Red Car project

I wasn't going to start a thread on this car, but may as well.   I only bought it while looking for values on my wrecked 94 to argue with the insurance company, but found this one.  

Here is a thread with the back story

So on to what I have done so far in 21 months of ownership:

put 3800 miles on it in almost 2 years.   I have a company car, so it's a weekender.

Replaced the AC completely.  After 18 months only to find out the OE bolt on the back of the compressor was too long.    Thread here



Had an issue with it dying all of a sudden.   Found out it was the ICM, after replacing the coil and a bunch of other stuff.

Had an overheating issue which was probably just the cap, but then drove it 150 miles to get home using air cooling and the radiator split too.....so replaced the water pump, coolant cap, hoses, and a new radiator.

installed a billet radiator cover and shiny hockey puck thing.

Matte black wrap on the B and C Pillars and a chrome bowtie on the bumper.




Stuff on hand to install:
2x DIN kit from Etch US along with 2X DIN pioneer head unit and new speakers.
4 Monroe SS shocks (from Jade)
Black wheels and tires from Jade (1000 miles on them)
9C1 front bar (from Jade)
Drilled and slotted front rotors (from Jade)
z-28 Cluster
Corvette covers for engine
3.08 gears and posi (took out of rear that was in Jade)

the entire t-56 swap kit (waiting until the auto dies).

Minimal stuff now, but honestly if any of this beyond the wheels, stereo and shocks get done I'll be surprised.   Motorhome and Healey are more important to me.

Personally I would NOT install those corvette fuel rail covers, if they're the original GM ones. The B-body harness was never designed to fit into that area and if you cause cracks in the insulation while doing it, you'll start to get weird electrical problems that will be impossible to diagnose.

Just saying.

sherlock9c1 wrote:

Personally I would NOT install those corvette fuel rail covers, if they're the original GM ones.  The B-body harness was never designed to fit into that area and if you cause cracks in the insulation while doing it, you'll start to get weird electrical problems that will be impossible to diagnose.

Just saying.

good point. I'll sell them as they are NIB with studs. also have a set used with no studs....

"Had an overheating issue which was probably just the cap, but then drove it 150 miles to get home using air cooling and the radiator split too.....so replaced the water pump, coolant cap, hoses, and a new radiator."

Just FYI, something to pay attention to. If the overheating happens again (and you need another water pump), make sure you check and replace the coupler where the water pump attaches... an old/bad coupler can make the water pump fail just slowly enough to keep you thinking it's bad parts.

I am curious what you mean by "drove it 150 miles to get home using air cooling" - do you mean the cooling system itself was completely dry? How did the engine last 150 miles without coolant - was it the middle of winter in Northern Canada or something?

68JCode wrote:

I am curious what you mean by "drove it 150 miles to get home using air cooling" - do you mean the cooling system itself was completely dry?  How did the engine last 150 miles without coolant - was it the middle of winter in Northern Canada or something?

No, it was FL and it was in the 80s. Driving at 70mph pushes enough air over the engine where it will not overheat. As soon as you slow down it will heat up in a hurry though. It runs hotter than normal, say around 225 or so vs. 180, but as long as you are moving and keep the RPM under 2500, you can go quite a ways.

I filled the cooling system and maybe 30 miles into the drive enough leaked out where the temp started to climb. Once enough leaks out the water pump is spinning dry though (but initially thought that was the issue, may have been the radiator the whole time). There was still some water in the block as evidenced when I blew it out with air after removing the WP.

I found this out about small blocks when I had a Ford Van (302 HO) and was on a trip.
Would I do it all the time? Hell no, but if you gotta....

