1989 C4 Functional Restoration

[SirReal63]

Ive never been a fan of Corvettes, but I can appreciate all your hard work and knowledge that went into your restoration--Plus I love a good build thread! Sub'd

I was always a fan of the older Vettes, after the C4 I lost interest in them. The C4 was such a ground breaking car, it destroyed everything in stock form. Banned from SCCA showroom stock class and had to have it's own race for a few years until the rest of the world caught up.

 

[SirReal63]

I decided to focus on the hood the past couple of days as I knew it was not in great shape. I bought a new heavy cut pad and compound from Menzerna as I was running low on 105 and only had one old cheap heavy pad from SPTA. Surprisingly the cheap pad was courser than the new pad and cut faster.

New Menzera heavy pad on the left and old SPTA pad on the right, same Menzerna 1000 compound.

I have been using Maguires for a few decades and had really no complaints but I was ready to try something different. After considering more brands than anyone should have to I gave the Menzerna line a try and I will be using their products from now on. Unlike the 105/205 compounds this doesn't dry fast, doesn't cake up and clog the pads and removes easily. It has no silicones and works fast, because it doesn't dry fast you end up using way less product and pads last longer before needing to be cleaned. Sometimes change is good.

The difference between one pass with the heavy cut and 5000 grit paper. Compound on the left...

I was/am really concerned with the thickness of the clear on the hood, my paint depth meter does not work on fiberglass so I am flying completely blind. There are some scratched that I am justnot going to worry about, they look like a cat slid down the hood at some point. I could absolutely sand them out but the danger of blowing through the clear is just too high. I will live with them. The rest of the pics are all of the hood.

First pass with the heavy pad on the hood which was lightly sanded with 2000-5000 before the compound.

I used a LED light for the next shots and learned it doesn't work quite same with metallic as it does with solid colors. I had to try and hold the light exactly the same in relation to the camera to get it to show the differences. All of these are about the same spot with about the same angle. This was a progression from the 1000 compound to 2500 to 3800.

The flash really brings out the metal flake.

The cat scratch area. It bothers me but you really have to look for it to find it.

These are various overhead shots in progression from the 1000 compound to the 3800. Pay attention to the light in the lower center, the rest are off angle photograph blurry, dang metal flake.

Frontal shots, it came out better than I had expected. I will still go over this with swirl remover which should brighten it up a little.

Now I have to make the rest of the car look at least as good as the hood, my poor arms. lol

 

[SirReal63]

The pressure is on since I did this car with spray cans, it is direct reflection on me (pun intended) if it looks like crap when I am done.

I am mostly surprised at the hood, it really looked bad before. I am going to have to spray this in the Spring, the color difference, though slight, really bothers me.

Before sanding and with only one pass with 105, very hazy with no clear definition.

After buffing, the white horizontal lines are actually the roof joists above it, the reflections are wild. The color did darken slightly but I don't think it is enough, I will know the next time it goes outside.

I has been a daily task, I could only run the buffer a few hours a day as the vibrations give my hands fits. I could only hand sand an hour or two at a time with an hour or so break in between.

 

[SirReal63]

A small update but I have been busy with sanding and priming. The car had an annoying gap between the passenger side hood and the bumper cover. It bothered me but there were so many other things to do I left it alone. It became more of a priority while buffing out the hood so I decided to dig into it.

The problem, I cannot believe I never took a good pic of this...

I found all of the nuts/bolts/shims that make up the alignment and made them all loose enough to move the bumper cover around. I could get it pulled mostly into place but when I moved it down it also moved it out, making a large gap. I removed the 3 shims, 2-thick and one thin and that made it way too close, so I added the shims back one at a time, one thick and one thin made it the right gap. Putting the shims back in was more than just hard, it was almost impossible with everything attached. I improvised a skinny hand to help guide the shims into place, a piece of mono-filament fishing line taped to the shims which were also taped together. This worked beautifully as I could maneuver them into place on top of the studs they fit on. There was no way to do this with everything attached.

The alignment is not perfect, but it is the hood sitting low on the passenger side. I will add the correct shims once I gather some, for now it will work just fine. I am not sure I can make the gap consistent across the length of the bumper cover, there does not appear to be enough adjustment across that length to correct it. Perhaps if I remove the entire cover I can shim each little bolt along the length to get it closer but after seeing what all has to be done to remove the cover it has become a low priority item. I have bigger fish to fry first.

