It arrived...

[Andy]

Quoting: Motorama

That old rad must have been proper FUBAR'd!

Oh yes! I'm wondering if Dave will let me cut it open to see how bad, It could be recored, as the frame itself is in tip top condition it's just the important innards that are fooked.

Dave is in two minds about bringing it on Tuesday, but I am really trying to convince him to.

We're gonna jack the car up this weekend at the front and see what really is going on with the steering. It is vague, but it's drivable, as in you get on with it after a while. It also helps if you keep steering from side to side in the slop to make it go straight ahead.

Drew up a list of future things to do....

- Steering - Check over, overhaul if necessary
- Change rocker covers over and replace with stock one and bolts
- Tidy under hood wiring and bay
- Remove reversing lamp from rear
- Remove and repaint various engine brackets and parts

[F Body]

Quoting: Andy

It is vague, but it's drivable, as in you get on with it after a while. It also helps if you keep steering from side to side in the slop to make it go straight ahead.

Sounds like a typical American car, I replaced all the steering linkages on our Astro and if anything it was slightly worse afterwards

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Andy

It also helps if you keep steering from side to side in the slop to make it go straight ahead

Quoting: F Body

Sounds like a typical American car

Odd.

In my experience in older Yanks I've found them just fine.

My '67 Dart was an absolute pile of $hit but it steered alright.

The '58 Caddy tends to drift off a little to the left but I can't say that it wonders too much.

[Andy]

Spent a lunch hour on the phone to the guy at Mustang Maniac, he basically said the play we see in the Pitman arm connecting to the drag link is ment to be there. The arm operates a bush in a sleeve. This bush controls the valve that designates which direction the hydraulic ram goes to give PAS. It is agricultural it's not true, but it seems it's worked this long. Dave is struggling to remember what his was like and if it was this bad or not. Nevertheless we'll fully check out the bushes and linkages for our own peace of mind.

[Andy]

Update from today:

Lush day for working on a car, I did actually say to my dad, there probably isn't a lot that beats this, don't know why I've been so taken with working on it, but it's nice!

Anyway...

Cleaning the underside of the bonnet, from the various overheats there had been a lot of steam and nastyness flying around, so my first job was getting all that off and protecting the paint.





after...




Next was to remove those really REALLY nasty chrome rocker covers. They looked like they had been flash chromed and it was all pitted and nasty. Along with that, the extended bolts with wings on them looked well out of place and were vicious when working in the bay!

air filter and dizzy cap removed to clean inlet manifold and engine block....


One on, one off, already looking better!



Rockers look fresh, Dave did comment, it's so nice to remove the rocker covers and see a good condition set of rockers!



All put back together! I'm still in two minds about the air filter cover, I reckon an old school '289' one would look better, but Dave's choice!





Carb tag...


Manifold tag...

[Andy]

Quoting: Andy

Update from today:

Lush day for working on a car, I did actually say to my dad, there probably isn't a lot that beats this, don't know why I've been so taken with working on it, but it's nice!

I take this back... in parts!

Today Dave wanted to get the shifter sorted. When we picked it up, the seller mentioned occasionally it doesn't sit in park properly and the engine won't start, but before we had a look under the 'box for the park switch we took the console out to see what state the shifter was actually in.

The console is a huge plastic molding with to great big metal bolt ons either end, one being the ash tray and rear lights, the other being the glove box with the metal 'roller shutter'. The molding on the side was already cracked, but sadly it cracked further when removing it. It could be seen that before it had been glued up. Never mind.

Anyway, the console out, 4 bolts held in the shifter housing where it goes through the floor and the rod to the box bolts on. We moved the car onto the drive, jacked it up and put axle stands underneath as I needed to remove the split clip holding the rod on. I don't think I'd last long as a mechanic, working on your back has to be one of the most uncomfortable positions to work in.

The autobox shifter linkage...


The hole in the floor...







With the shifter out of the car, we could see that there was a bush missing as once apart some hard putty like material fell out and the shifter was very sloppy. Reassuring, but nevertheless, Dave drew up what he wanted and I went into the garage to turn up a bush from some brass. While I was doing that, he wire brushed the shifter housing and arm and gave them a lick of paint.

After a lick of paint, with my brass bush...


After lunch we set about putting it all back together, and here's where the day went bad. The shifter in a '67 has a light underneath that lights up a set of numbers showing which gear the car is in. It's a bit crude, but looks the mutts nuts when all working. There is also another set of wires for the rear courtesy lights and the lamp in the glove box. In my haste to get the thing back together and see if the lights still worked, I accidentally connected the two supplies together, resulting in a big cloud of smoke and a thorough burnt through set of wires. With the battery disconnected, it looked really grim. It was literally a 10 second connection, but the insulation had been stripped up the live side back to a large black block to which the accessory power is supplied.

I was told to fix it, as Dave wasn't able to get under the dash, so out came the cluster and some small scissors and I started disecting the wiring loom. Luckily it was only fried up the the black block and testing a various stages, no other insulation seemed compromised, so we dodged what could've been a very big bullet.

The two wires that were effected seem to be a live supply to the fuse block and an interior live supply feed off of the accessory switch on the ignition. I left about 1/2" at either end and choccy blocked them back with some new wire, both were terminated and tested. Initially it looked bleak but then a quick check over the fuse blocked showed a blown fuse on the interior supply and a poorly connected fuse on the indicators/instrument lights. Once these were sorted we were back in business. Sadly though, there wasn't much light on and the rest of the interior wasn't back together. I think we'll save that for another day. Here's some photos...

