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Thank you sir. It was a great night to be out there...cool, clear, lots of great cars. I have some M1 Concourse Woodward Dream Show photos to post as well.
I'm a little slow getting to these guys. This is a very busy time of year at work, and in the old car hobby too. A few days after the photos above, cruising Woodward on Wednesday, the M1 Concourse held it's Woodward Dream Show on Friday. Lots of great cars, celebrating 50 years of Corvette, and Mopars were the honored brand.
While the display was not labeled, I believe this white C4 is THE single 1983 Corvette, on loan for the show from the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.
Made it out with the club for our Fall Color Tour. We missed the peak colors, but had a nice drive and visit to an apple orchard for cider and donuts. We ended up with 16 cars this year.
Last Sunday we took the car out for a drive, perhaps our last of the year.
I've been spending a lot of time and money getting the front garage put back together, and am just about finished. I hope to have the T/A in there in the next few weeks to start some maintenance, repairs and modifications.
Work in the garage sort of slowed to a crawl for the last couple of months. Work at the office was brutal. Like I had 17 days scheduled off in December and only took 2 sort of brutal.
Getting this cabinet redone is my one accomplishment. Bottom and underside coated in POR15 (left the rusty metal surface under it, and very patina'd exterior surfaces), got my Sinclair decal applied, the price calculator window applied, and the interior shelves and walls lined. It's now largely full of book....6 boxes worth. So this helped get some more space opened up. I have some shelves to build to get the rest of the items up and out of the way. Had hoped to have the T/A up here in December, then January, to start prepping it for next year. Timeline just keeps slipping....
And I got my Bob Waldmire Route 66 map up as well.
Last edited by DynoDave43; 01-03-2024 at 10:17 PM.
I knocked out a few more tasks this weekend. I'm gettin' there.
I did take a break from work and the garage to go to the Pontiac Transportation Museum for an interview with John Schinella (head of Pontiac Studio 2), father (along with a talented team) of the hood bird, snowflake wheel, Firebird and Fiero styling etc. This presentation was concerning the Fiero, and was sponsored by the MidWest Fiero Clubs.
Also made it out to the 50th annual Detroit Swap Meet and picked this up. No, it's not for the T/A, but a friend back home who's been looking for one for his '53 Chevy pickup (just the intake, not the carbs, spacers or scoop).
I knocked out a few more tasks this weekend. I'm gettin' there.
I did take a break from work and the garage to go to the Pontiac Transportation Museum for an interview with John Schinella (head of Pontiac Studio 2), father (along with a talented team) of the hood bird, snowflake wheel, Firebird and Fiero styling etc. This presentation was concerning the Fiero, and was sponsored by the MidWest Fiero Clubs.
Also made it out to the 50th annual Detroit Swap Meet and picked this up. No, it's not for the T/A, but a friend back home who's been looking for one for his '53 Chevy pickup (just the intake, not the carbs, spacers or scoop).
John is an amazing speaker, and guy. Was at the TA Nats the last 2 years. Hope he comes again this year too.
Yes, we've been to his presentations a few times at the Nats. Herb Adams, Bill Davis, Reggie Harris....I consider these seminars to be one of the best parts of the Nats.
John will be at FirebirdFest '24 in St, Louis this year as well.
It doesn't look like much I guess, but this is a big deal. The first time I've had one of the hobby vehicles back in this garage since the fire in March of 2021....almost 3 years getting back to where I can work on the cars again.
Then:
Today:
Now we have 90 days to get her ready for her first event of 2024.
Still getting work done ON the garage. Replaced an H.F. aluminum racing jack (low enough to get under the T/A), as the last one is "missing" since the fire. Also got two large shelves (8' each by 12" wide in 3/4" plywood...leftover workbench top) installed above the benches, which allowed additional unboxing of cleaned items. Needed one more shelf above the window, which I bought the materials for today, and started working on tonight. With some luck I'll put it up tomorrow. The clock is ticking....
Was not able to reach the guy that I want to refinish my wheels last week. Tried the same number again on Monday, rang but no answer. On Sunday I had checked his website and found a second number, and he answered that one on Monday right off. Said he's ready to take them when I can get them there.
So last night the fun chore of jacking the car into the air with a jack low enough to get under, but BARELY with enough lift to get full sized stands under it. I have shorter stands, but then I could not get under there.
I want to mark these 4 originals so I can I.D. them later. Then they can go into the van (which has it's middle row buckets out right now because I used it last night to bring a new dishwasher home) along with 8 other wheels and tires, and get dropped off to him, probably on Friday. Hate to see the Michelins go...they are a great tire. But they were on the car when I bought it (10 years ago), and were a year or two old then. They have some cracking...it's time...past it really.
