Brakeless and Still Leaking

It's the old "good news, bad news" thing.

The good news is that my master cylinder easily came out last night in preparation for a rebuild and Tom installed the last defroster hose so we can cross that item off the list.

The bad news is that my rear window leaks worse now than it did before it was reinstalled with a new gasket. Tom took a good look and discovered that when they'd installed the window, they hadn't placed the rubber gasket correctly over the pinch-weld. Tom carefully removed the chrome strips and, using a screwdriver, adjusted the gasket so that it now sits correctly. After all the water has dried, he will apply more Window-Weld all the way around both between the glass and rubber and between the rubber and body. Unfortunately, I have to un-cross this item from the To Do list. Here's a picture of the gasket's cross-section (from the Clarks' Corvair Parts website)

Getting Ducted

Last night Tom finshised installing the heater hoses and rear ducts, and installed the driver's side defroster hose. Only one more defroster hose to go and I can cross another item off my To Do list.

The Door Closes, and Other Successes

Beautiful weather provided an opportunity for Tom and Ariel to spend lots of time working on me. Many items on the To Do list got crossed off and everyone in the family except for Ariel’s oldest sister got in on the fun.

On Saturday Mikhaila (Ariel’s youngest sister) painted the primed floor patches black while Ariel cut fiberglass patches for Tom to POR-15 into place patching the last of the holes in my floor. Then they traded Mikhaila for Victoria and the three of them installed my rear window. All three now have black spots on their hands from the NAPA Window-Weld that was used to seal the window and gasket to the car. Tom removed the stainless trim covering my rocker panels (see following picture) and cleaned out the drain areas of my front fenders. He applied POR-15 to the rust that had been hiding under the strips. Ariel installed the new weatherstrip on my passenger door. The big test was to see if the door would close with the new, thicker weatherstrip. It did, but barely. By Sunday morning the weatherstrip had relaxed enough that it closed nicely.

Yesterday Tom was finally able to adjust the driver’s door so that it would fully close with the new weatherstrip. He then dug through his collection of spare parts and found two more rubber plugs to put in the last two open holes in my floor. Also from a box of parts he found a good thermostat and replaced the failed one on the passenger side. The thermostat controls the opening of the damper door – when it’s closed the engine heats up faster (a good thing). He also pulled out the old heater hose from the passenger side, and he and Loriann (Ariel’s mom), using an electrician’s fishwire (see picture), pulled a new one into place through the passage in the rocker panel.

It's A Family Affair

This morning, Ariel and her two younger sisters came out to the garage to work on me. The youngest was drafted to prime the exposed metal of the floor patches that Tom put in, while the other two removed the weatherstripping from my passenger door.

It sure would be nice to be back on the road again. Now that Ariel has her driver's license, I would get driven a lot more often. Maybe they'll spend a lot of time working on me this long, holiday weekend.

Tunes and Holes

Finally got the first. Am running out of the latter.

Last night, Ariel hooked up my stereo with Tom's help. My speakers sound pretty bad, but some tunes are much better than no tunes.

Tom put in the last floor patch and installed the rubber floor plugs into all the holes he could get to. The only hole left in the floor is the one under my passenger seat.

He also tried to realign the door that won't close, but was unsuccessful. This could be a problem.

Door Still Not Closing

After a couple of days with rope holding the door closed, there seems to be no relaxing of the new weatherstrip. Tom sent an e-mail to the vendor and they assured him that it would relax. Here's a picture of the way it's installed.

Pictures

Here's some pictures of the work they've been doing.

As If I Didn’t Leak Enough Before…

Now I don’t have a rear window and my driver’s door won’t close all the way. This past Saturday, Ariel, her Uncle Jeff, and Tom all worked together to re-hang my driver’s door. It all went together quite well, and with only a small adjustment, the door closed and latched just fine. Then Ariel removed the old weatherstrip on that door and installed a replacement. The new one looked much thicker than the old, and it was. After she had finished, they tried to latch the door shut and couldn’t get it closed all the way. Thinking that the adjustment was off, the two of them tweaked the door all the ways they could and still it wouldn’t close. Setting it in the best location they could, they closed the door as far as they could and then held it tightly in place with a rope tied to both outside door handles.

While this was going on, the two of them also removed my rear window. They cut away the rubber gasket and all the silicone that they’d used to try and seal my 45-year-old rubber until the window was free enough for them to remove. Tom then went at the rust and old sealer with the wire brush. We were all happy to discover only a couple of tiny rust-holes. Ariel then applied the rusty-metal primer.

Hinge Screw Was Tough

After much resistance, I finally gave up the last screw holding my lower driver's door hinge on. Tom ended up rotating the hinge back and forth until the screw, the rust, and the threaded plate inside the door ceased to be one with each other. With the hinges off, it was relatively easy to pound out the old pins, remove what was left of the bushings and replace all with new parts. He had scratched some lines on the door along the edges of the hinges before removing them, so he was able to put the hinges back on close to the original locations. It'll be interesting to see how everything lines up when he and Ariel reinstall the door.

Still Leaking After All These Fixes

Ariel and Tom tested their attempts to fix my window and door leaks and found that they have been unsuccessful. It's time to spend the $130 on weatherstripping because they can't go any further on the interior until I stop letting the rain in. The order goes in with Clark's Corvair Parts today and the rear window comes out as soon as possible so that any rust in the opening can be dealt with before the parts show up.

On the positive side, it looks like the gas tank has stopped leaking.

They also removed my driver's door to repair my loose front hinges. They got the top one off easily, but one of the Phillips-head screws on the bottom hinge is so stuck that they broke a bit trying to break it loose. Tom sprayed some penetrating fluid all over it and will give it a couple of days to do its thing. Tom also hooked up my old Kraco radio and found that both it and the speakers work fine. He bought a new in-line fuse to replace the missing one, so I should have tunes again quite soon.

When It Rains, It Pours

And when it's gasoline, it's NOT fun.

Last night, Tom put my front end up on jackstands and wiped off the bottom of the gas tank. I rewarded his cleaning with a small stream of gas raining down from a pin-hole on the passenger side of the bottom of the tank. He stopped the flow with a well-placed paper towel held up with the jack. After getting some JB Weld to plug the tiny hole, he brushed off the area around the hole to make sure that the epoxy would stick, and all of a sudden, he had a dozen small streams of gas pouring down from a dozen pin-holes. He used a board and a larger rag to staunch the flow while he pumped out gas from the tank through the filler. After getting most of the gas out, he jacked up the passenger side of the car to get the gas to the good side of the tank. All that gas was a great degreaser, so the surface was all ready for a liberal application of Gas Tank Sealer. The rest of my tank seems solid. I guess that that area had collected moisture once and started to rust.

Something Old, Something New ...

The other night, Tom installed the new voltage regulator and an old generator. He put back my battery and ignition switch. I started right up for him and now there's no nagging illuminated GEN-FAN idiot light when I'm idling.

While he was under my dash, he installed a replacement hi-beam switch and lubricated my fresh air control cable so that it would move.

He's been smelling gas the last few times he's come into the garage, so he got down and noticed that the underside of my gas tank is damp. Something else to add to his list.