.

To push the point a little further, I always do the brakes very thoroughly even on decent cars that enter my stable. That means for me that every component that ever touched brake fluid is replaced or carefully rebuilt.

In a couple of Hemmings Classic Car profiles I have read people say they reused their old brake tubing during the restoration because it looked OK. No No No! It rusts from the inside as well as the outside. At the 95 national in Baltimore I replaced a piece of tubing for a fellow after it blew out on a tour. It was the piece that ran under the engine, was shiney silver and oily on the outside and crumbled like tree bark from corrosion on the inside.

Brakes are the cheapest and most important part of the restoration.