Need pads for sure. Knew these HAD TO BE getting thin. I haven't touched them since I bought it (again, 10 years ago...they were newer then). While I'd like to make the change to 4th gen LS brakes for the front (I have the parts), I also have to keep an eye on the game clock, and make sure that the many maintenance chores and other improvements are all done before the clock runs out. She'll probably get new shocks and struts, but I'll probably just replace the pads and bleed the existing brakes for now, and save the upgrade for another time. Probably some Hawks pads with low/no dust! These pads sucked for that, making wheel maintenance a real chore.
Factory rear wheel spacers still in place, as is most of the black paint on the drums.
Looks like you’re getting ready for spring, I can’t wait either and glad to see your garage is getting there. Jacking these cars up on all fours always seems like a real process.
It's just that one end link bushing that is split...all the rest are in good shape, including the rear.
I elected for now to go ahead and order pads for the brakes I have. The upgrade (beyond the pads) will have to wait.
On order:
- Hawks PC pads.
- Caliper hardware kit.
- Caliper pins.
- Sway bar end links (got some for the rear too, just to make sure I had the matching pieces if/when needed).
- J&M Strut mounts (adjustable).
- Torque arm bushing (Prothane).
- Transmission mount (stock rubber).
- Headliner material.
- T-top drip rails.
- Trans filter and gasket.
- Trans fluid and additive.
Stretch goal included replacing the fuel pump, and maybe the tank. But I discovered in crawling around under there that the exhaust is welded, 1 piece form the cat all the way to the tips. The muffler has to come out to get the tank out, so it being all one piece greatly complicates things. That may have to wait.
Got a few other chores done...dish washer is installed, but not tested yet. Moved the two stacks of tires in the back garage so they are ready to load into the van. Also started sorting all the parts into stacks by project so I can sort them when I get shelves up. And digging those stacks of tires out also starts the process of getting a utility trailer out of the back corner of the shop, where the storage racks will live. Got one of my blocks of teak from the Battleship New Jersey drilled and mounted to the workbench. Battery charger hooked up to the deep-cycle in the car hauler. The fun never ends.
To kill some time, I started cleaning up this pair of original WS6 wheel centers that came off the extra set of PW7 wheels.
I cleaned it with some LA's Totally Awesome, a product that became my new best friend over the last few years cleaning up after the garage fire. That got it pretty clean, but still very flat and nasty looking.
I tried an old product called IBIZ Waterless Wash and Wax that I got as a free sample from a fellow at work many years ago. Just trying to use it up, because I never trusted it enough to use on one of the cars. It came out as a swirly, hazy mess. So I cleaned it again with the LA's Totally Awesome, then hit it with some Meguiar's Ultimate Quik Detailer. I let that soak in for an hour or so, then buffed off what remained. Products applied and buffed with a paper towel, hence all the lint. Sometimes the phone with the fantastic camera picks up too many details!
Ordered what I hope is the last of the parts today. Van loaded with 8 of the 12 wheels/tires.
Puttered around in the garage with a few things, and decided I had to get SOMETHING done this evening. The driver side rear side marker had burned out some time in the last year or so. I had looked at getting to it, and it appeared to be a fairly "trim removal" intensive job, and had let it go for too long. I figured tonight was the night.
The panels in the rear area are shingled. I need to get to the one with the locking door on it at the bottom of the photo. Guess which side is at the bottom of the shingled trim pieces?
I'm not sure what the "approved" tool is for these large plastic trim screws, but this trim stick seems to work pretty well, and shouldn't harm the screws appearance, or the panel if the tool slips.
Insulation coming loose. This will have to be addressed.
Spare tire compartment looks good, the same as when I was last in here a few years ago when repairing the hatch motor.
Back panel removed. Noticed a missing tail lamp housing wing nut. I'll have to see if I can find one of those before reassembling this trim (IE: delays).
Two palnuts holding the cardboard locking compartment liner to the quarter trim.
I'm guessing I need to remove these (or maybe I just want to use the special tool I bought for these)? Turns out I didn't need to remove them after all Lesson learned.
Removed the cargo shade and two screws holding the pocket it mounts in from the quarter trim, popped some Christmas tree fasteners loose (I thought), and I have enough room to get in there.
First time seeing this area of the car. Nice to see that it is dry and rust free.
Not wanting to do this again anytime soon (or ever), I used up my last "long life" 194 bulb.
Socket is slightly discolored or "charred", but after 35 years, I guess I can't complain.
Oh, those Christmas tree fasteners I thought I was popping loose? No. They press into these threaded sockets, the same type that those big grey plastic screws threaded into. And it was those that popped out of the body before the Christmas trees would let go. This has one lightly discolored "leg" where it deformed coming out. I was able to unthread the body side of that, put it back in it's tab on the body, align all 3 trees, then press the panel back into place in one motion. But it was a PITA.
