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

Nice work! I like the exposed rivets on the hood cowl - are they copper?

 

Come on Dewey - get that interior going - it's going to be nice weather before you know it. Let's see some cruisin' pics of that fine ride!

 

Yep those are copper. My hands were litle sour after pressing those.
I'll have to change the tranny once more :banghead3: originaly there was c4 i changed it to fmx and now gotta find me good working aod for better mileage.

 

I found my big can of Rhino Liner, so I'm going to finish stripping down to the bare floor pans and start sealing and sound deadening. I'm thinking the foot space in the third row area (where my hydro pump sits) should be done this weekend. Yes I will post pics! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

In preparation for Cool Desert Nights in June and Hot August Nights in July/Aug., where I'll have an extra passenger, I pulled out the passenger bucket seat and am building a two person bench seat. I've got the plywood base finished, now to upholster the cushions and finish some braces for the backrest. I'll try and get some pictures and send them next.

 

What I did today:

It was a warm and sunny day today, so I had to do something to the wagon, lol. I removed the "tired" insulation from under the hood and it looks so much better! Some sort of rodent had built a nest under it, but strangely that was the part of it that was still well intact and tight, but it as full of nut shells and even chunks of dog food! The front right corner had pulled loose and the clips would not hold it any longer. It was really dirty anyway, as I was removing it, dust was going everywhere. Hopefully that stuff isn't poisonous. lol. I also cleaned up some of the dust off of the engine and blew some leaves/dust out of the engine bay out of all of my older cars.

On an unpleasant note, I discovered that my dash pad top developed its first crack right on the driverside of the dash above the left side of the speedometer. It is at least a 5-inch crack. I am guessing it cracked on one of our unseasonably cold mornings we had this winter. I had a feeling that would end up happening and I am sure it will be the start of many cracks. Not recently, but winter 2013-14 has brought some of the coldest air we have had since 1996 with at least 3 or 4 mornings in the single digits for lows (back earlier in the winter), which is rare around here. The dash on my '73 Grand Ville cracked the same way a couple of years ago, as did my moms '88 Mercedes. No cracks in site, then you get an unusually cold morning, then pop, there it is.

The car is on schedule to have a mechanic look at it within a week or two. Hopefully I will at least be back on the road soon.

 

I actually was stopped at a light once in my 74 Datsun truck that I bought new and was looking directly at the dash exactly where it cracked!...Anyway, it was nice and warm today and I thought it would be a good time to make my tail lights look a little better. I cleaned them real good, scuffed up the "chrome"
lines and painted them. I used a model car paint marker that I've had for over 10 years, so it was a no cost improvement. Sometimes it's just the little things...

 

I've got to do the same thing. My tail lights are actually very similar in concept if not shape, with 'sections' defined by silver highlighting. Most of the silver is still there, but they could use a touch-up. Have the same thing on a lot of my dash as well, and that needs some touch-up as well. Need to get me one of those pens. What brand is it? Pretty sure i can find one at my local hobby store.

 

KK, you should be able to get one at a auto parts store also


What did I do with my wagon..........

Insurance expired this past Thursday for the Buick, but I still had the plates and insurance for the mini van I scrapped last week. Deb's van was in my name only for some reason and the Buick was in both of our names as it was gifted to us by a friend. So Deb and I went to insurance office this afternoon and she gifted me the wagon, I then transferred the insurance from the van to the Buick. I could not do anything with out Deb's signature. So she/we gifted, transferred into my name and I transferred insurance and plates onto the Buick witch now is insured till the end of August. Best part is, insurance is lower for the wagon, not much but I got $43 and some change returned to my bank account on the spot.

...Now if it would only stop raining so I could go for a nice drive again

 

Wow, what were the chances of that? I bet you was like, "what the heck"? I have no idea when mine cracked. I know it wasn't the first couple of unusually cold spells, because checked those days. I must have been that last cold spell we had in early February, or maybe a warm day when the sun was hitting it after that cold spell. Strange thing is the dash material is still fairly soft. I guess it is still a little dried up obviously. I guess I will try to find one of those custom made fabric covers to put on it.

 

Washed the Country Squire this afternoon - in 34* weather! Should've done that yesterday, when it was nearly 70* out. I hate driving a dirty car, regardless of the temperature outside.

Tomorrow, it's gonna be back in the 60s, so I need to do some troubleshooting on a bad ground the wagon has. The headlights will flicker at idle, and the stereo will "pop" through the speakers when I turn the headlights on, or cycle through the bright/dim switch. Oh, and since we are not expecting any more ice or snow, I can take the three 60# sandbags out of the cargo area!

 

Mine is a Testers, they're in the model car area in most places that sell model kits. Yeah, I originally got mine to do the dash in my old Malibu wagon. Looks great on dashes, I need to go over mine too...

 

You must mean Testors:
http://www.testors.com/

 

Another beautiful day, bright sunshine and in the 60s. I thought I wound "run" the wagon a bit to get some fluids moving around the brake lines, transmission, etc. I polished up the wood-graind and cleaned the bird crap off of the windows. lol. So that is what I have done lately.

Just to mention: I took it down the driveway and coming back I thought I would try something with the transmission. I came to a stop, pulled it down into 1st then took off. I never seemed like the engine "revved" and when I shifted into 2nd, I really didn't hear a shift. Ironically tonight my dad was talking to my uncle and he had bought up that he bets that the transmission was stuck in 2nd (or not pulling out in 1st) and I am now wondering if that is the case. I know it was mentioned before, but I never thought much of it. Next change I get, I am going to actually take it down the neighborhood road where I can get some speed and see if the transmission is changing. It may be a transmission issue after all and not an engine problem. What would cause a turbo 400 to start out in 2nd gear? I am wondering if the transmission being the problem wouldn't cost more than an engine issue.

I think I will try that before I take it over to that mechanics. Though I still need a good mechanic to help me run these vacuum likes that are all over the place. I cannot find a factory vacuum hose diagram anywhere for a 402 '72 Chevy engine!! I even have factory service manuals... no mention of the vac lines. Also, my heat/ac blower isn't working at all either. I am hoping it is just a blown/corroded fuse and not the blower motor itself.

 

Tinkered with it a little but mostly a$$ed around with it....