1989 C4 Functional Restoration

[SirReal63]

I did manage to get something important fixed, the alternator. As mentioned above the 105 stock alternator was giving signs of impending failure. I ordered a PowerMaster 140 amp alternator (47803) as a replacement, it is still a CS130 case and a direct bolt on. I researched and searched how to change the charge cable as a 6 gauge wire is needed for 140 amps up to 6' in length. I found nothing on doing this job and the positive distribution block is buried between the block and the firewall and inaccessible unless the engine is out of the way or you peel the harness out of the "hole". No way I was doing that, and you don't actually need to, you can add a correct gauge wire directly to the battery with an inline fuse for protection. This actually has benefits as the charge from the alternator goes directly to the battery while still feeding the factory harness. Painless Performance sells a kit to do this but I already had most of the needed supplies on hand. I ordered an AMI/Midi 175 amp fuse and holder and got busy.

While I was under the car looking for the other end of the charge cable I decided to fix an old issue that I knew about. The starter lead had about an inch of the insulation missing, as this is a potential direct short to ground I added some thick marine heat shrink tubing to hopefully keep it from ever being a problem. The wire itself is fine, still supple and no green crusties. I need to do the same for the other wires going to the starter but am out of smaller gauge red heat shrink and don't really want to use black.

Installing the alternator is very easy as it is a direct replacement. Powermaster is good enough to include a dedicated ground lug and I used it. While it can ground through the mounting brackets I found on my car it was not really a sufficient ground as the brackets are old and dirty/rusty and the path goes through the head, not the block directly. On my 880 block there is a threaded hole just forward of the exhaust manifold. Nothing was threaded into it so I cleaned out the threads with a tap and found a suitable bolt. I had some Marine tinned 6 gauge wire and tinned copper lugs and made up a short ground directly from the alternator to the block. This will ensure grounding is not an issue.

To the block... (I routed it forward and away from the exhaust manifold, hopefully this wire will not get scorched, there is about 1 to 1-1/2" clearance from the exhaust, though it looks closer from the pic angle.)

To the alternator... (there is a vacuum line in the way but you get the idea)

Alternator installed, wiring ran from charge lug to fuse holder to batter positive post. The OEM charge wire is still in the correct place to feed the vehicle. I will cover the new wire with some chafe protection before long, I need to order some more and will try and find it in red.

The battery compartment is getting a little crowded, I hope to find a weather proof fused or breakered distribution block to tame this mess a little. Getting the positive accessory lug in place is getting difficult to do, too cramped.

After buttoning everything up voltage change is dramatic, at best the old alternator would hit 13.6 volts (not counting the 15.7 with the failing regulator) to 14.5 volts at idle with the new alternator. That's a pretty good change and should make everything that consumes voltage happy without worrying about too high voltage and frying anything. I have not put an amp clamp on it to test actual amperage yet, and may not, the tag that came with the alternator showing their testing was 104 amps at idle which is just a little less than the stock 105 amp should do at speed.

I really need to clean the engine bay again as well as the rest of the car, it is downright filthy.

Edit to add...
The mounting of the fuse holder. This needs to be strong and firmly attached. I attached it to the inner fender as there were already two holes in the right place to use. I mounted the fuse holder to a 1/4" piece of ABS, two machine screws directly to the existing holes and two more that go through the fuse holder, the ABS and then the inner fender. I added a little paint to keep the corrosion down.

 

[SirReal63]

It has been a crazy few weeks In Central Texas, as I am sure most people know. We have received between 15 and 18" of rain since 7-3 and that is more rain than we usually get in a year, about 10" of that came between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on 7-5, I do not have an exact figure, our 5" rain gauge overflowed, fell, broke and was washed town to the gate. We are in between 2 official rain gauges that allowed us an estimate. I will not complain as all that happened to our property is my 400' gravel driveway is now all piled up by the gate. A few miles away in two directions houses were floating down the creeks and lives lost. Our community perseveres.

On a less somber note I did manage to get a little work done on the car in past few weeks. I have known since the day I drove the car home in the rain that the washer fluid did not squirt, te pump ran but nothing came out. After the car was home a few days I added some water to the washer reservoir and when engaged it just emptied the reservoir onto the ground. I have not done anything with it as it was not an issue to be dealt with when there were so many other things to do. Most of the big jobs have been done so I have been doing the little things. The washer pump was next.

It was a little filthy in there, as expected. The reservoir was in perfect shape, the pump appears to be OEM and probably original and even the rubber boot was intact and not hard as a rock.

The pump...I discovered that GM used this same pump from the early 70's until about 1991. The Delco Products cast into the body confused me as I knew AC and Delco merged before this pump was made so I suspect there were a lot of pump bodies cast before the merger or perhaps they chose to not remake the molds for branding. It is still kind of cool. I replaced it with an ACI pump as I could get it quickly. I think I will order a rebuild kit and keep the original on the shelf, the sealing washer was still pliable and intact, it looked like new but was still fused to the rubber boot, I re-used it as the replacement was a bit too thick.

All cleaned up and put back together. While I had it all apart I removed the rust from the bolts and the timing module (can't remember the correct name) painted them and got it all put back together. Before final assembly I tested the pump and it didn't work, it was corrosion on the connector and after a good cleaning it now works as expected. I also replaced all of the washer lines to the wiper arms as they were a little hard

I had mentioned I wanted to put some chafe resistance on the new alternator wire and had ordered some red split techflex but I decided against using it, way too red and it stood out more than I wanted. I covered the wire in black and used red heat shrink on the ends to denote positive. It came out as I hoped and tidied it up nicely.

The next minor task was to put a steering wheel cover over the torn up and wore out wheel. I have gone back and forth over replacing this with a new one. I even tried to get a near perfect condition used one but the seller would not get back to me with better pics. I did this, it is not perfect and wrapping the new leather over the missing portions of the original presented issues with the missing pieces telegraphing through. I almost solved this, almost, by carefully sanding the edges of the original leather/foam/plastic/whatever it is and cutting out some 1/8" dense closed cell foam and filling in the missing area. This worked better than I expected but somehow I missed sanding one spot at about 1:00 and it telegraphed through. I did not notice this until the very end as I started threading at the bottom of the wheel. All in all, I am happy with the outcome, though not perfect, it made a huge difference in the look and feel of the wheel and isn't that noticeable unless you get up close, or sit in the divers seat. I do think I will get some black leather dye and touch up the spokes as they still look beat.

