Patience and Finesse

May 24th, 2010. Seems I'm on a roll. After work today, I decided to change the linkage on the tranny to get it to shift with the right side of the shifter that indexes one gear at a time. That seems to have worked. Also, I changed the vacuum modulator by 2 turns inward to get a better shift between 1st and 2nd. That might also have helped. Lastly, I had already moved the rear pipes to get rid of the knocking noises when moving the tranny between reverse and drive. That did not work so something is hitting somewhere. Now, remember the loose header pipes? Seems one side has developed a leak so off to Kerns to get a gasket. I decided to section the area that was leaking so that worked but in the mean time, I saw where the 2nd pipe on the left was very close to the frame. AH HA!! The noise! I took the electric hack saw and removed a small part of the frame, along with part of a header pipe!!!!!!!. Oh my God! What did I do? Off to Dads to get the Mig welder. After welding, it seems OK but now there isn't any powder coating on that area. SH**! May 31st 2010. I have made a few adjustments to different things but will do a couple later. As of now, the car is as much done as possible, depending on if Joe re-paints the trunk and a couple touch-up spots. Today I copied the videos I made during the last 5 years unto a DVD. I saved that for last! I think this is my last entry to the blog so I hope you enjoy the last photos and the fruit of my labor.

A Blind Squirrel Finds an Acorn Once in a While!

May 2010. Well, let's see. The license plate came without any problem in about a week and a half. Also, I ended up tearing the rear housing off of the transmission to replace the drive gear on the output shaft. To get the correct ration for the speedometer, I also had to replace the driven gear and the carrier for it. The main gear had to be hammered onto the shaft since it was steel. I wasn't real happy about that but it had to be done. After assembly, I drove it to the end of the road, working fine, until I turned around and started home. Seems as if it liked 1st gear the best, the whole way home. What the Hel* did I do??? After talking with Dave, "I have a book I'm writing" guy, he told me to pull off the governor. I had noticed that when I had it apart, the gear looked funny. Seems the fellow that rebuilt the tranny didn't put a new one on and it stripped all the teeth off one side. Glad to be just out the road and not 100 miles away! As for the tach, JUNK! Dropped one to many times! I had to buy a new one. I have since gotten the trunk lid back. It's going to have to be repainted since it looks about 2 shades too dark! I can't win! I am still waiting for the rear spoiler and the new tach to be painted. Since we missed Christmas, I was hoping that it would be ready for my birthday (this weekend) but I know that will never happen. When these items are finished, there are lots of places to buff and a couple places to re-paint. All total, I've driven it probably 50 or 60 miles but not without a problem. After I came back from getting gas, I noticed a puddle of oil under the rear of the motor. I thought it might be tranny fluid but it turned out to be motor oil. Seems that the rear pan seal ruptured outward letting a small stream of oil escape. After talking with Tom, he said either pull the motor to fix it or jack it up about 6 inches and pull the pan. What the F***!!. It's brand new!!! I thought about it for a couple of days and came up with a plan. I would make a seal holder for the oil pan. A flat piece of steel, contoured to fit the curvature of the pan, with a 90 degree 1/4 inch piece of steel to push the seal in place. Tom said "IT WON'T WORK!!!!!!". Well as of the last time I drove it, not a drop anywhere. Now he wants to make one for his car. "A blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while". Update on the tach. I went to Joe's last Friday and brought the cover for the old tach home. Since it was painted, I decided to try to fit the new tach guts into the old cover. That was a success. Looks nice and works too. One other thing. I had decided to clean some of the polishing compound off of the engine area so I covered it with a piece of plastic. Always remove anything covering an engine before you start it!!!!! Duh!!!

A light at the end of the tunnel !