Last job for the night, so the spray glue can cure overnight. And a bit of painters tape to protect the trim from glue over-spray.
I know....the smallest of steps. More parts should be arriving soon.
Work is getting crazy again. Worked until 8:30pm last night (after taking a break for dinner). Just to unwind, I hung out in the garage, but was too wiped out to get much done. I wanted to get a little something done each night, just to keep moving forward.
There is a factory foam pad held onto the underside of the rear panel with double sided tape. It goes below the little electrical contact plate for the hatch, and has two good dents in it from the screws that hold that plate to the rear trim panel. The foam side of the tape had failed, but it was still holding onto the panel.
The old tape pulled off without too much trouble. The foam is as good as new.
You can see a little left on the bottom of the contact plate too. It did not sit square. I taped off the area so I could get it back in the same spot.
I bought some carpet tape to reattach the foam block. Fiber reinforced, two sided, and very sticky.
I've been waiting on some parts to arrive, and today should have been a "Happy New Parts Day", but the results were mixed.
Spohn - Torque arm bushing....best of the bunch. Well packaged, part arrived in good shape, with new hardware, with lubricant packet, with rcpt., warranty disclaimer, ebay feedback form, a letter from the owner, and even a decal, all of which arrived in perfect shape. Grade: 100%
Hawk - Well packaged, brake pads and lubricant packet arrived in perfect shape. Rcpt. and decal inside. Decal is a little bent up, but this is NOT an important part of the transaction. Grade: 99.99%
An ebay seller who shall remain anonymous - K&N air filter. I knew it was filthy and in need of cleaning and oiling. You could see it in the auction pictures, and it was mentioned in the ad. I already have a K&N "recharge" kit, so I was good with it. The filter arrived in a snug fitting box (mistake), and looking like it was run over by a truck. I'll be seeking a refund on this item.
Rock Auto
Two separate shipments arrived, a 3rd is yet to arrive.
1) Very good...lots of crush room in the box, padding, rcpt., and magnet. Grade: 100%
2) A bottle of assembly aid, put in a bubble wrap bag. Leaked all over the place. Now I get it, shipping liquids is tough, but that's not my problem. And if you put it in a box, there is absolutely no guarantee that it does not get tossed around, stacked upside down, etc. But with a bubble wrap envelope with a round bottle inside, it almost 100% guaranteed NOT to end up in an orientation that does not encourage a leak. What a mess, sticky and slippery at the same time. Cleaned the bottle 4xs with LA's Totally Awesome, and once with rubbing alcohol before it was finally clean enough to put on the shelf. I don't expect them to do anything about it, and I don't even know what I would want if they offered some sort of resolution. I just want them to know their packaging sucks. I'll try to provide that feedback, but since they have almost 100% isolated themselves from customer feedback, that won't be easy to do. Grade: 20%
Rock Auto Average: 60% That's an F in my book. Maybe the mid-terms (3rd package) will really pull up their average (paraphrasing Animal House).
1A Auto Parts: A mail order alternative to Rock Auto, I try to encourage smaller businesses, and the founder is an ex-President of our national Pontiac club. So I thought I'd give them a try for the T-Top drip edges. Well, the result is initially underwhelming. Shipping is an expensive part of these mail order deals....people love to gripe about what Rock charges for shipping. So if this is one way to reduce shipping costs, I can see that. But it's just a bad visual. I order parts from a professional organization, and they arrive in a used box. See the original fiber tape from TRQ (chassis parts, not what I ordered) that is torn open, then the box taped shut with clear packing tape. The box did it's job (sort of). So no harm I guess. Again, just seems low rent from a large company.
But let's look inside. That's the important part.
Some packing to limit motion...some effort, so that's a good step.
But they picked a used box that is about 6" too short, so the rubber seals are folded over on the ends (the tips are a vulnerable part of these strips that do not have screws to secure them), and the bottom strip has a pretty decent kink in it that does not relax when set on the bench. This was entirely avoidable. Will these deformities relax and straighten out while resting on a flat surface? We'll see. They will have a few weeks to "rest" most likely, before I try to install them. I will let 1A know that I will try to use them, but they may be getting returned. Grade: 50% at best for the moment, though I would be inclined to raise that if the strips work out OK.
I ordered some moog sway bar endlinks, i was specifically asking for them by part number and if they were in stock.
Of course they are, we have 2. So i ordered them. Guess what didn't show up? Moog. I was sent something that will function similarly but it isn't what i paid for.
they refunded me, apologized and told me to keep the parts.
not my style to keep them if i didn't pay.
08-19-2023, 09:21 PM
