[rdeyoe]

Got around to doing the inserts and final flattening out. I made a tool for the keyserts out of a 3/8" steel bushing from Lowes. I used a hacksaw to cut slots to grab the pins on the inserts and used a bolt to hold the slots and insert together. Chased the threads out with a 1/2"-13 bolt as they were a bit tight on the insert. I noticed that driving in the inserts, they had to cut into the zinc a little so there was a bit of force and those pins can pop out. Lightly torquing the bolt/bushing combo helped keep some of the force off of the pins. There's special tools to drive these things in, but they're rather costly. I put them in not quite flush with my surface and drove the pins down with a drift that I had drilled a centering divot in. Some pins bent and snapped, but i got most of them in. Also used loctite to hold the inserts too. I don't have a drill press yet, and a couple of the bolts weren't exactly plumb, but straight enough. After getting the inserts in, i filed them flush and squared up the surfaces a bit, checking with a straight edge scale.

I noticed when i set the pan in the cradle, that i had a slight wobble, maybe .030" or less. A little more filing on one pad to level and it is solid now. Took it all back apart and ran some black undercoating on the pan and cradle. The bolts are solid now, and steel, as opposed to the wobbly, worn/loose threads that were in the aluminum. I should be able to retain them with just lock washers. I got some close up pics sitting in the cradle, and the gap toward the outsides of the pads is gone...much better contact surface.

The aluminum brazing rods are mostly zinc, so it sets pretty hard, probably much harder than the surrounding aluminum. It also bonds really well. I degreased (brake cleaner) and scrubbed with a stainless wire brush, it's not going anywhere now. The amount of heat to get the rods to melt was pretty high, but once you get them going it's not bad to work with...pretty simple really. I got the rods at Rural King...about $11.00 for eight of them. I used two of them, so I've got several for the next project.

I think those pads could take quite a bit of pounding now if they needed to, but with the steel threads and locking the bolts in, that should never happen again. Can't wait to get it mounted and try those isolators out!