My Tenth Anniv.

[roadking77]

I took the springs off of the hood hinges so I could lube the joints better. Did a quick check on utube and found its surprisingly easy to do. First close the hinge as it would be if the hood was down. This puts the spring under its max tension. I put a clamp across the spring just because. Next cut a piece of bar stock just short of the length between the hooks, notch each end. Slide the barstock inside the hinge so the notches will get a purchase on each leg of the hook end of the spring. Now open the hinge like the hood is opening and the will stay in its stretched position and drop right out.
20241116_153605 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241116_153646 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241117_102732 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

[roadking77]

After getting the new turn signal switch in place, things seem to be ok but I am having problems with the turn signal lights on the dash. All new bulbs and good sockets in the front. All lights are working. The back not so much. I had a glow from the dr. side but nothing on the pass. side. Took things apart and boy was it a mess. The sockets are beyond bad. Picked the 2 up that autozone had and 1 that I had in my drawer. Ordered the rest should be here tomorrow. I am hoping that something here was shorting out and I can see why it would. Hopefully this will get things working the way its supposed to. If not I suppose I need to pull the dash and check out the printed circuit
20241118_160012 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241118_160104 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

The rear bumper area needs a mini resto/freshening up. It has been, well I have lost count but probably 4 or 5 years since I have done anything back there. Needs a major cleaning, buff and some paint applied. I started back here when I first started working on this car. My intention was to throw things back together and sell it. My direction changed over the years so a freshening up is not surprising to me.

[roadking77]

I also was able to get insurance on the car. So now I can get tags from the dmv. Its not exactly road worthy yet but I dont think its that far off from at least doing a short shakedown run. Started looking for tires. I want a raised white letter but the choice is pretty limited in my budget. I am looking at the BFGoodrich and the Cooper's. They are about the only ones with the rwl. The coopers are about $40 a piece cheaper than the BFG's, I know this car will never wear out a set of tires so over all wear doesnt bother me. I did find that Coker has some 'period correct' tires at over $500 a piece. But that is way over my budget. I didnt pay that much for the car Plus I need to stretch the budget enough to have the wheels refinished.

[wheels78ta]

Thanks for the tips on working with the hood springs.  I'll be doing that in the near future.

Hopefully the new sockets will take care of the turn signal issues.

[N PRGRES]

Good find on the hood springs work around!

[5th T/A]

Kerry, it’s amazing what you can find on YouTube. I am sure others will appreciate you posting the pictures of the spring removal tool. After all the work you put into repairing and painting that hood, the last thing you want is hinges that don’t move freely.

Those rear bulb sockets were pretty nasty looking.

[roadking77]

New stuff supposed to be here today. My wife (shes the amazon holder of the family ) told me my order has been delayed until next week! Autozone is supposed to have what I need and I was right there this morning. Its next door to the Lowes I was picking up materials. I'll stop by tomorrow sometime and get them. It was a long day today as well as my sons birthday, so I wasnt planning on any shop work tonight. But I would like to get something done tomorrow evening.

[roadking77]

BREAKING NEWS: Today was a major achievement in this long drawn out process. I got tags for the car
I finally decided to get some insurance on the car so I figured I may as well get tags. I am not ready for them but hopefully will be soon. I had a bit of a snafu with the title as it has had an error since day one. That took a bit of sorting out but all is good. I got my historic tags and was able to register a set of YOM tags that I have had.

[N PRGRES]

YAY!!!! Congrats!

[ryeguy2006a]

Congrats Kerry! You'll be driving her around in no time.

[roadking77]

Put the new bulb sockets in. There are 3 wire sockets and 2-2 wire sockets. The 2 wire sockets are for reverse lights. All of the bulbs went in like they should. Push in and twist, there are 2 little prongs on the bulbs that register into slots in the socket. Well, like everything else that has fought me on this car, the 2 wire sockets did not work I tried and tried to get the bulb in far enough so it would turn and lock into place. I resigned myself to the fact that the plastic was not made correct. So I had to take them apart, some careful dremel work to enlarge the slot that the bulbs seat into and now they work. Its frustrating when you buy a brand new part and it doesnt work the way it should.
20241124_102953 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241124_102843 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241124_102840 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

Everything is working ok as far as the lights go, well almost everything
There is something going on with the left blinker. I am thinking it may be a short or a ground issue?
20241123_203656 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
Ordered trunk weather seal, and hood weather seal and bumpers from Steele Rubber Parts came in super quick and seemed to be reasonably priced.