4-04-10. Recently I took off 2 days to work on the car. I went back to the front lights and re-adjusted the left spring. They now stay in the closed position. I'm very tempted to leave them like this. They will open with vacuum but I will have to close them manually. I also decided to work again on the rear bumper. After trying to widen it out with Tom's hydraulic spreader, I ended up cutting the right edge to fit (almost). It still hits on the bottom. Oh well! I buffed the lower front right fender in front of and behind the wheel. Then I installed the wheel opening moulding followed with the rocker panel mouldings and the moulding behind the rear wheels. I wanted to order an Antique plate but I need the car in a finished condition so I can take a front, each side and a rear picture. Without a trunk lid, this is hard to do so I came up with the idea of using the skin of a lid I had. I painted it with some sample red paint I had bought for trial and them I laid it in position and took several pictures. Not too bad I might add. The plate material is in a letter and will be mailed tomorrow. I don't want to miss another cruise year! Hopefully the lid and the fin will be on the car by the time the plate gets here. I also have the Tach in the house and am going to Doug's to test it on his car. I might have to try to take it apart to trouble shoot it. Lastly, I went for a ride yesterday to the end of the road to see if it would make it. Everything seems fine but the speedometer is reading too high. I bought another drive gear for it last year but will have to researsh this first. Just a note. When I filled the plate info in, I had to send the owners certificate. It says the date of purchase is June of 2005. I guess Cara was right about "5 Years".

Why me Lord? Why me?

Well, after trying to get the lights to work, I gave up for awhile (after I broke another switch). I did get the windshield installed and all the window trim, including the wipers, rearview mirror, the color vinyl on the top windshield frame and the sunvisors. For the most part, the car is done from the windshield forward. I installed all four side windows, several times I might add, but they look pretty good now. I have a slight problem with the seal between the windows on the passenger side. I also put my CD player in and it sounds great. I've installed the door and rear panels which took me several times to align. I think I have them where I want them now since I want to concentrate on the interior so I can get it finished. I also have put in the floor sound deadoner, the carpet and the console and gear shift. Today (3-22-10) I worked on the interior lights since I couldn't get them to shut off (they had been OK but I wasn't sure what I did to them). Finally found that I used the ground wire for the courtesy lights as a ground for the glove box light. The switch was grounded through the dash frame and this can't be in the courtesy light circuit. WRONG!!! After installing the rear seat for the last time (probably 8th time), I had to take it out again, along with the passenger rear panels to trouble shoot the rear courtesy lights. Finally got all of them working. Also installed the airhandler that attaches under the dash. After today, I am BEAT!!! The last thing I did was what I was hoping I would get done and that was the front seats. I drivers went in perfect but the passenger was a problem. "Stupid is as stupid does"! Make sure the seat rails are in the same lock holes, otherwise the seat is crooked and there is no way in H*** that you can beat it into place! OK for the good stuff. Now, it seems that I should have paid more attention when I welded the quarter panels in place. I didn't get enough lower curvature where the bumper wraps around the sides. THE BUMPER HITS THE SIDE OF THE CAR!!!!! I might leave the refitting for the last project. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that my tachometer doesn't work now also! SHI*

Good things come to those who wait! (Sometimes)

Well, I've had the car at home for a while now and am making some progress. I put the rims and tires, door handles and locks, the front valance with the turn signals and parking lights back on, the hood, taillights, mirrors, fender opening mouldings, "GTO" emblem behind the front wheels (I cut the adjoining piece of metal holding the letters together and used 2 sided tape), blew out the dust from within the gauges and installed the front bumper with the fold-away lights. The light switch (third one) quit working when I installed the fold-aways so I took it apart and fixed it. Also I tried to polish the scratches out of the windows but that didn't work so I took them into Butler and got a tint put on them. I also got some vinyl from the convertible man to do the top of the windshield frame. After I fixed the light switch, I now have a problem with the vacuum. According to my test gauge, the engine is low on vacuum which points to the ignition timing. This would cause the engine to be low on vacuum, not letting the fold-aways function properly so I am going to look at that tomorrow. Coming up will be the window installation and the windshield area, I hope!