Steering?

Some tentative steps towards power steering for the Chief. I had gotten a 605 box from Rock Auto a few days ago. Today I started disassembling the spare column I have for the car. I removed the column tube and cut the shaft at the box connection. I made some rough calculations of the length and ordered a universal joint with vibration damper to connect the shaft to the new box. There are an awful lot of considerations involved in this. I hope by taking small steps I don't get overwhelmed.

Go for a ride?

Maiden Voyage #2: The first was a quick trip to AAA to verify the VIN, but today was purely for seeing how everything works. I took the Chief over to the gas station and fueled him up. I kept looking under the car to see if there were any leaks as the tank was filling... shades of the first time I filled the tank on Lucille. But nothing like that happened.

Brakes seem stiffer than they should be for power assisted brakes, even if they are drums. After all, my '49 and '58 Cads both have drums. The '49er's brakes are manual and they don't feel this stiff to me. I think a full brake system go-through is in order. I may need to send the vacuum booster out for service. I do have a set of ScareBird brackets to convert to front discs... not sure if I want to use them yet.

Suspension seems stiff in back, as I noticed before. When I was changing the mufflers I found the rear springs look dicey and they had some kind of air bag booster nonsense bolted on, probably added when the springs started sagging. The combination is restricting movement and making the ride stiff. New springs are on their way already.

Steering is generally good for a manual setup. I don't mind it until I go to make a sharp turn at slow speed, of course. Then you quite suddenly get the news that this really is a manual gearbox. When the car is moving, it's quite effortless and reasonably responsive.

Noise... from the front of the engine, as noted earlier. It sounds like it could be a water pump or generator bearing, maybe a noisy timing chain, or perhaps a bolt for the water pump that sticks in too far and is hitting something moving internally... hard to say. It doesn't seem to affect performance, and it doesn't seem to be getting worse, but it's unsettling. You just know it can't be good. I hope it is something in the generator... that would be an easy fix.

Engine seems to have a little blue smoke from the exhaust, especially the left pipe. Seems like it was less after driving it a bit. I am betting the car just needs to be driven. If he really only has 27K on the clock, he hasn't been driven enough. Not that I want to add tons of miles, but cars don't stay in good mechanical condition when they sit.

Transmission seems like a typical pre-'56 Hydra-Matic. It has the clunky shift points you expect but the TV rod adjustment is off. I use the trial-and-error method of adjusting it. Eventually it will get there.

Plates on!

Got a nice little mounting pad for the front plate from Pep Boys so that the plate could be centered on the bumper instead of sticking up into the grille opening. That and a nice chrome frame and the front plate is mounted. The rear plate is going to use the St. Louis Museum frame, at least for now. But the plate light wasn't working. The center contact had corroded so I got a new pigtail at Pep Boys and now the plate is properly lit.

Fuel Pump

Received my double-action mechanical fuel pump with 5/8" fittings and the corresponding flex hose from California Pontiac Restorations tonight. Got it installed with no problems and all leaks are now banished. I also have an electric pump to mount by the tank when I get a chance as a auxiliary for vapor lock and priming. Now as soon as I can get those license plates mounted I can go for a spin!

Radio

I pulled the radio last night and sent it off to Dan Steele for conversion today. I was amazed when I pulled the knobs off... there are super thin little rubberized cork washers that go between the inner knob and outer ring. All in perfect, supple condition, just like new. Obviously the radio has never been out, has seen very little use, and the car was not subjected to Southwest heat kill.

Breaking News...

The license plates have arrived! The place that handed the registration actually overnighted them to me!

Oil Filter Adapter

OK, new L20033 Purolator oil filter mounted on the new adapter that is all torqued down and ready to go. I want to get larger capacity filters at some point, but I have a number of these Puros for my '76 Electra. Might as well use them.

One good thing I found while doing this... what I found is not good, but finding it now is... the fuel pump is leaking like crazy. Possibly just needs a rebuild kit but I never know if something is warped or out of spec. I'd just as soon get one already rebuilt. CPR has one and the price is right.