Before...

After...

I have been thinking about what the next major project will be. Other than painting the hood this Fall, I don't think I am going to any of what I had wanted to do to the engine, no heads, cam, exhaust, ECM or intake runners. I have driven it enough to become happy with the performance and even though it is slow it doesn't feel slow and I know all too well the consequences of mission creep and the inevitable reliability issues from too much modding. One thing does lead to another and I can be happy with the stock performance, the car is still fun to drive.

 

[Tonyrodz]

It has been a crazy few weeks In Central Texas, as I am sure most people know. We have received between 15 and 18" of rain since 7-3 and that is more rain than we usually get in a year, about 10" of that came between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on 7-5, I do not have an exact figure, our 5" rain gauge overflowed, fell, broke and was washed town to the gate. We are in between 2 official rain gauges that allowed us an estimate. I will not complain as all that happened to our property is my 400' gravel driveway is now all piled up by the gate. A few miles away in two directions houses were floating down the creeks and lives lost. Our community perseveres.

On a less somber note I did manage to get a little work done on the car in past few weeks. I have known since the day I drove the car home in the rain that the washer fluid did not squirt, te pump ran but nothing came out. After the car was home a few days I added some water to the washer reservoir and when engaged it just emptied the reservoir onto the ground. I have not done anything with it as it was not an issue to be dealt with when there were so many other things to do. Most of the big jobs have been done so I have been doing the little things. The washer pump was next.

It was a little filthy in there, as expected. The reservoir was in perfect shape, the pump appears to be OEM and probably original and even the rubber boot was intact and not hard as a rock.

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The pump...I discovered that GM used this same pump from the early 70's until about 1991. The Delco Products cast into the body confused me as I knew AC and Delco merged before this pump was made so I suspect there were a lot of pump bodies cast before the merger or perhaps they chose to not remake the molds for branding. It is still kind of cool. I replaced it with an ACI pump as I could get it quickly. I think I will order a rebuild kit and keep the original on the shelf, the sealing washer was still pliable and intact, it looked like new but was still fused to the rubber boot, I re-used it as the replacement was a bit too thick.

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All cleaned up and put back together. While I had it all apart I removed the rust from the bolts and the timing module (can't remember the correct name) painted them and got it all put back together. Before final assembly I tested the pump and it didn't work, it was corrosion on the connector and after a good cleaning it now works as expected. I also replaced all of the washer lines to the wiper arms as they were a little hard

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I had mentioned I wanted to put some chafe resistance on the new alternator wire and had ordered some red split techflex but I decided against using it, way too red and it stood out more than I wanted. I covered the wire in black and used red heat shrink on the ends to denote positive. It came out as I hoped and tidied it up nicely.

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View attachment 462559

The next minor task was to put a steering wheel cover over the torn up and wore out wheel. I have gone back and forth over replacing this with a new one. I even tried to get a near perfect condition used one but the seller would not get back to me with better pics. I did this, it is not perfect and wrapping the new leather over the missing portions of the original presented issues with the missing pieces telegraphing through. I almost solved this, almost, by carefully sanding the edges of the original leather/foam/plastic/whatever it is and cutting out some 1/8" dense closed cell foam and filling in the missing area. This worked better than I expected but somehow I missed sanding one spot at about 1:00 and it telegraphed through. I did not notice this until the very end as I started threading at the bottom of the wheel. All in all, I am happy with the outcome, though not perfect, it made a huge difference in the look and feel of the wheel and isn't that noticeable unless you get up close, or sit in the divers seat. I do think I will get some black leather dye and touch up the spokes as they still look beat.

Before...

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After...

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I have been thinking about what the next major project will be. Other than painting the hood this Fall, I don't think I am going to any of what I had wanted to do to the engine, no heads, cam, exhaust, ECM or intake runners. I have driven it enough to become happy with the performance and even though it is slow it doesn't feel slow and I know all too well the consequences of mission creep and the inevitable reliability issues from too much modding. One thing does lead to another and I can be happy with the stock performance, the car is still fun to drive.

I've had quite a few of the tpi motored cars. Very fun to drive, especially with the low end torque. You could always go to siamesed runners and a bigger tb. Maybe some of the older things mods--nothing crazy. That might satisfy your needs. Really fun motors.

 

[SirReal63]

I've had quite a few of the tpi motored cars. Very fun to drive, especially with the low end torque. You could always go to siamesed runners and a bigger tb. Maybe some of the older things mods--nothing crazy. That might satisfy your needs. Really fun motors.

I hear you and agree, in many ways the L98 was the perfect street car engine, gobs of low end torque where you actually need it while cruising it is just missing top end fun.

The car actually runs fine, with the 6 speed and 3:33 gears it will burn rubber through most of 1st with the 275 tires but as expected falls on it's face at 4500 rpm's. I have researched to death improving performance but in the end nothing will change the shape of the power curve, the TPI's resonance makes that impossible. Larger runners, 1.6 rockers, a cam designed to work in the TPI range, better flowing heads, long tubes, etc. all will increase the power in the TPI range but also every one of those mods also means it will need a tune. The only thing that the stock ECM can handle without a tune being needed to make it right is the 1.6 rockers and maybe the larger runners but the stock 113 heads limit any real airflow increases and the stock ECM limits the ability to keep a good/safe AFR with increased airflow.

There are still plenty of people tuning OBD1 but without a dyno on hand it means either doing it by mail repeatedly until it is right or replacing the OEM chip with something like Holley, FiTech or other. By the time all of that is done I would have spend more than double what I have in the car to gain a few hundred HP, then there comes the rest of the driveline needing to be dealt with. The stock ECM doesn't really learn and correct itself, it has a narrow set of parameters it runs in and though they can be changed, it will not do much correcting on it's own.

