Let’s get those brakes working

The project inches along. Being in Wisconsin, I’ve got maybe a month at best of driving weather before winter gets here, so I set my goal of getting Ms. Jenavieve drivable for the short term (yes, she got a name). Talked with Greg at the JHPS store and he didn’t have any calipers on the shelf, so I found a cheap Cardone rebuild caliper to get me through for now (it’s actually specced for a Spitfire but supposedly it’s a direct replacement, sure looks like the same one). I did order new brake hoses from Greg since he had those in stock.

Assuming that all’s well there once I get these parts in, I’ll spend the next few weeks getting a little driving enjoyment and once winter comes, she will go into full restore mode. At that time, I’ll probably pull both calipers and send them to Greg to have them rebuilt.

I’ll get there.

Oh… and I *finally* figured out, after reading the manual, searching the forum, and looking at pictures… how to properly stow the soft top. It actually works pretty well if you do it exactly right. It almost looks like the picture in the owners manual, though my top is a little stiff so the “flaps” at the rear quarters don’t compress down quite tight enough to roll up super tight… but they do fit and I’ve got the cover nicely installed over the top. The trick, the part I had the hardest time understanding, is to drop the rear rail down behind the frame before rolling the top. You wouldn’t think it would be that complicated.