Fried wires and connectors removed...


Dash and wiring loom exposed...


The mess, did get it more organised and tucked away...

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Andy

Lush

Remind me to slap you next time I see you for that.

It's funny how a "Project" can appear out of nowhere, isn't it ?

[Cunning Plan]

Nice work Andy

[art b]

ya never bored with a ford....


it looks like your getting some good[bit fiddly] jobs sorted there...

[Andy]

Boredom on a bank holiday Monday... wire up some sequential lights!

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This was like this for about 10 mins before Dave said he wanted it back the way it was before. Shame, but it is ever so slightly illegal

Found out nearly all the fuse holders and intermittent which is nice. Means you have to roll a few round to get some things working, like the hazards etc.

Waiting patiently for my NPD catalogue to show up so I can look at some more stuff to drool over!

[Andy]

Boring afternoon, what to do...

[Andy]

Thought I'd resurrect this thread...

Passed her MOT last weekend, got commended on the state of the underside which is nice to know. Solid car, so should be going for a few more years at least.

One problem the MOT tester noticed, we have a water leak. Bit worrying as it's not from a hose, its the block. Haven't investigated anymore than that, but its a slow constant drip from the lower left hand rear bank. The tester reckoned it could be a heater hose, but having a quick look, the pipes are all fine.

Also renewed the tax disc, which put a smile on Daves face, free! Got to love historical tax discs!

Anyway, tomorrow we're taking the Camaro in for its MOT and if theres enough time and the weather is nice, we'll see whats what under the hood.

1 Year and 6 days into ownership!

[Cunning Plan]

Try some K-seal?

[Motorama]

Check all the hoses, and get under there with a light and check all the core plugs before resorting to K Seal

[Andy]

Will do.

Its got me worried I can't see the actually leak only where it drips off from and that its dry up the top of the head...

Time will tell. Hopefully tomorrow will be a clean bill of health for the Camaro!

[Andy]

Woohoo! Camaro passed, but not without putting up a fight.

Got up this morning and took the battery off trickle charge where it has been over the winter. Fitted and fired her up. Awesome. Handbrake was seized on, which broke free after a bit of effort from me.

The drive to garage showed up the car was either running on seven or having an intermittent missfire when on load but not giving it too much gas. Of that makes sense.

The real fun started once we dropped the car off. The garage that does our MOTs is pretty much opposite our workshop and five minute later we got a knock on the door saying they couldn't start it.

Being so long since I was last in the car I couldn't exactly remember what lights should come up on the Dash, but the security one wasn't. So with my old man checking the battery and the garage guys standing watching we set about finding what was wrong. From memory of being in that position before. There is a relay in the drivers footwell that enables the starter. It is fed from the VATS module.

VATS Explained: is a little pellet resistor in the key, which in a third gen are 15 different combinations. The key registers in the barrel an allows the VATS module to activate the starter enable relay and the fuel pump. By manually operating the enabl relay you can turn over the engine and rule out starter failure or solenoid failure. It won't however start the car as there is a lack of fuel.

Anyway, with the equipment we had at work and talking over the phone to Robin at AutoPontiac it Hounslow, we managed to hook the dash pad off, find the two wires that come from the ignition barrel that read the chip. Handily there is a plug at the bottom of the steering column, pulling that apart and using a low resistance ohm meter, we managed to diagnose that the key pellet was working, but only when the key was put straight in. As soon as you turned it forward to ACC or IGN, the circuit went open. With this, the only thing we could do, short of removing the ignition barrel, was to remove the plug and cut the wires about and inch long on the ignition side. Then solder some resistors within the tolerance of 502 ohms and 560 ohms, this was then plugged in, and tested. Fires up first time! Shabba!

To round it off nicely, she passed with flying colours, the only thing that was said, was the this summer might be a good time to jack her up and wire brush some of the suspension arms and cross members as they have a little bit of surface rust.

After all that, me and Dave went to the pub for a well deserved beer!

[Roadkill]

Don't leave the handbrake on if you're storing a car outside over winter.  Leave her in park, or in gear and/or use chocks but don't leave the hand brake on.



Bravo.

[Andy]

Hey, I didn't park her up last

But yeah, has been noted for the future. Now to get the car shampoo out and give them both a going over!

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: Andy

Camaro passed

[Andy]

Sorry, should really update with some photos, but neeeed to clean them!

It's been a couple of weeks since the MOT and apart from the odd trip out, shes not been driven much, but me and Dave are looking at changing the spark plugs on the 3rd gen.

So question guys, 3rd gen spark plugs... which ones (brand and number)? How easy are they to get to? Best to go in from the top or underneath?

[Roadkill]

Avoid Champion plugs.

I tend to use NGK as my preferred.  Can't remember the number off the top of my head, but it's not had to find.

Some are easy, some are hard.

You'll need to go in from BOTH top and bottom (Ooo-er) from memory.

A short spark plug socket (or modified one like I have) helps LOADS ! - Slip it over the plug and use a spanner to loosen it rather than the bulky ratchet.

EDIT - add a bit of copper-slip to the thread when re-inserting.  I found it stops the threads binding.