It ends up being like thinking you are going to replace the trap under your sink and by the time you are done you have re-plumbed the whole house from the snowball effect.

While part of me doesn't really care about the cost of upgrading it, I have been down this rabbit hole before and it was dirty. I will never race the car, it is just a toy to enjoy and it runs well enough for what I use it for and most importantly, it is dependable as it is. I have been kicking this around a lot in past few months, I would like more power but I really don't need more power or the headache that comes with it, and I currently get around 28 mpg consistently on the highway, I would probably lose that. lol

 

[Tonyrodz]

I hear you and agree, in many ways the L98 was the perfect street car engine, gobs of low end torque where you actually need it while cruising it is just missing top end fun.

The car actually runs fine, with the 6 speed and 3:33 gears it will burn rubber through most of 1st with the 275 tires but as expected falls on it's face at 4500 rpm's. I have researched to death improving performance but in the end nothing will change the shape of the power curve, the TPI's resonance makes that impossible. Larger runners, 1.6 rockers, a cam designed to work in the TPI range, better flowing heads, long tubes, etc. all will increase the power in the TPI range but also every one of those mods also means it will need a tune. The only thing that the stock ECM can handle without a tune being needed to make it right is the 1.6 rockers and maybe the larger runners but the stock 113 heads limit any real airflow increases and the stock ECM limits the ability to keep a good/safe AFR with increased airflow.

There are still plenty of people tuning OBD1 but without a dyno on hand it means either doing it by mail repeatedly until it is right or replacing the OEM chip with something like Holley, FiTech or other. By the time all of that is done I would have spend more than double what I have in the car to gain a few hundred HP, then there comes the rest of the driveline needing to be dealt with. The stock ECM doesn't really learn and correct itself, it has a narrow set of parameters it runs in and though they can be changed, it will not do much correcting on it's own.

It ends up being like thinking you are going to replace the trap under your sink and by the time you are done you have re-plumbed the whole house from the snowball effect.

While part of me doesn't really care about the cost of upgrading it, I have been down this rabbit hole before and it was dirty. I will never race the car, it is just a toy to enjoy and it runs well enough for what I use it for and most importantly, it is dependable as it is. I have been kicking this around a lot in past few months, I would like more power but I really don't need more power or the headache that comes with it, and I currently get around 28 mpg consistently on the highway, I would probably lose that. lol

If it was me--now--I'd also leave it as is. Fun to drive--still--and at our ages, reliability in a fun toy is more important then 0-100 times. That's my opinion anyway. In my younger years I learned that unless you're a complete idiot you can't really hurt the things motor, but the transmission--That's another story. I've blown up more then 1 700 R4 lol.

 

[SirReal63]

If it was me--now--I'd also leave it as is. Fun to drive--still--and at our ages, reliability in a fun toy is more important then 0-100 times. That's my opinion anyway. In my younger years I learned that unless you're a complete idiot you can't really hurt the things motor, but the transmission--That's another story. I've blown up more then 1 700 R4 lol.

Agreed, I believe part of the desire to make more power is for the next step or the next large project. I don't really need the power. I bought this car as a project to keep me busy, and it has, though I worked through in the first year what I had intended on taking a couple of years. I found I enjoy fiberglass (SMC) cars, they are so easy to make look good. No rust, my welder stays covered in dust as it isn't needed. I even kicked around the idea of grabbing a 350 short block and slowly making it the engine I want, or even LS swapping it but that is far more involved than most realize and more work then I want to do.

When I decided on one of these cars, I had a rule/desire, 6 speed and L98, no autos or LT1/4 cars. That left me looking only for 89-91 and it had to be in decent mechanical condition. Most of the auto cars have transmission issues, as expected and this makes them cheap to buy. I got what I was looking for though the short block has been replaced with an 880 Vortec block by one of the 6 previous owners.

Dependability is important because although it is a toy, I plan on making a journey with it this year or next year. I want to pack a tent and camping stuff and hit as many KOA campgrounds as I can between here and Calif. It will be tough as there is very little actual cargo space in a convertible, but I believe there is enough if I rough it.

 

[SirReal63]

I did a few more piddling things on the car, all cosmetic and of no real value other than keeping me busy. The car is currently trapped at home because the road going out is in too bad of shape to not scrape the bottom. We need about 30 loads of gravel to fix everything but currently there is a shortage of dump truck drivers and they have about doubled their fee. Our road is private and maintained by those of us who live down it. One of my neighbor owns a gravel pit but it is too far for economical trucking, the road will have to wait a little while though I believe we will be able to straighten the worst spot out enough soon to get the car out safely. 10"+ of rain in 3 hours sure can make a mess of a dirt road.

The deck lid fabric cover on this old car has seen better days, though the top is a newer fabric one the headliner that came with the new/used top was completely trashed so I used the one that original to the car when I put the top on. There are a couple of elastic bands that tie into the top frame and cover the deck lid when the top is up. The elastic on mine was no longer elastically functional. The cloth portion is in very good condition so I decided to replace the elastic. Getting the old off was easy, a single edge razor blade cut the stitching easily and the rest was some type of glue, most likely a contact adhesive. It is a simple 3/4" elastic and to get the length I stretched out the new elastic to the same length as the permanently stretched out old elastic, then I doubled it so I could make it two straps on each side instead of one.

I used WeldWood contact adhesive to affix the new elastic to the cloth cover and used the original vinyl wrapping on the screw attachment end. I really wanted to stitch this together but our machine isn't up to the task. On the fabric end of the elastic I used a little Tesa 51036 cloth harness tape, adhering it with the Weld to firmly affix it it to the elastic and then using the Weld I glued the elastic to the cloth, I clamped it for about 5 days to dry and cure then unclamped it and it is firmly attached. The adhesive really soaked in to the elastic and the cloth and seems more than strong enough. If it comes loose at the fabric in the future I will have to pay someone to stitch it, I am hoping it stays long term.

