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Over the past couple weeks I replaced the hard line and flex hose on the driver's side front brake, and rebuilt both rear drum brakes on my 72 Supreme. Want to replace the passenger side front flex hose too, but after the ordeal with the driver side, will tackle that another day.
dryer sheets? Are you talking about those little "fabric softener" sheets and if so I'm not familiar with the benefits of doing that. I need some education on that. Thanks.
I'm just getting ready to put my 47 away for the winter rainy season here in the Pacific NW.
Jerry
Softener sheets. the mice don't like the smell of them but after the smell goes away they use them for bedding nests. I use them but place sticky traps around areas they enter and under the car. Don't put a sticky trap inside though because they may flip it over and stick to your carpet.
Last edited by Gary M; October 21st, 2017 at 08:44 AM.
A local production firm is filming an episode of an APTN show of 'caution: may contain nuts'. They were looking for a panelled station wagon so I offered my 68 Vista Cruiser and they were happy to use it. They finished up yesterday so I picked up my car this morning.
It's a gorgeous 39F sunny morning. I took it for a 10 minute drive on the freeway and then parked it in the shed, added some fuel stabilizer, removed the battery and put the car cover on.
I think the season is, regretfully, finished.
... although I still have to put the 67 Vista Cruiser to bed yet
The previous owner left the car sitting along side his house for 10 years, rear window seal dried out, water leaked into the trunk pan rusting out the floor pan. Purchased a replacement pan, had it installed this week.
The previous owner left the car sitting along side his house for 10 years, rear window seal dried out, water leaked into the trunk pan rusting out the floor pan. Purchased a replacement pan, had it installed this week.
Seeing that car brings back fond memories. I had a light blue '77 Buick Skylark coupe when I was in college and for a year or so thereafter. The trunk repair looks good. I'd say that's likely a common occurrence on a car that age. Fortunately for you and your car, the Omega an exact enough clone of a Nova that those sorts of panels are fairly easy to come by in the aftermarket.
The previous owner left the car sitting along side his house for 10 years, rear window seal dried out, water leaked into the trunk pan rusting out the floor pan. Purchased a replacement pan, had it installed this week.
took the 66 dynamic convertible out saturday for a spin(60* and sunny top down) and sunday took the f85 out for some rubber burning and gear banging,also rode my shovelhead thanksgiving day(ritual).these times feel extra special knowing it might be the last until spring.
Ohhh, I'm jealous. The 47 Convertible has been parked in the shop with trickle charger on now for a couple of weeks. We've had 11 inches of rain so far in Nov. and 8 in. in Oct. I go out and fire it up once a week and let it warm up. Pacific Northwest between Cascade Mountains and Coast is not a good place for convertibles. Typically Just July-Sept. for top down cruising. But I just had to build a convertible, just once.
Jerry
Got my act together (so I thought) and got everything arranged and parked for the winter.
Every winter it seems the walls of the shop get closer due to my need to save pretty much everything. Case in point, I saved the freshly rebuilt, three years ago, Olds 350 that was in my now junked 77 Pontiac Grand Prix.
When parking the cars for the winter, it's like a Tetris game in that they only fit one way. Now with less room to work with I even went so far as to measure the width of the rear of my wife's 75 Vert (avatar) to insure that it was going to fit where I needs to. I even had room to spare.
Of course, no one was home to help direct me and I was being extra careful in checking the side that I could not see well.
So imagine my surprise when I placed a real nice 18" long crease in the driver's side rear quarter on her car courtesy of the protruding front license plate bracket on my 88 Thunderbird. As would be my luck, the Bird remained unscathed.
So now I get to add another project to my already full plate for next season.
For the record, this is how the parking arrangement looks like when it's done successfully.
I finally installed the heater core and heater control valve that I bought several years ago. Just in time as there's a cold front on the way and the temperature is gonna drop below 70º next week. Brrrr!
Finally did some cleanup to the old side glass on the wagon for the glass man to come here and re seal them and get the trim on about two years late doing it..
The Mistress came home a couple days ago ( top down) thought I would put it up today and give the Old Girl a bath. Kinda a pain in the *** to put the top up by myself when the vinyl is cold and stiff. Probably took 20 minutes should have been about 5 minute job.
