Hello, I'm brand spanking new to the G body forum. I have a 1981 wagon. It has a 305 with edelbrock intake and 600 carb, turbo 350. I believe it originally had the v6 motor. The last owner hot rodded it a little bit. Took out all the emissions equipment so I installed a cat converter, which was the only visual part of the test my state's DEQ looks for. It miraculously passed...with a little bit of divine intervention. Bought new wheels.
Currently working on the gauge cluster: dropped off the speedo at a service company today. I replaced the broken fuel gauge with another factory one. Took out the big dash clock, which I'm replacing with a tic toc tach. The clock mechanism seems dysfunctional though, only the second hand moves. (Any ideas, easy repair job? Otherwise I'll leave it disconnected) The tachometer itself hasn't been fully tested by me yet...waiting on a tach filter. I plugged it in though, without the signal connection connected, just had 12v and ground connected. With the ignition in the Off position the needle goes to 1,000 rpm, while it goes to 0 with the key in the On position, engine off. Is this behavior normal?
Other plans include:
-adding an oil temp gauge. The last owner cut a hole in the lower part of the gauge cluster to make a spot for an aftermarket fuel gauge he had installed rather than replacing the original like I did. He apparently had it wired incorrectly the whole time! It sorta worked but he had to mark a new Empty spot around the 2/3 mark of the gauge's scale. I figured an oil temp gauge would be cool as it gives you a more direct actual temp of the engine. Thoughts? I bought aa Autometer oil temp gauge...
-just ordered a hellwig rear sway bar
-K&N filter of course
-My bench seat doesn't have head rests. Is it possible to pull some head rests off a junk yard car and put them in mine? My seats are nicely upholstered so I wouldn't want to change the entire bench out.
-New carpet. I was thinking a chocolate brown (same color as dash) to contrast with the mostly beige interior.
-I like the original aluminum wiper blades and found a couple at the junk yard except one has a broken spring. So it doesn't make full contact. The way they are riveted together makes it tough to fix.
Way down the road I'd like to install either a 5 speed manual or 4 speed auto with OD and maybe install a couple more smog components to get a little more in regulatory compliance.
Scott
Currently working on the gauge cluster: dropped off the speedo at a service company today. I replaced the broken fuel gauge with another factory one. Took out the big dash clock, which I'm replacing with a tic toc tach. The clock mechanism seems dysfunctional though, only the second hand moves. (Any ideas, easy repair job? Otherwise I'll leave it disconnected) The tachometer itself hasn't been fully tested by me yet...waiting on a tach filter. I plugged it in though, without the signal connection connected, just had 12v and ground connected. With the ignition in the Off position the needle goes to 1,000 rpm, while it goes to 0 with the key in the On position, engine off. Is this behavior normal?
Other plans include:
-adding an oil temp gauge. The last owner cut a hole in the lower part of the gauge cluster to make a spot for an aftermarket fuel gauge he had installed rather than replacing the original like I did. He apparently had it wired incorrectly the whole time! It sorta worked but he had to mark a new Empty spot around the 2/3 mark of the gauge's scale. I figured an oil temp gauge would be cool as it gives you a more direct actual temp of the engine. Thoughts? I bought aa Autometer oil temp gauge...
-just ordered a hellwig rear sway bar
-K&N filter of course
-My bench seat doesn't have head rests. Is it possible to pull some head rests off a junk yard car and put them in mine? My seats are nicely upholstered so I wouldn't want to change the entire bench out.
-New carpet. I was thinking a chocolate brown (same color as dash) to contrast with the mostly beige interior.
-I like the original aluminum wiper blades and found a couple at the junk yard except one has a broken spring. So it doesn't make full contact. The way they are riveted together makes it tough to fix.
Way down the road I'd like to install either a 5 speed manual or 4 speed auto with OD and maybe install a couple more smog components to get a little more in regulatory compliance.
Scott