My brake switch works fine, but there are no stop nuts for it. So when the pedal arm hits it, it pushes back out of the way. I wanted to order a couple but the only way to get them is to order a new switch for $12. So I placed that, should be here any day.

20241124_094808 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
I built this cart during covid as a shop cart as I didnt want to spend any money on one. It has served me well and I will repurpose it for something. Lowes had this shop cart on sale, I have been looking at it for quite some time so I decided to bite the bullet and bought it. Early Christmas present.
20241124_094814 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241124_094856 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

[roadking77]

20241125_141415 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

I bought these vintage tags at Carlisle a few years ago. They are correct for 1979 MD. I didnt even notice until I got home that my historic tags are 400!  I thought that was pretty cool. Been better if it was y89 instead of L90.

[another10th]

Kerry,
That would have been a cool plate! Still, to randomly get what you did is pretty lucky even if it won't be displayed.
Here is my YOM plate. You just don't advertise a 403 like you would a 400!!

[5th T/A]

Jeff, I like your plate and I’m envious of your lift.

Kerry, I had to look up L90, thinking it might be an option or engine that I was not aware of. 400 still pretty neat. Bummer about the light sockets, at least you got them functional. Also couldn’t help but notice you have an original ignition key.

[roadking77]

Me too on Jeffs tag and lift! I would love to have one of those.

I was wondering about the L90 as well, I think corvettes had an L88 so I guess thats close. Still, I bet some people might mistake it for an engine code and think that it is a vanity tag!

Yes, trunk keys are original as well as ignition key (good eye), but I put a new ignition switch in so it will be a novelty if nothing else. Also it has a locking gas cap. I thought it was a pep  boys special but I thought I read here someplace that it may have been at the least a dealer option? Im not crazy about it but if its original I may keep it in place.

[FormTA]

Car is looking great! These little jobs to "finish" the car are what drags it out forever.  Just keep at it. My problem was I started driving my car before it was 100% finished and I can't stop driving it....

[another10th]

Jeff, I like your plate and I’m envious of your lift.

Kerry, I had to look up L90, thinking it might be an option or engine that I was not aware of. 400 still pretty neat. Bummer about the light sockets, at least you got them functional. Also couldn’t help but notice you have an original ignition key.

The lift is to alleviate a parking problem. But is IS a handy tool!

[roadking77]

Nice settup! I need to start putting a couple of nickels away each week for one of those. I have 6 garage bays plus a 40' shop but once this car is finished I am not sure where its going to be parked A lift would be ideal and useful. Or I could just get rid of some stuff
Luke, you are right about the little stuff. I say the devil is in the details. When I did my 77 I thought it needed an inspection before I could get tags. So I made sure that everything was as close to 100% finished before I put it on the road. I guess in the long run it was a good decision. I can legally drive this TATA right now but not sure I want to.
My goal at this point is to get the trunk/back bumper area cleaned up and then I suppose it will be time to move on to the interior. It has been too cold for the last couple of weeks and add that my work schedule has had me slammed so not much has happened. Hoping to get something accomplished over the weekend.

[N PRGRES]

Jeff, I like your plate and I’m envious of your lift.

Kerry, I had to look up L90, thinking it might be an option or engine that I was not aware of. 400 still pretty neat. Bummer about the light sockets, at least you got them functional. Also couldn’t help but notice you have an original ignition key.

The lift is to alleviate a parking problem. But is IS a handy tool!

Is this a 12' ceiling?

[another10th]

Jeff, I like your plate and I’m envious of your lift.

Kerry, I had to look up L90, thinking it might be an option or engine that I was not aware of. 400 still pretty neat. Bummer about the light sockets, at least you got them functional. Also couldn’t help but notice you have an original ignition key.

The lift is to alleviate a parking problem. But is IS a handy tool!

Is this a 12' ceiling?

No. The ceiling is 11'-0".  There is about 10" from the roof of the top car to the garage ceiling. And about 12" from the foof of the lower car to the bottom of the runways.