Car show tomorrow in Orland. Cars and coffee type affair, low key thing bring what you drive , no rules, mostly gearheads talking about cars. Hope it doesn't rain..... Tedd
Finally a year late , started to get frame off Rallye cleaned up with wire brush on drill and some POR-15 I had left over from years ago. Only got bottom and side of mid section so far, .but it's a start .
Stole the vacuum advance off the 350 Olds engine sitting in the corner of the shop to use on my daily driver winter beater Buick Wagon with a Chevy engine in it.
I just put my 65 cutlass on the rotisserie in October,had it blasted with crushed glass on the 28 November. inside the heated garage till I get back from nc to see my grandson. then I can get busy after 11 years setting. will get pics when I get baack
Been stuck at home a while since I had both by neck and lumbar two level disc removal and fusion done recently but today the glass man made it to properly reinstall my side glass and now the trim for the first time since since I had it. Street miles coming again soon.
Compiled a list of parts I need for next season...
Reproduced washer fluid/wiper motor, GM door decal, Alternator, switching to Shell T3 10w30 for next season from 15w40.
I finally installed the heater core and heater control valve that I bought several years ago. Just in time as there's a cold front on the way and the temperature is gonna drop below 70º next week. Brrrr!
I went to a Toy drive car show last week and apparently some lard... walked into my drivers side mirror and broke it. Beyond repair so I ordered a set of round generics and installed them today.
I have not reported on the 454 install in my 91 OCC for a while. The latest events have sidelined the car for about the last 3 months (since October). It started with an increase of smoke from the passenger's side exhaust. I decided to check compression, and found that I was getting air into the coolant system, and hence getting coolant into the cylinders. I discovered that when the coolant overflowed the reservoir while pressurizing one of the cylinders to swap the valve spring. I had to assume a head gasket was faulty.
I needed to check starting with getting to the valves. There is a lot more to pulling the valve covers than the seven bolts in each, because I had to pull other parts before I could get to them to get them off, including the wiper motor. When I got the valve covers off, I noticed that there was a slot worn in the rear of the passenger's side cover. This turned out to be done by the tang on the hose clamp for the heater core hose. I trimmed the length of the tang, and now it is easy to put the valve cover back on. I checked the valves, and found two of the poly-locks were backed off, and the intake valves on #two and four cylinders were not opening. On top of that, the rocker arms were beaten up badly, and I had to replace them. It appears that I was running on six cylinders, and dragging two.
The next part to come off is the throttle body, because the throttle linkage is so close to the cowl, that I can not get the intake manifold off with it attached. I then removed the intake manifold with all of the ancillary parts attached to it, including the distributor. I looked into the valley, and there was a broken lifter on the #two intake, so I decided to replace the #four intake lifter, as well, even though it did not look damaged, as preventive maintenance.
I had to remove the FEAD brackets with all of the accessories. While I had them off, I had them sandblasted so they look nice. I found the PS pump front seal was leaking, so had to get a “new” pump. I decided to paint the FEAD brackets, and forgot to tape the bolt holes so I did not get paint on them. The brackets are part of the ground system for the car. I had to sand the areas where the bolt heads sit, and where it contacts the block/heads. The shorty headers came out through the top after I removed the steering intermediate shaft.
When I finally had it down to the short block, I checked the decks for flatness,and found them to be fine. I took the heads to the machine shop to be checked. They turned out to have one high spot that was corrected. I also found that the springs that came with the heads were the wrong valve springs for the cam, so those got changed, and the keepers were an offset, so I replaced them with “0” offset keepers, so I have the correct installed height. I purchased a couple of spring compressors to change the springs, and neither worked to my satisfaction, and I had the machine shop replace the ones that the compressors I got would not work on. The cylinders looked excellent.
I got a gasket set for the top end, and started reassembling the engine. Heads went on nicely. It is difficult to torque them with the engine in the car, and having limited space to work. I thought the passenger's side would be more difficult, but it turned out that the driver's side was the bear. I had much better leverage on the passenger's side.
While loosening the poly-locks, one rocker post turned out with the poly-lock, so I also went around, removed them all, and re-torqued the posts after putting blue thread lock on them. I set the valves, and tightened the poly-locks. Scorpion recommended that I “bump” the nuts after tightening the locks, so I did that, and it is still in spec. Bumping the nuts is turning them a little after tightening the lock screw, so that the screw bites into the top of the rocker post.
