Category: Repairs

I took last Wednesday off and devoted it to a final push. My goal, get the car back on the road. I started the morning with a helper, bleeding the brakes (yet again—more on that later) then started wrapping up loose ends: the last valve cover, engine compartment braces, hooking up the heater control cables, etc. I also welded spacers and bolts to the driver’s seat brackets to make the installation easier and a little safer.

Since I was about to hide all the wiring behind the left radio access cover (necessary to support the ignition switch), I spent some time wiring up an aftermarket stereo. It requires one always-on power lead and another from a switched source. I took the hot lead from the cigar lighter and looked for the feed wire powering the existing radio. The wiring diagram says it is blue/yellow, which I found, but I couldn’t confirm that it had power. Instead, I tapped into the power feed for the heater blower motor.

To test the power leads, I had to hook up the battery. I was the first time in months the car had seen power, and it was nice to see at least part of the car come alive. The turn signal was ticking and the blower motor came on, as did the courtesy lights–all good things. (Though I spent a few minutes pondering why I couldn’t turn the courtesy lights off until I realized that the light switch must be in the on position.)

The lower valence of the dashboard on the driver’s side is probably the most puzzling part of the whole assembly. It took me a while to line everything up and get it screwed down—it didn’t help that a lot of the screw holes have been stripped over time. In the end, it was not difficult once I figured out how it all tied together.

For difficult, the clock pod takes the prize. I did that earlier in the week, and it’s a four-handed job: one to hold the pod in place (and not scratch up the newly-painted dash), two to connect the many wires that feed into it (and don’t have a lot of slack to them, either) and another to get the screws started. Four screws hold the pod on, each threaded into a blind “speed nut.” The nuts in the back holes don’t have much metal to clip to. Three times I tried to get one of the rear screws threaded on, and three times the nut slipped off its mount and fell into the recesses of the dash. Finally, I decided that three screws was plenty and another attempt was only likely to cause damage, especially in the mood I was in.

By the end of the day Wednesday, the carpet was fully trimmed and the driver’s seat was in. I only had time to sit there for a moment, contemplating, before other responsibilities called me away.

Friday afternoon, I was able to install the steering wheel, spray a shot of starting fluid into the carb and turn the key. Happily, the engine fired on the first try. I backed into the driveway where spilled brake fluid burned off the exhaust for a while. None of the new gauges registered at first, except the ammeter. Once I got down the road a block, the oil pressure gauge came to life and the temp needle crept up a bit. The gas gauge never moved, but it may just be stuck from non-use.

The shakedown run was very short and slow—the brakes were mushy and the pedal was right down on the carpet. Clearly, there is either a lot of air left in the system or something else is amiss. I am considering having the brakes professionally inspected and bled.

Since my last post, I’ve finished up the final bit of welding on the passenger side floor pan. There’s normally a little smoke after welding, but when I finished up the plate on the tunnel, smoke continued a little too long. Investigating, I found a nice fire going up by the transmission. Apparently, there was quite a lot of grease and oil built up in the transmission tunnel. and the heat from welding was enough to light it up. Luckily, I had the foresight to keep a bucket of water handy. A wet rag quickly doused the flames.

Completing the floorpans was a huge milestone. A day or two after they were done, I was able to pick up the dashboard, clock pod and other miscellaneous parts from the body shop where they were painted. They did an excellent job with the paint and even though the vinyl shows its age, the dash looks relatively fresh and new.

I set about reassembling the clock pod first. I have two of these, so I used the best parts from each, polishing and cleaning as I went. The best chrome pieces on hand still have a bit of pitting, but the finished product is far better than the original.

I was very pleased with the way the instrument cluster and speedometer came together as well. Again, it’s not perfect, but with the restored numbers, new paint, decent chrome, and  unobtrusive upgrades (like repainting inside the pods), the finished product has the feel of almost, but not quite, like new.

This week’s challenge will be removing the wiring harness from the old dash, restoring it (there are some cut wires and other issues) and installing it in the new location. After that, I’ll need to figure out what to do about the defroster ducts, which were made from cardboard. They were very fragile and were damaged while the dashboard was moved around my shop. I don’t think they are reproduced, so I will need to fabricate some kind of replacement.

At this point, it appears that I am about three weeks away from my first drive in months.