 

[SirReal63]

On to bumper "repair". I have no idea why someone previously tried to smooth out the rear bumper. Whatever filler they used was applied too thick and appears to have shrunk which caused the paint issues. I chipped out all of the filler and paint, sanded it smooth and discovered a couple small high spots and a couple low spots on an otherwise smooth and flat bumper cover. There were a few deep (ish) scratches that got sanded and filled with the UV putty after priming. In reality this bumper cover isn't in bad shape but the previous repairs were not done very well and overdone for no reason I can find. I used a stainless 12" ruler to check for high and low spots and got them back almost perfect. I don't expect perfect here, there is no reason to shoot for that on this car.

There were also some cracks under the license plate that look like some used it as a step but they do not go all the way through the cover but they did crack the numerous layers of paint. For fun, count the paint layers.

I sanded down enough that I could fill the cracks and sand most of it out. This repair should last as long as no one uses it as a step.

The front passenger side in process. I thought I took more pics of this in process but I did not.

Primer applied and sanded. I went with epoxy primer instead of urethane primer. I read the pros and cons of each and in the end settled on the epoxy. I hope it wasn't a mistake but then again I would say the same if I went with urethane as either appear to work and/or fail.

First dusting of paint...

 

[SirReal63]

Bumpers painted...

Clear going on...

I had managed to burn through the clear in one tiny spot on the trunk where a gnat had landed area so I shot it again. It is sanded down here and somehow I worked right through it without taking more pics, though they are not needed, I boo boo'd and had to fix it. It is embarrassing to make a mistake but I did and that is what learning is all about.

The sanding was not fun, I did it mostly by hand as the courser grits can pigtail. This was after everything was roughed in to 2000 and then 3000 grit.

Finally down to 5000 grit...

I am currently buffing but am taking my time with it, the vibration really messes with my arms.

 

[SirReal63]

Paint conclusion (mostly) and pic heavy.

I am mostly done with paint for now. I still need to work on the bumpers, they will need another coat of paint to get closer to the color of the rest of the car. Since I applied to paint over a light colored primer it did make the final color lighter. This was intentional and desired on the front where the bumper top meets the lighter in shade hood. I made it too light for a good match but it is easier to add paint to darken than to remove. The rear is actually close but there is a metal flake direction issue where one spot got too much paint at once and the flake rose up, an easy fix but I did not catch it. The car is buffed and the reflections are ridiculous and difficult to photograph the repair areas, or any close up shots of the paint. It is like trying to photograph the silver backing of a mirror, all you see are reflections.

I did body color the door handles and pin escutcheons. It was a small gamble as the pin escutcheons are easily removed to paint back to black and the door handles can be easily masked. I actually like it, I was afraid I would not, but I do, it looks cleaner to me. I put a lot of clear on them in hopes of protecting them from scratching and may also use some 3M Clear Paint Protection Film on the escutcheons to keep the pins from scratching them as easily. I think they turned out OK but the the recess they fit in makes it look like a halo around them in photos from the flake direction change, they eye doesn't see it the same.

The handles and escutcheons in process and finished...

The rear bumper repair in process and all buffed out...

 

[SirReal63]

Some outdoor shots of the mostly finished product...

The goal was a 10 to 20' improvement and I surpassed that I believe. There are some areas that need refinement of the paint as some small scratches are visible at the right angle but that can be done after I recuperate. Once everything has cured in a few months I will probably go over the whole car again with the varying grits of compound and refine any remaining imperfections missed this time around.

I cannot complain, the before and after shots tell a story...

It has taken me a year to get to this point, so much done and still so much to do.

The partial list for the next year...

Finish the bumper paint to get a better match.
Replace A/C Condenser and hoses and get that system back in order.
Drop exhaust to wrap it and replace temp gauge wire that is burned and corroded.
Refinish the stock 89 wheels and get them back on the car.
Replace the ECM with a better system that is far more user friendly to get the idle correct. Either Holley or FiTech or other.
Replace shocks and possibly springs. The car sits too low at about 26.5" to bottom of fender well. I scrape on everything.
Replace the leather on footwell with the correct carpet as I found I can buy just the pieces I need.
Replace steering wheel.
Replace heads and cam after ECM is on the list but still investigating the right combo.
Replace headlights.
Take several mini vacations.

