ternandes

iTrader: (7)

The name of the shop is "Team Coachworks" and the number is 540-721-4027.

We are at Smith Mountain Lake, which is about 4 hours driving time from DC.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

I got a call from Peter yesterday. Nellie is ready to come home! The front end work is done and the wheels are aligned.

Now I have to get busy and order carpet... and I need to see David Parrish about a dash pad... the rest should just be odds and ends.

Justin89Formy

iTrader: (26)

David moved to a far away land! He lives in Concord. I'll be heading out there next weekend so he can install my Dana 44 in my car finally! I'll ask him if he has any good dash pads if you dont talk to him by then. Need anything else? He has a garage full of stuff he wants me to help him sell. UGH! lol

Justin89Formy

iTrader: (26)

double post

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Crap! Where is Concord? Yeah, if he has a good dash pad, I def want it.

I wish I knew what-all he has... you never know...

Justin89Formy

iTrader: (26)

concord is at the intersection of 24 and 460. I just text him and he said he has a dashpad. no mention of price or anything, just that he has one lol

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

"Driving Miss Nellie" was a distinct pleasure yesterday... she is nice and tight, and handled beautifully. She is now safely ensconced in my garage (which means the GTA has to sleep outside now). I have to give her a good coat of wax before letting her play outside!

Justin89Formy

iTrader: (26)

Make sure the paint has been on the car about a month or two before wax!

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

It has been! The guy who painted her told me to wax it, and my first question was, "don't I have to wait?"... then he reminded me that she was painted at least 3 months ago... before being reassembled.

Justin89Formy

iTrader: (26)

You're good to go! When I got my car painted last year it was a good 2 months before it was assembled completely. He was talking about having me come back a month later to install my decals, but I didnt have to wait. He had my car awhile and was able to do it the morning I picked it up lol

lunaticinaZ

This is a great thread. I have read it all and I must say hat's off to you sir. And the bodyshop. The car is beautiful and I really like the red. It's always great to see one be rebult not sold for junk.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Here are a few shots of Nellie at home, right before we waxed her:

lunaticinaZ

Very nice. I like red on firebirds, I'll have me one someday . And the white one is nice too

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

The white one needs some body work, especially now since I hit a deer with it.

I'm with you on the red... it's the perfect color for these cars.

Mark in Maine

That's nice work, Tim - she looks really good!

Eagle223usa

Very nice job on the car, the color is perfect.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

I finally got Nellie's registration amended to reflect the color change from grey to red... drove her to work this morning.

She still needs a lot of interior work, but the outside is like a brand new car. I have new (gently used) seats and a brand new carpet, and I am hunting up a dash pad... I also need to address the headliner.

no_car_yet

Excellent job on the body! looks really nice, glad to see it never got crushed!

PS. i have a mint dashpad from a 91 formula, got all vents n speaker covers. pm me if intersted.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Well, it had to happen...

This past weekend, there was a Fall Festival here at the lake. We (my radio station) participated with a computer-smashing event to raise money for charity. The church next door was putting on a classic car show, so I chose Nellie as my mode of transport in to the radio station.

Since the interior is still raggedy, I decided not to enter her in the show, but just parked her in front of the radio station. I have seats and a new carpet, but I have not gotten around to tackling the interior yet, which also needs other things.

Well, wouldn't you know, she attracted a few admirers, at least one of whom told me if I had entered her, he would have voted her "Best in Show". Oh well.

Now for the bad news: I thought I heard something as I pulled into the parking lot. After the event was over, I drove Nellie to church, and began to hear the telltale sounds of a connecting rod knock. After church, we went out to dinner, and the knock became more pronounced, to the point where I noticed a sharp drop in oil pressure, and she began to bind up and stall at idle.

I made it home OK with her, but she has driven her last mile with the old 2.8 liter V6. It's kind of a shame, because she went 230K + miles without the engine ever being apart for anything... still doesn't smoke, and still pulls pretty well.

The good news is that my long-term plans for her include a V8 swap... I just wasn't prepared to do it in the near future (and I still am not). I guess that gives me plenty of time to explore options.