Oil Filter Adapter

Got this on eBay awhile back... lets you use a spin-on filter instead of the canister element ones. It's partially on. You have to wait at least 24 hours for the sealant to cure before doing the final torque down.

Trunk Pop

Light duty today. Just a little task to get done and I did it. Got the trunk pop solenoid engineered, installed and wired. All done. No holes were drilled in the making of this improvement. I don't know when a factory trunk pop option was first offered on Pontiacs... I know my '69 GTO had one.

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.

Right Muffler

The right went even smoother than the left as there was not the rough bend right before the inlet that the left had. Job done and the improvement is wonderful. It still has a nice sound, just much quieter.

I've taken the plunge on a power steering box... went for a cheapie 605 box because I have a tech article on doing it and others on the Pontiac list have done it and been happy. The Delphi 600 was my first choice but there is not enough information on doing that and the boxes are way more expensive. I'll check this out first and if it doesn't work well enough, I can always change it again.

Left Muffler

Things are going to be a lot more quiet around here. Cut out the left glasspack and put a real muffler there. Now just need to do the right.

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.

Test Drive

Took the first real drive in the Chief when I went over to AAA in Burbank to get the VIN verified this morning. She is a little rough. I think the exhaust being so loud is a major part of this. Gonna have to get a fresh exhaust system in there soon. The pipes are OK, but the little short cherry bomb-type mufflers are extremely loud.

It's actually a  bit surprising how small the car is too. Considering it is a "full size" Pontiac, it is much shorter and narrower than Helen, the '76 Buick. When I finished at AAA I drove home and swapped the Chief for Helen to go to work in... It felt like Helen was the Queen Mary in comparison!

Overall the car drives more like the '49er than Lucille, the '58. I think the manual steering has got to go, just as it did on the '49er.

After AAA, I put together all the paperwork to go to the title officer at Woodside and dropped them in the FedEx box at work.

Title arrived from the museum via FedEx and also got all the hardware for the power windows, locks, trunk and keyless from A1. I'm going to be busy!

Arrival!!!!!

Delivered around 1 pm today. It looks every bit as good as the pictures and description from the inspection. I had my usual oh-my-god-why-did-i-buy-this moments that I always seem to have. But then I started warming up to her. She is a whole lot smaller than Helen, her stable-mate in the garage. A good thing, considering how cramped it is in there. The lack of power steering is a booger in getting the car swung wide and then straightened out at low speed to get in the garage. Other times it didn't seem bad. Of course, I can't really drive her on the street yet since there are no plates, no temp permit or anything. I also seem to not have actually gotten the title. I thought the car museum had sent it directly to Woodside, but Woodside says they don't have it. Hmmm... I'll contact the museum in the morning. Then I need to get the VIN verified and send some forms to Woodside... along with that damned title!

I will say the experience with FedEx Passport/Custom Critical was excellent! They were a little more expensive than the others, or they would have been had there not been a small discount due to the volume of business they do with the museum. They were very prompt; my contact at FedEx kept me informed as to when the driver would load the truck and I was offered the choice of paying by credit card after loading, or cash on delivery. I though at first I was being told that the car would arrive here Saturday or Sunday but figured out I had misunderstood. The driver was to call Saturday or Sunday to let me know when he could deliver the car. And he did, later in the afternoon on Sunday. He advised me of the approximate time he would be here, and when a slight change of plan pushed him back an hour from that estimate, he called in plenty of time to allow me to rearrange my schedule if I needed to. I didn't, as I was spending the entire weekend plus today cleaning out my garage to make room for the new girl! The trucks with their elevators are great, the car arrived as clean and nice as it was when it left the museum and the driver was great. I would definitely recommend FedEx to anyone shipping any car they care about. I will certainly never use that *other* nameless shipping company again.

 

I know it's a minor thing, but I had to put my stamp on the car right away, so I put the gasoline door protector on the car before tucking her in the garage for the night. :D