While all of that in process I decided to touch up the steering wheel a little. I bought some leather/vinyl/plastic coloring balm and made the steering wheel spokes and horn trim black again, covering scratches and faded plastic. It did a good job of coloring everything though I do need to touch up the center of the horn button, it needs another coat, I could not see it with my eyes but the camera flash does. One nice thing about this balm, you can build coats to get a darker color.

Before

After

It did such a good job I did the shift knob as well. The knob was in far worse shape than than the steering wheel but it came out acceptable. I discovered if you don't want it to be shiny after it cures you rub a little of the balm on a cloth and rub it in and it will dry to a matte finish.

I have one spot on the drivers side of the knob I could not adequately fill. It is visible if you look but you can't feel it when the knob is attached to the shifter.

While the knob was off it gave me the opportunity to tackle an annoyance, the gear indicator button is not firmly held in place. The dang thing pops out too easily and most of the time it is in the center console so I don't lose it. I could see no way to attach it correctly, it is probably missing something that holds it in place. I decided to help this stay n place so I built up a little ring of G-Flex around the base of the indicator to allow it to be pressed into place with the sides of the shift knob securing it. I was then able to sand it to a perfect press fit. It still comes out but you now have to actually try to take it out, it won't try and escape any more.

Now that all of that was done it was time to put it all back together, I had the deck lid cover off for a couple of weeks.

The deck lid cover,

And the shift knob

The car, covered in dust but sitting nicely outside.

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I have a few small projects to deal with next, mostly A/C stuff I need to take are of and gathering supplies for the hood repaint.

 

[SirReal63]

It has taken me 21 months to get a proper functioning A/C but I have finally got just that. My own ignorance of how the system is supposed to function prevented me from fixing it correctly and the work arounds with the fans by the previous Bubba and my own Bubba work around did not help.

Granted, it was never a priority so I never took a deep dive, I just skipped over the surface hoping to stumble upon the fix. I took that deep dive and traced out the actual issue. I failed to understand the importance of the fan cooling the condenser and how the system reacts if the condenser isn't cooled.

I could never get the system to trigger the fan when turning on the A/C, so the A/C would only work correctly when the vehicle was in motion or the temp high enough to trigger the fan. The car runs cool, typically under 200F when in motion, so when you come to a stop the fan isn't on and the A/C stops until the temp gets high enough to turn on the fan, then the A/C comes back to life. I was ready to bypass the switch in the high side line that tells the fan to come on but didn't really know how to do that. While checking the system I unplugged the condenser fan switch and was greeting by a lot of green crusties. Thinking this was the issue I cleaned the contacts and the plug and ordered a replacement. When that switch is disconnected the fan is supposed to come on, mine was not, there was a different issue.

I went back to relays to check for power, the front pusher fan relay worked correctly, it is what the previous owner tapped into to trigger the fan on when the key was on and what I used the same way with a lower temp switch in the head. I never really messed with the main fan relay and assumed it was working, I did replace the relay early after I got the car and noted the connector wasn't in bad shape. What I did not do and shame on me, I did not check to see if the main fan relay even had power. It did not and I traced the issue back to the fusible link. Surprise, surprise, it only had power on one side with no visible burns or damage. I did see damage on a different link but voltage was still flowing through it. With closer examination of the main fan link I did see damage on the insulation. I ordered up a couple lengths of fusible link and got to work.

This one still had power going through it, somehow.

This is the one for the main fan, on the underside this is what I found, no voltage went through this and I could not find burn but did see a lot of corrosion just like the one above. It looked like the one above was mouse chewed and this one looks like it was pierced at some point which allowed it to corrode.

I carefully inspected the rest of them and only one had a chafed spot on the insulation, I covered it with liquid tape and added some chafe protection where I could to the others which were still supple. I am going to order a couple rolls of the appropriate gauge link and replace the others, but not just yet.

Taking the battery tray out was it's own issue, the top two bolts that go into the frame were severely rusted/corroded/stuck. It took a while between loosening and tightening with plenty of lubricant to get them out. Once they were out they got wire brushed, given a bath in the ultrasonic cleaner and the captured nuts in the frame cleaned up with a tap. They went back in easily with my fingers and I applied some silver anti-seize on the threads of all 4 of them to hopefully prevent them from getting frozen in the future.

While this was all apart I took the opportunity to replace some of the OEM wire loom, it is all crusty and in bad shape. I tried a different loom than what I used in the other areas, this is much more dense and tightly woven and wraps around the wires more. I will use this stuff more, I like it better.

The old OEM stuff that I dislike, though it did the job for over 3 decades.

The new, I replaced this entire run from the fusible links to where it disappears under the fan shroud.

All buttoned up. I don't like the red loom, though it is rated for 240 °C temps it gives me pause thinking it may catch fire if a fusible link melts, this may be why none was used from the factory. They do make a mica based loom so I may investigate using it, I would feel better with it covered though it has survived where it is since 89 it may just be an issue that isn't an issue.

I have been getting in a lot of tractor time, almost 100,000 pounds of gravel spread on my driveway and the main road is passable with the car now, no scrapes or bottoming out. We still need to put about 30 loads of gravel on the main road but it may have to wait until Fall or Winter, trucking is still an issue, the gravel is free but the trucking is not.

What a fun couple of weeks, it felt good to learn something new and actually fix a problem. After all is said and done the A/C center vents dropped to 40 in 96 degree heat and with the main fan coming on like it should the car got to 186 degrees and stayed there with the hood closed and idling for 15 minutes. Though I usually drive the car with the top down having a working A/C will make the upcoming trip a lot more comfortable as I won't be able to travel with the top down. The new condenser fan switch will go on the shelf, the original works like it should with the green crusties gone. It is embarrassing to realize the only thing really wrong with the A/C was a fusible link, not a sensor, switch or other failed component, just a lack of power to where it is supposed to be. I am just as guilty as the previous owners for not checking power to that relay though there was no visible issues, no one put a meter on that relay to make sure it had power until now. I have no idea how long the A/C was not working on this car, the clutch was stuck solid when I got it so I figure it had been quite a few years with no A/C.