The next step is installing the intake...with the distributor in the hole. Doing this myself is a monumental job. I figured out how to do it and make it fairly simple. First I glued the intake gaskets to the heads, and trimmed and put the supplied cork gaskets on the end rails. I put a large bead of silicone on them, and into the corners. I wrestled the intake on top of the engine, and used a broomstick pivoted on one wheelhouse, and lifted on the other. I tied the manifold to the broomstick and could lift and move it easily. I had it in place in about five minutes without any issues. Bolted it down, and engaged the distributor with the cam gear. I had to move the crank to get the oil pump engaged. To give you an idea of how tight the fit is...I have just enough room to put my hand behind the passenger's side injection rail to work on the distributor, and can not remove the cap from the car without removing the passenger's side fuel rail. The distributor is trapped under the cowl. I can not remove the cap from the distributor without removing the four rear spark plug wires.
I reinstalled the FEAD brackets to the adapters for the S-10 brackets. Installing the FEAD bracket on the passenger's side requires that I put the AC compressor in the bracket before installing it on the engine, because of the custom hoses. The hose from the intake manifold to the water pump must be replaced every time, because it can not be removed without cutting it in half. It is the worst part of installing the intake manifold, or the water pump. Putting the new one on is a miserable chore.
I had a couple of diversions while working on the car. Three colonoscopies, a PET scan, and an MRI. I injured my shoulder in mid September as well, and can barely lift my arm in one direction.
Before installing the headers, I added some heat insulation to the starter cable, steering intermediate shaft (the rubber boot almost disintegrated after two years), transmission wiring where the looming melted, and oil pressure sensor/wire looming that melted. Installing the headers was not too difficult, but I had to torque the two back bolts on the passenger's side from under the wheelhouse.
My speedometer was fluctuating the last time I drove it. I swapped the cluster, and that did not fix it, so I decided to swap the VSS...Did you know that when you take the VSS out, about two and a half quarts of trans fluid comes with it? Fortunately I put a tray under it, just in case. I found out that the trans was mounted too close to the crossmember, and could not get the donor VSS in. I ended up slipping a few fender washers under the trans mount, and gained enough room to insert the VSS.
Including a couple of weeks or so worth of rain, ordering (waiting for) specific parts, figuring out how to get the parts positioned properly, and a few upgrades and modification, no help from my friends, discouraging words from my father and a friend (suggesting I sell it), I finally got it back together about two weeks ago. Since then I have had to realign the distributor, because it was off a tooth, and I moved it too far, so had to move it back one tooth. I accidentally screwed up the computer program, and had to figure out what I did, and fix it, the new power steering pump did not work, so I had to replace it. I also changed the oil, changed the master cylinder, and proportioning valve (no change, the brakes are still weak). All these little things take time, and thought on the direction of repair.
I got to drive it today for the first time in three or more months. It seems to have more power. I put heat shields on the exhaust pipes, and they are drumming in gear at idle, so I have to remove them. Of course it is raining again. Boy am I tired of working on this car. I am going to bleed the front brakes again tomorrow afternoon, and remove the heat shields. If the brakes are still weak, I am taking it to the only mechanic I trust, to see if I bled it correctly.
Now I have to work on the custom hood, and flaking paintjob.
Got the wagon out in the pleasant sunshine today. Now that side glass is fixed I am able to pull the inside plates that trim inside tail gate and storage area and one in front of that. They needed to be cleaned and painted . Then put in a new brake light switch and replaced flasher and all that is working again. I will take it !
Took the old wagon a cruise about 50 mile each way to a town with antique consignment we stopped at yesterday and today paid for a bunch of stuff and loaded down the wag to bring home. Tomorrow is muffler shop tail pipes and fix my bad flare at flange by manifold
Been driving the old girl a lot. Taking family to Birthday dinner at Cotton Patch, another load to the theater for Star Wars , running errands daily rain or shine . Buying brisket and charcoal , beer and liquor ! Had 5 folks in it a few times
October 21st, 2017, 07:24 AM
Caution: may contain nuts
