Knocking Out the Little Bugs

This morning Tom addressed a couple of the little problems that arose while Ariel was driving me yesterday. First, he cleaned out the crud that had accumulated at the carb filters. Draining the tank to fix the leaks last month had disturbed some crud that eventually found its way to the filters. He had me run for about fifteen minutes and I ran nice and smooth, so it looks like that fixed the problem. He did notice, however, that the passenger-side carb's choke opens way sooner than the driver's side. That might contribute to the rough-running that happens before I'm fully warmed up.

To fix the no-blinker problem, he had to remove my steering wheel and disassemble the turn-signal mechanism in the column. After cleaning, regreasing, and reinstalling all the parts, everything works smoothly now.

Since Ariel only had to use the hotwire to start me once yesterday, Tom told her that installing a remote start switch will wait.

He ran some water over the back window to check for leaks, and found one small one that he addressed with some more well-placed black silicone. We're all hoping really hard that that was last time he has to get the silicone out.

Back On The Road Again

Tom took me to the gas station and filled up the tank before turning the keys over to Ariel.
Here we are:
Here's another picture:











She first drove me to the locksmith to get a couple of copies of my key, then to mall, and finally home. I pretty much behaved the whole time. The only incident was my not wanting to crank by the key, but she knew the trick. She also told her dad that my blinkers didn't work and I was running sluggish right before we arrived back at their house.

Tom told her that he'd install the remote starter switch and take a look at my fuel filters tomorrow morning.

Carpet And A Bunch Of Other Stuff Installed

Last Saturday, Ariel and Tom COMPLETELY filled all rear window cavities with silicone and replaced the chrome trim AGAIN. They installed the heater seals and grates, and the fresh air grates. They also glued in the front carpet piece. Here's a picture of Tom hard at work installing the grommet that fits over my hi-beam switch.

Yesterday, they put in the rear carpet piece (mostly glued in) and punched all the holes for the seat and seatbelt bolts.

Here's the carpet partially installed.










They put the front seats in and bolted down the front seatbelts. They also installed the new speakers Ariel got from Santa with new larger gauge speaker wire, and then they started me up for the first time in nearly two months (since my leaky gas tank incident). Here's a picture of the speakers while they were being built.

This morning Tom installed the last pieces of my front windshield trim and then he cut and riveted in a couple pieces of sheetmetal to replace rusted metal where the rear heater doors go. He installed the rear heater doors and replaced the brake switch that he'd broken when he reinstalled my rebuilt master cylinder. I felt badly since he took the one off of Lucy (his red Corvair and my garage-mate), but now I figure she'll get a new one when it's her time to be put on the road.

Upholstery Shop Purchases

The other night Tom pulled out the seams holding the rotted cloth to the vinyl cover of my rear seat bottom. Yesterday he went to the upholstery supply store and bought new padding and edge wire. Not much else is happening, but I am looking forward to Ariel being home from school so maybe she'll do some work on me.

Continued Window Woes

Yesterday, Tom backed me into the driveway and tested the seal of the rear window. It still leaks, so he pulled off the chrome and bought some more silicone to COMPLETELY fill all areas that could leak. This has been the most frustrating project for us. He then painted the heater pieces, installed the lower chrome strip for my front windshield, and cleaned and installed my glovebox before pushing me back into the garage.

Clean Parts and The Right Paint

Friday, Tom spent some quality time in the machine shop at his work. He sandblasted the heater doors and grills and sprayed on some coats of primer. Thanks to a poster on the CorvairCenter Forum, he bought the paint that closely matches my original interior (Rustoleum American Accents Colonial Red Satin). He also bought some material and thread to restore the seat cover for the bottom of my rear seat.

Parts, Paint, and More Parts

Last Saturday Tom spent a good part of the day driving to and walking around a couple of U-Pull-Em junkyards. He came back with a 2-speed wiper motor/pump assembly with all the ancillaries, two pairs of burgundy GM seatbelts, and amber front marker lenses. He did not, however, find any rear heater doors.

A quick phone to Corvair Ranch Monday morning and two used door are on their way. Now he just needs to buy the right color (and gloss) of red paint so that he can refinish the heater doors and air vents.

He did spend some time Sunday evening working on me. He applied the clear silicone between the glass and rubber gasket, installed the rebuilt master cylinder, laid out the carpet to flatten, and installed the first of the front windshield chrome trim pieces. So that means that two more items are crossed off the To Do list. We're still looking good for an end of December finish date.

Crazy Ray Crushed My Parts Car

A few months ago, while walking around Crazy Ray's junkyard in Mt. Airy, MD searching for parts for one of his other vehicles, Tom discovered a wrecked 1964 Corvair coupe. It still had quite a few usable parts left on it. He bought the rear seat to use the frame and springs as a replacement for my rusted out rear seat bottom. Yesterday afternoon, he went back to Crazy Ray's to remove and buy the rear heater doors, seatbelts, and the 2-speed wiper switch, wire harness, and motor. He walked up to where the car used to sit, and found another car had taken its place. The cars around were different too. He'd hoped that they'd just moved the car to an area where there were other pre-70s cars stored, but it was not there. He walked around the entire yard and couldn't find the car anywhere, but did find a couple of LM coupes. He walked up to the office and they confirmed that they'd crushed it a week or so ago. He went back out to the LMs and found that the rear seatbelts in one were usable. Unfortunately, the yard was closing by that time, so he'll have to go back.

The Crazy Ray's yard in Jessup, MD also has an EM, so he'll be going out there Saturday.

Lesson learned. He who hesitates is lost. Next time he finds an EM in a junkyard; Tom will spend the time and money and harvest all the parts he can.

One Rebuilt Master Cylinder; Ready To Install

Tom spent some time in the garage last night rebuilding my master cylinder. Here are the steps he followed:

• Carefully disassembled the old assembly
• Honed the bore
• Cleaned and blew dry the housing
• Lubricated the bore with brake fluid
• Installed the new parts
• Connected temporary fittings and tubing to the two outlets
• Filled the reservoir with fluid and ran the ends of the tubing into the reservoir
• Bench bled all the air from the assembly

Now it's ready for installation. That'll take two people, one to hold it in place from the inside while the other puts the bolts in from the trunk side. Here's a picture of my master cylinder (from the Clark's Corvair Parts website)

Used Up The Window Weld

Yesterday, Tom used up all the Window Weld in the tube and filled all the gaps between the rubber gasket and my window opening. Then he re-installed the chrome trim. Then he got out the black paint and touched up all my scrapes and scratches. Amazing what a little touch-up paint will do.