Breather

I had one breather with a bad spring bar... the little bar that catches on the lip of the valve cover when you screw the breather on. So I'd ordered a couple new ones from CPR. I painted them black, as they come bare, but only one came out decent. I'll need to sand and respray the other. Meanwhile I attached the decal to the good one and stuck it on.

Then I figured it was time to replace the old alternator I had used from the '49er when I upgraded that car to a higher amp unit. Actually not sure if I had purchased that alternator new or it came off one of the '73 Cadillacs. Either way, it was having issues... not completely turning off the dash light, charging high then cutting back above a certain RPM, general flakiness. Fresh rebuilt AC Delco unit from RockAuto fixed all the above.

Drove the car over to Pep Boys to buy some coolant and topped off the overflow tank. That was it for today!

Oh... and the driver's wing vent motor has decided to start working again, all by itself. Makes me happy!

Window Adjustments

The rear quarter window has not sealed well along the edge where it joins the door glass since I put in the new window lifts, so I knew I was going to need to adjust it soon. I decided to tackle it today as it was nice weather. Other than having to take the panels all apart, it was simple enough. Now I see both doors need the glass adjusted so they tilt in slightly. I saved that for another day.

Instead I dusted off the car and used some spray detailer, Windexed and Rain-Xed the glass and went for a little spin. This is the first drive since I did the valve seals. I have a lot of oil on the engine that I never got the Gunk to clean off and it needs to burn off. But I see less and less smoke from the exhaust so I think between the new seals and the Lucas, we are going to be OK on the smoke. I just don't want to get a citation, which is entirely possible here in Los Angeles.

The Chief drove nicely and I didn't even mind the manual steering much. ;-) But I think the brakes will need to be looked at soon. I may ask Tiremans to evaluate them for me. I have a feeling if I do much I may end up with front discs! :D

Oh... and the driver's wing vent motor is not working now! It draws power when I move the switch, but no motion. 

Chief Gets His Head!

His lighted hood ornament finally went on in place of the base ornament he came with. He looks just fine wearing his new ornament.

So, on to other items...I received a replacement for the left power vent motor and that went in today. Working just fine now. So I had to finish up making the hole for the vent switch on the driver's door panel. With that done, the panel went back on and except for a little straightening up and putting the kick panel back on, the windows and locks are done.

Next up was replacing the radio antenna.I *thought* there was enough room in the cowl space right behind the right kick panel where the antenna mounted through the sheet metal, but there was a body brace connecting the dash going right through where the mast would have to sit. After much thinking, I found I could drill an elongated hole in this brace and feed the mast through it. The motor might interfere with the very top of the kick panel when it gets put back in, but I can work with that. So, power antenna is in though not wired up yet. Sorry, no good pictures of the inside to show you how the unit fit in.

And finally, some thoughts about the steering... I ordered a 605 box but I'm not so anxious to swap it out now. I guess a little time spent actually driving the Chief will tell.

Vent Window

Called the place I got the vent windows from this morning and no problem at all. They said all their power window products have a lifetime warranty so he will get one out to me right away! That was painless.

Keyless

Made good progress in spite of limited time today. I now have all 4 window wire harnesses wired together and tested. I connected up the rest of the goodies that the keyless box provides like turning on the dome/courtesy lights on unlock, flashing the parking lights, and the trunk pop circuit. Of course, I don't have the trunk solenoid mounted yet, but the circuit is ready. As part of the keyless dome light feature, I had to get the dome lights working. The orange feed wire had been disconnected at the fuse panel. I put a fuse in the circuit for the clock and radio, which let me find out that the radio buzzes and tubes light up, but no sound comes out. The clock still didn't work and I found the purple wire that had been disconnected and taped off was the problem. Apparently the wire had been taped many years ago. The terminal was green and the tape was very brittle. Now the clock works again, but how good it is at keeping time remains to be seen.

