Well it finally happened friends. We're working on the GP again!
After cleaning up the shop I decided the first thing I wanted to do was put the dash back in the car. I wanted to do this so I could get rid of the table sitting beside the car, and then hopefully move the shelving units behind the car to that location, to free up some more room. It's really tight front to back right now.
When I took the dash out, by myself, I ended up with everything loose but one screw in one of the HVAC ducts, near the upper right corner of the cluster opening. I was struggling with the dash trying to figure out what had it hung up, and unfortunately broke the outboard mounting tab for the defroster duct.
Last week, I went over to the storage to do some homework so Sean and I would be ready to put the dash in on Saturday. I started by looking for the hardware and then opened up the car to take a look at what it would take to replace that defroster duct. I discovered mildew had grown on both of the front armrests. It cleaned right off of the passenger armrest with Windex but this immediately shifted my priorities. I decided I needed to get the inside of the car closed up.
I last drove the car six years ago. It was a bad experience. It ran hot and when I backed it in the storage (the smaller 10'x25' storage back then), the passenger window wouldn't roll up. I didn't go back over there for a few weeks, as I was pretty disgusted with what I had gotten myself into. When I did return, the car had puked about a quart of power steering fluid on the floor. That was the straw that broke the Camel's back and led me to start taking the car apart and then the snowball started rolling down the hill.
So, mid week last week, I decided that getting the passenger window rolled up was the first priority. I had purchased new window motors years ago. I took the day off on Friday and went to the storage. I got the door panel pulled and then started futzing around with trying to get the window to go up. I applied power to it with my power probe but it either wasn't enough juice, or the motor was in a bind or the motor was just bad.
The door appeared to be pretty pristine. I can't see that the window has ever been adjusted (marks on the door from tightening the bolts, etc.). With the exception of no vapor shield from when the car got painted, it looked untouched. I decided I would remove the motor, raise the glass up and then decide from there. Since it appeared the window was in the factory adjustment, I also decided I would drill the holes in the door so I could access the two hidden bolts that bolt the motor to the regulator. I decided against cutting the rivets and pulling the regulator and motor together. At that point it was getting close to lunch time. I needed a 1" hole saw.
I left the storage to go check and see what we had at the house. At that point my dad reached out with some pictures by text. He was working on his truck and had a question. I decided to go over there and help him. We then went to lunch and then I took him out to the land to show him around. I really enjoyed the afternoon with dad.
Saturday morning Sean and I went to the storage to finish getting the passenger window closed. It turned out we had a 1" hole saw at the house. The holes turned out pretty nice....
The motor was an original Delco unit, made in the USA. The new motor is a new Cardone, but made in China, which I'm not that happy about. I kept the old motor.....
Once I got the motor out, I got the window up. I then worked on greasing the tracks and the regulator. I definitely limbered the window up. The window is in nice shape and I won't be replacing it. I'm glad I didn't pull the regulator and disturb the adjustment. Here, I've got the new motor in and I've fixed a little bit of harness wrap....
Unfortunately I didn't have a sufficient power source to run the window up and down but I'm sure it will work fine. In the end, I just really wanted the window up. For now, I put the original door panel back on it. I'm going to need some new mesh tube to go over the door latch and lock rods. The stuff on my door is very crispy....
Window up, door panel back on.....
Door closed, window up....
By this point it was only early afternoon. We started looking at replacing the broken defroster duct. Years ago, I bought an entire duct set, so I'd have a nice unbroken piece to replace mine. I can't remember if I bought it on eBay or from a member here. Unfortunately, I never opened the box until Saturday afternoon. The piece I needed had been destroyed in shipping. That spun me out a bit. After ten minutes or so, Sean and I formulated a plan to repair my broken duct. We took it off the car and took it home....
I'll be working on the repair this week. Hopefully we'll have the dash back in the car next weekend. I guess that's it for now friends. I know I've typed a lot. Anyway, we're back on it!