I have most of a T5 swap, but I will only do that if I elect to go with a Gen I small block... which I suppose is the cheapest alternative. I have read enough about LT1 and LSx swaps to believe that if I am going to do mods, I might as well go all the way to GEN III technology.

So it's happy/sad... I wanted to see how far she would go on the original powerplant, and I can't complain... but now I can start planning for my swap.

Screamin86

iTrader: (1)

that stinks but like you said time for an upgrade. my advice if you go ltx or lsx route buy a whole wrecked car to part everything you need from it.

MI ROC-Z

WOW, I came across this thread while browsing through the restorations, cuz I like to see these thirdgens brought back to life, but when I read about the tragic and senseless loss of your son I was sincerely moved!

I wish you and your family all the best.

The car is looking excellent and I can't wait to see the motor/trans transplant coming up!

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Thanks for the kind words... the swap is in the VERY early planning stages... as a matter of fact, I know that I have to put this project on the back burner because of other things that need to come first.

It could very well come down to taking advantage of the best opportunity that presents itself... in other words, rather than pursuing a specific swap, I'll keep my eyes open for a good deal on a donor car.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Update (it's been a while)...

I have located most if not all of the necessary parts to swap in a TPI motor and a T5 trans... from two sources.

I found an unbelievably low mileage TPI 305 with pretty much all the swap parts. A friend of mine who lives near the source has offered to pick it up and deliver it to me.

In the meantime, my good friend Ray at virtual junkyard found me a sweet T5 with some swap parts, and that will ship shortly as well. So within the next couple of weeks, I should have just about all that I need to do the V8 swap.

I'll have to juggle some other projects along with it, but I hope to have this done, along with new carpet and seats, by sometime this summer.

I'll chronicle the progress with pix when the parts arrive.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Big news today on the "Nellie" front -- my best friend, who lives in Northern VA, volunteered to go and pick up the engine that I decided to use in her, which was in MD.

It's a 305 TPI engine, and it came with all brackets and accessories, the ECM and harness, a starter, and the dual fan setup.It was advertised as having 42K miles. I paid $500.

Although it appears to be unmolested, I'm not sure what I have. The Block ID (V0312DBP) says it's from a 92 f-body, but the tpi setup is MAF with a 9th injector, and the computer is the replacement for the 165.

It also has a "warranty void if removed" disc that is attached onto the back of the driver's side head. I can only guess that it may be a factory rebuilt engine, but I have no other indications. It's very clean, with just a light coating of dust and dirt but no grime or other evidence of any leaks. It turns without binding, and seems to be tight.

I have it on an engine stand now, and plan to look it over carefully and do a little minor maintenance. I"m thinking of doing a compression check while it's still on the stand as well.

In the meantime, I have a T5 swap coming from Ray at Virtual Junkyard, so I have most of what I need to swap out this drivetrain. Being old and slow will work to my advantage, as it will likely result in a clean, careful job.

whitedevilTA

iTrader: (8)

I have seen those little stamps/tags on the back of the cylinder heads before. In most instances, it means the motor was purchased from a salvage yard. The yards glue those stamps onto the backs of the heads as sort of a mark that it was originally purchased from them.

I would also definitely recommend a compression check, just as a bit of safe assurance for a motor that you don't know the history on. Good luck!

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Thanks for the input. I just read somewhere that the salvage yards attach those tags so that they will come off if the engine overheats. The glue melts and the tag falls off.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Did a preliminary check... I got a lot of extras with the engine... little pieces that you don't think about, like the little tube for the AC with low pressure switch in it, and the relays, battery cables, etc.

It seems like one of the air pump check valves is missing. They are cheap enough that I think I'll just replace it rather than yank out the air pump. The rest of the system looks good. Since I did not go with my friend to pick the engine up, he called to ask what I expected to get with the engine, and I forgot to mention the MAF sensor, and its induction tubing. I am kicking myself now.

So it looks like I'll need to buy a MAF, a radiator (the 6 cyl radiator is different), and if I can't use the air induction tubing from the V6 I'll have to get that as well, plus the exhaust.

