Here the next installment of the removal of the valve cover. There is very little room in this engine compartment, as compared to my 70 Mustang, and I had to remove a few things to just get the covers out.
But first a couple of mistaken assumptions I need to clear up. GM did not use cork from in the factory for the 84 vettes. They used Permatex sealer gasket maker. I got that wrong. Carrying on with that assumption as I viewed the old material in one of the videos, I suggested that the gasket had been replaced once before. That was based on the previous assumption that the factory used cork..in fact, what you will see in the video (post that one tomorrow) is the original factory seal. With 64k original mile, I’m guessing that is correct. (Learning is good…oh and don’t worry..I have one more lesson to share…..sigh)
These next photo shows how tight it is on the right side of the engine.
The black outline shows the span of the valve cover. The white shows the pieces that have to be removed.
There are a couple videos coming up andlet me tell you that aren’t great… its tough to record with one hand and work with the other…oh…well…you’ll see.
This next video shows the air cleaner coming off and a vacuum hose.
This next video is more of the same.
errrk.. I’ve learned that this blog take a while for video to process so I’ll have more video loaded tomorrow….errrk.
Of all the parts I had to remove on the right side the worse (meaning it’ll cost me later) was the A/C electrical sensor. You can see that in the picture above circled in white. Yeah….I know why the garage wanted $700.00 to replace these…..
Often if you get the right size radiator or heater hose it will be a tight fit(eerrrkkk….don’t tighten the clamp first!!!!….just kidding…eeerrrkk) getting it over metal fittings. You can buy them bigger but you are asking for leaks!!!! Here are a couple of tips. One I’ve used and the other I haven’t tried yet.
1. I live in Arizona, and it’s hot here and normally if you are going to have problems it will be from over heating in the summer time. I’ll take the hose and leave it on the concrete driveway for a while in the hot sun. That often softens it up enough to slip on.
2. This one I have not tried. If you have clear wire-pulling compound, you can rub a light amount around the inside of the hoses and it will slide right on. Here is a link where you can find some. http://www.twacomm.com/catalog/dept_id_608.htm
Thanks for reading.
Don’t forget our project car contest. $100.00 online shopping gift card to your favorite auto parts web site.
So the process was fairly straight forward. Only thing not obvious was the removal of two trim pieces that hid the front bracket.
Philips screw..wow how ugly was that old dash???
Top screw removal
There were 3 philips screws along the dash next to the windshield. A nice long screw driver worked nicely. The holes in the dash cover for the screw were pretty deteriorated, but it was good do know that the dash was really metal covered with the padded vinyl so the screw would hold forever.
passenger side screws – remove and done!
There were 4 more screw on the passenger’s side. Now if this were a Mach I it would have a clock located there, but instead there is just a plastic panel. You could actually place a LCD monitor there for DVD player. The panel is below:
passenger’s Side Panel
The next set of two screws that needed to come up were located above the radio. These were a bit awkward to remove. But they weren’t philips screws..that pieced together with what we found after taking the dash pad out led to a conclusion of…well I’ll hold off mentioning that until I give you the other piece.
Arrows show the position of the two screws
After removing these two “non-philips” screws (flat) the dash pad would lean forward and you’d think it would pop right off …but nope!!! The next photos show why.
Dash Pad leaning forward.
Additional Trim piece that needed to be removed.
One screw and off it came.
Caption is wrong here the side screw was removed but there was still one below.
Bottom screw had to just be loosened and the pieces sliped off
One this pieces of trim was removed you can see the screw/bolt that need to be removed.
Not a great pic..but you get the idea.
One on each side and the dash pad was ready to go. Check out the videos. If the videos don’t work..let me know.
I enlisted the help of my son Ryan. He was over for dinner and he lent me hand, so I could film as well.
This first video shows us discovering the front brace hidden under the trim piece.
Here is the backside of dash pad.
The paper tag on the bottom of the dash pad.
Reading that you can see the date of 1972 on the tag. Since the Mustang is a 1970, the date doesn’t make sense. Adding that the screws near the radio that don’t match (straight vs. philip for the rest) I wondering if the dash wasn’t replaced. The original owners didn’t mention it, but there was no real reason too. This could mean that the dash was replaced with what appears to be NOS (new old stock) (from 1972)..that’s a possibility. I’ll do some more research just to find out.
The last few pics are of the other markings.
The two eights – one upper in maker and the one in the glue.
Parts code perhaps 3 24 (d) 2
Sorry..that one’s upside down. 🙂
The original Ford speaker.
Speaker with part number.
So what’s next? I’ll check out the wiring and pull the gages if I need to for repair (although all the gages are working fine). Oh..yeah..do a bulb replacement.
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.
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!!!!!
I thought I’d take a minute and drop a couple book titles at ya!!!
These books are extremely helpful with average project that you can tackle on your cars. I have complete several of them on my 70 Mustang and my 84 Vette.
The books are from MotorBooks. They are a series called MotorBooks Workshop and they are extremely well written
I currently have the following titles (had I’ve used them!!!!)
101 Projects for Your Corvette 1984 – 1996 (Excellent)
101 Projects for Your Mustang 1964 1/2 – 1973 (Excellent) (Although it says Mustang, many of these projects you’ll be able to do on similar Fords..so no you won’t find one for Mercury Cougar Station wagon (love the car Mr. Sears) but the under-pinnings are very similar.)
How to rebuild and Modify Your Manual Transmission (I haven’t used this one yet…I waiting to buy a test transmission to work on first…but finding one is tough for my 70 Mustang and then there’s $$$$ plus $$$ shipping.) (Excellent)
I just pick up Weekend Projects for your Modern Corvette C4-C5-C6 (not very good – mostly C5 and C6 )
Each one has projects and it includes skill level you need may need (naaah….who needs skill when you have pictures!!!), tools you might need, time it will take and other handy tips.
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.
