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...