Unfortunately, after everything is done, you have to start re-doing things that were done a while back and are now need attention again. Like my seat covers. Seems like I just replaced them a couple years ago, but oh wait, that was in 1998. How time flies.

 

 

Put in new front sway bar bushings and links. Took it for it's first drive in 20 years a week ago! Be it only around a parking lot.

 

Seriously. Where's the car ****?!

 

It is always great to read that someone else has put their car back on the road! Happy Motoring!!! I agree with Jonny, pics make it true!

 

Hey Jonny, my garage sounded pornish yesterday as I tried to coax a few stubborn nuts and bolts to give up their resistance! BTW, I did not win that battle and so the war continues! A longshoreman would have blushed at the language, and for the umpteenth time it did absolutely no good. I can still hear my Mom and Gram telling me only stupid people swear, because they can't find other words. OKay, okay...here's a word....APOPLECTIC! I threw a tire, which hit my open drawer on my tool chest, which dumped all my 3/8" sockets on the floor and they rolled in 10 directions under all sorts of things. It may be months before all get recovered...all because one water pump/PS bracket bolt dropped and NEVER HIT THE FLOOR AND THE FRIGGIN LED DROP LIGHT, while it always blinds me...never shines where I need light!

 

 

I finished up my winter project of new rear suspension, sway bar, and locker install yesterday but didn't take it for a ride because it was raining out. Today went for a ride, made a few left and right turns, some hole shots, it is an awesome improvement. A great upgrade for less than $1000.

 

Hahaha. Good stuff Mr. Chuck

 

 

...holes?

 

Looks beautiful to me!

 

I am open to anything! I figured helicoils might be the fix. I am not sure I know what a time sert is. Doing some research now.

 

Wow that really looks great Eric, and we know the performance it will add. I think that will have to wait until my 2nd restoration in 2035

 

I found some nice S-10 bucket seats on Friday in a truck parts puller for $150, the driver side is power. They were a little soiled but they had almost no wear evident. They are gray cloth as suits my interior color scheme which has moved from saddle to Black/Charcoal/Gray. Today I shampooed them and the stains seem gone. It looked to me to be old coffee or Coke, not grease or grime. I figured at the very worst I can buy quality seat covers, but it looks like I can go with what I have. They will get some more deodorizing as they smell mildewed, from the storage, Febreze it is, and Scotchgard! I bought the lower door panels since mine had a botched attempt at patching the speaker hole. The panels I got are harder plastic than OEM, much stiffer, so they may eventually crack at stress points, but I am counting on that happening to the next owner I had the carpet cutout so a little glue and it is ready to install, but knowing my luck I will wait until the seats are out and in and then tackle it. Since mine was simply a bench I will have to locate the missing seat mounts and a welder. I have a shifter and console holding in Texas and then it will be done. The last step is the headliner, and if I win the lottery I will get a new dash down the road.

 

Replaced the aluminum SS1's and threw on some chrome one's with new tires. P295/50R-15's on rear and P225/60R-15's on the front. Took her out for a test run with good results. No rubbing in the rear. I can never get good pics of this car in the sun. The gold is either to bright or too dark.

 

This weekend, I have a fairly short list of things I intend to get done; under the car, in the engine bay, and the interior. First, under the car, I have to bleed the rear brakes, try to get the kickdown linkage to work, get the power steering brackets I started in December finally attached and aligned, fiddle with trans lines, the cross-under gas line and fit the lower radiator hose (when I find it ) and get the starter in. In the engine bay, I will get all the vacuum fittings buttoned up and correct, then move to the accelerator linkage install, dropping in the distributor (after priming the oil pump again), fill the radiator and look for leaks, get the wires routed and plugged in, install the spark plugs, install the spark plug wires, and get the heater panel back on the firewall. In the second hour, , I will mostly do measuring in the interior for the buckets. I do have lower door panels to install, but that may be overtaken by events. The battery has been on the tender for some time now, it would be so nice to turn the key and have it fire, but I will be happy to be at the point where a few little adjustments are all that keeps it from starting. I have to run a wire for the electric choke Q-jet, I have a schematic to show me where/how. I have to run an orange wire to the seat and ground it. Am I ever going to find the plug end that works in the seat? Is it like a Dorman product or should I just make a new plug (both ends). The seat end is there. Does anyone else get the heebie-geebies when then get so close, that they are almost afraid to finish and find out something major happens when starting it? I believe I was meticulous, but there is always a tinge of doubt when you do it alone. There is no one else to blame which is scariest of all Anyway, unless some surprises happen, this may very well be the weekend I hear it again...and will break in the cam..... or not!

 

Chuck, I think everyone gets that feeling when they first fire up an engine, or take the car on its maiden trip after a long modification.

