richopp

So, lots going on.

1..Got much of the carpets back in--they don't fit so more work required.
2. Re-installed the refreshed parts of the heating/A/C system...that screw in the side of the left A/C vent took an HOUR! Obviously installed BEFORE everything in front of it at the factory!
3. Need 3 people to help putting that spacer under the gas pedal. What a nightmare--have to wait until some other time when more hands are available. Tough get, that one.
4. Found a stuck bolt in the driver's side seat belt slot. Gonna weld a nut to it and see if it comes out. Supposedly this works every time...we shall see.
5. Washed and light waxed the car for the FIRST TIME yesterday prior to going to the shop. Did not want them to think I was a total slob! Car is "interesting" and I can see that detailing it just for keeping it fresh will be an all-day affair when I do it. LOTS of little nooks and crannies in this body--LOTS!
6. Car was towed to the shop as it was hardly running. Front metering block on carb is bad--gonna send it off to All American Carburetor in Orange Park (near Jacksonville) for a rebuild They guarantee it for life if it is rebuildable, and they believe it is. 250 + shipping VS 900 for a new one. A no brainer for poor people like me.

http://www.allamericancarburetor.com/index.html

7. Paul (Prime Tune in Pompano Beach) fixed it so I could drive it home.
8. FIRST TIME DRIVING THE CAR--and it rained, of course.
---Top leaks like a sieve; gonna make some adjustments to the latches.
---Temp went to 210--we have 20-minute stoplights down here, so the temp climbed while sitting. Turned off the A/C while sitting--gonna check the thermostat as I have a good new one--and check the coolant to see what it is. May have to add antifreeze if there is none.
---Belted tires are DANGEROUS in the rain. Am swapping for new goldline radials with someone who wants these for show. Can't wait!
--Wipers worked pretty well--gonna put some RAINX on the windshield and get some new rubber inserts--ANY SUGGESTIONS?-- to improve coverage. Not bad, really, and fast speed was a terror! Since we live in the Tropics, good wipers are an absolute must!
--Car made funny noises--much of it is not screwed down inside and there are tools all over the place, so not going to worry about that until it is 100% back together.

Very interesting car to drive in traffic. Gonna have to learn to drive more carefully and get used to the way it handles. I was just glad to get home (7 miles) in one piece and with gas left in the tank!

I think I am going to really like driving this car around. People stare, but not in a rude way, and some wave. It was raining, so...I had my eyes on the road.

Excited to be moving forward finally even though the carb repair will take a few weeks. Give me time to get those new tires, rocker panels refreshed--they are a MESS--and all the other little projects I have in the pipeline. Hopefully I can get all this done in the 3 weeks they need with the carb.

Ordered a few more connectors. What is it with people cutting off wire connectors under the dash?? Walk the plank!

More later with pics as we finish up--I think you have seen enough bare fiberglass floors already!

Cheers,

Richard
.

Factoid

Congrats, it’s a good feeling to drive it the first time! Can’t wait to see pics.

Frankie the Fink

Funny stuff - and not much different than most of us have been through - it takes me 6 months to a year to get a classic car up to my acceptable threshold usually.

Beware the butchered wiring - its worth just doing a wholesale replacement of harnesses if things have been Bubba-ed excessively...

Frankly - I avoid driving in the rain for the most part....I get caught once in a while but "suck it up" and deal with it..

richopp

Thanks--it was a real treat. I will get pics in a few weeks as it comes together. Not too good with the camera and then uploading...pain in the rear end, but worth it once they are up.

Cheers,

Richard

richopp

Boy, you have that right. The rain was a surprise--have not had any in weeks and all of a sudden as Paul tells me the car will make it home like it is, it starts. Anyway, got that out of the way and feel safe in the rain, although it will improve with the radials, I am sure.

Wiring is being done one at a time. So far, nothing I can't fix. It is just a mystery to me why ANYONE would mess up a nice car like this. Time? Takes as much time to butcher it as it does to do it right.
Money? How? Wire is wire--not exactly a new engine or tranny.

Anyway, I am on it and so far things are OK. Few more connectors to replace and things should be good to go.

Cheers,

Richard

RatDog

210 degrees on your temp gauge is normal. Verify the reading with an IR gun and if it checks out as accurate, you can remove this item from your "fix-it" list.

Steve

dcamick

Most Excellent!!!! Been there!!! But it's worth it!!!