Umm, I acknowledge that despite times call for desperate measures. But wind at freeway speeds isn’t going to push cooling air in between cylinder walls in the block, or around the exhaust ports inside the heads. So if it’s an emergency, go ahead and roll
the dice. But do so with the knowledge that it IS shortening the life of your motor, and if luck isn’t on your side....you will have to spend big $$ to get your car back on the road. Not preaching, just informing you of the facts

Well, this thing is my DD and with Covid and my wife's car parking behind it, I hardly use it.   5K miles in 2 years!     Anyway, with WF coming up, I got motivated.   I'm doing a double DIN swap (some pics to follow), but last night I got busy and repainted the top of the front bumper cover.

When I bought the car, the front and rear covers are sunburned.   The front was alot worse.  I'm 100% now that it's not original to the car as I'm pretty sure the PO hit something and didn't admit to is when selling.  The radiator shroud is not factory original and was replaced with a new part.  It's was missing the front air dam in the middle and the holes to mount said were not all there.  

Anyway it looked pretty bad and had a few divots in it and cracks.   Only pic I have of it but not showing the divots.  you can see the sunburn....



I put some bondo on it the other night and sanded it down on Wed.


Right about now, I got it all taped up and realized the primar and clear I had were no good, so hopped on my bike and raced over to Home D, 2 blocks away. I got this primer (only one they had!) and some automotive gloss clear.

COntinuation as it would only let my upload 4 pics


After the color. My friend paints show bikes and told my a long time ago that with Duplicolor, to spray it, then hit it with the gloss while it's still wet. I did a mirror like that on Dusty and it still looked good 7 or 8 years later when I sold it.


10 min after I sprayed, I pulled the tape.


Got up at 7AM to put the lights back in as I had to take my kid to sailing lessons.

So for a Friday night to finish sand the bumper, wash it, dry it, tape it and prime and paint until peeling the tape was about 2.5 hours. not bad.

nice!

So before and after the bumper, I swapped in the Etch US double DIN kit.   I took my time and worked on it a little bit at a time.   I did have to epoxy alot of my dash back together before cutting it all up..

I won't go through the step by step, but here is the finished product.  


Final dash look, you can see the mic on the cluster bezel


Rear 6x9s I put in.  Still need the 4x6 (have JBLs) upfront.

The etch US kit is really nice and simple if you are careful.  The biggest worry I had was that the 2X Din opening would line up with the face of the unit after I cut up the old dash and glued the new face on it.   I measured a bunch of times.  I almost got it perfect, but a slight miscalculation, has the head unit 1/16" too far out of the dash and it pushes the top of the lower dash out and there is a 1/8-1/4"  gap at the top.

On Stingroo's suggestion, I bought a back-up camera for #25 and wired it up along with a USB and microphone for the Bluetooth.  

It's a Pioneer with a  DVD player AVH-310 (I think)
I ran the backup camera wire through the tailgate wiring tube and tied into the reverse light (to power the camera when in R), and then the video feed and signal wire under the rear plastic in the cargo area, then down and under the door sills to the dash.

The microphone runs up and pops out between the dash bezel and the cluster.  I have it stuck at the 1-2 O'Clock location on the bezel.  

The USB runs out of the back and into the ashtray where I can plug a stick in.  Just bought a 64GB so I can have an entire library in the car.

The kit was a little pricey (on sale for around 150), but it more than made up for it on ease of install and fit and finish.

Also  put new front Monroe SS shocks on.  The OE ones are done after 26 years (only 76K though).  Didn't take pics as it was an after work thrash with 1:20 of daylight left.  Got it done

You can see the backup camera really well here.  I Ran the wire up through the license plate light hole by loosening up the strip above the plate.


Got a hitch from 94 Woody and wasted no time on  getting it installed.  Mostly as I went up to Ft. Pierce for another reason yesterday and used it as an excuse and Michael J (has a lift) put it on for me   He's my brother from another mother with wagons AND a yellow GMC like mine.

LOL, got more done in 3 weeks than the first 2 years combined. I have now put 6K+ in over 2 years. I used to rack up 15K a year on these...

You sure did get a bunch of work done lately!

rcktpwrd wrote:

You sure did get a bunch of work done lately!  

