What have you done to your wagon lately? (Let's keep the thread going!)

Yes, the choices were the turbines with steel center caps, or steel wheels with covers, which were steel.

 

Thanks.

Today, I cleaned the tires and turbine wheels (not a quick job) and the center caps. I also put AMMO Mud (Tire Gel) on the tires, which will sit overnight, to soak in.

As it turns out (no pun intended but ha ha,) both wheel bearings up front are leaking grease. The driver side's much worse than the passenger side, which is only leaking a little. I do not think I'll be working on either of those this year; it's nearly November, and I only have a few weeks at best to drive the car.

Tomorrow, I'll put the wheels back on, and finally pull the car out and rinse the dust off.

 

Well, that wasn't as fast as I thought.

Yesterday:

I put the wheels back on, the voice in my head said "Isn't there something you're forgetting?" and I tried pulling out, but I had little braking power, so I pulled back. I found there were 2 brake leaks up front. One of the bleeder screws was totaled, so I used an old one from the rear. I checked the car for leaks in most spots (in hindsight, I forgot the connection that connects to the rear brake hose,) and I found a leak at the master cylinder, which I took care of. I also tightened the rear drums by half a turn (now 5 1/2 turns, the same as it was last year.) I then put the wheels on.

Today:

Torqued the wheels, put the center caps on in the same way, and had a test drive. All fluid levels are good.

I'm having an issue; if I try accelerating hard, the car starts cutting out, I think from a lack of fuel (it doesn't usually shut off, though it did when I put it in reverse at one point.) I think I might just have bad gas, and/or the fuel pump might be giving out. Or, did I installed the new fuel filter backwards (if that causes a problem?) The pump had been dry (that is, not in contact with gasoline, but in contact with moisture in the air) for 2 to 3 months, so maybe that caused it? The car doesn't start as fast as it used to, seemingly from a lack of fuel getting to the engine. Or is it the fuel line I used? It's a mix of flexible fuel hose, and steel brake lines.

If it's the fuel pump, I guess I can just forget about driving this car at all until next year. I really don't want to replace the fuel pump and gas tank, if I can avoid it; I'm thinking I'd also need to replace the tank, pump, sending unit, gas gauge, and vent line. The tank's about 31 years old now, and the places on the tank where the sending unit and gas gauges go... Those spots look crusty. I might be over-complicating things here, though.

Also, the new Wheel Cylinders seem cheap. The old ones were smooth and with much more control, and these new ones just don't work much until I've pressed the pedal significantly more; they don't do much, then there's a small range where they go from "Working" to "Working DARN HARD."

 

Well, I tried checking the fuel pressure.

Engine Off, Pumped Up: 39.5 PSI
Engine On, Idling: 30 PSI
Wheels Off Ground, Revving Up to 65 - 70 MPH: 28.5 (Roughly) - 33 PSI (Roughly.)

Come to think of it, I used wider fuel line than the car originally had. Did this cause my cutting off issue?

Original Line: 21/64 (0.328.xxx Thousandths of an Inch)
New Line: 3/8 in. (0.375 Thousandths)

I'm thinking that this may have caused the problem in the first place. I used larger line because I didn't realize if this would be a problem or not, and 21/64ths is not a commonly available size.

However, I also don't know when the: distributor, spark plug wires, and spark plugs were last changed.

 

Under excessive load, such as WOT acceleration, you will lose a few PSI, but that should still be in the 30-45 PSI range. I would say you have a restriction, but not the fuel line repairs. Unless you've replaced the pump and strainer sock already, you should pull the fuel pump unit, look at the sock. It should be a light brown. Also inspect the entirety of the fuel lines, injector rail included. Ensure there are no kinks in the lines.

 

Started trouble shooting the climate control system on the 85, been getting an unusual issue in the cooler weather where during initial warm up and driving I have to switch back and forth between defrost and off in order to get any heat from the unit until the car is almost up to full operating temp then the climate control system works as it should.
I know it isn't vacuum related since I replaced all of the vac actuators 3 years ago along with all the vacuum lines & tees in the car when I first brought the a/c back on line. I've ruled out all of the a/c side since it's working fine, so now it's on to the electronics part of this Rube Goldberg electro- vacuum design.

 

After some more checking it turns out the mono valve (controls coolant flow to the heater core) has a torn diaphragm which requires a couple week wait until the new valve arrives. Normally these fail in the open position which keeps coolant flowing through the heater core allowing you to still have heat, but sometimes like on my wagon they don't which causes funky behavior.
Oh well it's an easy replacement, ( 4 screws and no coolant loss) I just have to wait for it to come in from Germany.

 

101 Volts, I stand corrected. Leadslead's Annie, his and Ashley's '88 CP, has a factory pizza cutter spare! I know it's factory, as the wagon only has 26K original miles. It does also have the tire lift sling, so a full-sized spare could also be in there.

 

79 Impala wagon, rear door quarter window seals. Any suggestions on where to buy these? Or any design/size info on using a universal seal, and where to buy it at? I’ve tried Steele, U Classic.

 

The seals will be similar to the sedan seals, but the wagon window frame, and quarter window itself, are bigger. So make sure you measure the perimeter before installing them.

 

Installed a new dash & rear cam in the 85,


I installed this bracket to keep the rear cam up high other wise it would have sat too low in the rear glass.

As you can see only the camera is visible and not to worry I mounted the bracket using the existing screw and hole for holding the top rear panel in place.

 

What does those cost if you don't mind my asking?

 

This is a Pop Quiz. I made this today...What do you think it's purpose is??

 

^^ Cargo floor protector for the '60 Chevy wagon?

 

Hint - stand it up