I am sure there is a lot more but so far that is the main items on the list.

 

[SirReal63]

I took a pic on an overcast day before the rain came. It does photograph better in the shade without bright sun on it and shows the color better. The hood is still obviously a lighter shade but the rest on the same plane is consistent, though the reflections still make it hard to show the color match. I'll take it and be happy with everything but the hood. I commend Paintscratch dot com for getting me consistent colors over 3 orders.

.

 

[SirReal63]

I decided to tackle the hideous Janus shop doors and get them sealed and insulated. This should help with the temps in there this Winter as I hope to be out there more than normal. I learned my lesson with trying to do epoxy work in cold temps, the 24 hour set up time was not going to happen again.

Back in 2016 when I built this place I already knew these doors were horrendous. The top of the doors left a large gap that wind and dust blew through. If I had known just how bad it was I would have made sure we got a better door for the shop. Live and learn and fix what you can. I found the "sealing" kits for these doors but they were ridiculously priced and didn't really help with insulating. Initially it was the large gap at the top that was the pressing issue.

The problem as seen from the outside looking up from 2016, that plays into the recent fix...

The problem as seen from the inside over the door looking down, this is what I need to be able to seal enough to stop the wind from blowing into the shop. The problem is the size of the rolled up door changes when it is rolled up as opposed to rolled down so the sealer has to be flexible, able to adapt to the changing door size and seal when the door is down, and it has to last since I will have limited access once the ceiling is up.

The solution was to cut strips of 2" polyester batting like is used in seat cushions, not the loose stuff but the solid formed stuff. With the door down I measured how much would be needed to fill the space, slightly compressed, and cut it to fit and used a ripped 2x4 with metal screws to hold it down. Because the stuff is very flexible it pulls up out of the way when the door is open and the ribs in the door pull it down to fill in the void when the door is down.

Inside looking down...

Outside looking up...

The space is filled, will block the wind from blowing in and is hidden from view outside unless you are standing at the door looking up. It does not stop all air infiltration, but that wasn't the goal, these doors aren't sealed in any way, especially on the edges so I didn't worry about trying to make it a weather tight seal. This has met the need and the stuff should last decades.

Back to the present, the fix from above did stop the wind, dust and birds from getting into the shop but did nothing to help with the air leakage on the sides and temp exchange from only a thin piece of metal between the sun/cold and the shop. I had considered using Frost King on the interior of the door, but since this is a roll up door, anything added to make it thicker will also make the size of the drum larger when rolled up, that is an issue for obvious reasons. I decided to insulate the doors in a different way, 1" foam insulation and a wooden frame and I could block off the metal from being directly connected to the interior space. There is a wooden frame around the Janus doors from being framed in for 10' ceilings. I cut the foam to fit tightly around the bottom and sides of the wall framing, this gives me a good weather seal from wind getting around the door sides and bottom. I used removable pin hinges to make it so the doors can be removed if and when needed. It came out as I expected, the wood frame is panel bonded and sandwiched between two layers of wood to keep it together. There is already a huge comfort difference in the shop.

A knife latch and cane bolt keep it securely in place.

 

[SirReal63]

I bought the parallel flow A/C condenser several months back and now was a good time to install it. I had to have a small leak somewhere in the system but my R134 sniffer could not detect it, I checked everywhere but the condenser as I could not get to it when it was all buttoned up. My UV dye detector was mostly useless as it lights up all over the place around the system. Time to replace the condenser which also lit up under the UV light, I suspect the leak is there.

These are marketed a direct fit but in reality they are not, the issue is the rubber grommets they fit into to hold them in place. The size and shape of the attachment ends of the new condenser is very much different than the original equipment. I knew going in this was the case but the benefits to the efficiency greatly outweigh the minor adjustments to the rubber.

The problem, shape and overall size...

The old...rounded off and overall height less than the new...

In order to make a proper fit you need to not only make the rubber accept a rectangular piece but you also need to account for the height difference. At first I tried to just hog out the rubber to fit and I got it close but not really close enough, this rubber is at least 36 years old and not really that pliable. (The nibs that are supposed to hold it in place were either missing of bent and deformed so much there was no straightening them. I don't think they are needed as the cavities the rubber fits into securely holds it in place.)