 

[SirReal63]

I have done a little work on the car recently, mostly going back over previous areas that needed more refinement. In this case the passenger door panel, I didn't go to the same level of repair on this as I did on the drivers side when I did the door panels in the past. The divers side was much more broken than the passenger side so I only did a little reinforcement. I should have done both when I had the chance so now I get to go back and fix the passenger side as it rattles a lot.

This is all I did to the door panel initially, it seemed strong enough at the time but it really wasn't.

I did a mixture of repair methods here. The area under the metal clip was broken so I added a plastic repair staple to hold the two pieces together and melted several zip ties into the bottom and the top of the panel and sanded it flush. I then added glass and epoxy to replace the missing plastic and give the whole area back some structure. This was sanded smooth where needed and the holes drilled to fit the metal clip and the top trim.

Metal clip riveted back in place and ready to go back on the door.

Back on the door and no more rattles.

I do need to replace the sweeps some day, though they are still flexible and keep the water out, they are still rubber from 1989 (or older) and do have a couple cracks where they are supposed to bend. This crack was about 4" long and on the inside of the sweep. Since I am not replacing these yet I glued the split back together with some 3M weatherstrip adhesive. Obviously this is not a permanent repair but it will buy me a few years. If you remember I did this on the wheel well weatherstrip where it was split and it has held up somehow.

I have been playing around with the solder in a heat shrink butt connector "Solder Stick" style connectors. The idea intrigues me and the concept is sound, however, it isn't as great as it sounds.

The issue I found is it is easy to get a cold solder joint and from the outside it looks exactly the same as one that flowed correctly. My heat gun with the curved metal shield will get to 500 degrees in less than 10 seconds. The first one I did I used a mini torch on to make sure I got a proper solder flow, this of course burned the heat shrink but the joint is sound. On the next one I used the heat gun for about 30 seconds which looked like a good solid joint. I let it cool down for about 10 minutes and gave it a good pull, it held firm so I then removed the heat shrink and gave it another tug and it came apart with ease. The joint was a cold solder joint and the heat shrink s what held it together. That is not good.

Cold solder joint on the left and proper joint on the right. They look the same but are not.

The cold joint after the obligatory tug with a proper joint on the bottom.

Is this a cold joint or a solid joint?

I was able to get a good solder flow with 45 seconds to a minute of time with the heat gun, this also burned the heat shrink to the point I would not trust it to keep water out. I wasted about a dozen of these with mostly the same results, either a cold joint with intact heat shrink or a solid joint with varying destruction of the heat shrink. A few times it worked as intended with the solder flowing correctly and the heat shrink intact but most of the time it was a bad solder joint being held together by intact heat shrink. I also noticed that the wire insulation took a beating on the ones where the joint was solid, almost every solid joint damaged the original wire insulation.

To be fair, these were not the "Solder Stick" brand, so perhaps the original is vastly superior to the knock off, I cannot say but I am fairly certain that it is almost impossible to know if the joint is solid or cold without removing the heat shrink. I won't be using these for anything critical and if I do use them I will use the mini torch flame and add an additional heat shrink but I really don't think I will use these, I will stay with a traditional crimp/heat shrink connector though I still think the concept is great. There is also the time factor, I can crimp and heat one of normal connectors in less than half the time it takes to get a solid joint with these. Perhaps I will buy a small kit of the "Solder Stick" brand and give those a shot, perhaps I won't.

I need someone to talk me off a ledge, I found a complete 383 short block (880 block) for a fantastic price but I know this a huge rabbit hole as discussed previously.

 

[SirReal63]

I am undecided on the 383, it is such a good deal, 880 long block with Edelbrock heads for $1200. Unfortunately it would mean going down the rabbit hole with changes to the the exhaust, ECM, intake, injectors, ignition and going over an engine without the proper tools to do it right. I haven't been that far into an engine since the 80's, hence my hesitation. If it sells before I decide I am OK with that and told the guy selling it to not wait on me. If he sells it it will make the decision for me.

I know it has been a month since I updated this, I haven't done much until about 10 days ago, other than enjoy the car. I had a faint "thud" in the dash under heavy braking, it has always been there. I now know it has been there since the car was built.

This update will be multi-part as I have way more pics than a single post should have and my verbose nature would require a short story to describe what I did. Better to split into several parts as the work is not completed yet.

The passkey module was never secured to the mounting plate. There are no witness marks on the plastic mounting tabs, it has just been loose in there all of these years. It also appears the dash has never been this far apart, the crash pad screws/nuts/bolts look virginal, no marks other than ones I put on them from taking it apart. Kind of surprising, I suppose the heater core is original to the car, not sure if that should concern me or not.

I did find a loose hex headed sheet metal screw laying in the wiring cluster to the left of the mounting bracket. Perhaps it was the end of the day or the line was moving too fast and someone decided it was no big deal. One thing continues to amaze me, the cleanliness of the dash components. A convertible would logically have more exposure to the elements and dust/debris than a coupe would. There is a little dust on the upper layers but the wiring is fairly pristine.

Since I had the dash this far apart I figured now would be a good time to repair a lot of plastic cracks and age related issues as well as a good time to make the crash pad go away and replace the leather with carpet on the tunnel. This has been a massive project in time and detail and I am not done yet.

Carpet...I ordered a sample of ACC Cognac (from a dealer, not direct) to see how good of a color match it would be. It is not an acceptable color match at all. I tried fluffing the fibers in all directions and it way too light no matter what I did. This will not work and it is too expensive to buy then use the MAMO dye/paint to change the color to what it should be. They dealer understood and used the pics I sent him to see if he can find a better match in bulk since I can cut it to the correct shape as I have a piece of the unburned original.

Since I had the dash all apart I decided to glue back the original knee bolster carpet as it had come loose in the middle of it and it was easy enough to finish removing it, clean it and contact adhesive it back into the proper place. The OEM glue crumbled right off with very little work.

