[elky] Re: Beater Camaro update.
- From: "Jim Dos" <jdos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2011 10:03:12 -0500
Great to hear about all the progress. I'm jealous of your patience and
progress.
My attempt for the day is to get the brake lights working on the gmc truck
again. And it wasn't the fuse, naturally
Jim
From: elky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:elky-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Ray Buck
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 3:30 PM
To: elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [elky] Beater Camaro update.
As much as I wanted to send the Camaro's seller a nastygram, I listened to
what people said (and wrote) and decided it wasn't the right thing to do.
The next day I got an application for title from the seller. No bill of
sale, no certificate of title, but something, anyway. So I'll just let the
demons of hell take care of him. :)
Anyway, I've done a lotta stuff on it. And I've been using it as my driver,
more or less. Here's a list of what I've done in no particular order:
Replaced the radiator, torque arm bushing, water temp sender (temp gauge
still doesn't work), oil pressure sender, wiper blades and a few other
things that will probably come to me later...like the battery, plugs and
wires. I've fixed the vacuum leak that was preventing the heater/blend door
controls from working and seem to have the hood latch in working order. I
also got the windshield washers functional as well as the hand brake.
Today I pulled the passenger door lock cylinder and had keys made (a spare
ignition key and 2 door keys) since none came with the car (why is this not
surprising?)
Now I can lock it up and not worry about not getting back into it. That key
also lets me open the rear hatch...
...but I had an idea I wasn't gonna like what I saw when I got in there:
It had an electric opener (I'll be damned if I can find the switch for it
anywhere near the driver's seat) but it's busted all to hell. All plastic
stuff. It's gonna get adjusted so it closes properly (it doesn't come close
to closing now) and then a coupla bolts put in to keep it there. I'll just
use the key.
Finally, I don't like the dish on the steering wheel that's in it. It needs
a flatter wheel:
So that wood-looking thing is the one Carrie sent me for Rufus. It's been
on my garage shelf for a long time. It's finally gonna get used. Thanks,
Carrie!
The wheels all had locking lug nuts on 'em and guess what? No key. Who'da
thunk it? So while I was having the tires mounted and balanced for the rear
of the race car...
....the guy who manages the tire shop I've been going to for ages took 'em
off with a hammer-on, contracting socket. For the whole deal, he charged me
$20...mount, balance, metal valve stems on the race car wheels and removing
the lug nuts. And the guy who welded the tabs on knocked 1/3 off the price
cuz they weren't done when I came to pick 'em up and I had to come back
after getting the keys made. Anyway, I can now pull the wheels and check
the brakes, something I wanted to do before I took it in for inspection.
So the whole morning's damages (including a coupla windshield sunshades,
some real cheap seat covers...black/white tiger stripes, no less (I couldn't
go for the "Sweet Cherry" or "Fear This" or any of the others and these were
the least offensive. I may put "cheapie sheepies" on it eventually....but
not now) and a tub of Fast Orange hand cleaner) cost me under $75. I wish
every day was that cheap.
The weather here (this really ties in with the rest of the stuff) is the
weirdest I can remember. From April to June 21st (I guess all of the
"calendar" spring) we've had cold/cool/windy weather along with 5 times out
normal rainfall. On the first day of "summer", it hit 90. It's 95 right
now, could possibly hit 100 this afternoon. I'm not going out to work in
the sun at the moment. If I do anything, I'll keep working on the Monte
Carlo in the garage. Last nite I got the fan relay finished up and mounted
and a good jump on the MSD box wiring. That and the instrument cluster
along with mounting the race tires are next.
Ok. I'll stop rambling now. But it had been a while since I made an
update, so...well, here it is. :)
r
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