I could see the bottom was too thick but did not have a clean way to remove it. I decided I could cut all of the bottom out, trim off the excess and glue it back where it came from. This was easily achieved with an old wood chisel heated up enough to push right through the rubber. It worked so easily!

Once the bottom/top was removed I simply had to remove enough material to make it fit properly without having to crank down too much on the top cover that holds all of this together. Since this piece has a curve in it on both the top and bottom pieces I duplicated the curve in hopes it would help add enough pressure to the condenser to hold it securely.

All trimmed and glued back together.

The final product, nice and level and the top fit on like it is supposed to.

I recharged the system and dash temp came right down to 40 degrees, it was 80 degrees in the shop so that is a 40 degree delta, I just hope it stays that cold when it is 105 outside.

The vents switch correctly between defrost, bi-level and dash. I still have the rebuild kit for the controller but will not try and fix it as it isn't broken yet, the vacuum hose refurb seems to have fixed the issue of blowing out all vents at once. Time will tell of course. If it loses charge again I am going to replace the compressor, it appears to be original or replaced long ago and the UV lights it up all around it, except where the hoses connect, and the hoses, crimps and connections do not light up. If I replace the compressor I will replace the hoses as well.

 

[SirReal63]

I don't think the car will ever be "done". With that said, it has been drivable for most of the past year, and has been driven. I have a list of what I still want to do in 2025...

Drop exhaust to wrap it and replace temp gauge wire that is burned and corroded.
Refinish the stock 89 wheels and get them back on the car.
Replace the ECM with a better system that is far more user friendly to get the idle correct. Either Holley or FiTech or other.
Replace shocks and possibly springs. The car sits too low at about 26.5" to bottom of fender well. I scrape on everything.
Replace the leather on footwell with the correct carpet as I found I can buy just the pieces I need.
Replace steering wheel.
Replace heads and cam after ECM is on the list but still investigating the right combo.
Replace injectors as appropriate for use with heads/cam.
Replace headlights.
Re-paint hood to match the rest of the car more closely.

With a total of 7 owners in its life, there has been a lot of deferred maintenance that will be done as time allows. I have no idea what I will do next, probably shocks and see if I can schedule a dyno day at a semi-local shop. This car really runs better than it should and I want to establish a baseline to decide if I really want to do heads and cam. I have no idea if anything was done when the block was changed other than the tune being messed with, hence the 1050 rpm idle, which really drives me nuts. I haven't done anything to the car in the past week. I am currently fixing the clutch on the Suzuki Carry and when that is done I am going to insulate the rest of the shop. The car will have to take a break from being worked on.

 

[SirReal63]

I had been fighting a high idle since I bought the car, no matter what I did, it would idle at 1050 rpms. A good friend suggested checking out the ECM and making sure it had not been changed, this poor old car has been messed with a lot, different block, wrong year intake etc. Sure enough, someone replaced the correct Memcal with this one. It does have an 89 6 speed 3.33 rear end ratio ECM but it is not the correct one, it is some "custom" memcal that for whatever reason had the idle set to 1050 rpms. Who would do that to an otherwise stock engine? If it had too large of a cam I can see raising the idle but the cam seems to be a stock Vortec cam which is almost identical to the L98 cam.

After a year of beating my head against a wall I replaced it with a stock APYP memcal and everything works as intended. The idle is now correct, minimum idle set, TPS and IAC set and base idle set. A shout out to Brian at TunedPerformance for helping me get the correct memcal and his guidance, as well as those in the Tech/Performance section of this site for the education.

This has bought me some time before I need/want to replace the ECM or do any performance related upgrades. The car runs fine for now and I will enjoy what it has to offer in stock form for the time being.

I really haven't done anything else to the car since my last post as I have been working on Suzuki Carry clutch and other issues. I doubt anyone wants to see that fiasco but a word of caution, if you buy a vehicle designed to be used on Mainland Japan and you are not Japanese sized, these vehicles can kick your butt. I fit in the cab to drive it (barely), but I do not fit upside down under the dash and that has made it tough.

