Tag Archives: Corvette

70 Mustang Dash Gage Removal Bulb replaced 3/24/2010

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Well after the bout of bad video uploads I decided to stick with photos for the rest of this project.

This blog entry (I like the sound of that…’blog entry’) I’ll show some pic of the area behind the dash and the removal of the gage panel and bulb replacement.

As I suspected and as to be expected, the dash and gages have been out of this car before.  No big deal, it 40 years!!!  Clearing you can tell that because the screws are not matching that hold the gages in.

Right side of the gage cluster had philips screw with washer.

After the dash pad was removed there were really only 2 screw left that held the panel/cluster in place – seen above and below.

The Left side was not a philips

After these were removed the gage panel/cluster (ok….I’m just going to call it a gage panel…if you like cluster…read as “cluster”).  The only thing holding it in were two connections to the wiring harness.  Those just clip together..sorry….I had those on video… and pull off easily.

Part of the wiring harness

As you can see other than just being dusty, all the wiring was in good shape.  I had expected some issue due to age, but nope..not a one. (That’s not a complaint…no way…I hate electrical work…..I had a bad experience 🙁             )

This pic is of the panel on the right side of the and there is a LOT of space behind there.  A cd changer should slide back there as well as adding a dvd player to the plastic panel.  No I don’t believe I would, actually add one…..hmmmm…..I guess if someone donated an item I might consider putting it in…..or not.

The right side panel...lots of empty space.

 

Look at that room...for a donated dvd player....:)

So I did blew that out to get rid of some of the dust and wiped it down with citrus cleaner.

As I removed the two screws from the panel I thought it would pull right out but nope..the cover for the steering column had to be removed first.  Simple enough.

Cover for the steering column

Then……( insert…dooms day music)…a piece fell out!!!!! See below

queue the dooms day music...the loose piece.

Ok..not really a big deal.  It was just a clip that held the to pieces of the  steering column cover together.  It screwed back in slide of the two ends.

Now I didn’t take the gage panel out of the car didn’t really need to since the wiring was all fine. I pulled it out enough to allow my had to go behind and pull out the bulbs.

The position of one bulb.

Here is what the bulb and socket look like, together and apart.

Bulb and Socket

Bulb removed from socket

They come out of the housing by a simple twist. The socket has two copper conductors (you can see them in the pic above…one on each side) that come into contact with the electrical ribbon and provide the power to the bulb.  Most of the bulbs were still functional, very dusty..but I replaced them all. 

Ok that’s about if this “blog entry”  (come on..you like it too!!!…say it with me “blog entry”….I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!!….BLOG ENTRY!!)

I’ve actually placed it all back together today and I’ll post more tomorrow.  But you want to see it before that, I’m driving it to work tomorrow…it not that long of a drive to Tucson…come down…I’ll spring for lunch…..            🙂

Thanks for reading.

Wrenchin’ Tip Restoring emblems 03/18/2010

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Many of our cars have worn out emblems that were once painted…Ok..I’m a lucky average guy…the Mustang’s emblems are all chrome and my Corvettes are mostly plastic.  

But what about some those that need painting.  Look for a flow  pencil.  

Flow Pencil for paint your emblems.

 

These are pretty reasonable and make painting small areas a bit easier.  

Thanks for reading

Project Car Contest

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Don’t forget to get your entry in for the Project car of the Week/Month.

$100.00 Gift card to an online Auto Parts site, like Summit Racing.

Auto Factoids for 3/14/2010

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Happy St. Paddy’s day!!!!

3/15/1960 Mercury Comet is brought to dealership windows.

3/17/1949 Porsche appears as the Geneva Auto Show and Gottlibe Daimler born in Germany in 1834.

3/18  a couple of notable birthdays.  Andy Grenatelli was born in Dallas (1923) and a little bit before that Ruddy Diesel was born in France in 1858.  Ok..Rudolf ….only close friends were allowed to call him Ruddy.  Guess what Ruddy is famous for?  

