We inherited an 83 Caballero and somebody insisted that the Caballero was that cute convertible Volkswagen made in the 80s (Cabriolet) so we jokingly refer to the Caballero as a Volkswagen frequently. There have been a lot of questionable choices made over the years and the goal is to have something reliable that could be a daily driver, something to grab a couple of bags of mulch with, something to cruise on a weekend. There's a fair bit of interior missing or mismatched, but fixing the interior is not high on the priority list. When we got the machine, there was already a 454 installed and it was running and driving. The very thin file of records include receipts for things like "install engine" and "install transmission" so learning the mechanicals is an as we go process.
On the first, short test drive, the stock V6 radiator showed that it was not up to the task of cooling a big block (it might have worked 1,000 miles north of us where the car used to live), so radiator replacement became job one. I bought a Cold Case radiator and planned to keep the stock shroud and fan. I got busy with work so someone else put in the radiator and added electric fans. They also played with the timing and Sniper EFI to the point the car no longer ran. After a couple of weeks I found the actual ignition issue (i've never seen the button melted out of a rotor cap) and got the car running again and took it for another short test ride. Where it overheated again.
I'm old enough and have driven enough crappy cars to know that turning on the heat full blast can help cool down an overheating car. But there was neither heat nor full blast coming from the dash. So to solve the overheating, I loaded the parts canon and; replaced the water pump (old one was fine), replaced the thermostat (old one 160, new one 195), replaced the wimpy electric fans (that were both turning on and off at 200) with a Flex a Lite setup that will be controlled by the Sniper, and flushed the cooling system. Flushing it just revealed how nasty it was (variable displacement cooling system?) and currently there is a quart of Thermocure floating thru the system. Just knocking the rust out of the heater hose and heater core got coolant flowing thru there again. And while I was staring at wiring under the hood yesterday I wondered what this connector went to and what that connector went to and why 1 was male and 1 female so the fan works now also.
Haven't been on a test ride yet with the new fans and shroud and hopefully clean coolant passages, but I did get to watch the temp gauge climb to 199 and then go back to 198 (and hold) when I turned on one fan so I have hope. The reason there was no test ride over the weekend is that there is currently no front end. I bought shocks and springs because the 40 year old V6 springs were not doing a great job of keeping the big block off the bump stops and I'm pretty sure the air lines on air shocks shouldn't have shock oil in them. Of course, once I got the front springs out there was no point putting it back together with the existing tie rods, ball joints, sway bar and suspension bushings. The ball joints actually looked good so I didn't order them in advance, but even the best looking ones had boots brittle enough that they shredded when I poked them with my finger.
On the first, short test drive, the stock V6 radiator showed that it was not up to the task of cooling a big block (it might have worked 1,000 miles north of us where the car used to live), so radiator replacement became job one. I bought a Cold Case radiator and planned to keep the stock shroud and fan. I got busy with work so someone else put in the radiator and added electric fans. They also played with the timing and Sniper EFI to the point the car no longer ran. After a couple of weeks I found the actual ignition issue (i've never seen the button melted out of a rotor cap) and got the car running again and took it for another short test ride. Where it overheated again.
I'm old enough and have driven enough crappy cars to know that turning on the heat full blast can help cool down an overheating car. But there was neither heat nor full blast coming from the dash. So to solve the overheating, I loaded the parts canon and; replaced the water pump (old one was fine), replaced the thermostat (old one 160, new one 195), replaced the wimpy electric fans (that were both turning on and off at 200) with a Flex a Lite setup that will be controlled by the Sniper, and flushed the cooling system. Flushing it just revealed how nasty it was (variable displacement cooling system?) and currently there is a quart of Thermocure floating thru the system. Just knocking the rust out of the heater hose and heater core got coolant flowing thru there again. And while I was staring at wiring under the hood yesterday I wondered what this connector went to and what that connector went to and why 1 was male and 1 female so the fan works now also.
Haven't been on a test ride yet with the new fans and shroud and hopefully clean coolant passages, but I did get to watch the temp gauge climb to 199 and then go back to 198 (and hold) when I turned on one fan so I have hope. The reason there was no test ride over the weekend is that there is currently no front end. I bought shocks and springs because the 40 year old V6 springs were not doing a great job of keeping the big block off the bump stops and I'm pretty sure the air lines on air shocks shouldn't have shock oil in them. Of course, once I got the front springs out there was no point putting it back together with the existing tie rods, ball joints, sway bar and suspension bushings. The ball joints actually looked good so I didn't order them in advance, but even the best looking ones had boots brittle enough that they shredded when I poked them with my finger.