 

[SirReal63]

That brings me up to today. I have had a blast the past 14 months of working on this car. I have learned a lot, spent very little money and have my actual blood on most parts of this car. I had always been told you cannot paint a car with spray cans piecemeal and get a good consistent paint job. I had no intention of painting this whole car, just the doors needed it but as usual the project snowballed into painting the whole car, minus the hood, for now. I will revisit some areas where I skimped too much and get them sorted out better.

The car does not need to be faster but the 240hp and 335 ft. lbs. of torque needs some improvement. The low end torque is fun, it pulls like a freight until 4500 rpms but falls on it's face after that, all due to the TPI long runner intake. For a street car this is ok and I do not want to change that, but I do want more in the rpm range it has to operate in. Better heads and a cam designed to improve the overall hp and tq below 5k is on the list. I can still get better runners for the TPI to help boost the numbers

 

[SirReal63]

I hope everyone is having a great New Year, we have and it has been a busy one so far, just not a lot to show yet we are exhausted every day.

I have a small update, not much has been happening with the car, I have been working on things that have been put off around the property. The Suzuki Carry now has a functioning clutch so that is a big one off the list. I have insulated the shop and covered the walls in OSB and I can now keep it from freezing inside. While it wasn't hard to do, it meant clearing off 10 years of collected junk, finishing wiring and installing exterior lights and adding Cat6 for future CCTV needs. I managed to get it all done the week before the big freeze came and with one 1500 watt heater it kept the 40x20x10 shop at 50 degrees over night. I still have the South wall to finish up and a whole lot of organizing to do. Other than the obvious need for insulation my hopes is it will keep some of the dust down as well.

In process...

The filler neck boot needed to be replaced, it was hard as a rock, split and cracked and didn't drain properly. I didn't clean this area after the respray as I knew I needed to replace the boot. I had to cut this boot out, it would not bend at all.

Since I had the boot off I went ahead and pulled the fuel pump to inspect it and the tank condition. This seemed wise considering the questionable Bubba "fixes" found all over the car. I am glad I did this, it was filthy under that broken boot. The top of the tank, I suppose it could be worse.

A while back I had purchased a Carter fuel pump to have on hand in case whatever was in the car went bad. It was inexpensive and a decent quality and was meant as an emergency backup. I have no idea what brand pump this is, I found nothing on this part number. It still works but it will now be the emergency pump as I put the Carter pump in. I had bought a new gasket when I got the new boot

The filler neck/flange was pretty rusty and warped. I have no idea how this didn't leak. I de-scaled the rust, hammered the flange back to as straight as I could and treated it with Ospho to convert the rust. I am going to get a replacement on order so I have it.

The inside of the tank was surprisingly clean. I expected a lot more debris than this but I fished out what little I could see/find and started re-assembly.

All "cleaned up" and back in place. I had considered painting this but since I plan on replacing it before long I left it.

If you have ever replaced this boot then you already know how difficult it is to get the drain nipple into the boot. I heated it up to about 130 degrees in hot water and was still unable to push the nipple in. I needed a better way than using my hands. Using a couple 1/4" extensions I was able to put enough force on the nipple and it also allowed me to wiggle it as needed to get it to slide into place. This one task was the the hardest part of this whole install.

All finished up, cleaned and ready for the next task.

The paint is looking OK but after a couple of washes I can see the areas that need more buffing. I have not waxed the car, mainly because I know it needs more buffing and it would be a waste of wax. I hope to get back to buffing in the next few weeks, that is after I finish getting the shop done. That is more of a priority as I am having a difficult time remembering where stuff is located since it is not where it belongs.

 

[SirReal63]

I trust everyone is staying warm.

It has been cold/wet then warm/wet and now hot and will be cold again in a week or so. I am waiting on parts and it was too cold to work on buffing and honestly, I don't feel like buffing at the moment. Let's see what else we can do to advance the plan.

The hood lights have never worked, I didn't know if it was the mercury switches, burned bulbs or bad wiring. I went over the wiring, everything looks great and is intact. I pulled the glass cover off the driver side and found the bulb smoked, not just bad but smoked inside with a nice white and black reside. I pulled out the meter and found no electricity at the bulb connections so I pulled the housing out of the hood and did have electricity to the housing. I figured it was either a bad switch or connection between the switch and the bulb connector. It was the switch to bulb connector. It has been my plan to bypass the mercury switch and install a weather resistant push button switch, so that is what I did.