While everything was apart I tackled another issue, the shifter boot. The original nubs that mount it were long gone and the previous Bubba had taped it into place. I had wanted to fix it instead of taping it and with the help of Mark Mirrock I was able to see what was supposed to be there and what was missing and broken off. Since the 89 six speed shifter plate is one year only and not reproduced and if I managed to find another one it would probably be in as bad of overall condition as the one I have is. I can fix the existing one, now that I see how it is supposed to work.

The "fix" was easy, I had some Ford/Dorman 74410 window regulator plugs left over from years ago, they are a medium hard urethane. I cut two of them in half and epoxied them to the shifter boot plate. Once the epoxy had cured for a few days I drilled an appropriate hole in each for the shifter plate screws. I will now be able to securely hold the boot into place.

I had to trim the boot around the holes and then I used contact adhesive to put it back into place.

I decided to get the flat plate to replace the crash pad from MAMO. It arrived quickly and in perfect condition except it isn't smooth, it is textured. Not a small unobtrusive texture but a deep and decidedly different texture from the other slight textured dash/console pieces. I couldn't leave it like that, it would stand out as obviously out of place. I was already fixing the broken corners and missing pieces from the rest of the dash plastic trim so I decided to sand the texture off so it would be smooth. The corners of the vent cutout were difficult to get the texture off of so after sanding the high spots off I used the Colad UV putty to fill the texture in.

Obviously now the color will not match but it didn't really match as it came with the heavy texture.

The repairs on the rest of the dash plastic also meant they would no longer be shiny plastic so I knew I would have to paint them. I don't consider painting them to be a big issue, and I will make them matte since the glossy scratches so easily. I have painted interior auto plastic before, I did it on the trim on my 97 Firebird and it held up for over 20 years, it still could holding up but I haven't seen that car in a while. I know I can make it last, it is all in the prep and paint selection. The paint/clear of today is superior for plastic painting than it was in 2000.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I am undecided on the 383, it is such a good deal, 880 long block with Edelbrock heads for $1200. Unfortunately it would mean going down the rabbit hole with changes to the the exhaust, ECM, intake, injectors, ignition and going over an engine without the proper tools to do it right. I haven't been that far into an engine since the 80's, hence my hesitation. If it sells before I decide I am OK with that and told the guy selling it to not wait on me. If he sells it it will make the decision for me. View attachment 468533

I know it has been a month since I updated this, I haven't done much until about 10 days ago, other than enjoy the car. I had a faint "thud" in the dash under heavy braking, it has always been there. I now know it has been there since the car was built. View attachment 468534 This update will be multi-part as I have way more pics than a single post should have and my verbose nature would require a short story to describe what I did. Better to split into several parts as the work is not completed yet.

The passkey module was never secured to the mounting plate. There are no witness marks on the plastic mounting tabs, it has just been loose in there all of these years. It also appears the dash has never been this far apart, the crash pad screws/nuts/bolts look virginal, no marks other than ones I put on them from taking it apart. Kind of surprising, I suppose the heater core is original to the car, not sure if that should concern me or not.

View attachment 468535

I did find a loose hex headed sheet metal screw laying in the wiring cluster to the left of the mounting bracket. Perhaps it was the end of the day or the line was moving too fast and someone decided it was no big deal. One thing continues to amaze me, the cleanliness of the dash components. A convertible would logically have more exposure to the elements and dust/debris than a coupe would. There is a little dust on the upper layers but the wiring is fairly pristine.

View attachment 468536

Since I had the dash this far apart I figured now would be a good time to repair a lot of plastic cracks and age related issues as well as a good time to make the crash pad go away and replace the leather with carpet on the tunnel. This has been a massive project in time and detail and I am not done yet.

Carpet...I ordered a sample of ACC Cognac (from a dealer, not direct) to see how good of a color match it would be. It is not an acceptable color match at all. I tried fluffing the fibers in all directions and it way too light no matter what I did. This will not work and it is too expensive to buy then use the MAMO dye/paint to change the color to what it should be. They dealer understood and used the pics I sent him to see if he can find a better match in bulk since I can cut it to the correct shape as I have a piece of the unburned original.

View attachment 468537

Since I had the dash all apart I decided to glue back the original knee bolster carpet as it had come loose in the middle of it and it was easy enough to finish removing it, clean it and contact adhesive it back into the proper place. The OEM glue crumbled right off with very little work.

View attachment 468538


View attachment 468539

While everything was apart I tackled another issue, the shifter boot. The original nubs that mount it were long gone and the previous Bubba had taped it into place. I had wanted to fix it instead of taping it and with the help of Mark Mirrock I was able to see what was supposed to be there and what was missing and broken off. Since the 89 six speed shifter plate is one year only and not reproduced and if I managed to find another one it would probably be in as bad of overall condition as the one I have is. I can fix the existing one, now that I see how it is supposed to work.

View attachment 468540


View attachment 468541

The "fix" was easy, I had some Ford/Dorman 74410 window regulator plugs left over from years ago, they are a medium hard urethane. I cut two of them in half and epoxied them to the shifter boot plate. Once the epoxy had cured for a few days I drilled an appropriate hole in each for the shifter plate screws. I will now be able to securely hold the boot into place.

I had to trim the boot around the holes and then I used contact adhesive to put it back into place.

View attachment 468542


View attachment 468543

I decided to get the flat plate to replace the crash pad from MAMO. It arrived quickly and in perfect condition except it isn't smooth, it is textured. Not a small unobtrusive texture but a deep and decidedly different texture from the other slight textured dash/console pieces. I couldn't leave it like that, it would stand out as obviously out of place. I was already fixing the broken corners and missing pieces from the rest of the dash plastic trim so I decided to sand the texture off so it would be smooth. The corners of the vent cutout were difficult to get the texture off of so after sanding the high spots off I used the Colad UV putty to fill the texture in.


View attachment 468544

Obviously now the color will not match but it didn't really match as it came with the heavy texture.

The repairs on the rest of the dash plastic also meant they would no longer be shiny plastic so I knew I would have to paint them. I don't consider painting them to be a big issue, and I will make them matte since the glossy scratches so easily. I have painted interior auto plastic before, I did it on the trim on my 97 Firebird and it held up for over 20 years, it still could holding up but I haven't seen that car in a while. I know I can make it last, it is all in the prep and paint selection. The paint/clear of today is superior for plastic painting than it was in 2000.