 

Eric, maybe it is made worse by all the car restoration shows on MT, with supposedly master mechanics ALWAYS having issues starting their LS swaps and overhauls. Reality shows and their moments of contrived drama make me tired. I'm already old...so that makes me old and tired. The triple crown would be stymied! My wife will be watching mine because I get so pissed when they do it every time and say something like, I have rebuilt (?) engines and have never had one just crank. I did have one 180 degrees out and it cranked with a definite lope that eventually backfired and bent a pushrod 90 degrees.

 

After almost a month of waiting (weather has not been in my favor) for the chance to check a check a couple items off my "to do" list, I was finally able to spend the afternoon taking some "me" time. Though they were small projects, it sure felt good to gain some ground.

 

Well it's getting to be show time, two cars and coffee shows last week and I started a list of MAWS while I was sitting on my lawn chair. The old girl has issues Car sputtered and felt like it was going to run out of gas pulling a hill I was pushing it hard. This isn't the first time and I'm afraid the fuel pump is giving it up, It's about a 15 year old rebuild and I do have a spare so MAW.

Still fighting my accelerator pump issue and I have a spare so MAW rather than having to do it somewhere in the sticks of South Dakota.



I need to set dwell and check timing as I didn't have a timing light or dwell meter last time.MAW I'll be greasy anyway.

Dash lights/ clock lights all refused to turn on most likely a fuse that is connected to the on and off rheostat switch for the head lights. I hate going upside down under the dash anymore I just don't bend like I used to.

I need to look at a old leak at the transmission/ speedometer junction. I've been looking at it for a few years, doesn't leak much but it pisses me off every time I back the car out of the garage and see the drip pan needs cleaning. Shouldn't take all day but I bet it does.....Tedd

 

My list shortened a tiny bit as I got the heater box ready to go in, lots of fabrication and some fiberglass. The heater core is secure and now I need to find a way to funnel the wind from the back side (interior) and a way to move it from the floor to defroster. Neither of those is critical as I will not need a defroster but I would like to move the air around if it is condensing, but I do have windows that ROLL down

 

I finally found a good pair of 15x6 steel wheels for the front of my 64 F85. Need to clean them up a little, give them a fresh coat of paint. I will be able to now make use of my original dog dish caps.

 

Don't forget the pics for those of us who can't read very well

 

I finally got my engine mounts bolted up .
Transmission " hangs " a quarter inch above crossmember .
Clutch cross shaft lines up perfectly .

 

Looks fantastic. That has to give you a feeling of pride!

 

Thanks .
When I started this project , I didn't know how ( or even if ) it was going to work .
So far , it has been going along really good .
Now to get the body back on the frame . So I can DRIVE it .

 

Very nice. Looks like a work of art.

 

Thanks .
It's so much easier to assemble with the body off the frame .

 

Yeah...ya think?

 

Pitiful that I am using a sears floor jack and 18" jack stands...haha...mine has no frame to be "off"...probably tripled the amount of time too! Soon enough I will be melting the one rear tire that spins! Mine however is NOT a restoration but a refresh! Can't restore an El Camino G Body when it has an Olds 350, Th 350, and buckets from an S-10! I didn't win the Publisher's Clearing House for like the 50th straight year so it is what it is....One day it will have LS diff and 3:42 Gears, and a defroster/heater that works! Oh yeah...it needs painting too...tires, and the dash replaced...and not one of those were on the original list!

 

Today I thought of my Oldsmobile...although it was really never "mine." Thought of the good people I met along the way including many of you guys here. It was an awesome ride.

 

My workplace had a Heart Association fundraiser car show today.
I parked next to my co-worker's 1984 Monte Carlo SS that he inherited from his Mom.




The fellas in Facilities made a really neat trophy

 

 

Before and after of the rear end. Went through it and freshened it up.

 

Love the ladder bars, are you keeping them?

 

ladder bars are going bye bye. I wonder if they could bring any $.

 

Finally had the time. The old unit looked nothing like the one that was suggested that would work since apparently you can no longer find the correct sender.





The fuel line was much shorter on the new sender and had a return line, as well. I plugged the return line with a vacuum plug and cut off a section of the old fuel line and then used a couple of inches of 3/8" fuel hose to join the old line to the new.
Since I'd been driving it for a while to lower the fuel in the tank to do the job the gauge was close to E. I added 4 gallons on hand to see if it was working.


Then added another five at Chevron.


Now I won't HAVE TO have a couple gallons in the trunk...unless I want to. I dreaded the thought of having to try to push this tank out of the road if I ran out of gas.
Happier than a pig in mud.

 

Replaced rear shocks with Gabriel coil overs. Raised her butt up a bit. A 1-inch increase measured at the wheel well. Like a stripper in stiletto's...Not that I have ever seen a stripper in stilettos mind you...I read it in a book.

The ride is greatly improved and I can make a left hand turn without rolling into the passenger seat.

Saturday, new Bilstein's go up front and new valve cover gaskets. Pretty good leak over the starter and down to the header. Smokes up at a red light and still burns off after parking.

 

No offense, mind you. It's just a reminder of my 'PERFECT DAYS'!