Driver side housing out, the perfect place for a switch found and hole drilled. this side gave me a false sense of hope, the housing was nearly perfect, no burn through just dirty.

The passenger side was a different story, it was trashed. I looked at buying a new housing but was quickly dissuaded from doing that, the price for ones not in the same condition as mine was atrocious, but understandable. The ones in a price I was willing to pay needed work as well. I guess I better repair this one. This is a big hole with nothing to support the connector, I think I can "fix" this..

I started with some GH1200 Super Glue (fantastic stuff) in both 100cps and 1500cps. The 1500cps is thick and worked well to hold things in the correct position long enough to allow the thin to work. The center section beneath the bulb was crispy and fell out. The super glue is just to hold things into place and absorb into the charred areas. The thin superglue did absorb into it and gave it a little structure back. I will need some epoxy to give the area some strength back to the housing where the bulb connectors are.

Now that the superglue has cured overnight it is time to epoxy everything. The jumper wire around the mercury switch also held the connector in place while the superglue dried. The driver side got this same jumper to bypass the mercury switch.

Both housings got a coat of semi-gloss white paint since the original silver had worn away. I know this will do very little with the LED's but it made me feel better doing it. I had considered using the mylar inside of a potato chip bag adhered to the sides for a reflective surface but that was more work than I wanted to do on lights that may never be used and was certainly overkill. I did remove both mercury switches, I put them in a baggie with the other original items I have removed from the car that no longer have a function.

So did it work?

It worked great! The epoxy after a couple days of curing was more than hard enough to not bend or flex when I put the bulbs in. If you have ever taken these bulbs out, then you know how stiffly they fit into the connectors, it takes a good bit of force to get the bubs in. Each side is independently controlled though I did consider putting both light on the driver side switch. I can live with the inconvenience of clicking each on if needed.

I printed every receipt I have for everything bought for the car so far. I am hesitant to tally it up but did it since it is easier to keep a folder of receipts than it is to scrounge them up before selling a car. My hesitation in tallying up what has been spent is mainly I don't want to know because there is more to be spent this year. If I know what is in it so far it may keep me from doing the big ticket items I have planned.

So what's next? Once the other pair come in next week I will be doing these as well as a lot of clean up and preventative maintenance.

 

[SirReal63]

Time to tackle yet more deferred maintenance though I did not get as much done as I had planned. I decided long ago to replace the shocks and it was absolutely the right decision. The Bilstein's on it are most certainly original and completely blown. They came off easily enough and I managed to score a pair of KYB front shocks for $23.79 each from a Rock Auto close out, this was just one of their suppliers, they are still carrying the KYB shocks. I had ordered the rear shocks from Amazon but they were "lost" in shipment with too much finger pointing. After waiting 8 days for an actual shipping notification I ordered them from Rock Auto, they should be here tomorrow. I tried to save a few bucks and it cost me time and money in the end.

While changing out the front shocks I noticed the brake hoses were just like all of the vacuum lines, they rubbed black junk all over my hands. I did not want to believe these were original 36 year old brake lines but they appear to be. They still have remnants of the GM numbers on them, which rubbed off on my fingers when I tried to clean them up enough to take a pic of the part number. I was disappointed, no, stunned when I looked at them closer. Yikes!

I promptly ordered a set of front and rear of ACDelco hoses. The fronts are done. This gave me a chance to remove some old brake fluid. I gravity bled the hoses by placing them vertical until fluid ran out and then connected them to the calipers and let them gravity bleed until new clean fluid came out. The rears will be done when I do the rear shocks next week. Since I had everything apart already, I cleaned up where I could and where it made sense. Cleaning the front made sense, it is visible and easier to keep clean than the rear. I may go back and get it all a little cleaner, I will have time as it will rain some next week. I did not clean the rear, at least for now, it will take a lot more work and the pressure washer to get it reasonably clean. Cleanliness will be fleeting as live about 1/3 of a mile down a dirt road, nothing stays clean for long.

The front filth.

The rear.

Cleaner but not perfect. I treated the rusty rotors with some Ospho but I am going to replace these in the near future, they also appear to be original or very old.