What kind of paint/clear did you use to do the interior? Was it made specifically for interior plastics?

 

[SirReal63]

I haven't painted the pieces yet. I am currently testing paints to see which looks/works the best on a flat strip of ABS. One issue with flat black is when you clear coat it it can sometimes have a green tint with sun exposure. It needs to be a high solids paint. I am using flat because it tends to spray better with less chance of runs than gloss and with gloss you should give a light sand before clearing. For application purposes it is a better choice than gloss. The three I am testing, Rust-Oleum 2X Automotive Enamel, Krylon Fusion All-In-One Spray Paint and U-POL UP0978 Acrylic Enamel, all in flat black. It appears the U-Pol is doing the best. The only one that lost before it started is the Krylon Fusion as they only recommend the use of their specific clear.

All three are suitable for plastic but I also using Dupli-Color Adhesion Promoter to make sure everything works correctly. I am going to clear with SprayMax 2K 3580065 Matte clear for durability. The SprayMax clear is one of the hardest clears I have ever used. I am hoping it will cut down on scratches, which is an issue with pieces like the shift plate because it is where most things come onto contact with it.

​

 

[SirReal63]

The next part of dash repair.

Some of these pieces of plastic bezel are very thin, which makes a lasting repair more difficult. The glass and epoxy strips I typically make would be too thick by the time you add epoxy to bond them in. I needed to make thinner strips which was as simple as coating 6oz woven cloth with epoxy and using the baggies between layers I could clamp them to squeeze out the excess epoxy. Normally these strips end up being 1-1.5mm thick but buy putting them under pressure I was able to get them to about .22mm, thick. Perfect for what they have to do. The main purpose for them here is to add a layer over the backside of the crack to keep it from opening back up or breaking off again.

The center bezel, this required the least amount of work but it did have the two front screw holes broken and a portion of the right side missing. The thin cloth came in handy here for backing up the screw holes and mending the missing piece that needed some replacement plastic.

The corner of the right hand side of the bezel was broken off where it is covered by the gauge bezel. I had to bend a piece of ABS to replace the corner. It worked pretty good. The thin cloth is again providing backing, and I creased it so it bent around the outside of the corner.

Once again the Colad UV putty filled in the cracks to make the finish look better. It did not need to be thin and flat here, the screw holes have stand offs to space the bezel out, but it did need to be strong.

The gauge bezel needed work too. A large piece was missing from the door side from the vent hole back. I cut and shaped a piece of ABS to roughly the correct shape. The thin cloth and dyed black epoxy made the repair.

I thought I had a shot of this after sanding but I do not. It is thin enough to not protrude when installed.

I also fixed the cracked screw holes.

I did a little crack repair on the fuse cover as well. This one did not need to be sanded as there is a stand off to keep it at the right place.

I did find a major crack in the passenger lower dash plastic where it mounts to the body. I was able to pull the broken pieces out and use ABS glue and a small piece of ABS to make a mending plate for it. No pics because there isn't room down there to get a decent pic and it is currently clamped in place. I may try and get a pic after the clamp comes off if i can get the wiring harness and vent tube pulled out of the way enough.

 

[SirReal63]

Time for the shifter plate, this was probably the most labor intensive plastic repair I have ever done. There was a lot to be done, broken and missing plastic around the driver's window switch, almost every screw hole cracked and the mounting plate in the rear had the plastic around the screw holes broken out and missing. That mounting plate was only held in by the inner portion of the screw holes, the outer portion was missing.

Let's see if we can repair the back mounting plate first.

Both ends were repaired, I didn't take any pics of the other side, it was done exactly the same. I cut a piece of ABS to the approximate shape needed and used the tape to hold it in place, epoxy does not stick to it. In order to keep the screw holes from being filled in with epoxy and lost I cut a bamboo skewer to put where the hole is, that allowed me to find them easily after. Clear packing tape was used along with small wood blocks and clamps to keep the epoxy from running and to make the shape right with minimal sanding or filing.

The piece around the window switch was more difficult, it gets more use and has more pressure on it so I doubled up the thin glass sheets made above and since the thickness is less important I made sure it was plenty strong. Once again pieces of ABS were used where I could. The portion on the top of the switch was cracked through and the corner where the boot goes broken out. It took a lot of work to fill in the missing pieces, the boot section being the most difficult.

Structural repairs done, mostly.

Once the epoxy cured I needed to fill in the cracks, sand out the defects in the plastic and make everything ready for paint.

I would have rather taken a beating than do anything to this shifter cover, but this is the piece that takes the most abuse, and in my case it was the most damaged piece. I do not relish painting this plastic but there is no way to make it look right without doing a good paint job. I have been testing paints and have picked a winner.

In case anyone is wondering if this can be done so the cracks and epoxy do not show, here is the gauge bezel from above where the door side plastic was missing. Taken with and without flash to show the real condition. The shot without the flash is what the eye sees, the flash shot shows everything the eye doesn't pick up. This has been painted, no clear has been applied yet.

The back side I did not take pics of earlier, again with and without flash. This was sanded down as far as I dared, it does still need to be strong but is thin enough that it won't stick out and be obvious.

The shifter cover is one piece I would fork out the cash for if it was actually available. or a used one in perfect shape. As it is I will just do the best I can to save these pieces.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Time for the shifter plate, this was probably the most labor intensive plastic repair I have ever done. There was a lot to be done, broken and missing plastic around the driver's window switch, almost every screw hole cracked and the mounting plate in the rear had the plastic around the screw holes broken out and missing. That mounting plate was only held in by the inner portion of the screw holes, the outer portion was missing.

Let's see if we can repair the back mounting plate first.

Both ends were repaired, I didn't take any pics of the other side, it was done exactly the same. I cut a piece of ABS to the approximate shape needed and used the tape to hold it in place, epoxy does not stick to it. In order to keep the screw holes from being filled in with epoxy and lost I cut a bamboo skewer to put where the hole is, that allowed me to find them easily after. Clear packing tape was used along with small wood blocks and clamps to keep the epoxy from running and to make the shape right with minimal sanding or filing.

