I got a lot done this past week as I keep getting closer to a time when I can actually drive it around as a regular car. The first thing I tackled was the fuel gauge. I figured it had a wire off from when they put the exhaust on, but turns out the fuel sending unit in the tank is bad. Still might have been caused by the exhaust installation as I'm sure one good blow to the gas tank would be enough to crack the fragile old rheostat, and the muffler is adjacent to the tank.
Believe it or not, I found a place online that sells rebuilt sending units, so now all I need is the money to buy one, ($79 + shipping). Being as I don't have the money at this time, I decided to move on to another troublesome area. Both front door windows have problems going up and down, so I figured they were off the track or something simple like that.
Turns out the window setting channel was very bad on the drivers side and the right side has a broken roller which caused it to come off the track. Of course that window setting channel is not in great shape either, so I'm hoping to find some replacements for those. A guy on the V8 Buick forum says he thinks he has a good pair from a '62 full sized Chevy that will work.
Also got my first good look at the right side front floor pan as I totally removed all of the carpet and padding. It's worse than I originally thought, so right now I'm kind of up in the air about what to do to fix it. A new floor pan can be had ($90 + shipping), but there is a lot of time and effort involved in replacing the complete pan.
I have a POR 15 starter kit ordered which should be enough to do the job if I add metal or fiberglass patches. This product effectively turns the rusty metal into good metal and may do the job if I decide to go that way. Too much to ponder at the moment, so I'll move on.
Next I decided to find out why the COLD light on my dash doesn't light up. When I replaced the fuel pump recently I noticed that both terminals on the temperature sending unit were not hooked up, partially due to the plastic housing for the wires being melted. I broke the wires out of the plastic and hooked them up as they should have been, but the COLD light still would not come on.
I decided to check the bulb in the dash to make sure it was good, but when I started to twist the socket from the circuit board, the socket fell out. Looking at it I found one of the plastic ears which holds it in the circuit board was broke off. So I borrowed the socket and bulb from the HOT light next to it just to test whether or not the COLD light would come on or not. It didn't.
Reading the wiring diagram, I determined that cold side terminal on the sending unit should be a dead ground when the engine is cold, but when I checked with the meter, I found that was not the case. So a new sending unit was required ($11.02 + shipping). I went ahead and ordered that from Rock Auto, along with a couple of sockets for the dash to replace the one bad one and in case another one breaks.
And lastly, yesterday I tore into the wipers as they have not worked since I bought the car. A little troubleshooting to make sure the motor was getting the proper voltage and that the other wire was indeed grounded when the switch was turned on, I found that the trouble had to be in the motor. After some fussing and cussing b/c one screw would not come out, I used my dremel tool to cut a groove so I could remove it with a straight screwdriver, which worked.
Once the motor was out and apart, I found that it was very rusty inside, but that the rust was on the inside of the motor housing and not really a factor in it not running. What was a factor was that corrosion on the armature was not allowing it to turn, so I used my dremel tool with the wire brush to remove all of the corrosion. Once that was done I put some lube in the end cap bearing and reassembled the motor. It ran!
I put new lithium grease in where the worm and plastic ring gear are and buttoned it back up. It is back in, but I still need to find one screw to replace the one I had to bugger up to get out. I'll try to do that sometime today, but I don't plan to do much to the car this week.
For one thing, tomorrow I will be going to Chicago with my son-in-law Randy, grandson Billy and his friend to take in a Yankees Vs. White Sox game. Billy is a huge Yankees fan and since I have not been to a major league ballgame since I was a kid myself, I decided it was time. So look out Chicago, tomorrow I'm gonna have me a beer and a hot dog at the big game!
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