It seems like most of the work on my “dash project” has very little to do with the dashboard itself, at least so far.

One of the first things I had to do with this car was install the brake booster assembly when it was returned from the rebuilder. I remember that as being difficult, but not impossible. Getting it out of the car, even with the dash out was, well, difficult still, but not impossible.

I pulled this unit because the brake pedal is awful close to the floor in normal braking. One culprit may be an out of spec adjustment where the master cylinder meets the booster. I pulled the two units apart, and it does look like someone took the time to mate them together properly. When I reassemble them, I’ll watch to see that the plunger (from the booster) fits into the piston on the master cylinder with close to zero tolerance. The pedal feel may be the same when it’s back in, but I’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that it is normal for this car.

It’s easier to get the booster out if the valve cover on the driver’s side is removed. When I pulled it, I noticed that the cover was pretty dry on the inside, as if not much oil was getting up to the top of the motor. I posed the question on the VTCI forum and learned that special bolts should be used to allow oil up into this area. I pulled a couple out and found that mine were not special at all. A friend from the club offered up a set, which I’ll install when they arrive. Hard to tell at this point is damage has been done from the lack of proper oiling, but I don’t think so.

I did do some experimenting with the actual dash this week: I picked up a silver leafing pen to touch up the lettering on the speedometer. The pen holds liquid paint that’s applied with a metered tip. It’s pretty easy to control once you get the hang of it. I practiced on the old unit and despite a little bleed at first, was pretty pleased with the initial results. After practicing along the rest of these numbers, I’ll tackle the replacement.

Took longer to get around to this than I thought, mostly because the car has been running so well, and I was so reluctant to take it out of service.

Finally, though, the small, annoying problems started to add up. Most of my gauges were out. There’s an odd squeak in the brake pedal (and they feel a little mushy). There’s no heat (and it’s almost winter again). The neutral safety switch is just a tiny bit out of adjustment.

Not to mention, I’ve got this replacement dash kicking around my garage and I’ve tripped over it more times than I’d care to admit.

So, finally, I pulled out the manual, found the relevant instructions and set to work. The first item is pulling out the seats, something I did in the driveway–I have room to work in the garage, but can’t open the doors widely enough to get the seats out.

With the seats out and the car in the garage, I began digging into the dash far enough to get to the six bolts that hold it to the firewall. The center console has to come out, as do the visors and the headliner trim all the way to the rear windows. The clock pod, with its cables, vacuum lines and wiring, need to come out. And so does the cowl–that louvered piece of sheet metal at the base of the windshield (easier than it sounds).

Those six bolts? Took a while to find them, and we needed the replacement dash as a reference before figuring it out.

At the end, the eight or so electrical plugs that connect the dash wiring to the car stood between me and a dashless car. Those things aren’t meant to come apart, and they put up a struggle.

In the end, I was triumphant, and the old dash is now resting uncomfortably in the driveway.

Tomorrow, I’ll be digging down to the heater core and measuring out a mile of vacuum line to replace.

This is getting to be a routine: make some repairs, push the envelope a bit more, find more issues . . . rinse and repeat.

I did some fairly lengthy freeway driving this week with the Bird and it was pretty cool tooling down the road under sunny skies. I discovered that right around 65mph most of the vibrations smooth out and the ride is relatively comfortable.

It is, however, hardly the epitome of luxury at that speed. Suspension bushings are probably the second order of business. First, there is a vibration in the engine–felt mostly in the steering wheel at certain rpm’s–that I haven’t been able to figure out. Guesses range from the harmonic balancer to fouled plugs to a burned valve.

Also clear now is that the aftermarket carburetor I have on the car is not suited for the type of driving I’m doing. (It would certainly work better in a performance-oriented setup.) I’m still seeing difficult hot starts, some surging at speed and poor mileage, so I ordered a remanufactured carb, correct for my year and model, from a vendor on eBay.

On one of my trips this week, I stopped by a shop that specializes in new old stock parts. There, I picked up a “good used” relay for the interior lights. Plugged it in, and they are working normally, which really helps to bring life to the car.

Yesterday, I also installed the stock throttle linkage, including the transmission kick-down, which has been missing this past year. Today, I’ll be working to refurbish the center console: reattaching a chrome trim element that has broken free (and rattles like crazy) and bringing the “Fasten Seat Belt” reminder light back to life.