The Story Continues

I fulfilled a dream of mine a few days ago and bought a 1966 Ford Mustang. Naturally I'll be writing a blog about it too. It can be found from mustang66project.blogspot.fi.

The End

Well, I'm a bit sad to say that I sold the Corvette today. I had it since fall of 2009 and had put a lot of hours into it but it was time to find something different for a change. But the "Speedy Banana" did not let go easily. Here's how my last days with the car went so I can laugh/cry to them later ;)

I got a few phone calls after putting the Corvette for sale and some visitors too. One in particular seemed interested but wished that I have the car inspected because it was due in a few months. "Sure", I said, knowing that nothing should be wrong with the car. Confident, I drove to the inspection office the same day. Everything went smooth until I was asked why the windshield wipers were not working. WTF!? I had tested them the previous day.

Broken Wiper

I immediately checked the fuse, connectors and other obvious places but could not get the wipers to work. I drove home with a failed result. Can't remember the last time I was so mad... Back home I removed the wiper motor and tried testing it straight from a battery. The damn thing just did not work. I had to inform the buyer that I'll try to find a new wiper motor as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, I was also going for a small trip right at that time but after it, I did manage to find a new motor from US-Parts. It was the last one they had so I drove there immediately to get it. After installing it, the wipers worked again. Then it was time to go for another holiday trip for a few days and then have the car inspected again.

I drove to the office, showed that the wipers work and got the accepted stamp. Phew! But the troubles were not over yet. On my way home, I noticed that the engine temperature rose when stopping for traffic lights and dropped again while driving. Soon I had to stop in a parking lot to check the engine. Immediately I noticed that the fan was not working. What now!?

Broken Fan

After letting the engine cool for two hours, I got back home and started another investigation after letting the car sit for the night. And again I informed the buyer that I need to do some tweaking. The fan worked when I fed it from the battery so I turned my gaze to the Hayden 3647 controller. Its relay worked fine, the unit got power correctly but, as I found out, the unit itself just never activated the fan. I started reading some reviews for it from Amazon.com and seems that the dozens of 1-star ratings were correct. The Made In China piece of crap could not handle the heat in the engine bay and melted after a few days or month of use.

I could not get a new controller during weekend nor did I want to afflict the new owner with such crap, so I had to think a new plan and soon. I had bought a temperature sensor earlier that was installed in the water hose with a small fitting. It was my original plan for controlling the fan but had abandoned it because the instructions said that it should be in the lower hose. I had not found a fitting large enough for it but the one I had was perfect for the upper hose. I did some investigation and finally decided that I would just buy a sensor for slightly higher temperatures and use it.

I drained some coolant, cut the upper hose and installed the fitting and sensor. Then it was time to refill the system and test it. Unfortunately the fan still did not run after the engine had warmed up. Time to dig up the multimeter again. Luckily I found the problem immediately. The fan control relay got correct signals but did not activate the fan. It had stuck after being in the car unused for two years. I had an extra relay and with it, everything worked!

So finally, today I took my last drive with the Corvette as I delivered it to the buyer. We chatted for a long time and went through the parts I sold with the car. When everything seemed to be in order, we made the paperwork and the Speedy Banana was not mine anymore.

I guess it's time to start searching for a new project now...

Fixing The Exhaust Pipe

I noticed my passenger side exhaust pipe was blowing quite badly. First meter of it was poorly made from flexible tube and the welds were terrible. Luckily the rest of the pipe was better so only the front part had to be changed.

At first I thought that I'd make the pipe myself but after crawling under the car for a while, I decided that it would be too difficult and dangerous without a lift. I called a few garages but most were on holiday. Finally I found JM Autohuolto from Järvenpää that could fix the it.

I drove the Corvette there in the morning and picked it up later. The new pipe had been build and welded together. I took a short test drive and the car sounded much better again. The nasty burble was gone as the exhaust was again flowing where it was supposed to.

