Yesterday the Vette project got bumped by the '34 FoRd S B C street truck....



electric windows wiring shorted/relay faulty.......2 hours chasing wires & correcting problem

seat belt retractor B/R (beyond repair)......1.5 hours replaced assembly

oil puddle in garage under engine (WHEW--NOT the main seal)....1.5 hours changed oil /tightened new oil filter/replaced split oil drain-plug gasket/tightened loose rear pan bolts...

A/T "overdrive" solenoid not engaging... 1.5 hours test wiring/no voltage at transmission connector....tested wiring--loose connection at relay....test wiring----voltage now good at trans.connector....road-tested vehicle---still no rpm drop above 50mph----lock-up solenoid fried/ordered same from parts store......

warrantied radio fizzing/hot as a firecracker on the 4th of July...removed and replace with new radio

WHEW!

Now to do something enjoyable and relaxing..........

Remove the "kids" from that newly re-covered seat (one of 'em slept on it last night) and install it!

 

Finally.......here's a 10 foot pic of the less-than-perfect-daily-driver seat covers install and in the car!

Hmmmmmm....the passenger's seat is missing the chrome release ****.....

Seems as though I forgot to drill out a couple broken seat mounting bolts before I installed the heat/sound proofing/carpet.......

THAT turned out to be a fun project!



BUT......it's history now................




Now for a pair of color-matching 3-point seat belts...........and floor mats.



Maybe tomorrow I can install the new horn button assembly and finish installing the console/shifter assembly.....maybe....probably.

 

"How to make a ONE HOUR repair take 6 hours".....by Doorgunner

( So much for the plan of re-installing the doors also)

Nothing could possibly go wrong/RIGHT?!

........ ...........

Since there were no internals under the horn button when I bought the car, I ordered the '68-only horn rebuild kit from Grant Steering Wheels.........

and it worked........more or less.........

First....I need to repair some of Bubba's repairs----damaged steering shaft threads and a smashed nut....good thing I have my tap and die set ready.......







An hour later................everything goes together nicely..........





Before I install the horn button I think I'll depress the contact ring to see how the horn sounds...........................

Silence........depress contact again........Silence.......

No wonder the kit went together with no problems...(the gremlins were storing up some misery for me........

3 hours later.....troubleshoot the entire system/bumper to steering wheel..........3 feet of black ground wire.....5 mangled wire connectors....replace the horn relay(kept the original relay to rebuild it....the multimeter shows good continuity-----but not great continuity--hmmmm---oh well , I'll take what I can get.......

Time to press the contact ring again....................silence......

WHAT THE...................

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.....that spring for the contact plunger didn't look very "stout".......remove everything and install a stout spare plunger-spring into the plasticguide-hole/re-connect the short black wire to the contact ring/re-install the steering wheel.......NOW the ohm meter is pegging out!

After another hour (later)...........Time to press the contact ring again..............






That long-very skinny spring that was included in the Grant kit was acting like a resistor---for some reason it would not let the horn contact ring ground properly.....

Now that the horn works correctly, I'll spend some time working the scratches out of the chrome on the steering wheel/chrome horn button later when I go through the interior cleaning off the 10 months of garage dust....







I'm still tickled since all ended well.......

 

That sounds about the way some of my projects go

 

Yep, something that would take ten minutes on any other car, takes five hours, three beers and many choice words on ours...

 

I'm re-naming my thread........to something that I can identify with on a personal level...........


"Life is tough........"

 

The good......the bad.....the..........misaligned......... ....

It's time to throw on the doors (no serious aligning will be done...I need them only to open and close to pass the State Inspection)

I got more practice at dropping the steering column and pulling the left dash panel out in order to re-install the door hinges.......






After chasing lots of threads and wire-wheeling lots of hinge mounting bolts...then installing a slightly well-used driver's window, the door finally goes on/mirror also......




I need to order a new mirror since the original has blisters under the chrome/the door latch will have to be removed & cleaned because it forgot how to latch-unlatch.

And it only took another 6 hours to almost do it correctly


I won't even suggest that tomorrow might be the day that I make it to the Inspection Station.................... .................



!

 

Good luck with the inspection.

 

It should go well....I went through the inspection check-list to make sure everything was working properly (I nearly forgot about the driver's side mirror--it's required).

 

How did your inspection go?

 

RATS!

IT "GOT" RAINED OUT!

I decided to adjust both doors much closer since they were both "sticking"......and since the dash panels were still removed from yesterday's repairs-----all that took two hours--then I had to remove the latch mechanism from the driver's door/clean/scrub/oil it because it "stuck" from 40+ years of gunk whenever it felt like doing so....it was preventing the door from even opening at times

I was finally set to go to the Inspection station....and the "sky dropped out"......it rained all afternoon---the State doesn't allow vehicle inspections while it's raining----for safety reasons

So......I'll try again tomorrow since I re-assembled everything during the rain storms.

 

First........the GOOD news........

Yesterday it happened.....right before a rainstorm!

The car made the 20 mile trip with no problems....the road was too curvey to safely get decent readings with the infrared gun----I did get one reading at the floorboard next to the accelerator pedal of 101* F...considering the ambient temperature was 98*F. After the inspection the traffic on the "loop" was too heavy to get floorboard temp readings safely. I never drove more than 60mph (but DID get up to 60 in a "hurry" a few times....snicker!)

Anyhow.......the car passed the Inspection with "flying colors"..........