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Wrenchin’ Tip – Candle Wax Bolt Removal – 03/14/10

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Follow the steps and you’ll be able to remove those rusted exhaust bolts and it makes using an easy out on broke bolts…um…well… easier!!!!

1.  Heat the bolt or stud with a torch errrkkk….”Yo…us averaged guys don’t have a torch set!!!!”  Yeah, I know…I use a regular propane torch from ACE Hardware.  ….errkkk  Double nut the studs.

2. Once it hot…doesn’t have to be glowing red, touch a candle to it, until there is wax penetrated between the threads.

3. Remove the bold or apply the easy out and you are home free.

If you have a tip, post it here in a comment.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Muscle Car Peeves

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Ok, I’ve been wanting to do this for a while.  I have a couple of muscle cars and cars that aren’t but get “dressed up” like muscle car peeves.

So here are three right off the bat.

1.  Don’t put Yanko strips on your 2003 Dodge Neon.  It doesn’t look right, and you aren’t fooling anyone.

2.  I have nothing against body kits added to a car.  I, personally, wouldn’t do it to the two I have, but I’ve seen some pretty nice jobs done on Corvettes, especially.  I’ve even seen a lot of imports that look good with body kits.  But here’s my peeve, don’t put them on the car if you aren’t going to paint them the right way.  Save up the cash and get it all done at once.  And one more note on body kits, why would you want to take your Honda Accord and make it look like a 1946 pickup truck?  (OK, I’ve never seen one, but you know what I mean).

3.  I recently saw a 1970-something Camaro, mounted on the frame of a raised Chevy pickup…almost monster truck size.  Why people…WHY???!!!

Okay, there are a couple of mine muscle car want-ta-be peeves.

Post up some of yours. Come on, I know you’ve got them!!!!!

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Wrenchin’ Tips – Intro and Wiring 03/05/10

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This is a new thread that I’ll post from time to time, similar to the Auto Factoid.  Wrench’in Tips will some help hint, short cuts and even some alternative ways to help finish the job. 

The key here is that these are coming from a guy with average skills and knowledge so to you ‘hardend’ professional they may seem lame or you’ll have a ‘well….duh, OMG, like everyone knows that!!!’  In which case…KEEP IT TO YOURSELF!!!! <GRIN>  Kidding of course, always let me know what you think.

So here is the first one.

I hate electricity, not the benefits of being able to use it, it’s super when it stays where it’s suppose to and goes where it’s suppose too.  What I hate is when it stops being or doing what is should.  I absolutely hate working on electrical problem anywhere, homes, appliances and cars. 

I can say that I once had a bad experience and that would be true, but the other problem I have (besides the physics of it all) is that I’m color blind.  Anyone who has looked at a wiring harness in a car will know what I’m talking about.  The are all kinds of colors, but unless they are only black and white – like the extension cord and light I made back in  4-H, 1.5 billion years ago, I’m stuck.

Now older cars like my ’70 Mustang aren’t too bad, they pretty much conform to black, white and one or two other color, but the ’84 C4 it has wires everywhere….hey…I’m not kidding EVERY WHERE!!!   There are no less that 10 pairs of wires you have to remove just to take the door panel off.  In the 84 Vette, the adjustable windshield wipers are on the drives door and if I remember correctly it has at least 6 wires.  Then the are the wires for the door lock  4 there and there are the wires for the electric window that might be 4 more.  Add to that the wires for the door courtesy light and the speaker and amp wires (the awesome BOSE stereo system  had  5 speakers with individual amps). errrk….here’s a factoid the 1984 Corvette and Cadillac were the first cars to have a custom BOSE stereo system.  The story goes that GM asked if they would put BOSE radios (back then just AM/FM and Cassette) in the cars and  label them Delco.  BOSE wasn’t crazy about the idea so instead offered to design a system for the cars….end of errkk.

