Bad Compressor?

I got everything on the a/c hooked back up last fall and with the help of a shop manual on cd I was able to figure out how to reattach the vacuum hoses on the temperature controls. I put a small amount of coolant in after connecting alternative cooling valves. When I heard the compressor kick on I was really hopeful.

But alas, my hope was short lived. Every time the compressor tries to kick in it melts the A/C fuse. And I mean "melts". I confirmed the fuse size and tried both the amp listed in the owners manual and in the shop manual. The larger amp fuse took longer to melt but melted non the less.

I haven't spent any more time on it over the winter months but will need to address it soon.

If any one can post any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

Now she sounds like she should!

August 20th, 2008

Today the kid and I put a glasspack on Holliwood. We found a local dude parting out a '73 and the previous owner had recently added the dual "cherry bomb" exhaust. And since the seller is planning on taking the '73 to the demo derby after all the good stuff is gone, he wanted my old exhaust.

Consequently, not only does she SOUND like a muscle car now, I got additional help with the job. He got us started and helped us remove the old exhaust and my 19 year old and I had a great time working together to install the dual. We had to tie the back end up with wires the seller pulled down from his commercial garage ceiling so that we could drive her home to finish up later. (that was a crack up).

He also had a good door latch. We switched those out. My drivers door is still a little loose but doesn't rattle as much as it did. Got some advice from another connection of a connection and will try to adjust the strike bolt as soon as I can locate a T55 star wrench head.

Getting the old pipes off was tricky. The bolts were frozen solid. A few sprays of WD40 and a pipe for leverage did the trick for us. We still need to drill a hole on either side of the frame for the rear mounting bracket.

Note: I've had her sitting in my driveway for three months. I pull up this afternoon with the new exhaust and my neighbor says "hey, what is that that you're driving?" Guess he finally noticed it :o)

Vehicle History Update

June 24, 2008

Made the dreaded trip to DMV today to get my title and registration complete. I found out that she is an original Arizona car, licensed to her first owner in Arizona in January of 1976. The party I bought her from actually bought the car from the original owner in August of 2007. I sure would like to find the original owner and get some more history on her. I'll try a Craigslist personal ad.

OOPS! I ran out of gas on my way home from the DMV. How embarrassing!

It's so stinking hot here!

June 17, 2008

It was 114 today. It's a good thing I am used to it.

Just a short note for today. It took me about 2 hours but I reattached the mounting brackets and the a/c compressor. Small hands and long fingers help.

That thing weighs a ton!!

Some Body Work

June 6, 2008

I started treating some of the minor rust on the car today. I used both a large and a toothbrush size metal brush to clean the infected areas, and treated with Rust Doctor following the instructions on the label. It worked exactly as described. It was wild to put my hand on the other side of the metal and feel it rapidly cool from the chemical reaction. I started working in an area that had some obvious rust, that someone had attempted to bondo over.

When the molding was taken off the wheel wells the metal was tweaked on the inside. With a hammer i started reshaping the wheel wells where the molding had been removed. I wanted to do all of this before I used the Rust Dr. Well, the hammering caused all of the bondo to fall out of a hole that had been inadequately repaired. This was actually a great thing. I cleaned and scrubbed the area on both the inside and outside of the wheel well, then treated it with the Rust Doctor. Then I followed up with Nu-Metal to fill and re-shape the hole. It's as strong as it can be. I even tried banging on it again with the hammer to see if the new treatment would also fall out. Nope! It's a lot stronger and looks a lot better.


I also used this same method to treat the rust in the trunk and repair a very small whole I found there as well. Both of these products work exactly as described. I would highly recommend them. I have a few small low spots to touch up but I think the end result is very good. I'll have to show these pics to my body shop client.

Her First Check-up

June 2, 2008

Dr. Charles arrived today to give Holli her check up and heal her current conditions. I had already picked up a carb rebuild kit as I knew we would need the new accelerator pump. We picked the parts we needed, did a partial transplant and cured the leaking gasoline issue. Upon further examination we reconnected the vacuum hose for the power brake booster. We have brakes but there is a vacuum issue as the car runs rougher at idle when you press the brake pedal. Dr. C. says she is drivable but we will eventually need to repair or replace the power brake booster. We drove her to the gas station for a test drive and gave her a drink (a very pricey drink).

The Dr. gave me instructions for further treatment of other issues and a prescription to have all of her fluids changed, as well as the name of a secondary specialist who could handle this for me. We spoke for a long time about the patient and I was in awe at his knowledge of the inner workings of the automobile. He knows EVERYTHING there is to know about cars! What a fantastic ally he is going to be in this crazy venture.

Lighting Issues

June 1, 2008

S and I played around with the lights last night. This was something that I knew needed work from the inspection I had done before the purchase. Both low beam headlights were out. We popped the hood and discovered that the neither headlight was even connected. We plugged in the drivers side and it lit right up. The passenger side, however, had two broken prongs. On her behind we had only drivers side turn signal, parking and brake lights. After testing the passenger side with one of the good bulbs I made an inventory of all the bulbs I needed.

The next day I picked up the headlight, 4 turn signal/brake bulbs and 2 backup bulbs at Pep Boys. I replaced the broken headlight and the new one works fine. I replaced all the rear bulbs but I had one bad turn/tail/brake light socket. Went back to PB and found an after market fit for that. Wired the new one up and it now works. P.S. Don't accidentally touch another metal part of your engine with the wrench you are using to reconnect the battery cable. Those sparks sure were pretty!!!

While I had the headlight apart I decided to go ahead and polish up the bezel's. They turned out pretty nice.

After all my lighting work, I still don't have back-up or hazard lights. Hmmmmm.

To my delight I did see that Pep Boys now carries an American Racing wheel that mimic the old style slotted mags. Much to my dismay, they are pretty pricey. I will really have to start saving up if I want to go new instead of refurbished.

O.k. so back to the lighting problems. I will have to consult the Dr. when he arrives on Monday to see what he says.