Adding Stripes

I wanted to give a bit of new look for my car so I ordered some matte black 3M 1080 masking wrap from Automatrix. I decided to start small and just add some highlights for the hood bump. I began by taping some paper on the hood and marking the outline on it. After cutting it out, I used it as a template for cutting the tape.

I also painted the hood grille black so it matches the stripes.

I'm not absolutely sure if the car look better or worse with the stripes. I'll have to let the new look sink in a few days :) Luckily it is easy to peel the tapes off without damage. The 3M tape was really simple to use so changing the look is no problem.

Cabin Heat Problems

I took a longer drive with the Corvette and noticed that adding Stinger Roadkill to the cabin did not solve the heat issues in the car. It just took a bit longer for the cabin to become a sauna. So more needed to be done. I spent some time googling and many others have the same issues with C3 Corvettes. I found three different issues that I addressed:

1. Heater core isolation
2. Hood weatherstrip
3. AC and heater box sealing

Heater Core Isolation

The biggest issue was the heater core. I found that the heater feed hose should have a vacuum operated valve that cuts the water circulation when the AC temperature setting is in cold. The valve was missing so it meant that the heater was always working at full power! No wonder the cabin temperature rose...

Seems that many people have problems with the vacuum valve and have replaced it with a manual valve. As I only drive during summer, the heater is not really needed so I decided to do the same. And I can get a manual valve from the local hardware store as opposed to ordering from US. To completely isolate the heater core, I added valves to both hoses. Otherwise heat can creep up through the drain hose on long drives.

I found some nice, small ball valves, cut the hoses and installed them. It will be easy to replace them later if I decide to install an original vacuum valve. When doing this, just note that the feed hose (from the intake manifold) needs 1/2 inch nipples and the drain hose 3/4 inch.

While doing this investigation, I also realised that I need to find the vacuum hose that should feed the valve. And I found it sticking out from the firewall under other hoses and wires. It had been cut so it was causing a vacuum leak! No wonder the other vacuum operated valves in the dash did not work correctly.

Hood Weatherstrip

Another common reason for cabin heat is a perished hood weatherstrip. Mine was missing completely. I've had one for years but had not installed it yet... This allows engine heat to enter the cowl area where the fresh air intake is. This could be fixed with a little drop of glue so I got that sorted in a few minutes.

AC And Heater Box Sealing

While working under the hood, I noticed that a lot of air was flowing out of the heater/AC box. Sealing was mostly gone so nearly all of the fresh air from the blower escaped through the seams to the engine bay. I did not have the sealing kit available so I stuffed some foam in the gaps.

Results

I've taken some shorter drives with the car after these changes. Cabin temperature has dropped to much more tolerable level. It's still pretty warm but nowhere near the oven heat it was before. I also noticed that the car is much quieter now with the hood weatherstrip in place. I guess a lot of air was flowing through the gap as it was causing wind noise.

Unfortunately sealing the heater box did not fix the poor air flow in the car. Even with the blower at full power, there's hardly any air coming out of the vents. I'll need to investigate that a bit more.

Sony DSX-A50BT

I finally got fed up with the radio in my car. The USB connector did not work as the whole device shut down when I connected the memory stick. I even bought a memory card but that slot did not work either. I was worried that the problem was caused by the wiring in the car but as the radio was working normally, it did not seem likely.

The space in the car is very limited so I spent some time earlier trying to find a shallow head unit. The only one available (that I could find from Finland) was the Sony DSX-A50BT. I ordered one from Verkkokauppa.com, and it arrived in a day.

Installing the radio took about 5 minutes as everything plugged straight in. I tested the USB and Bluetooth playback and it worked perfectly. I was a bit worried that the unit did not have iPod controls but Bluetooth support could be used just as easily. Sound quality was also much better now!

On The Road Again

I took my Corvette for inspection last week. It did not pass because one of the rear brake hoses was leaking. Luckily it was only because the connecting nut had loosened when I fixed the parking brake during winter. I tightened the nut and the car passed the inspection today!