So one of the first problems I had with the Corvette was the electric window stopped working on the driver’s side.  So I assumed that I would have to replace the motor. So I get home early from work one day and I decided that I’d knock this out real quick.  I began by taking the panel off and found all the pairs of wires and I sure I used a four-letter word didn’t start with a D or S. I noticed that a couple of the wires were a bit worse for wear and need some attention, I also noticed that the wires were short and you had to balance the door panel on something to be able to disconnect a couple components. Being the genius that I am, I figure that if I made the wires a bit longer I would haven’t to disconnect  the components every time I need to remove the panel, I’d only remove the screws and the door panel would rest on a towel or something on the floor.

NOTE: Don’t worry, not every one of my tips will be attached to a  long story….umm…I don’t think.

Of course the wires I needed to repair and additionally make longer weren’t your basic black and white, I’m not sure but I think one was sea-foam green and one was  burnt sienna (I don’t really know…but I remember that burnt sienna was a crayon color when I was a kid- before Microsoft Paint.

 Oh…so here is what I did. 

I took about 1/2″ strips of  white duck tape and a marker and folded one each side of the wire that I was going to splice to repair and lengthen.  I labeled the first  wire A and A and the second B and B (pretty sure you could have figured out the pattern).  Then I cut and spliced them with wire connectors. 

It worked out great and I left them labeled when  put the door back together.

Oh..just so you can have some closure, I did all that work and the problem wasn’t with electric window motor, was really just the switch on the middle console…4 screws and pop in the new $15.00 switch.  It’s that the way it always goes?  Seems like it.

Have a great weekend..spending mine doing taxes.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Average Guy’s Drag Racing Part III

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So we’ve established that street tires are ok to run at the strip, but not as effective as the true – soft, no tread drag racing slicks.  So if I wanted to take it a step further I’d be looking for something in the middle.

The previous post I mentioned the fun I had with the my Mustang’s first couple of runs and I have wide tires on the back – P265/50/R15 (and off brand Mud and Snow) and that of course didn’t help much, pulls the fact that the back-end of the Mustang is pretty light.

To get something in the middle of the road, I can compare the performance of the tires I have on my 84 Vette.  This car has  255/50/ZR16 on the rear end and they performed fairly well at the drag strip, but still suffered the take off spin, (I didn’t get those wet or warmed  up.)  errrkkk…Here’s another mental hurdle…..I been in a car when a tire blows. At a mere 50 miles an hour,  I watched as the rubber destroyed the left front end of the mini-van I was driving….even as I slowed down, it still took out the fender, wheel well lining, headlight assembly and scuffed up the driver’s door (yes I drove a mini-van..it was the Miss’ van….yeah…that’s right it belonged to the wife…).  Anyway after that experience I have mental images of a tire blowing on my Vette during a warm up and the rear fender turned into dust (being fiber class and all).  So I didn’t warm them up.  They held a lot better than the mud and snow tires on the Mustang, but I still got a lot of spin out of them.

Quick story:  On my second run  ever with the Corvette I lined up with a 1960 Corvette with huge blower on his engine.  I looked over at him and mouthed..”y’er goin’ down!” and he laughed so hard I almost beat him off the line…ok fine…maybe I just heard my engine first, because you couldn’t hear anything after he hit the throttle!!!  So Mustang was awful with the Mud and Snow tires and the Vette was better on the  B.F.G.  

Since, I have an average budget, I’d be hard pressed to go buy some Mickey Thompson slicks and wheels.  And since I drive my cars all the time, swapping wheels out isn’t possible every time I go to the track, I only have average guy tools, which means there’s no tire changer in my garage, nor a balance machine.

So what’s a good option????  You can thank the street racer (Fast and Furious types) subculture for this really cool option..Street Drag Radials.  Yes, they are legal a street tires but are soft and have little tread.  See the pics:

These happen to be Mickey Thompson’s ET Radials.  (No I’m not endorsing them, I’ve never used them, I don’t have any monetary connection to Mickey Thompson’s tire company, in fact I’m pretty sure I’ve never known anyone named Mickey.)

Street/Drag Radials helps you avoid the average guy’s dilemma of extra rims and mounting issues and grip at the track.  Of course these Mickey Thompson’s are about $175.00 each and that might  be right on the edge of the average guy’s budget, and if you put a lot of miles on your cars, then it might be costly to replace.  It’s a good bet that since you’ll be smoking them a little they aren’t going to last near as long.

