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.