ChattanoogaJSB

A light 50 odd year old car with a v8 and typical gearing on about a 205mm tire will always demand respect in the rain. No reason not to drive it just keeps you on your toes vs modern rides.

richopp

Thanks, Steve, will do. I have the IR gun--just was not expecting to be driving the car so soon. Not sure what I have yet, so appreciate the response. I will be driving in the very hot FL sun with the A/C running (even when the top is down sometimes--crazy Floridians!) and want to be sure all is well there. I did buy a correct Dewitt's radiator, hoses, and clamps JUST IN CASE some future event requires a change and I am broke at the time. I got the radiator during their January sale, thus saved hundreds on it, which makes me feel confident that I can handle an adverse cooling situation in the future should it occur. I was kind of surprised to read in the Spec Guide that the original radiator is aluminum. so it put my mind at ease for not changing it until something falis.

I will still have the coolant checked to see if it has the proper ratio of coolant to water. Given the way this car was treated, one cannot be sure what they focused on and what they did not. (Clearly they were not interested in replacing what they removed properly or keeping the wiring whole or cleaning anything or...I better stop.)

The car is on the way to recovery and when I am done it will not be a "show" car because I don't want one, but every system will perform as it is supposed to and "clean" will apply to every wire connection, mechanical part that I can get to, and at least the interior will be fresh and enjoyable to drive and ride in.

As a hobby, as I told my "jock" friends in HS who laughed at me for hanging out with the "greasers," cars that run give you the opportunity for dates on the week-end while the rest of you sit home. Not a bad reason to enjoy working on them back then!

Today, I simply enjoy the work--taping and painting the bezel on the clock and black part of the glove compartment door means I don't have to replace them ($$$$$), I enjoy the process, and it contributes to the quality of the interior appearance. To me, that, and all the other chores of getting the car back to normal is fun (sick, right??).

Cheers,

Richard

richopp

It has been SO LONG since I drove on belted tires that I had a bit of a learning curve even though I was on city streets at 40-45 mph. When I turned the sharp corner to my area of our town and went over tracks at the same time on a wet road, I felt the tires start to break loose, so had to adjust even though I was at 5 mph or so. FORGOT about that, and since I have been doing 4200 LB Buicks for the last 40 years or so, it was a reminder of what you point out...this car is LIGHT!

Anyway, happily someone in our local Sting Rays club wants my tires for points and we are working a deal to put gold stripe radials on the car in exchange for these for him. LUCKY break for me as I can get some funds for these and save a bit on the new ones, which are quite dear, evidently.

More reports when the radials are on, but I still have to learn how to drive this car. I think it will be a very enjoyable experience--can't imagine what a 427/390 or 427/425 would be like in this car. I gotta drive one eventually just to see what it is like. The Buicks have 455's, but at 4000 LBS+, they keep down pretty well once you get the tires sorted.

Fun times!

Cheers,

Richard

richopp

Can't deny that--it was a thrill just looking over that hood while tooling down the street even in the rain. Quite a nice experience, I must say, and everything I thought it would be and more.

Once I get the tires sorted and the carb rebuilt and tuned, I will be enjoying driving it as much as I possibly can. C2's at Publix? You bet. Library? Sure. Dry Cleaners, yep. Not good for the Depot or Lowes since those are usually big items, but for the rest, I am excited just drive it around and to have it seen around my town, which is full of modern exotics that may not be designed as elegantly as this car is.

Cheers,

Richard

Frankie the Fink

OK - I know you're excited about driving the car but check your classic car insurance - none of them I know of allow running routine errands; of course if you're on the way to a show or in mid-pleasure cruise then that's a gray area, but "daily driving" - no way..

richopp

I have both stated value classic and regular along with my "real" daily driver. I don't actually drive much any more as I am retired now and mostly go to run a few errands on weekends. Typically, I do one or two shows a week as we have many here each month--cruises, Saturday night things, Friday night things, Sunday things, etc. I try to go to as many as possible, and since the gas station is in Ft. Lauderdale, I never take it there but bring the gas to it at home.

Once the carb is sorted out, I will see what other options I have for gas; not sure if the heads have been updated, but will be able to tell once we get things running properly. Publix and other errands are included in the "Used only infrequently for other purposes" on the classic, and totally included in the regular. Difference is, stated value is NOT in the regular, so my own responsibility after the deductible. I definitely don't drive around in heavy traffic, etc. This IS South Florida, after all, home of the, uh, most "creative" drivers around, although I am sure forum members from other sates believe that THEIR drivers are even more "creative" than ours.

