I tried cleaning around the hood latches, but it just wasn’t working so I opted to remove the latches being careful to mark the edges so that they would go back in the exact same spots.
With the latches out it was much easier to clean. Notice the body plug just left of center at the top. This I believe is how you get the hood up should the hood cables fail. There is a plug on both sides. On the passenger side a screwdriver would be used to lift the latch trip lever and on the opposite side the driver would be used to press down on the latch trip lever. I’ve left the bits of gasket type stuff around a couple of studs to help locate the latch in the exact original position. On the other side I used a dental pick to scribe lines on two edges for the same purpose.
Everything cleaned up and a spray of white grease on all the moving parts of the latches.
The old cable was still working, but it was beginning to fray.
New cables in place and working well. I’ve also brushed on heavy rust check on the nuts and bare metal. May get to paint them later on.
Just a quick recap on the valve cover leakage. The cover on the passenger side was leaking badly a the back bottom corner where the oil gathers before draining back down the block to the pan. It was getting on the exhaust pipe, smelling bad and leaving a trail of blue behind the car. On the advice of a local mechanic (Chevy MacDonald!) who is a Chev racer too, I bought a set of 3/16″ composite FelPro cork gaskets.
I have coated both sides of the gasket with anti-seize paste. That way the gasket will come away from the block and the cover without breaking if I have to remove the cover for any reason. The old gasket was a rubber compound and should have worked fine, but…
I use two small removable studs on the lower side to hold the gasket in place and then align the valve cover.
I only use a 1/4″ drive extension with a driver handle to install the valve cover nuts. That way I won’t over-tighten the bolts. I’m also using spreaders under the bolts to distribute the pressure along the cover lip.
Success! Only the lightest misting of oil at the back of the valve cover. After letting the engine cool I again snugged down the bolts again – not as tight as I could, just a bit now that the gaskets are warm and there is some looseness.
Next some parts arrived and I can replace the hood release cross-engine cable.
Painted brackets in place with a new tie-down bolt. I took the opportunity to spray heavy Rust Check fluid on all the surface rust I could see.
Cleaned out years of crud in the well.
New used tire in the well. That’s a 205/70 R15. There’s lots of room in the well so I’m thinking I’ll look for a used 225/70 R15 that will match the tires on the car.
All neatly tucked away – hopefully will never see the light of day!
Next I’ll need to stop a bad valve cover oil leak before I take it for a 100 km trip to the windshield shop.
Back from the alignment shop. They did both front and rear. Took them three tries to get it right so that with the steering wheel centred it would go straight and not veer to the left. Hard to get it right with these old steering boxes.
Borrowed this too from a friend. Better than trying to line them up in the garage or going out at night to some level spot with 20′ of so to a clear wall. I couldn’t think of any spot locally that would do.
First I disconnected the vacuum hoses to the headlight actuators.
That allowed me to manually raise the headlights. They can be pushed up from under the lower grille.
I removed the headlight surrounds to give better access to the adjusting screws. Three of the screws had stripped the plastic mounts – poor setup! I managed to get a fitting on the screw where it extends behind the plastic mount.
First thing is to measure the slope of the floor with this transit device. The dial at the top has level at 0 and plus and minus sides. With it on the floor you look down an opening in the device at a split mirror. The screw on the bottom is used to align the marks so that they are in a straight line. Then you turn the dial on the side until the bubble level in the top sits in the centre.
The plus or minus number reading from the transit is then used to set both headlight aimers. This is the left. The verticle lines are viewed through a split mirrorin the aimer on the other side.
With the aimers in place the headlight screws are adjusted to get the correct readings on the aimers.
The side to side is correct when the alignment bars line up in the view hole (between the two gauges). The up and down is correct when the bubble gauge (far left) in centred. If you can’t get things to line up properly you can use the white buttons to get things lined up. The readings from the white buttons tell you whether the final adjustments are in tolerance. If not then you need to make modifications to the headlight mounts to get it correct or within tolerance.
Final job it to re-attach the vacuum hoses to the actuators.
Headlight surrounds back in place. The headlights will have to stay up until I next start the engine. The Service Manual give directions to manually raise the lights and states clearly that they must not be pushed down. Once the car starts the vacuum system will do it’s thing and they lower.
The hub caps are not too nice with lots of pits and the trim rings have some curb rash. Still they are presentable enough and worth a shine up before putting them back on the car – after I get the alignment done.
Starting to work on the AC. Rewired the connections and added an adapter on the low pressure side for the newer refrigerants.
The AC throttle ‘kicker’ is toast so I’ll need to order a new one of those.
Time to prep for the windshield replacement. All the attaching screws of the surrounding windshield trim need to be loosened so that the job doesn’t get held up because the tech has broken off a screw or can’t get it out.
Some screws had to have a slot cut into them with a dremel tool with a small cutoff wheel.