On the drive home I also tested the car on the freeway. I drove about 110kph for a few kilometers and there was no overheating problem anymore. Seems that it was caused by the wrong ignition timing.

New Tail Lights

I happened to find some pretty nice tail lights on sale in Finnshark. Mine are in horrible condition so I decided to buy them. I took a short drive today to get the lights and besides a few scratches, they were great. I also made a few other nice purchases but more about those later :) Changing the lights only took a few minutes but it really made a huge difference to the rear appearance.

Out with the old...

...and in with the new!

I've also been busy with the parts I ordered from Big City Corvette. I've installed the new side tail lights, rear window trim and driver side ducts. Installing the passenger side duct seems to require removal of some interior panels so I have not bothered yet...

Picture screaming "wash me!"

Setting Ignition Timing

Finding Top Dead Center

The ignition timing in my car has thus far been set to "seems to run" standard by ear. I've come to the conclusion that perhaps I should actually measure it before next summer. But, as always, there's a catch. The problem is the top dead center mark in the damper. I don't really trust that it is correct and even if it is, the water pump prevents seeing it at TDC.

Luckily I found an easy way to find the TDC without taking the heads off. I ordered a piston stop tool by Comp Cams from Amazon. It is quite easy to build a similar tool from an old spark plug but it is cheap so I decided to order one. Package arrived in about a week so I got to work.

To use the tool, I first needed a marker to the engine to use as reference. The power steering pump bracket was at a convenient place close to the damper so I decided to use it. I loosened one of its bolts, bended a small wire and placed it under the bolt.

Next I replaced the number one spark plug with the piston stop and very carefully turned the engine to clockwise direction by hand until the piston contacted with the tool. I added a small drop of paint to the damper where the marker was pointing. Next I turned the engine to counterclockwise until contact happened again and another small drop of paint was added. The top dead center is in the middle of the points. For me they were about 1,5 cm away from each other so I painted a longer line between the points. I bended the wire a bit so it was pointing at the line.

Finally I returned the plug to the first cylinder and removed all other tools from the engine bay so it was safe to start up.

Setting Ignition Timing

Another tool that I needed was the timing lamp. I went to Motonet where they had three different models:

• A really basic model that had no settings at all. It would just flash the light when the spark plug fired.
• Second, a bit more expensive one where you could set the wanted advance between 0 and 60 degrees.
• Third one was way more expensive but it had a lot of features: adjustable advance, a tachometer, volmeter and who knows what else.

To use the cheapest one, I would need to have the degrees marked to the damper itself. I could buy a ready made sticker or just count and draw them myself (damper diameter 8 inches * PI / 360 = 1,77mm per degree) but save some hassle, I bought the lamp with the adjustable advance. With that, I could just turn the knob until TDC marking aligned with the pointer and then read the advance from the lamp.

I began by measuring the initial timing. I removed and plugged the distributor vacuum hose and started the car. Without the vacuum advance the engine was idling (according its own tach) at only 400rpm so I tuned the carb a bit until it rose to 500rpm. When the engine had warmed up, I checked the timing and got about 38 degrees! Phew, that's what the total timing should be, not idle!

I turned the engine off to call a few friends and surf the web a bit. I thought I had done something wrong with my markings or something. After some investigation I came to the conclusion that it is possible for the engine to run with that much timing so it was time to correct it. I loosened the distributor, marked its initial position and started the car again.

I let the car settle to normal idle, measured the timing and got the same 38 degrees. I turned the distributor to clockwise until the advance showed 8 degrees. I was surprised that I only needed to turn it a few centimeters to get it correct. Engine also sounded better now.

Finally I also measured the total timing. I reconnected the distributor vacuum hose and asked my wife to help. She worked the gas pedal and kept the engine at 2000 rpm for me. There the advance was 30 degrees. What I read from the web, that should be OK.

Perhaps this was the reason why my engine started to get hot at high rpm on the highway? We'll see when driving season starts soon!