[roadking77]

I got my hood hinges painted. I cleaned up the tail panel a bit, got the wiring finished up to the new light sockets. I used a crimp connection with a heat shrink wrap. Looks ok. There was some surface rust on the tail panel and the paint was worn off at the gas filler. I cleaned and sanded a little and touched up the paint. Looks much better now. When I first started this resto I had planned on a quick paint job then 4 sale. So, I did not give much attention to the rear/trunk area of the car. I am now going over this much better and will re-restore this part. I have cleaned the trunk and now it needs a quick sanding and some paint then it will look pretty good.
One thing I noticed when replacing the springs onto the hood hinges is that I have 2 different size of springs One is a bit thicker gauge than the other. Not sure why, but I think the thicker gauge is correct. I may order a new replacement for the one side. Up in the air about that right now as I am not sure if the smaller spring will affect the end use that much?
20241206_093717 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241208_112900 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241208_120825 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241208_120823 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241208_120823 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241208_120831 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241208_120834 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241209_163125 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

I will add, another of my many observations restoring these cars, the taillight sockets were deteriorated very badly. The plastic was literally crumbling apart from age.

Also, I hate the torsion trunk spring and put a gas shock in my 77. From the beginning I had planned on doing so with this car as well, hence the board holding the lid open at this point. I went to order one and Ring Bros no longer has it on their website. I need to call and see if I can still get one. I hope I did not make a mistake by skipping the factory rods. No way I want to dig in there at this point.

[5th T/A]

I have seen some pretty rusted tail panels, yours looked pretty good even before you cleaned it up.

Hood hinges look nice painted. Until now I never paid attention to the spring sizes. Out of curiosity I measured the diameter on my 1980 TA and both were at 1/4". You could try bolting both hinges to the fenders without the hood attached. If you could bolt some bar stock to the hinges, you could see if they feel much different.

Regarding the taillight sockets, I am not surprised the plastic disintegrates. I have noticed some of the plastic interior pieces on my car have become pretty brittle and not very flexible. MAybe chemical changes over time. The heat generated from the bulbs probably didn't help either.

I hope you are successful finding the gas struts for the trunk lid.

[roadking77]

20241211_091143 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241211_091315(0) by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

I was just looking for another part I need and thought about posting my go to. This is my well worn Ames catalogue that is my go to. I suppose by now it looks like a well used textbook I put a yellow post it on the top of the page for a part I need or would like to get. Not in any order. I also highlight that part on the page. Once I order the part if that is the only one on that page I put the post to the side of the page, to be used later. This particular book has been my buddy for a couple of years now. It sits on the table right beside me desk and is within an easy reach at anytime I am on the computer. Im not sure that is a good thing or bad I have not totaled my purchases up and probably dont want to know.

[roadking77]

Larry, one of the big reasons why I even bothered with this car (besides it being a 4 sp) was that it was pretty much rust free. There was some surface rust but it was pretty light, not even cutting into the metal. There was an accident at some time and the pass side quarter was replaced. They did a pretty good job and I wasnt concerned about tearing into the previous work when I was painting. There was a very small area on the passenger side floor that had to be replaced as well as a small spot on one of the front fender bottoms if I recall. Its been a long time since I was at that point.

[roadking77]

Hate to say I have lost track. I will have to read back and see if there has been any progress made

[roadking77]

20241227_111227 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
Tail lights back in, got the trunk cleaned and painted, installed a new liner. Got the spare in (still needs cleaned up) temporarily, jack is painted and ready to go.
20241227_111250 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241227_113058 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241229_105203 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241227_115253 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20241231_130406 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

[roadking77]

Next big thing on the list to do is getting the doors finalized. I took the pass side glass out and put new hardware on years ago. I took the rest of the tracks out, cleaned and painted and ready to re-install. I did a bench test on my window motor but decided to put new ones in just because. I also am in the process of installing a remote keyless entry lock on the doors. I will explain that a bit further on. I took off work Christmas week and got the work on the window parts finished, then I had to wait for the motors to arrive. Everything ready to go, went back to work then it got bitter cold. Might get some shop time tomorrow to get the pass side finished up before I dig into the dr. door.
20250101_110838 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20250101_110857 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20250101_113218 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20250104_111601 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20250106_110837 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20250104_120710 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20250106_105225 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20250106_110325 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

[roadking77]

I will add, I hooked up the wire for the trunk light and it works as well as the remote trunk button in the glove box, I screwed the dome light into place which created a ground so that is working, replaced the bulb in the pass side footwell light and that is working. As far as I can tell all the little stuff like that is working as it should, along with the door open buzzer.

