Hello All form San Diego

My 12 year old Son wants to be a mechanic. So about a month ago, I purchased a 1996 Roadmaster Wagon. We have spent the last 4 Saturdays out in the drive way working. It is great bonding and my son is learning a lot. While i do not know a lot, i know enough along with books and the internet to show him many things. I wanted to learn how to work on Cars when i was 19. I purchased a 1954 Chevy 210 Coupe. It was towed to my Dad's house and for the next 6 months, I basically took the 54 apart and put it back together again to get it running. I wanted my Son to have the same experience. Granted the 96 is much more complex, the basics are still the same.

Our 96 spent a long time in the deserts of California, up near Ridgecrest. It has a lot of fine desert dust in everything. So far, my son has taken the dash apart and cleaned all the dust out of the HVAC ducts, cleaned all the wiring, and replaced all the foam tape and foam pieces. We have replaced the Optispark, waterpump, harmonic balancer, ignition coil and module, and the wires and plugs. This weekend, we are going to replace the upper and lower control arm bushings and front shocks. the following, replace the rear shocks and bushings.

Future:
Interior
The 96 came with a new carpet kit, headlights and i found some matching blue leather front seats (from a 95 with 32K miles on it).
Exterior:
Obtain the missing passenger front fender moldings (in progress)
Remove the Woodgrain. new paint and replace wood grain

Welcome Jim & son!

Wow, for owning your wagon for a month, you both have done a lot. You will find there's a pretty good bunch of guys here always willing to help.

Tom

Welcome aboard to both you and your enthusiastic son.

Welcome and look forward to hearing how it comes along! I've got two sons and they have grown up under the hood with me as well. Great bonding time!

Welcome!

-Michael

Welcome! I did the same thing with my son, but with a 1992 Volvo 240 (essentially the 1974 Volvo 240, with newer armor plating). It was great fun. Now he's an engineer and helps me!

Have fun with the rebuild. The speed of your progress is truly impressive. The folks here can help you find most anything you need.

Perhaps check the hoses and other cooling system parts, and replace the plastic fittings/reducers in the hoses. They can be trouble as they age, and theses engines cook fast when there is a rapid coolant loss. Cheap insurance.

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I look forward to sharing and learning from this community.

far out, man. cool project.

Love San Diego. Probably the one city I would move to. Went down there regularly while on the P3 (NASNI/Coronado/Point Loma).

When my son was a tot, I bought another creeper so he could be under the car while I was under it. When he was six, I showed him how to change the oil. He had to stand on a chair to reach far enough under the hood to remove the filler cap. About two years later, I had him change it without my second-by-second supervision (I did check to mahe sure everything was properly tightened/filled when he was done.

Fast forward to his college composition class. The assignment was to write about the most memorable moment in the student's life. He wrote about that first big-boy oil change.

Do yourself a favor and check/replace the exhaust manifold bolts. You will thank me later.