Suffice it to say that in FL, you need insurance to get a tag for your car. Around 25% of Florida drivers do NOT have insurance. How do they do that? Simple:

1. Steal a tag every week or two; down here, tags are little 2" square stickers on the corner of your plate every year.
2. Buy insurance on a "monthly" basis and only pay for the first month and then disappear until tag-renewal time. Makes insurance payments small as you only pay 1/12 the premium each year.

Florida gave up on this situation years ago. That is why I have been calling it the "Frontier State" for 30 years or so. When they figured out how many Highway Patrol people they needed to cover the state, they punted to the lawyers and others who make money off car wrecks. Don't forget, we STILL have PIP, which they have been saying they will get rid of for, oh, 25 years or so. Insurance industry and medical industry has too much lobbing power to kill it, so in FL, drive at your own risk!

Cheers!

Richard

Frankie the Fink

OK - first off the number of uninsured drivers in Florida is over 27% - the highest nationwide - like the goddamned clown that hit me. He used your option #2 above because Florida doesn't collect your tags when your insurance lapses (even though they should)...so now you can buy a 2-year registration cancel that month-to-month premium and drive around all you like and your uninsured azz can kill, maim and crash to your heart's content... And, oh by the way, these clowns can try to sue YOU afterwards, even if they are at fault and uninsured - ask me how I know...

Gotta love America...

RatDog

An Agreed Value policy is what you want, not Stated Value if you want to recover the full value of your car if you have a loss.

Steve

richopp

Sorry, you are using the CORRECT term, and I screwed up. Agreed is indeed what I have. SORRY!

By the way, AWESOME car. I got the "bug" a couple of years ago seeing a similar car at the Father's Day show at Mizner Park:

'67 White roadster with either Bright Blue or Bright Blue/White interior. I forget BECAUSE it was a 4-speed 427/425 with FACTORY A/C and pretty much every other option. It was stunning--blue Stinger hood--a really cool car. I went looking for the owner--forgot to write his name down from the sign on the car--and have never found him. I THINK he lives here. Local club says they don't know the car, and probably told me about yours when I asked.

VERY hard to find a white car, and I do love the Nassau Blue/Bright Blue+White car I have, but looked and looked for a white one.

Obviously, I would never be able to actually afford the car I saw, but it sure got me into the C2 thing and now I actually have one!

Cheers,

Richard

richopp

I hear you loud and clear. Driving back from Key Biscayne one night and a van was STOPPED in the left lane of I-95 just over a rise in the road. Swerved to miss it, got hit bad by a car in the other lane--no one hurt, thank goodness, and other driver kept going. Called it in and van "disappeared" before the FHP arrived. Gave them the license number. They traced the van to a house where 30+ people from Haiti lived and none of them knew anything, of course.

My 1985 MB 280 SL (grey market car--really cool) was smashed up. Luckily, the local dealer had a fender and was able to fix it back to perfect. I guess they made cars to last in the '80's, so I drove it for a number of years after that.

FHP said to, "Give it up" as they would never find the person or the car and my insurance paid (see what I mean about lobbyists?) and I went on my merry way after almost being killed.

I promise you NO ONE in the FL legislature would have cared one second if I had died. You get it--we live in a Frontier State where laws are optional.

Cheers,

Richard

Frankie the Fink

I won’t go too much farther off topic. But my incident hardened my immigration outlook even more.

Anyway. Carry a good fire extinguisher, make sure your brakes and wiring work and keep an eagle eye on the two small gauges on the left side of the radio. Nearly anything else going wrong is relatively easy to deal with. Keep on truckin’

richopp

Thanks, Frankie, I hear you loud and clear--'nuff said. Brakes are new, with new hoses, booster, master (need a gold top to replace the chrome one!), etc. Fire extinguisher will be given to me as a gift from a buddy who owns a A-1 Fire in Miami, and watching the gauges is job 2 after safety to me.

Going to pack up a set of hoses, clamps, belts, correct tools to replace these items, and keep them in the car at all times. I don't anticipate many issues. They made millions of these engines and parts are easy, failures are usually limited to the stuff bolted onto the block--water pump, etc., but you can hear stuff like that going bad. I am MUCH more comfortable with this car than the new cars where everything is a computer and you can't change/fix much yourself.

Cheers,

Richard

RatDog

Richard - If you run out of room in your jack box for tools and parts, Harbor Freight sells aluminum storage boxes that fit exactly, side-by-side, between the wheel wells in the rear compartment.



Steve