Now the trip home on the Interstate highway was a different story. For SOME reason the engine temp. started climbing slowly. At 210*F I exited into town and to the nearest gas station---the temp. was at 225*F by the time I stopped---it took about 20 minutes for the car to cool down to 180*F...then I added a gallon of water to replace the overflow loss...

Fast-forward 30 minutes and 3 overheating stops later....I arrive home after shortening the shake-down cruise considerably

I decided to make one last underhood check before putting the car in the garage................................

and it happened----------after 50 years of trying to be safe while working with a hot engine-------the heater hoses blew apart at the waterpump fitting!

I'm just glad that I was wearing my reading glasses....the right side of my face got blasted with 225* water (nearly all the green coolant was gone from several previous re-fills of the overflow tank on the way home)...so all I was hit with was hot water....(if that could be a "good thing"...LOL)

Into the house immediately to get a gallon zip-lock bag full of crushed ice to press on my beet-red face ....an hour later the burning was bearable/NO BLISTERS----another 1/2 hour added on-----it began to feel like it was only a bad sunburn-----a GOOD thing compared to that blast that my face took initially.

R O O K I E S !!!



Walking back out to the car and taking a look at that new Inspection sticker with my "good eye" made my face feel better!


Friday I will go through the "Over-heating Checklist (the car engine ran great in the many 30 minute drives through the neighborhood over the last few months before the Inspection was done/it ran great in the 20 mile/30 minute trip to the Inspection Station----never overheating or giving me any problems, even weeks before while idling for 30 minutes at a time or while I did lifter adjustments/carb adjustments/checked drivetrain for oil &coolant leaks/etc....I always monitored the temp gauge and NEVER had any problems.


HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

I DID remember hearing a metallic tapping sound off and on after the Inspection, on the way home.......and I DO remember reading another member's account of hearing a similar noise before his car engine started overheating...................

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.....

Maybe that w/pump impeller "turned loose"....since everything has been "behaving itself" on the engine for the last six months!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh well....since I was able to cool the engine down from 225*each time it over-heated without doing any internal damage........it's all in fun......I'll just "chalk" this event up as another "back in '14 Corvette War story".


EDIT: Today/Friday.......NO blisters on my face/just the feeling of a bad sunburn....time to pull the waterpump and check things out concerning the overheating problem....(Where's that timing light?!)

 

Good to hear you face isn't in bad shape, that's some dangerous stuff there as I'm sure you're well aware...

As for the overheating, it's a big difference running around the neighborhood at low RPM and running at Hwy speeds at high RPM, you might want to take a look at your clutch fan... Just a thought

 

Congratulations with the inspection.
I also know how it feels when hot radiator water hits you in the face.
It happened to me about 35 years ago.

 

I'm using the same setup that I have on my '34 street truck SBC/A.T./dual electric fans....it's never given me overheating problems (since I spent 30 minutes burping the air out of the system after installing it 7 years ago ).
I just removed the Vette "ancient" waterpump since there has been a small puddle 2" diameter of coolant on the garage floor every day after "touring the neighborhood" for 30 minutes (I thought it was just loose hose clamps). Coolant has been dripping out of the weep hole--which couldn't be seen because of the deep pulley. The impeller is in decent shape/secure on the shaft. The lower radiator hose is new with an internal spring the length of it (not pretty---but not collapsible either). The upper hose seems to be only a couple years old and feels "good". I can't see any crud or build-up at all in the two block openings---the P.O. must have had the block "boiled-out" when he rebuilt the engine, even though he didn't put more than 6,000 miles on it or on the rebuilt TH400 in the last millennium.

The engine IS turning 2800 rpm at 60 mph (800rpm more than my 350 SBC/700R4 street truck with the same size wheels/T/A Radials). I'd like to get the rpm down to approx. 2,000 rpm (one day LOL)

I'll do that compression check on all 8 cylinders (that I've been avoiding because the engine idles/runs so smoothly) just to make sure the head gaskets haven't blownin the last 24hours--even though there's not coolant in the oil or visa-versa.

Annnnnnnd....double-check the timing and the distributor/carb vacuum connection to see if it's connected to the wrong port.

Since the waterpump is aftermarket, I'll replace it rather than rebuild it while it's off the engine.

Did I (rookie) forget anything?

 

Wow! The hot water explosion was some crazy stuff! I am glad you didn't get seriously burned, but you got burned pretty good, nonetheless. Your tale, will sure make me approach super-heated engine bays, differently, that's for sure!

 

True. I ALWAYS wait for the engine to cool down before doing any coolant-related work.......I even loosened the radiator cap to the safety-stops on the aluminum reservoir, which relieved a lot of pressure down toward the ground....I guess the old heater hose (I KNEW I should have replaced it rather than cutting the swollen ends off and re-installing it ) had all it could stand-----B A M !!


EDIT: I have the list in my little wallet.....time to go and buy some new "stuff"!

 

Yeah it sounds like you need to swap out that water pump and go form there. Hopefully that will do the trick for you!

 

I'm back from the 3 different parts stores with everything I needed........

the temp in the garage has finally dropped below 98*F.........

the wife will be "running the roads" for another 4 hours.....




"Time to go play!!

 

After looking at Rvzio's thread today......my A.D.D. took control of me......






It gets worse................................... .....................................






Well.......at least SOMETHING on the engine looks clean.............







I still need to check the cooling system diagram for heater hose routing since Uncle Bubba eliminated the vacuum-operated hot water switch. I bought a new switch and need to plumb it while I'm cutting new heater hoses to fit.