WF was a good motivator lol. I also repainted the black inside the grille as you notice how crappy it looks in the photos above.
Additionally the black was also wearing off of the bottom of the spare wheel well and the red was coming through, so I shot that with flat black as well.

Now that the front shocks are done, the original air shocks in the back have to go. I suppose I'll check the compressor to see it still works, but I do have a set of Monroe SS in hand already, so that's the most likely route.

Add to that I have to wire up for trailer lights now too.

Stuff on hand to install:
2x DIN kit from Etch US along with 2X DIN pioneer head unit and new speakers.
2 rear Monroe SS shocks (from Jade)
Black wheels and tires from Jade (1000 miles on them)
9C1 front bar (from Jade)
Drilled and slotted front rotors (from Jade)
z-28 Cluster
3.08 gears and posi (took out of rear that was in Jade) - May swap whole 3.23 rear from 92 wagon, on the fence as I like the 2.56 gas mileage.....

the entire t-56 swap kit (waiting until the auto dies). <_ uh yeah, some day lol.

Aside from washing and waxing, I have done NOTHING since. The back up camera quit working, but 2 months later it started working again so I dunno, I checked some of the connectors and they were good. I've probably put a thousand miles on it since April.... After driving 100+ miles a day for work, I only use it to run to the store, etc. Usually, there is another car blocking it in the driveway so I use that one instead...

With WF coming up again, I guess I'll have to get some stuff done, but the other cars keep jumping in front of the line as they are the true DDs and need to be on the road...

Annual check-in. Nothing to report except, the passenger rear footwell gets wet when we have hard rain I'm up to 83K on it and all I've done in the last year is basic maintenance and I replaced the digital display as it went bad.

Found out you can remove the cluster without taking the lower dash off, but your have to remove the plastic faceplate from the cluster and then it will come out. (my lower dash is so brittle, I'm afraid to touch it). I put the new cluster in and swapped the LCD panel from the old one so I could keep the mileage.

I've seen the car at Wagonfest but this is first reading of your thread. Early on you spoke of installing the "hockey puck thing". WHAAAA?

Walterf wrote:

I've seen the car at Wagonfest but this is first reading of your thread.  Early on you spoke of installing the "hockey puck thing".  WHAAAA?

LT1 engine has a giant black plastic part sitting on top of the intake. It is part of the intake plumbing that is used to quiet the car down because they were built with old folks in mind that want a quiet car. Most people eliminate it to clean up the engine bay. Since it connects to the intake tubing removing it leaves a big hole that needs to be closed off. A hockey puck fits in that hole perfectly so that is what most everyone uses.

94Woody wrote:

Walterf wrote:

I've seen the car at Wagonfest but this is first reading of your thread.  Early on you spoke of installing the "hockey puck thing".  WHAAAA?

LT1 engine has a giant black plastic part sitting on top of the intake. It is part of the intake plumbing that is used to quiet the car down because they were built with old folks in mind that want a quiet car. Most people eliminate it to clean up the engine bay. Since it connects to the intake tubing removing it leaves a big hole that needs to be closed off. A hockey puck fits in that hole perfectly so that is what most everyone uses.

yup. The hockey puck closes off the hole left from the home plate removal.

And they say these aren't "sports" cars....

Well it's been awhile... Coming up on 5 years of ownership on the car and I've put 21K on it in that time. Having a company car is a great help. Add to that I also have 96 Camaro now (which I've put less than 500 miles on in a year).

I recently changed out the EGR valve and the bucking that would happen when you slowly fed it gas in O/D has mostly stopped (still an occasional bump) and the check engine light doesn't go on anymore so that's a big win.

I have replacement tailgate from Ruby (she got junked) and color matched front fender I need to hang. The clear coat is going on the roof and now I found rust in the oddest place.

In the rain channel in the middle of the driver side rear door. It's slowly spreading, so I need to pull the headliner and get after it.

With WF a month away maybe I'll get motivated to make some progress....