View attachment 468634


View attachment 468635








View attachment 468636

The piece around the window switch was more difficult, it gets more use and has more pressure on it so I doubled up the thin glass sheets made above and since the thickness is less important I made sure it was plenty strong. Once again pieces of ABS were used where I could. The portion on the top of the switch was cracked through and the corner where the boot goes broken out. It took a lot of work to fill in the missing pieces, the boot section being the most difficult.

View attachment 468637


View attachment 468638


View attachment 468639


View attachment 468640


View attachment 468641


View attachment 468642

Structural repairs done, mostly.

View attachment 468643

View attachment 468644

Once the epoxy cured I needed to fill in the cracks, sand out the defects in the plastic and make everything ready for paint.

View attachment 468645


View attachment 468646


View attachment 468647


View attachment 468648


I would have rather taken a beating than do anything to this shifter cover, but this is the piece that takes the most abuse, and in my case it was the most damaged piece. I do not relish painting this plastic but there is no way to make it look right without doing a good paint job. I have been testing paints and have picked a winner.

In case anyone is wondering if this can be done so the cracks and epoxy do not show, here is the gauge bezel from above where the door side plastic was missing. Taken with and without flash to show the real condition. The shot without the flash is what the eye sees, the flash shot shows everything the eye doesn't pick up. This has been painted, no clear has been applied yet.

View attachment 468649


View attachment 468650

The back side I did not take pics of earlier, again with and without flash. This was sanded down as far as I dared, it does still need to be strong but is thin enough that it won't stick out and be obvious.

View attachment 468651


View attachment 468652

The shifter cover is one piece I would fork out the cash for if it was actually available. or a used one in perfect shape. As it is I will just do the best I can to save these pieces.

It would be nice if you could replace the power window icons on the shifter bezel plate onceit'spainted. Do they even sell those?

 

[SirReal63]

It would be nice if you could replace the power window icons on the shifter bezel plate onceit'spainted. Do they even sell those?

I have the appliques, there is a guy on Ebay that makes them in small batches and I got a set. They will go on between clear coats.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I have the appliques, there is a guy on Ebay that makes them in small batches and I got a set. They will go on between clear coats.

Nice. I had 3rd gens with power windows, and they had the icons on the switches themselves. They always wore off too quick.

 

[SirReal63]

I have finished repairing and painting the dash plastic. Overall this was a huge task complete with success/failures/success and loads of stress.

The shifter plate...the biggest stressor I had, the other pieces worked flawlessly.

While about to put some actual paint on, I had a disaster. I used Dupli-Color Plastic Adhesion Promoter which is supposed to be safe for all automotive interior plastic. Let's say safe for "almost" all. I did my test on the back of a couple pieces of the dash plastic, but not the shifter plate. That was an error. When I sprayed it on the shifter plate it crinkled and made a huge mess of the piece I spend a few days getting just right. I did not take a pic of the mess it made, I was in a time crunch and got as much of that stuff off as I could. I had to sand the whole piece again. Not fun. Here is what it did on the underside of the plate, to show the issue.

I used a direct to plastic flat black by Rust-Oleum Automotive Enamel as a primer, letting it cure a couple days before sanding for the finish coat. I used U-Pol flat black for the finish, it seemed to have a higher solids than the others I tested, no green tint in direct sun and it sprayed better, for the most part. The paint itself is great, the nozzle was problematic, you had to keep the area around the can clean or it would spatter. (more stress, yea)

I got in too much of a hurry and did not let the epoxy cure long enough and the crack above the drivers window switch filler cracked again, it is susceptible to this because there is not much material between the outer edge and the switch. If I had waited a day longer the epoxy patch would have been hard enough to not flex so easily. Looking back, this is a place where an ABS patch on the underside would have been better. If it cracks again I will have to grind out the epoxy and patch it with ABS. I am hoping it doesn't so we will see.
I could not feel the crack here but it is there. I had to wait a day for the epoxy to get harder to resist flexing so easily and then sanded it out, painted it and ready for clear.

All repairs done and painted. It got a sanding to level out most of the thick areas in prep for clear.

Time for clear. I chose SprayMax Matte 2K clear. I want this to be as durable and scratch resistant as I can make it. In what time I have left in this existence, I never want to touch this dash plastic again.

I let all of the pieces cure for several days before clearing in case there was a compatibility issue. I didn't expect one but I also didn't expect the adhesion promoter to raise my blood pressure.

I was stressed instantly when I put the appliques on as I was afraid it would be glossy around them when I put the final layers of clear matte on. All of that work just to have the appliques look like garbage.

It turns out that when buried in the clear matte the gloss goes away. I did a test with a non-printed piece of the applique and some clear enamel. Crisis averted, I did not trust the process until I found out for myself. No worries, it came out right. I buried these in 4 coats of clear in case I ever have to sand any of this down in the future.

It is certainly not perfect but I didn't want to spend another two weeks trying to make it perfect.

The other pieces, finished with zero issue. They do have a couple defects where the door covers. Maybe I should have made them better but I was already mentally tired and it is only visible when the door is open and your head is jammed in there.

I have most of the dash "guts" reassembled, one of the 4 large nuts that holds the knee bolster on is really difficult to get started, I am going to give it a day or so and contort myself back in that cavity and finish it. I am letting all of the dash plastic cure inside for a while before I re-assemble it. The broken tab on the passenger side lower dash is repaired and the dash is firmly attached, no wiggles.

Next up will be the dash pad...

 

[89Suburban]

Your tinkering skills are tenacious sir, good stuff.

 

[SirReal63]

Your tinkering skills are tenacious sir, good stuff.

Thanks, I wish I could say this was easy but it kicked my old butt. If this car wasn't an 89 six speed I could have easily just replaced the shifter plate, but it is a one year only part and not reproduced. I will admit that it kept me busy and I am happy with the results though I don't want to do it again.