More Windows

Well, the power vent window kit is a problem... the left hand motor died within minutes of installing it. The right seems to be holding up fine. I've contacted the seller asking about a replacement for the left. Meanwhile, I got the wire channel/looms installed and got power run from the engine bay to the left kick panel where there is a 20 amp breaker tap.  This will power the lifts, vents, locks and keyless. Obviously not everything will be in use at once so 20 amp should be OK. To my horror, when I removed the right kick panel, it crumbled! The left one was a replacement in a thin, dense foam. I guess the right one has never been off before. Oh well, eBay has some repro ones similar to the left one. I'll just need to paint it... and I have some paint coming already.

So now the locks are all connected, keyless partway in and functional... but I'm stuck because the wire harness from the right rear window is not long enough. I also ran out of blue crimp splices. Off the the store tomorrow so I can continue!

Pertronix ignition kit and power vent window kit arrived tonight. Just in time for the weekend!

Driver's Door

Changed out the regulator and added the glass bumper stop easily enough. Predictably, the door was not made to accept the 4-gang window switch so some careful cutting was in order. Similarly performed surgery on the trim pad to accept the new switch, being careful to line up with the cut in the door. I installed and adjusted the door lock actuator as well, mounting it in the same spot as the passenger side door. The driver's door lock pull is not as stiff as the passenger's side, as you might expect. Then the biggie, cutting the holes in the door jamb to run all the wires. About this time, UPS showed up with the reproduction wire channel/loom that will guide the wires through the door jamb. On the passenger's side, I had to guess a little. But with the channels in hand, I was able to see my guess was pretty good and to do the full hole cutting on the driver's side. (I'll go back and address the passenger's side later. Right now, I can't get to it as the car is against the wall of the garage on that side.) And that's where I left things. I got a lot accomplished this weekend and I was feeling the fatigue. Better to take a break and come back in a few days to finish up.

Passenger's Door

Today was spent finishing up the door lock, creating a replacement glass bumper for the bottom travel of the window, and carefully cutting for the wiring to go through the jamb. I have a pair of reproduction wire looms for the jambs, but of course they are not here yet. I improvised for now. Driver's door is next!

Left Rear, Right Front Regulator

Finished up running the wire for the right rear up the side of the car to the dash. I ran a speaker wire there too for later use. Then I did the left rear. Got that all done and ran the wire, and added a wire to run the trunk pop later. Then I put the rear seats back in and took a break sitting in the back seat with Forrest for awhile. He was having a grand old time licking his paws and didn't want me to leave, but I wanted to start on the right front door. I swapped out the regulator easily enough, but the one screw holding the rearward edge of the window to the sash channel is stripped. I test fitted to the door lock plunger while I'm there. That looks like it will be very simple and straightforward.

Right-Rear Regulator

The right-rear power regulator is in and the switch is in place where the old crank was. All I need to do is vacuum out the sealant I knocked loose and then put the arm rest back in. I'll finish off that little tidbit tomorrow.

I think these units will work out very nicely. The window powers up and down smoothly and I can't tell it from factory. Of course, the switches are a tad newer style than the originals. I will have to spend another $500 to get "correct" looking switches. Frankly, I'm not sure I'm willing to do that, at least not just now. These switches are the same as the ones in the '49 Cad. Those have worked out just fine.

Power Windows Start Going In

Been thinking about how the new power regulators are going to go in for days. Finally after dinner tonight I couldn't stand it any longer. I got the shop manual out and started pulling the seats and quarter window panels to get at the rear regulators. Figure I can do those in the garage easily enough. Took me awhile to figure out that the new parts are actually going to work. The drawing for the placement and bolt holes is so bad I was using the wrong holes and, of course, nothing was lining up. Finally the light bulb lit up and I realized my mistake. Suddenly it all fits. So I got far enough along that the window is secure in the channel and I can leave things for the night. I'll pick it up over the weekend again. I just *had* to get started on it though. I feel much better now.