After 15 months, I finally drove the Garage Queen yesterday! Of course the
1st 20 feet were in reverse, back into the garage...
I pushed the car out into the driveway, but it was a bit cloudy. So I
called Weather, they said "slight chance of sprinkles late in the day". So
I walked back out front, and the 1st drops were falling; so much for
meteorologists.
Up to that point, the weekend was completing the last few things on the
car. I had a grease drip on both sides of the LF brake dust shield, so I
wanted to pull the hub & check out the bearings. Those caliper bolts were
_tight_! Really leaning on one, I was watching where my knuckles would end
up if it broke loose really fast. It did , but I forgot to figure out where
the rest of me would end up; My body pivoted forward under the release and
I went face-first into the fender. Splat! I was lightheaded for a bit,
dropped my breaker bar in the yard & had to go find it, I have a fat bloody
lip and one tooth is questionable. I feel like cr*p this morning. Oh,
thanks for asking, the car is fine. The seal looks OK, I may have
overloaded the bearings earlier, I cleaned everything off & I'll check
again later. Anybody besides Very Bad have seals if I need them?
Went to put the wheels on, and when I slid the right rear on something fell
in my lap; the weights had fallen off the wheel at zero miles since
balancing and mounting the new Yoko's. Well, that'll mean a trip back to
the tire dealer.
Wasn't sure about the engine, hadn't started in so long. I used a
hypodermic w/out the needle part to squirt 1 cc of oil into each spark plug
hole before mounting. Hooking up the battery and turning the key, I hear no
fuel pump. Hmmm. So I turn over the motor a few times to circulate that oil
in the cylinders. Then, under the car, a few taps on the fuel pump. Back
inside, I hear the pump. The car fired up within 3 seconds. It still has a
pretty radical idle.
I did drive it a few miles after the rain stopped and the road dried out
(about an hour later). Boy do I like the new interior! First, it's great to
sit on a seat with some real support, not sag most of the way to the floor.
Also, having a full compliment of interior panels, plus all of that
Dynamat, means it's now _much_ quieter on the move; you can actually
converse w/out shouting while driving. The new 205/60-13 Yoko's are fine,
didn't corner very hard yet, and the steering didn't get too heavy moving
up from 185/70's. They fill out the wheel wells a lot in front, but no
scraping. Yet.
Took my mother-in-law out for a short spin, opened it up pretty far in 1st
and 2nd gears. She loved it! And she dates to the Harding administration.
She doesn't seem to mind her self-indulgent son-in-law, go figure.
Well, I do have problems. Could use some advice of clearing some of them
up.
* The brakes are cr*p. After bleeding about 750ml (easy to check, we used a
wine bottle) of fluid through the system, we have a firm pedal; I hope it
stays that way. But the brakes don't slow the car much, compared to before,
and that's not saying much. It also yaws to the left under braking, more so
than the pull on the steering wheel might suggest. Bad front right caliper?
Bad left rear brake? My 1st check will be to put the car back on stands,
and try to turn the wheels by hand while Susan depresses the pedal. If I
have a free turning wheel, I've found my problem. If not, I may be stumped.
Recently professionally rebuilt calipers, too.
* Smoke! We have smoke coming from the left header in the area of the
collector, and through a gap in the ThermoTec wrap, on the bottom, after
shutting the car down. I know it was supposed to smoke when new, but it has
been 3 years. And if it had been a leak caused by heat-failure if the
header, due to using the ThermoTec, why the smoke after the car is shut
off? I guess I could be leaking fluid onto the wrap; the master cylinders
seem dry, I'll check the clutch slave when the car is "up". Help! This is
scary! The gauge on my 25-year-old fire extinguisher reads 'full', but I
came close to needing it, I think, and am not sure it'll work. Maybe time
to replace.
* Electrical woes; I expected some. No tach or water temp gauge, but the
fuel and amp gauges work (and the speedo and oil pressure, of course, they
are mechanical). Strange combination not to work. also, the green indicator
for the turn signals is on all of the time. Now, when I use the lever, I do
get the relay clicking; have not checked out whether the exterior signals
work. But why the green lamp? Wipers work, have not checked other
dashboard stuff yet.
* Took forever to fill fuel tank. Dang cutoff switch on the nozzle at the
station was so sensitive, I could only fill at a trickle. Anybody else
experience this?
Hey, that's all for now, I'm sure I left out a lot. Want to smooth out
these last few things before British Car Day here in Maryland, and, before
that, the cookout at Aunt Agnes Kludge's house; the one that works for the
Postal Service repairing mail-handling equipment...
Lawrence R. Wright
Purchasing Analyst
Andrews Office Products, Divison of USOP
PH 301-386-7923 FX 301-386-5333
lrw@aop.com
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