Out with the Old

Some progress was made over the last week despite bad weather, revival at Church and work.  I began removing a lot of the things that won't be needed.  When I was 16 my sister bought me this dixie horn, per my request, for Christmas.  I had no ability or knowledge of how to do things at the time and so I had it installed.  I was always unhappy with how they installed it.  After many years, it is finally ready for retirement.  It hasn't hit all the notes for several years and the cheap parts have finally fallen apart.

I removed all of the original fuel and evap lines, along with this charcoal canister.  This seems like it will make a good place for the ECM or new fuse box.  Removing the lines took a few hours and I was glad to have safety glasses.  There was loose gravel stuck under several places form where I used to drive through fields.  We used to play a game called Fox Hunting.  This is where a bunch of trucks use CB radios and play hide and seek.  You are able to ask the person hiding questions within certain criteria and when they speak the needle on the CB moves.  The more the needle moves, the closer you are to the person speaking.  I always used to climb under the car and clean all the mud away, but there was plenty of gravel left.

Removing the original wiring harness was very difficult because there was so much hardened gunk over the bulkhead connector you couldn't even tell what it was except for the fact that wires were going into a mound of near rock-hard grease.  I found a video on the internet that showed there was a single bolt in the middle holding it on.  Once I dug a hole in the middle and found the bolt and was able to loosen it the connector came off without much trouble.

Part of the original harness out of the car.  I'll have to go through this and determine which wires will need to be kept.  There were two other harnesses that plugged into the bulkhead which didn't need to be removed.

I removed the original gauge cluster.  It is pretty spartan as The Caprice was not a highly optioned car.  Several pieces and mounting points were broken from other people working on this car before I started working on cars myself.  The speedometer cable came out of the firewall without too much trouble.  I was afraid the old rubber firewall grommet would fall apart but it was still relatively pliable.

I also removed the original gas pedal because I'll be using a drive by wire setup.  This thing has seen plenty of time on the floor thanks to the very under-powered original 305 and the 1980's 350 truck motor replacement.  The CB will remain.

Dad helped run the garden hose at different locations around the cowl as I laid inside the car and we located the water leak.  Many years ago I had sealed part of this area before over on the side of the car, but someone else had attempted to seal the top of the cowl previously and there was an absolute mess.  This picture was partway through cleaning and prepping the surface of where the body meets the big hole.

I taped off the area and primered where bare metal was exposed from the cleaning.

I called a friend that owns and operates a body shop and asked what I should use to seal the area.  He recommended windshield urethane.  The temperature was close to 100 degrees and the humidity was very high as well.  It was absolutely miserable in the direct sun cleaning and sealing this area.  After endless scraping, scotchbrite scuffing and grease and wax remover I was able to get some sealant down.  I laid a bead and spread it just like window caulking.

This was the actual troublesome area, but I went ahead and cleaned and resealed the top as well.  There's a vacuum line for the heat and air controls that can only be replaced by removing the fender.  While it is off I went ahead and got a new one.

Since the first guy sold me an engine and then stopped answering his phone (classy), I located another motor.  This is a 2004 5.3 LY7 from a Chevrolet Avalanche with 127,000 miles.  I was also able to pick up the wiring harness, ECM, starter, alternator, power steering pump, drive by wire pedal, drive by wire module, drive by wire harness, and engine fuse box from the same Avalanche.  I picked up an AC compressor from a different vehicle.

It was so hot in this trailer it was beyond description.

Fortunately Dad lives within tractor-distance of the house.  The engine has been in his trailer since he made the 3 1/2 hour trip last week to pick it up.  I drove his truck and trailer over and he followed on the tractor.  Since the gate on the trailer lets down as a ramp, we had no way of getting the engine out.  Fortunately, the engine came with a wooden stand.  We wrapped a chain around it and pulled it to the very end of the trailer and with an extension pipe on the end of the hay fork we were able to reach the chain and lift it out.