Fill'er Up

Since this little project started Dad and I have known that there was a problem with the wiring underneath the dash of the car. It appeared as though the people who owned the vehicle before me liked to smoke. They liked to smoke so much that when the cigarette lighter went out, they rewired the harness to pull power from the horn, through the radio, and finally to the lighter. I know you guys out there with brown stained fingertips are applauding this bit of ingenuity, but consider the potential for problems. An example of this would be when you blow the horn and there is a loud pop. This would be known as to much power being pulled through the circuit and blowing something, I don't know, like the radio.

Ok... Back on topic. So I noticed that the fuel gauge in the car wasn't working. It seemed to be getting power because when you turned the car on, the needle shot straight to full. Knowing that there was very little fuel in the tank I knew that this was wrong. Using a little deductive reasoning, I came to the conclusion that the fuel sending unit with the float was broken. To solve this problem I went to my local parts house to order a new unit. Well if previous interaction with this car could provide any insight into future interaction with this car, I would have been able to surmise that the part would discontinued. I did not find this out, however, until after I had the car lifted in the air and positioned on jack stands.

Well a week later, I was able to find and order the part from an online company. When I got the new unit I was excited to get back up to Dad's house and put it in. So I got up to Dad's house and lower the old tank, disconnected all of the electrical and fuel lines. I even went so far as to brush 27 years worth of crud from the tank and suck up the debris with a shop vac. Underneath all of the crud I found a strange set of numbers and letters that appeared to have been hand written on the shell of the tank (23SS). Maybe it will give the car more value; here's hoping anyway.

So let's skip ahead to having the tank reinstalled and all of the wiring and fuel lines reattached. I went to take the keys to the car and crank my machine. I was feeling so proud and excited that Dad and I had finally fixed the problem so that at least the fuel gauge would work and in turn make the car a little safer to drive. MY heart sank as I realized that I left the keys to the car on my kitchen counter 30 minutes away. My heart sank into a sea of annoyance while Dad just laughed. I guess he was able to predict this little turn of events.

Well the next morning, almost a week and a half after this little project started, I returned to my Dad's house with the keys to the car. I lowered the car from the jack stands and sat down behind the wheel. I pumped the accelerator to get fuel back to the engine and waited for the plume of smoke. When the air cleared I looked down at the fuel gauge to see it pegged at full yet again. And so it would appear that the gauge itself is bad. Little hiccups like this seem to be par for the course on this endeavor.

Oh well...

Suprisingly Cheap and Easy... For Once

Well as time can obviously give testimony to, I am not the best at keeping up with a blog. To be perfectly honest, as the weather and money ran cold throughout the winter, I haven't really done very much with my car. Lately, however, the weather has warmed and I have been scrounging to find a little extra money so that I can renew my efforts in restoring my piece of automotive history.

This morning I got up and drove up to my father's house with the intent of tinkering with the old Monte Carlo. Last week I went up there with the intent of tinkering, but left the keys laying on my kitchen counter. While I did buy and install a new battery in the car, it did me little good when I couldn't crank the car.

So today when I got up to Dad's he and I uncovered the car. I took a moment just to stand and look at my car. It was nice to feel the little bit of excitement welling up inside as I knew that I was gonna be getting dirty with 27 year old grease. I got into the car and was pleased that the old girl fired up immediately. I backed her out of the carport and drove her out into the middle of the driveway. Anyone who knows old cars, knows that even the simple tasks are never easy. As the old girl motored her way onto the driveway, I realized that it was really difficult to turn the car...

You guessed it. There was no power steering fluid in the power steering pump. I mean NO fluid in the pump. As I let the car sit and warm, I carefully examined the pump and the hoses that lead into and out of it. The lower hose that returns from the gear box to the power steering pump was covered in oily crud. I'm sure that the hose has dry rotted and let the fluid leak out, but for no more than I am driving the car at the moment, I can't say that I am overly concerned about it. So I poured enough fluid into the pump to keep it functioning for the day and kept moving.

I have to admit it, I was impressed at how well the antique V8 ran as it just sat idling in the driveway.

Before the day was over and done with, Dad and I ended up spending less than $10.00 and fixed two of the problems that the vehicle was exhibiting. I first got down and looked into the fuse box underneath the dash and checked all of the fuses. I found that all of the fuses in the car were good. I also was able to find out why the reverse lights and the turn signals wouldn't work. The 20 amp fuse that was supposed to be in place for these circuits to function was missing. I popped in a new fuse and was delighted to find my reverse lights and turn signals were again working. It's nice when the answers are simple, easy, and cheap; an all to infrequent occurrence in restoring an automobile.

I had been getting annoyed with the interior of the driver's door. I had never taken the time to discover why the interior panels of the door would pull away from the framing and get caught on the interior panels of the rear seat. If this has never happened to you, you can't even begin to imagine how annoying it is. Well today, I had finally had enough of it. So Dad and I took the panels off of the door and found the problem. Whomever had the car before me had taken the two bolts from behind the armrest out of the panels. These two screws were apparently the most important screws in regards to holding the interior of the door together. After a brief scrounge through spare parts (to no avail) Dad and I drove to Lowes and oddly enough found exact matches. I drove back to Dad's and put the door back together. I am so relieved. I hope that I never have to deal with this little issue again.

I took the car for a celebratory jaunt down the road and back before pulling it back into its parking space. While idling in park, my car showed its true colors again by running out of gas. To be perfectly honest I couldn't have asked for a better time or place for this to have happened. While the fuel gauge in the car has functioned when the engine was on, it has never given a correct read. Looks like now is the best time to try and repair the float and hopefully get the gauge working again.

Looks like I know what I'll be working on next.

Until next time...

A New Automotive Adventure

Crystal started this blog for me quite some time ago so that I could write down thoughts and important events in my life so that friends would better be able to keep tabs on what I was doing. It sounded like a good idea, but I didn't really follow up on it so well.

I have recently decided to put this blog to use, however. In the fall of 2008, I purchased a 1983 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS. Up until recently I have not had very much time to work on her. Yes, it is definitely a girl with all of the mechanical tantrums that it throws. Grousing aside, I really love my car and am thankful that my wife allowed me to pursue my hobby again. I am also fortunate that thus far all of the identification numbers on this car match up and prove that it is one of the 4000 of these cars made in 1983.

So on to the purpose of my blogging expedition....

For those of you who don't know, my dad, commonly referred to as Butch, Pop, or Dad, has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. For those of you who don't know what that is, please take a minute and look it up. In a nutshell, it's a degenerative disease. While I was growing up Butch and I didn't see eye to eye on many things in life until he and my mom allowed me to buy a rusted out 1967 Mustang Coupe. Dad and I worked on that thing, along with my Uncle Jimmy, whenever time and money would allow. That car was sold to be replaced by a 1966 Ford Falcon which was also sold. Dad and I could cuss, sweat, and bleed together while working on these cars, but it was ok because it gave us something to work on and grow together with; even through a lot of frustration. It was probably the best thing that could have happened to our relationship.

Well as you can guess, Dad and I have embarked on another automotive challenge with the Monte Carlo. Thus far we have done a lot of routine maintenance type items to get the car up and running again so that I can drive it and have some fun with it. The first day that I brought it home, with the help of a good friend Jeff Holt, I was amazed at how quickly Dad and Jimmy were able to disassemble and rebuild a four barrel carburetor from memory. There have been a number of challenges thus far, but it has certainly been worth the effort. In the next couple of days I will try to come up with some pictures and bring you up to date on what has already been done.

Hopefully this blog will be a way to document some of the adventures that dad and I work through and overcome before he's no longer healthy enough to work with me.