Got a tire idea?   Drop a comment here!!!

Next up..What do I take to the strip and some discussion on what to do while you are there.

Thanks for Reading.

Tim

Average Guy’s Drag Racing Part II

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Do I need different tires?

This is a tough one.  Strictly from a budget point of view…nope.  I run my Mustang and Vette with the street tires. 

What not to do:  (Read and heed) 

At most tracks they have the water area where most cars with drag rubber will run through.  It helps to get the tires spinning.  Avoid that!!!  On my very first run, I thought I’d be cool and do it like the big boys.  Got the tires wet…..oh..they’ll spin alright..no problem…but hey aren’t soft enough to grip and well…lets just say it gets a little hairy and all I wanted was to just trying to get them to smoke a little..would have been fun.  Well..what did happen was the Mustang started going sideways toward the concrete divider, mind you,  I’m not even to the line yet, (and I’m think..”Hey honey..can you move your car so the tow truck and back in to the driveway).

  So not only did they not smoke, they didn’t even get hot, just wet.  Now take wet street tires and place them on 1/8 inch of rubber sticking to strip and…ta dah…you have a Mustang on ice…great!!!  I recovered from that and got to the line.  This was a charity race and I looked a cross concrete divider at this front wheel drive Ford Focus and I smiled…..but only for a second.  The tree started and I popped the clutch and  heard my bored out 302  engine rev and felt it go…. nowhere….the tires just spun…I see the Focus take off and I let up on the gas the Mustang took off, fishtailing…..I think I did two miles on the 1/4 mile strip, during that run.  I did manage to get her up to 86 miles an hour that time but..I was at the end of the run and Focus has already turned off.

What to do:

Avoid the wetting down area.  Your street tires will spin….trust me…on all that rubber the other cars have left for you. Warm you tires up only a little. 

Now as an average guy..I only have a street car…just like it came off the show room floor, no trans-brake…nope… just a clutch and a gas pedal.  So with a manual shift..and street tries  you have to be careful taking off.  I have out treed a few cars but you have to be light on the clutch. The tires will spin a little and you can limit that a bit with the clutch.  A few feet out you will find more grip and 2nd and 3rd will be fine…um….I don’t have a 4th in the Mustang…so that’s pretty much it for me.

My next few passes went much better with my best being 93.43 mph with a 15.391 time.  Now that’s pretty good with street tires and only 3 speeds.  (Considering the first pass..documented above had a time of 17.54 at 78.98 mph.)

Coming up…tire options for  the average guy..

Drag Racing for the Average Guy

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In a previous post I talked about  psychological hurdles that an average guy, with average skill, average tools and an average budget has to deal with when he owns a classic car (ok…doesn’t have to be a classic…just “loved”).  One of those was the fear of something breaking, either while you driving it or working on it.  Can I fix it? Do I have the right tool?  What if I can’t?  Do I know anyone that can?  For free?  Can I afford to get it fixed?  Even worse – long will I be deprived of driving it? 

These are my concerns–always. 

So with these worries..what in H….E. double L (does everyone get the H..E double L??) am I doing drag racing!?!?!?!   Where’s my head at?!??!?!?!! 

I hope you aren’t sitting there waiting for an answer!!!!   ‘Cause I don’t know.  I just do it. 

But dude….you are so average….especially  in the budget….heck..in all the areas listed above…oh and BTW….how about SWMBO (she who must be obeyed)…how’s that going to go…..”Hey honey guess what?  I was at the tree and the light turned green and I got a huge jump on the V.W. next to me and the darndest thing happend…little pieces of my u-joint flew everywhere.  Would you mind moving your car so the tow truck back into the driveway…thanks snookems!!!”….Um…sure…… good luck with that!!! 

So over the next few post, I’m going to give some average guy tips for handling a little test and tune drag racing. 

Next up…do I need different tires????? 

Thanks for reading.   

My Coupe taking of from the line. Before the new paint!!!

 

Tim