Parts Received From Big City Corvettes

Santa arrived late and brought me a note in the mail which said that the order from Big City Corvettes had arrived to customs. I jumped straight to my car and drove to the airport to get it. I had to pay over 130 euros of tax and then the box was mine.

Back at home I inspected the parts and everything seemed to be in order. The box was well packed and all used pieces were in good condition. Now I'll just have to find some time to install them. Unfortunately it has been really cold around here for the past weeks so spending time in the garage is not a pleasurable experience.

Ordering Interior Parts

I've been missing a few interior parts from my Corvette. The rear window frame and lower trim, center console side panels and horn button were the most visible items. In addition both side AC air ducts and driver side vent were missing. As the car was otherwise complete, it was time to start hunting for them. You can get reproduction versions of the interior panels but not of the ducts. So I went to eBay to get original parts.

I tried emailing some used parts sellers but never got a reply. Until I found Big City Corvettes that is. They replied quickly and had the AC parts I was looking for. Unfortunately they didn't have the interior panels in the colour I needed (Firethorn), but promised to order repro versions of them. The horn button was not available, but I really want to replace the steering wheel anyway so it was left out. I waited a couple of weeks and just received a confirmation that my order has been shipped to Finland! Now I just have to wait until the parts get here and go through customs. Oh, and pay the 24% VAT and 4,5% customs tax.

As a bonus I also ordered yellow side marker lights for my car. The red marker lights are illegal in Finland so I'll replace the rear lights with yellow ones. I've read that they should fit right in.

Quest For A Shallow Head Unit

I have been thinking about upgrading my Clatronic AR 817 head unit in the Corvette. Its sound quality was not that good and for some reason the USB port did not work correctly. While playing music from my memory stick, the head unit turned off completely at times and started playing again after a few seconds. It was really annoying and made the USB useless. At least the radio worked normally.

Now that I have the subwoofer in the car, I started thinking that a better head unit would be nice. But soon I learned the one good thing about the Clatronic: it was really shallow. Only 12 cm (4.7 inches) deep while most are between 16 and 18 cm (around 6.5 inches). I measured the car and the maximum installation depth was 16.5 cm (6.5 inches) but the wiring took at least another inch so the full size head units did not fit.

This meant that at least equipment with CD player were out the window. I did not need that anyway so I started looking for a mechless unit. But for some reason the manufacturers like to make even those the same length so they did not fit. Finally after hours of going through Kenwood, JVC, Pioneer, Alpine and Sony selections and reading many discussions I managed to find a few possibilities:
 - Sony DSX-A50BT
 - Sony DSX-A30
 - Parrot Asteroid

The Parrot seemed interesting and really small but it is not available in Finland. This leaves the Sony models. According to their descriptions they were 12 cm deep, which is perfect. They were identical except that the A50BT has Bluetooth support. A major missing feature (for me) is that they do not have iPod support but I can live with it as long as they have better quality than the Clatronic and they fit in the car. I'll have to order one soon if I can't find something better as they are already older models.

Window Motor And Interior Assembly

Passenger Window Motor

After waiting for a new passenger side window motor for ten months, I finally gave up and cancelled the order. As the only thing wrong with the old motor was a broken connector, I decided to try and fix it again. After about an hour of fiddling, I managed to solder a new connector to the old one. It felt strong enough and the motor worked when I tested it from a battery, so I decided to use it.

I had to loosen the window regulator bolts a bit to get the the motor in place and then attached the three bolts that held the motor in the door. After tightening every bolt again and attaching the wires, it was time to test the motor. I connected the ground cable back to the battery, turned the ignition on and the motor worked fine! Finally I tuned the window position according the instructions in the Chilton manual and the job was done.

Interior Assembly

After the window motor was installed, I could put the interior back in place. Bolting the seats was annoying as usual but other parts went in without problems. I think that this is the first time the passenger side door panel has been attached to the car for as long as I have had it! The interior does look much better now that it is pretty much complete.

Everything was back in the car again so I turned it around to be able to work with the driver side. The engine started fine and ran normally so I let it warm up a bit. Now the only problem was that what should I do next!?