That worked in one case, but the other thee stuck screws had to be coaxed to turn with a fine chisel and hammer and then removed with a small vice grip.
Got all eight out and then replaced the trim with new screws. I still need to check the large stainless T trim piece.
Time to go to the alignment shop. Hopefully the suspension is up to snuff!
First step to checking the timing is to remove the dist cap so movement of the rotor can be seen.
Next I rolled the engine over until the timing mark on the harmonic balancer is in view.
Next I rotated the engine one way until the rotor just moved. The mark is at the 8 degree BTDC mark.
I then rotated the engine back until the rotor just moved. The mark now rests at the 4 degree mark ATDC. So a total movement of 12 degrees.
Not good. From what I have read 4 or 5 degrees is normal wear. In a pinch up to 10 degrees might be OK if the engine is running smooth. 12 degrees is just too much. At idle my timing chain is flopping about and causing valves to open and close at the wrong time – thus the very rough idle. Once the engine is above 900 rpm or so it smooths out as the torque of the engine is keeping the timing chain taught. That explains why all my plugs are firing OK.
I will continue to drive the car this summer as is. I don’t plan any long trips. All I really need to do is have the alignment done, a new windshield installed and then a safety check so I can get it plated.
My project for next winter was an overhaul of the PS pump, control valve and piston. I need to replace the PS pump bracket so I’ll do all that when I install a new timing chain and gears.
The spare tire rim is in good shape. Just lots of surface rust. I won’t bother to have it sandblasted. It will likely not see the light of day!
My quest to find the miss-at-idle continues. I have replaced the coil, put in new wires and rotor, and now a new cap.
Installed, but as expected the miss is still there. Before I install a new condenser and electronic module I am going to check the timing chain for sloppiness. I had rough idle problems with my Dodge 360. Turned out to be a worn timing chain.
The lock on the spare tire compartment was frozen so I used my grinder with a cutoff wheel to drop the old spare. I looks like it has never been removed since new. It’s a 195/80 D75 (D for dummy spare). Similar to today’s donut spares. Totally toast with lots of sidewall cracking. I’ll look for a replacement. The regular 225/70R15 tires have a diameter of 27.4 inches. A 205/75 R15 is 27.10″ and a 215/75 R15 is 27.7″ So I think either one would be OK as long as I mount it on the front – if a rear tire goes flat I’ll have to mount the spare on the front and move the good front tire to the rear. I think the posi wouldn’t like running with unequal diameter tires in place.
One bolt came out of the bracket OK, but not the other. In the end I had to remove the bracket from the frame.
The cut mounting rod is in the centre with the frozen lock on the bottom and the seized rod nut on top.
Parts sandblasted and ready for paint. I’ll use new bolts for the bottom section and the old bolts with new nylon lock nuts for bracket to frame attachment.
Painted with Tremclad rust primer and glossy black rust paint. Now to just fine a tire…
These acorn nuts for the seat side brackets are not the best quality and they don’t work like the originals. It’s hit and miss for grabbing the hinge pins. In the end I put a dab of silicone into the loose ones and pushed them back on the pins. Hopefully they will hold.
Next step was to clean the t top mounting strip and give it a nice coat of black automotive sealant – butyl I believe.
Before putting the mounting strip back I cleaned away all the old sealant glue using a small sharpened pry bar as a narrow scraper and a utility knife. Not fun but important to get all the old adhesive off. I wanted to get the best stick possible.
Test fitting the new seals. These are the economy units and so fitting isn’t the best. The thick outside strip fits fairly well and the holes line up OK. However the white pins don’t match up with the holes on the t top frame. On one side I had to remove the first pin. I was afraid to stretch the rubber enough to make it fit. So I removed the pin and even so it was quite a stretch to get the second pin in place. On the opposite side the reverse was happening. The rubber had to be pushed back on itself for the pins to fit.
Starting to glue down the seal. I use a small 1/4″ paint brush and 3M automotive trim adhesive. I do it a little at a time. I pull on the seal until the pin starts in the frame hole and then I use a slim awl to pierce the rubber and push the pin all the way in. I can’t seem to get enough pressure on the pin by hand to get it fully in place.
Tools and glue to install the t top seal. I clean the sealant brush with paint reducer.
I had to grind off the mounting stud I then did the same with the underside and was just able to slip out the old square nut after bending the tab’s side lip. All done very carefully as I didn’t want to break the spot welds holding the tab to the frame.
The rear locating pin rod was seized. I needed to remove the panel again and of course another mounting bracket came loose!
I cleaned out the pin mounting hole and shaved a bit of the nylon locating sleeve behind the pin until the rod slipped easily in the hole.
Whatever was holding the rear locating pin arm to the top latch was long gone. I decided to drill the rod end and use a washer and cotter pin to keep it all in place.
with the latch mechanism lubed with white grease and working fine I reinstalled the cover with an extra upholstery screw where the mounting bracket had broken loose.