I can't complain as long as the engine shows good compression.

whitedevilTA

iTrader: (8)

Huh, I honestly didn't know thats why they were there myself! You learn something new everyday. Makes perfect sense though, and is a good indication to the junkyards as to what happened to the motor. Thanks for the info!

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

OK yesterday, I finally got some time, and a nice day, and of course I slept WAAAY late so my time was short.

I decided to check compression on Nellie's new engine. It is on a stand, with a starter mounted to it. I used jumper cables to power it off the battery on Alex's car, with that car's engine running. The starter did not turn fast enough for me to be confident in the readings, so I went out and bought two 78-inch cables, and attached them to the unused top terminals on his battery (It has dual terminals).

I sprayed some PB blaster in the cylinders, since the engine had not been running in at least a year or two. Then I let the engine spin freely several times, in order to get everything loose and moving well.

My first attempt at checking the compression gave some strange results, until I realized that my compression tester, which is probably older than a lot of the folks on this board, was sticking, and also occasionally leaking out the relief valve.

So I replace the valve core, and gave the tester the PB blaster treatment. Then I had to stop and rescue the Queen, as she had locked herself out of her office.

So this morning I went out there, and after doing a brake job on her car, and fixing a leaky tire, I finally was able to successfully complete the test. I have a low cylinder of 165-170, and a high cylinder of 200. A total of four were either 195 or 200, and the other three were at 180 or 190.

I would imagine that after running for a short while with a fresh oil change, the numbers would even out a bit more.

The only other thing that concerns me is that all the plugs were identically carbon-fouled. I'm thinking I should just install it with new plugs and wires, and see how it runs.

Richboll

Sounds good. What kind of timeframe are you looking at to get it in and up and running? Summer's coming!

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Well, I don't get much time to work on it, so it's hard to say. I'm waiting on the transmission and a few other parts, since I'm swapping that too. I'd like to be able to drive it this summer, but I'm old and slow.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Yeah, it's been a while. The Queen of Hunnidoo put her foot down and I had to shelve this project until I finished off the basement. That's finally behind me now.

Over the course of the last year or so, I have been accumulating parts. I got a set of Bosch III injectors from southbay since the engine has the original injectors. I also picked up a VERY gently used magnaflow SS exhaust system from Justin after he did his LS swap, and most of the rest of what I need from various sources.

After a little dawdling, I made up my mind to start the project. I got started on the injector swap. Then my best friend came down for Independence Day weekend, and suggested that we work on the car. I told him I didn't want to put him to work on a weekend when we were all planning lots of fun, but he insisted. So on Saturday the 5th, we pulled the V6 engine and automatic transmission out of the car.

Now I have a healthy start on the swap. Will follow up with pix.

3.8TransAM

Great to see u bringing one back from a near certain trip to the junkyard.

Sorry to hear about your son.

Nice to see u still enjoying things you like to do as well.

For a swap you did the best thing possible, get a complete or near complete donor setup.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Yeah, thanks. I hate to see a nice car go to the crusher, and of course, this one has lots of sentimental value for us as well as the previous owner who is a dear family friend.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

I know I promised pix, but it's been a while since I have spent any time in the garage. Today was all about making progress, and I just didn't think of it.

Yesterday we finally got some warm weekend weather, so I started pulling the V6 wiring harness out of the car. I finished that today, and then tackled the V6 motor mounts.

I was forewarned about how tricky it is to get the bolts out, but it wasn't really terrible, although it took a little while. The worst part was that I "lost" two of the nuts inside the K-member, but I may be able to fish them out with a magnet. I'll definitely be using the "fishing line" method of installing the bolts in the V8 mounts.

I'm getting closer now to dropping the engine in, but I'm thinking that I might want to install the clutch master while the engine is out of the car. Not sure if it will make much difference, but I'll think on it. Opinions?

PS the harness is out of a Camaro, so I will have to modify it slightly to get it to fit, and it looks like I need a dual fan wire harness for it.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

OK lots of progress over the last few weeks:

I got the new engine mounts installed with relative ease, using the fishing line trick.

Then after swapping the flex plate for the flywheel, and installing the clutch, I hoisted the new engine into place. I had a lot of difficulty getting the motor aligned with the mounts, but eventually got it in.