Since I am playing the parts waiting game again I decided to cover the ABS wires. The original covering is long gone. The braided loom will get dusty, I know that but it is what I had.

I have been looking for something to tidy up wire connectors, specifically where the wire enters the connector. I have used the braided loom all over the engine bay and 3M tape tends to come loose with the heat. I had considered Tessa Tape but it doesn't really stretch. When I added to the CCTV I bought some some fusing silicone tape. It works great to seal up outdoor ethernet connections and really does fuse together when stretched and wrapped around itself. I gave it a shot, you can see it on the ABS wiring shots above. Here it is around engine bay connectors, alternator and A/C low pressure switch. I hope it holds up but I won't rally be disappointed if it doesn't as it is pretty hostile in the engine compartment.

While looking over the wheel speed sensor I found this for a connector on the frame rail. The good news is the o-ring survived.

The passenger side is still intact but I am going to try and "fix" this connector and ensure it makes contact as I doubt it is functioning correctly as it. (I really need to pressure wash the whole engine bay, that is embarrassing.)

Hopefully part 2 of the shock/brake line mess will happen next week. I have been greasing zerks as I find them, everything has taken grease and very little old grease came out.

No, I am not going to clean the rear suspension next week. It is way too bad for a spit shine and will need to be taken out, jacked up, rear wheels removed and given a really good pressure wash. I cannot really do that in the shop. The wheel wells need some serious attention, I know they will not stay clean but they really need a bath to get a few decades of grime off of them.

 

[SirReal63]

I had to take a little time off from my normally scheduled activities, the wife tried to have a stroke on me. Three large clots, two in her legs and one in her lung that was was pressing on her heart enough to restrict bloodflow, she lost feeling and control over her right arm and we made a mad dash to the E.R.. She is all better now, almost back to 100% but it has been a tense few weeks. I have had all of the daily chores until last week which left me little time for anything, well, I did get some parts on order and did work on shop organization a little.

The brakes and shocks are all wrapped up. I will say this to anyone trying to decide if they should replace their 36 year old shocks, do it, don't even think about it. This car has always been really low to the ground, it did not ride bad, but it did drag on everything which limited where I could go out here. I could never take the car to my best friends house, his driveway has enough of a crown in the middle and ditches on the side that I would have drug or high centered before getting there. Ground to fender measurements were 26-1/2" rear and 26-1/4" in the front with the old and completely blown stock shocks to 27-1/2 in the rear and 27-1/4 in the front. You may not think 1" would not make much difference but it was huge, not just from the height change but the bounce change. I no longer bottom out everywhere and can make it to my friends house with no problems now. The full weight of the vehicle rode on the springs before, the shocks did nothing and that isn't good.

It looked better being 1" lower before but that doesn't matter too much, it is much better to drive being a little higher. My cross brace may stay in decent condition now.

I did replace the disintegrated ABS connector. I found a round "weather resistant" 2-pin connector and spliced it in. The only thing I still need to do is make it fit the stock holder securely, I have some grommets that should fit perfectly but I have to find them first.

Time to make this better.

That's better.

I ordered a little piece of UHMWP to revisit one of those things I wish I had done better. It will take a little milling to make it right but I will be ready the next time I have the interior out. The car shifts fine but getting into first feels like it needs about 1/4" more throw, it just doesn't feel as solid of an engagement as the rest of the gears. I suspect an alignment issue with the round stock I replaced the missing shifter bushing with I have enough material to make many of these bushings so I have room to play with fitment.

I have a slight drip in my power steering system. I say slight because it doesn't drip on a daily basis, but it certainly has a leak somewhere and has for a long time. Sadly, it is not in a very friendly place to access and these pics are after I cleaned it from above, well, I did try but it will need a whole lot more cleaning to find the leak.

I am going to start with hoses as I suspect they are ancient, even if they are not the issue I will know they are new.

I am collecting parts to re-do the rear speaker setup. I am going to try and fit an 8" Kicker Solobaric in the cubby behind the passenger seat. It will take some creativity but I think it may be the best solution for a sub in a convertible that has no space to spare for a sub box.