[roadking77]

20241208_105627 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
I have been trying to figure out how to spin the wheels safely so that I can try to refinish them. Being a big dish I figured they would be easier than the snowflakes. I do not have a big lathe. One night it hit. Probably one of the most ghetto wheel restoration methods on the planet. I set it on my cement mixer. It spins about 30rpm, the wheel fits perfectly and gravity holds it into place. I started with 60 gr paper and worked my way up to 2000. First wheel turned out pretty nice, though it could use some more work. Its a slow process  but overall I probably have less than 2 hours into this one. I media blasted the backside to clean that part up. Still need to finish it.
20241214_132837 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

[N PRGRES]

Those wheels turned out great, as far as turbos go, I was never a fan of them but the cement mixer was an awesome idea.  Please post how the window instillation and adjustment goes. I have been fighting my drivers side for awhile now to adjust

[roadking77]

Yes, I think the turbo wheels are a love it/hate it thing. Personally I like them. I also like the 'bowling ball' caps on the 3rd gen t/a. They are similar but different. I have put the wheels on hold for the time being. Part of my A.D.D. I think. I switched my focus to the doors at this point.

I had a pro company restore the snowflakes on my 77, cost was $120 ea and they did all 4 in less than a 24 hr turn around. SO, I figured if I could find something similar for these wheels that would be great. I let one 'pro' look at them and he said he couldnt do them? WTH IF some hobo like me with a cement mixer can get them to look good, I would think a pro could make them look great I was media blasting the back sides with success but the cheapo syphon gun I had was getting clogged from the condensation. I was running it too hard too fast. My thought process at this point is to get the backs media blasted and cleaned up then check with another pro to see if they can turn them for me. If not no biggie, just gonna take a bit to get them nice and shiny.

[roadking77]

20250106_104337 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20250111_114908 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
Just because, window motor cleaned up. I let the gear sit for awhile in evaporust gel, then water wash with a brass brush. Lubed back up. I am using the new motor and will put this one on the shelf as a spare though I doubt I will ever need it.
20250111_115040 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
Old motor on the left new one on the right

[roadking77]

20250111_120255 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20250111_120429 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
I ordered a new decal for the hook, hasnt come in yet.

[N PRGRES]

Your attention to detail is amazing!

[roadking77]

Thank you, "Its a blessing and a curse" 

[FormTA]

Ya, it would be really great if you would come to my shop and finish all the small stuff on my car... I just can't focus on it. I just drive it because it's drivable.  I should have installed or made operational all the little stuff before I made it drivable.  But then it probably wouldn't be on the road at all.  😀

Keep at it! It all looks great!. Oh, Harbor freight sells a air line dryer but it is like $500 or something but does wonders for media blasters and painting.  I picked up a used one for almost nothing.  They are awesome!

[roadking77]

Yes Luke, that is one of my problems obsessing over the small stuff. I know once its on the road I wont take the time or effort to work on those details thats why I want to get as much finished as possible before I start driving. There are a few small items on my 77 that I would like to address. My plan is once Im driving this one I can put the black car in the shop for the few fixes.

I have been waiting on some parts that finally came in, and then the weather turned cold. Highs in the mid 20's. We have been lucky the last few years in that our winter work has been inside. Well as luck has changed, most of our stuff is outside right now. After being in the cold for 6 or 7 hours I get home, take a warm shower and sit on the couch. Nothing going on in the shop. I did manage to squeeze in some time this morning. My focus right now is on the pass side door. New glass guides installed, new plastic clips on the lock rod (old ones were gone and one was broke). Outside handle installed and lock installed. I got a keyless door lock opener and finished up the wiring on that today as well.
20250119_121907 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20250119_124819 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr20250119_122906 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

[roadking77]

I bought a keyless lock settup just because. The installation was pretty easy. First thing, drill out the rivets holding the existing lock in place.
20250104_113314 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
The 2 large ones stacked vertically at the bottom of the door
Old actuator pops right out. New one goes into place. For now the existing wires are not used and a new set of wires needs to  be routed through the kick panel area into the existing wire boot. Hooking the new actuator up is a couple of screws, easy peasy.
20250104_113816 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
Old actuator. No idea if this works, I will have to do a bench test.
20250111_124238 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
New one in place. About half the size and chinzy plastic.

[roadking77]

Getting the pass side kick panel trim off was the hardest part. Route the new wire from the fuse box area across the inside of the dash. I did have to take the inner glove box out which required taking the glove box door off. There is a new harness with an antennae that hooks up to a battery hot slot in the fuse box.

[5th T/A]

I don’t know, despite chilly weather you keep making good progress, knocking out one thing after another. Having most the interior, door panels and glass out makes it a good time to tackle projects like this. I like the idea of adding a keyless door lock system to the car. What definitely used to be considered a luxury item, we expect it today. You made a comment about the new actuator being tiny and made out of plastic. That’s progress, everything is smaller and made of plastic. It won’t rust, probably draws less current and takes less space.