Installing the pins was more of a challenge than I expected, since there was extra rubber inside the through-holes in the mounts. It took a while, but I got it done.

With the engine now in place, I need to measure for and cut the hole for the shifter, and also the one for the clutch master cylinder. This I saved for another day.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

I had to take the next weekend off, because my back was hurting badly. It killed me, because the weather was awesome.

When I got back out there, I decided to take inventory of the little issues that I would be having to address:

• I need to figure out how to connect the heater hoses, because the other engine did not have a heater control valve. Absent a vacuum line for same, I might just eliminate it, as it has been a trouble spot on my other TPI car.
• It looks like my wiper motor doesn't match the new harness. I picked up a cheap one for my other car on ebay, so I might just do that here as well
• there are issues with the accelerator cable not having sufficient throw to match the TPI setup.
• I need to modify a few parts of the wiring harness to match the car.

I started making connections here and there, and then decided that I would tackle the interior, as I have new seats and carpet. I figured that I'd have a much easier time cutting the holes for the shifter and the clutch master, not to mention swapping out the pedals, with all that interior stuff removed and out of the way.


That was all my arthritic neck would allow. Next weekend, the cutting of the holes and hopefully more progress.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

So much for "next weekend"... sometimes I think there is a conspiracy to keep me out of the garage. Other responsibilities took precedence until yesterday.

I finally got the auto pedal assembly removed, and the hole cut for the clutch master. I had to buy two sets of pedals to get all the pieces that I needed, since both were incomplete.

Lucky for me, I had the underlay mat on the firewall with the cutout for the clutch master and bolt holes, so it wasn't a big challenge to decide where to cut/drill.

Still, it took some time to get the pedals installed, but I got it done.

While I was under there, I noticed that my accelerator cable problem is due to the cable being too long. I'll have to modify it, or replace it with one for a TPI car. For now, I have bigger fish to fry.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Well, life keeps getting in the way... but I finally got the T5 installed last weekend, in spite of it all.

Everything is looking good now that the heavy lifting is finished. If I can get another couple of solid weekends in on her, I should be able to get her running.

I have a digital dash and all the harnesses on hand... but I think I'll worry about getting her in running condition before I pay too much attention to that.

aaron7

iTrader: (7)

Wow! Love the fact that you've not only kept the car (though for obvious reasons!) but you've continued to update us on the progress! So many of these threads get forgotten...

Do have a random question. Did you graft those hood vents in? I thought all those hoods had the two side vents as well.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Nellie is an '86 Firebird S/E... I believe that was a trim option from '82 to '86, and those vents were original on the car as far as I know. We bought her from a family friend who was the second owner. She bought the car from a dealer when it was a year or two old.

Of course, the Trans Ams (and maybe formulas?) had the side vents as well as the ones in front.

aaron7

iTrader: (7)

Cool, didn't know. I had seen only the TA versions!

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

As any good military man will tell you, no plan of action survives contact with the enemy.

The need to modify the wiring harness turned out to be a lot greater than I had figured.

In my typical fashion, I start a project only to find out that it's more complicated than I had expected. Oh, well...

The engine is out of an 89 Camaro. It took a lot of examination and research to arrive at that conclusion. The car is an '86, and as it turns out, the digital dash that I have is an 86 or 87.

Imagine my surprise when I learned how many differences there are not only between Camaro and Firebird, but between model years as well. To add to the excitement, you can't always rely on the information that is available, because it doesn't always agree.

Thank God for TGO, especially our friend pocket, who made the going a lot easier. I have spent hours researching on the forums and I believe I am nearly finished. Suffice it to say that I had to re-pin the c100 and c207 connectors, and make a few other changes. Fortunately, I had a junk wiring harness that was pulled from a thirdgen Camaro, which provided a lot of the necessary wires, with pins already attached, in the correct colors and sizes.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to attempt to install the digital dash along with all the other stuff right away, until I realized that the existing dash wiring needed pretty much the same mods as the digital dash wiring, so rather than duplicate the effort, I elected to do it all in one shot.

