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Tech / General EngineIs your car making a strange sound or won't start? Thinking of adding power with a new combination? Need other technical information or engine specific advice? Don't see another board for your problem? Post it here!
rushed home from work to try and correct the coolant leak in the bird. figures I would wait until its 3 degrees to almost overheat the car. I checked all the hoses and they seemed fine. noticed a little puff of something out of the cap. replaced the radiator cap. drove it for 33 minutes without issues. I hope that was the fix.
When my hood is released, it barely raises up. I can't tell either way from behind the wheel. Also, have seen vids where guys can just press their hoods shut with a click. I have to slam mine to get it to latch.
I feel like such an underachiever, lol! Already almost half thru winter and haven't done crap Got a couple extra bucks left over from Christmas, think I'm gonna order a 3.70 gear set this week.
I decided a month or two ago that I was going to dedicate most of my efforts on my truck. I will do whatever needs to be done to keep the firebird running well though.
I had my NC inspection done today. Will be getting my tags next week and start driving it again. Need to finish a little body work and into the paint booth. Been a long time coming.
Stripped my other set of crosslace wheels so I can run 4 fronts and have the same offset on all 4 corners. I used our brake lathe to sand the outer lips. Got them primed and painted. I will clear the gold this week and then polish the outer.
did an oil change yesterday. probably the first one its had in 5 years. added some cleaner to help de-sludge the motor. its leaking somewhere. looks like it was near the filter so I'm hoping the oil change fixed that but I'm not sure yet. after the oil change was done I spent some time cleaning off the oil on the undercarriage so I will be able to see where its leaking from.i was pretty happy at the condition of the underside of the car. yes it had oil on it but other than that it was pretty nice. no rust or torn up sections.
had the car out running errands and noticed a small puddle under the car. very small. it didn't look like oil though. I popped the hood and I believe I'm still leaking powersteering fluid. the steering box is COVERED in fluid. not positive where its coming from but I'm going to start looking for it. happy that I didn't see any oil leaking though. maybe that's fixed.
Be sure and clean the inside of the bead where the tire seals. Looks a bit crusty and sure will leak sometimes.
Thanks for the tip! It may sound crazy but I think I will put them back on the lathe and sand the inside and the backside. Contemplating either coating or painting the backside as well. Any thoughts or ideas are welcomed.
last weekend I decided to install my hood latch spring. it didn't go as well as planned. there are 4 tables that bend over the bottom coil and hold it in place. 2 of them were badly broken and fell off as soon as I touched them. I had other projects so I abandoned the job. I'm sure I can figure something out to make it work. not having a spring to pop the hood up is a pain.
last weekend I decided to install my hood latch spring. it didn't go as well as planned. there are 4 tables that bend over the bottom coil and hold it in place. 2 of them were badly broken and fell off as soon as I touched them. I had other projects so I abandoned the job. I'm sure I can figure something out to make it work. not having a spring to pop the hood up is a pain.
Would a cable tie work? Along with the other 2 good tabs, of course.
Got my wheels done, sorry about the dirty car. Love having four fronts as the deeper offset looks better imo. Now I got to redo my decals so the color will match up.
I have been ill for about 9 days now. I'm over the flu but haven't gotten my strength back yet. so this weekend is more sitting around than getting anything done. however I had to move my car and I noticed that there is no oil puddle under it. I know not having an oil leak may not seem like a big deal for you guys with pristine cars. however when I bought mine every fluid leaked. took forever to track down the coolant , fuel, trans, then finally oil leaks and get them fixed. I haven't fixed the power steering leak yet but that's the last one. its the simple things like stopping my car from bleeding to death in the driveway that keeps me going.
replaced the steel driveshaft with an aluminium one which removed 50% of my vibration, unfortunately this left me with the other 50% which can be attributed to a slightly bent axle flange...
i would have rather gotten rid of that particular vibration first but im taking it as a win!
Put some new hood struts on her first thing after lunch. Later Cursed at it after shifter cable had came loose and left me stranded right before a rain. I eased it back into place and put it back in the shop i will get a cotter pin and fix her up one evening.
Removed the hazy gage cluster lens cover, cleaned & polished it back to a nearly new appearance. The bezel that holds it in place made some rather deep scratches that are hidden. 29 years of dry wiping created scratches that polished out nicely. At last, the windows are clear again.
Got my wheels done, sorry about the dirty car. Love having four fronts as the deeper offset looks better imo. Now I got to redo my decals so the color will match up.
I love it!
I installed my Ram Air, and continue trying to troubleshoot my MAF.
Removed the hazy gage cluster lens cover, cleaned & polished it back to a nearly new appearance. The bezel that holds it in place made some rather deep scratches that are hidden. 29 years of dry wiping created scratches that polished out nicely. At last, the windows are clear again.
Makes it feel like a new car when you glance down at the gauges, doesn't it?
I may have fixed my power steering leak. I put a new hose clamp on and put some fluid in. had my p.i.c start the car and turn the wheel in both directions several times while I watched for a leak. I saw nothing. it was a little dark to be sure but I didn't see anything. will know for sure after driving for a couple of days.
Makes it feel like a new car when you glance down at the gauges, doesn't it?
Man, you can say that again. Wasn't even thinking about it & looked down to check speed & was quite impressed at the clarity of the lens faces. Well worth the effort to polish.
Ordered new parking lights to complete the front. Fogs, headlights, grille & under hood insulation are all new. Got new side mirror glass because the driver's side is scratched. Polished the age haze off the tail lights to make them like new again.
Not today, but over the last 3 days, I removed & reclamped the armrests, which were bowed. Before pics.
Yuck, gotta go. Here are a few clamping pics.
Driver's side. Did this 1st. Scrap piece of particle board with a towel to prevent marring of the rubber.Plastic was scuffed up with 600 grit sandpaper. I put a death clamp on here.
The rest of the dr. side. Again with the death clamp.
Dr. side installed. As you can see, the death clamp was over kill. It made the top surface wavy. I'm not to concerned about it, as it looks tons better than before. I'm not gonna show the car with the doors open anyway.
Death clamp close up.
Pass. side had a small area underneath that I addressed & the top was one, long bow.
Here it is, all clamped, lightly this time
Pass. side installed. Again, much better. Lighter clamp pressure resulted in a smooth surface. Overall, an easy job to do. I used Shoe Goo for the adhesive with a minimum 6 hours clamped. Both tops were left overnight. The hardest thing was trying to remove the caps at the top, leading edge, to get to the bolt underneath. Got the headliner done Wednesday & the upholstery shop didn't have enough suade to do the visors & sail panels. I went back today to get those finished pieces installed. Will post pics in the morning.
The hardest part was removing the circular plugs at the leading edge of the door pull without messing them up. I ended up taking the car to get the headliner replaced at an upholstery shop, & had them remove the plugs. They have experience doing that kind of stuff.
Drove mine to work, as well. No rain in the forecast. Will drive it the rest of the week. It's laughing at my 2 Trans Ams saying, "Ha Ha, he's driving me." The birds reply, "At least we both still smell like new inside." Which they do. If I could have afforded the insurance in 1988, I would have one from new. I wonder if I could prolong the new car smell for 30 years. That would be something.
Drove mine to work, as well. No rain in the forecast. Will drive it the rest of the week. It's laughing at my 2 Trans Ams saying, "Ha Ha, he's driving me." The birds reply, "At least we both still smell like new inside." Which they do. If I could have afforded the insurance in 1988, I would have one from new. I wonder if I could prolong the new car smell for 30 years. That would be something.
Got a couple extra bucks left over from Christmas, think I'm gonna order a 3.70 gear set this week. 
