So, I’ve started getting my Bertone road-worthy again. I started by ordering a replacement catalytic converter and getting a wide-band oxygen sensor from Oreilly’s (old Checker Auto). This past weekend I cleaned off the hood and the trunk (still can’t find my damn cordless screw driver). After I cleaned it off I popped the hood and pulled the battery out to charge it. A few hours on the charger and the battery was up to 12.42 volts and as of today (28-JAN) it’s holding at 12V. Good news. Now the bad news. Looks like the radiator is hosed, the thermostatic switch that screws in to the radiator is corroded and the retainer that screws in just came off in my hand. I’ll need to replace the camshaft, layshaft, and crank seals in front and the rear main seal. They won’t cost much, but will take a lot of time to fix. It’s worth it because the car is still pretty solid. What makes it worth it? When my kids get excited that ‘Daddy’s working on the car!’
Cars
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Worked on the Bertone, finally…
21-FEB-10
I’ve been working on the car, off and on, for the past couple of months. I just haven’t logged anything. Figured it was time to put something down.
Brakes. Gotta have’em. I replaced the master cylinder with the one I got out of my 240, since it was only a few years old, versus 32 years old. I also replaced the front ATE calipers with Girling calipers, which necessitated replacing the hard lines. I did this for two reasons – one, Girling pads are easier to get, and two, I had some nice Teflon-lined stainless steel lines to install. Anyway, got it done. This meant I had to bleed the brakes. Rather than have the wife out there pressing on the brakes, I built a pressure bleeder using a small 1-gallon garden sprayer and miscellaneous hose and plumbing and a spare master cylinder cap. Worked wonders and I was able to bleed the brakes by myself in under an hour. Highly recommended.
I got the opera windows back in. What a pain in the ass! I put one in and then realized that I had to take it back out because the roof trim had to be put back in first. I realized this after the fact. Anyway, got it out and started over. Oh, before I started, I took the windows out of the rubber so I could wash the gunk out. After 32 years, there was alot of dirt in there! In order to put the glass back in I knew I was going to need a thin rope to pull the seam in. Using a standard clothes line, I ran it through a piece of paraffin to lubricated it. A little bit of soap and water on the edge of the rubber and away we went. Pretty easy.
While I was doing the passenger side glass, I paid close attention to the door. I had noticed previously that it didn’t line up right and was hard to close because it would force the door up at the striker. A 12mm socket made quick work of loosening the hinge bolts inside the car and, along with adjustment of the striker, it was straightened out.
Finally, I decided to start it up and run the car. It started, but wow, did it have a rough idle! It didn’t sound anywhere like what it did a couple of months ago, it had a horrible miss. At first I thought it was the MegaSquirt, that the mixture was off. Nope, nothing there. That’s when I decided to take a small drift and tap on the injectors lightly, from one to four. The first three yielded no changes, but as soon as I tapped number four, the idle smoothed out. That makes me wonder if this will happen again. Hmm.
Well, that’s it for this update. I need to get it so I can close the hood and take it for a spin. It needs to go through emissions and a vehicle inspection. Almost there!
Volvo update
I added a lengthy post to my Bertone page. Go ahead and take a look.