I am nearly done with all the mods, but now I have to pull Nellie's old dashboard in preparation for the swap. I'll post pix of the progress.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Well, I finally have all the re-pinning done to my satisfaction. There will be more to do, like relocating a couple of pigtails, but my main concern right now is getting the harnesses in place, and testing the digital dash and running the engine.

I'm sure I will find some other things that need attention, but I am confident that I have enough done now to proceed with removing the old dash and installing the new one.

Pix to come as soon as I have something to show you

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Sometimes I wonder why I get so ambitious. This is definitely not a project for the faint of heart. Basically, it's three swaps in one.

Today I began removal of the dashboard in preparation for the harness swap for the digital dash. It's a little tricky, and I'm going slowly so that I will hopefully avoid damage.

I removed the instrument cluster and all other surface parts, then pulled the dash itself. This required lowering the steering column and careful disconnection of a number of different things. It all came out without too much trouble.

Next, I have to disconnect all the hidden components and remove the old dash harness. Then I will swap in the new harness and test everything before I start reassembly.

Hopefully, I will not require the assistance of all the King's Horses, and all the King's Men.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

The new digital dash harness is installed. After it was in, I realized that I had not connected some fusible links, so I took care of that today.

I have two digital dash instrument panels. I tried them both, but neither of them seemed right. That was when I remembered the fusible links. One of the panels seems to be not right, as it displays 100 MPH at rest. The other one seems to be OK.

I had to fool with them a bit, since a lot of the panel lights were either missing or burnt out, but I got it to work. I plan to replace all of the bulbs before I do the final install.

One problem that I had was that I had one of the plugs upside down. I'm surprised that they aren't keyed. In any case, it appears that we are functional.

On the downside, I can't get a response out of the fuel pump. after 230,000 miles, and sitting dormant for 3+ years, I guess I can't complain. I'm not looking forward to dropping the fuel tank, but it looks like that will be necessary.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

OK, so I did every kind of troubleshooting I could think of, and concluded that the pump is bad.

Those of you who follow my GTA thread know that I elected to fabricate an access panel in that car, because I was afraid of getting stuck on the highway with a bad pump.

In any case, on this car, I decided to try and drop the tank, partly because so many guys say that it's pretty easy.

I dropped the tank today, and good thing, because it is filled with nasty crud. The picture below shows the pump that came out of it, and it isn't half as bad as the inside of that tank.

• it really is not a terrible job. Fabricating the fuel access took a lot longer and cost a lot of money.
• if you drop the rear end all the way to the ground, not just to the limits of the brake line, the tank comes out with little trouble.
• you have to make up your mind to disconnect everything that holds the rear end up in order to get it low enough. I wasted at least an hour before figuring that out.
• I still don't believe anyone who says he swaps out a pump this way in 20 minutes. Sorry. Ain't buying it.
• the hardest part of the whole job is snaking the filler neck out from the frame. This is why it's necessary to drop the rear so low.
• the best part of dropping the tank is being able to thoroughly clean the inside (the one in my GTA was as clean as a whistle)

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

That is NASTY! Going to have to add this to my to-do list one of these winters.

ternandes

iTrader: (7)

Had to help the daughter (whoa -- she was 10 years old when I joined TGO) fix a flat tire on her van today, so did not get a lot accomplished.

Then the Queen of Hunnidoo stepped in with a few requests for hauling trash to the dumpsters.

I did manage to pressure wash the inside of the gas tank. It took care of at least 80% of the mess. Then I filled it with water, and ran the garden hose through the filler neck, and stood and watched as all kinds of debris floated out the pump access hole. Drained it, and repeated.

Still some stubborn stuff remaining, so I put two gallons of white vinegar in the tank. Within minutes, I was seeing results. I sloshed it around in there pretty well, then left it to stand. I'll rotate the position of the tank over the next several days to get all surfaces some time under the vinegar.

bjpotter

I'll give you credit. I dropped a tank one time and found much the same. Once I drained everything and washed it out, like you, I saw a lot of crud still left in the tank. At that point I just bought a new one. I wasn't sure I would ever get it all out. Hope you have better Luck!