I am formulating a plan for painting the hood and touching up a few areas that need it (bumper covers mainly). I am going to spray it, with an actual gun instead of spray cans. It will take a while as I am still researching guns and techniques, I pushed my luck far enough with spray cans and did not really get bit but the hood is a lot of real estate to paint.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I had to take a little time off from my normally scheduled activities, the wife tried to have a stroke on me. Three large clots, two in her legs and one in her lung that was was pressing on her heart enough to restrict bloodflow, she lost feeling and control over her right arm and we made a mad dash to the E.R.. She is all better now, almost back to 100% but it has been a tense few weeks. I have had all of the daily chores until last week which left me little time for anything, well, I did get some parts on order and did work on shop organization a little.

The brakes and shocks are all wrapped up. I will say this to anyone trying to decide if they should replace their 36 year old shocks, do it, don't even think about it. This car has always been really low to the ground, it did not ride bad, but it did drag on everything which limited where I could go out here. I could never take the car to my best friends house, his driveway has enough of a crown in the middle and ditches on the side that I would have drug or high centered before getting there. Ground to fender measurements were 26-1/2" rear and 26-1/4" in the front with the old and completely blown stock shocks to 27-1/2 in the rear and 27-1/4 in the front. You may not think 1" would not make much difference but it was huge, not just from the height change but the bounce change. I no longer bottom out everywhere and can make it to my friends house with no problems now. The full weight of the vehicle rode on the springs before, the shocks did nothing and that isn't good.

It looked better being 1" lower before but that doesn't matter too much, it is much better to drive being a little higher. My cross brace may stay in decent condition now.

View attachment 452204

I did replace the disintegrated ABS connector. I found a round "weather resistant" 2-pin connector and spliced it in. The only thing I still need to do is make it fit the stock holder securely, I have some grommets that should fit perfectly but I have to find them first.

View attachment 452205

Time to make this better.

View attachment 452206

That's better.

View attachment 452207

I ordered a little piece of UHMWP to revisit one of those things I wish I had done better. It will take a little milling to make it right but I will be ready the next time I have the interior out. The car shifts fine but getting into first feels like it needs about 1/4" more throw, it just doesn't feel as solid of an engagement as the rest of the gears. I suspect an alignment issue with the round stock I replaced the missing shifter bushing with I have enough material to make many of these bushings so I have room to play with fitment.

View attachment 452208


View attachment 452209


View attachment 452210

I have a slight drip in my power steering system. I say slight because it doesn't drip on a daily basis, but it certainly has a leak somewhere and has for a long time. Sadly, it is not in a very friendly place to access and these pics are after I cleaned it from above, well, I did try but it will need a whole lot more cleaning to find the leak.

View attachment 452211


View attachment 452212

I am going to start with hoses as I suspect they are ancient, even if they are not the issue I will know they are new.

I am collecting parts to re-do the rear speaker setup. I am going to try and fit an 8" Kicker Solobaric in the cubby behind the passenger seat. It will take some creativity but I think it may be the best solution for a sub in a convertible that has no space to spare for a sub box.

I am formulating a plan for painting the hood and touching up a few areas that need it (bumper covers mainly). I am going to spray it, with an actual gun instead of spray cans. It will take a while as I am still researching guns and techniques, I pushed my luck far enough with spray cans and did not really get bit but the hood is a lot of real estate to paint.

Sorry to hear about your wife, but thank God you were able to make it to the hospital quick enough.
I've heard good things about the spray guns at Harbor Freight. I've heard quality cant be beat considering the price of the guns.

 

[SirReal63]

Sorry to hear about your wife, but thank God you were able to make it to the hospital quick enough.
I've heard good things about the spray guns at Harbor Freight. I've heard quality cant be beat considering the price of the guns.

Thanks, she is tough, was ready to get back to it after coming home from the hospital, it was the daughter and I that kept her tied down and resting.

For a gun, I am strongly considering an Astro EUROHV as they are very efficient which I need as my compressor is only 21 gallons. The HF gun is still on the list but for just a few dollars more a better gun can be had. The paint is hideously expensive for what it is ($170/QT), I don't want any unexpected quality issues. I have been geeking out on the Paint Society YouTube channel for a couple years which gave me the confidence to do the rattle can. I have been looking at their gun recommendations and the Astro has been high on the low budget list for quite a while.