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

Thanks! I made more progress yesterday than I have in months. Now I have to bust open the locking gas cap, because I have also lost the key to that. I could have sworn that I had placed it on the key ring with the other keys. It took me 30 minutes to find those... but the gas cap key wasn't on it. I have torn this house apart looking for it.

 

Take a reg screwdriver a lightly hammer it into the key slot. Then use visegrips to twist the screwdriver to break it loose

 

False alarm, LOL. I was outside and about to break it open with a screw driver and mom called me in the house (I had told her about the ordeal with me looking for keys this morning and again this afternoon)... she pointed to the key hanging on a nail above the key rack. lol. Thank God for moms.

Plan on getting a regular cap... I don't need a lock, this was put on by the PO years ago.

 

Been there and done that. Left the gas cap key on my dresser and had to call my mom at 1am in the morning to have her bring me the key. That was almost 30 years ago.

 

Gotta love moms!

Well the only thing I got accomplished today was getting bee stung 4 times! The battery that was on the wagon didn't take a charge (bad battery I guess), so I went down to my '73 Pontiac that is setting in my grandparents driveway to "borrow" its battery since it is also a side-post - that is where I got been stung. I was removing the battery and all was fine for about 60 seconds, then I started getting attacked by bees and got stung 4 times. After all of that, that battery was also dead. My dad even tried jump starting with his F150, no luck. So then we got the last top post battery on the land off of dads 1976 Suburban... it had went dead also (but I think will take a charge)... all of our side-post battery cars are rarely driven and had dead batteries. The Suburban battery turned it a little, so it should take a charge. My Lincoln, my new Honda, my Mercedes, moms Mercedes and dads truck are all top-post, so couldn't use those batteries. Will try it again tomorrow after work after the Suburban battery charges all night.

 

After the bee stings and dinner, I managed to clean and detail the engine on the wagon (wanted to get that done so the engine will be dry tomorrow evening when I go to move it... at least try to) and even managed to wash my Lincoln, but by hand and nose sure does hurt. Darn bees.

 

Ugh. More "brakes" were applied today. Turns out that the batteries never were the issues. "Someone" had forgot to connect the ground cable back to the alternator bracket, so the car was only "clicking" when trying to start! :banghead3:

After switching about 3 batteries, we made that discovery. Well anyway, took care of that and got the car cranking, but it would not "hit". The car is now not getting any "fire". It is getting power TO the coil, but no power coming out of the coil. Apparently the coil went bad or got wet when I washed the engine last night.

Whats even worse news... we found out today that my dad has a broken neck and may have to have surgery... he has had it for about a month after a bad fall and didn't even know it. We will have to take it all one day at a time.

 

Sorry to hear about your Dad - did he have an accident?

 

Yeah, he fell from the roof of the house about a month ago... never got better and finally went to the doctor... after MRI and CT scan... they discovered he has a broken neck. He has a brace on now, they are hoping that will help it heal without surgery. Doc said he is lucky to not be paralyzed or even dead!

 

More progress! The wagon runs and moves again! Finally got it started and moved to another spot in the driveway (had some trouble, something about a wire to the bottom of the distributor is loose or something). I even went and bought a new ignition coil today thinking that was the problem, but it would only crank and crank. My dad (with his broken neck!) tinkered with it some and discovered the electrical connection problem under the distributor cap. I wonder if maybe this was part of the low power problem too?

Anyway, she started right up after some tinkering. After another break in the weather, hopefully more progress. I noticed that the carb is leaking where the gas line goes in and there was a gas leak under the car on the right side, just forward of the rear tire. I guess a hose is leaking. I suspect all of the fuel hoses need to be replaced.

 

Wow, that's amazing that your dad wasn't injured further with his broken neck. Hope he's ok, he really must have been very uncomfortable.


Good to hear you got your wagon started.

 

.....only thing I've done to my 68 Impala 9 pass wagon lately is drive it around. Put about 300 miles on in the last couple weeks. Gave some young friends a ride in it , one was 6'10" the other is 6'5" . They said they never road in a car with that kinda leg room !!

 

Yeah, it is pretty amazing for sure. We are hoping the brace will take care of it. He has to meet with the surgeon tomorrow with more options. With this injury, they have to go in from the front of the neck... so that does not sound like a good option.

Thanks - yes, hopefully more progress on the wagon as the weeks go by. lol.

After some trouble, finally got the car started (it was not firing). I went and purchased a new coil (though I don't think that was the problem). My dad thinks that it is the wire that goes under the distributor is what is causing the problems. Will I need to get a new distributor? Anyone have any suggestions?

 

I've had the surgery and through the front of the neck is the way they do it, the incision is off to the right side of your throat a little. The parts of the cervical spine they have to get to are right behind the throat, they move that off to the side a little and the neurosurgeon goes to work through a tube inserted in the incision.
Braces and meds won't fix anything if the discs and nerves are damaged, just prolonging the inevitable.
The only major side effect is that some people lose their voice or it gets messed up.
I know a bunch of people who have had it and they all talk fine.

 

Yep, that is what they told him. The update is though that they cant do surgery. He seen his surgeon today (at the VA) and it seems it is an area that cant be operated on, or a spot they don't want to operate on. Anyway, they told him to do NOTHING for a month and come back for another MRI. They have send home photos of the scans and you can clearly see the breakage in the bone. We are just praying for the best.

Well - onto wagon news...

I managed to get the wagon all cleaned up today. Still not roadworthy, but I could not stand seeing it covered in moss and grime any longer, so I scrubbed the hood with a brush and removed 2 years of moss, sprayed out the channels, cleaned the tires and wheels, etc. Tomorrow I am going to shine up the wood-grain and blacken the tires... at least she will look roadworthy.

A friend of my dads said he may have a good distributor he will give me... hoping that takes care of the starting problem and maybe even part of the low power problem... if not, we will move onto making sure the exhaust isn't clogged... THEN to replace fuel hoses... and maybe new rear shocks... the ones on there seem to have seized.

I guess finally is to start working on the body.