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Sat, 23 August 2014 14:42  |
Ken Henderson
Messages: 8726
Registered: March 2004
Location: Americus, GA
Karma:
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I guess I let Y'All down -- I didn't record the projects I've been
involved in for the past couple of weeks. Nothing very visually
exciting anyways, though:
John Beaver, who some may remember as my engine builder friend for
whom we rescued the '76 Eleganza last year in Montgomery, AL finally
got to a "good" stage week before last. He's been gutting and
rearranging the interior and finally got to the stage of having foam
insulation sprayed into it. The shop for that is 40 miles from here,
the first "trip" since we took about 16 hours to bring it 160 miles.
So, I loaded up a spare tire, my on-the-road tool kit, and some other
stuff to follow him to Albany, GA. The trip was flawless, so when
they called on Friday for him to pick up the GMC, he didn't bother me.
Until he called to ask for a P/N for a replacement fan belt. That was
easy. And it was almost as easy when he called later for the P/N for
the lower radiator hose, damaged when another fan belt broke.
Not quite as easy was the call at 6:00 PM from 15 miles away, where he
was beside the road with another fan belt broken and the first one
damaged. Since his other friend, who'd taken him to the parts store,
was no longer along, I had to make a service call. Fortunately, I had
a replacement for the broken belt, and he had another for the damaged
one. He also needed a 15 mm end wrench because one, only one, of the
bolts on the alternator was that size. It took us over an hour to get
the two belts on to stay: Because the second replacement belt he had
appeared to be much too narrow, we tried to use the slightly damaged
new belt -- only to have it immediately turn belly up as soon as the
engine was cranked After two tries we gave up and put the narrow one
on -- it lasted 15 miles anyway. We finally got home at 8:00 PM.
Him being a professional mechanic and me an experienced amateur, we
were both pretty shame-faced when we agreed that none of those
replaced components, and a lot of their still-installed cousins, had
any business being on the road in the first place. We should have
replaced ALL of them last year before we ever moved it from
Montgomery. Never too old to re-learn the lessons we've forgotten in
our old age, I guess.
Oh yeah! They did a great job spraying his coach, and the deal
included THEM doing the trimming (they said they had equipment to make
it easy). I meant to ask his cost, but forgot.
With that ordeal behind us, I tackled a job I've been dreading.
Before I had the GMC painted in 2002, or so, I installed different
roof-top clearance lights, the small torpedo-shaped ones. With them
well caulked in place, I had Topeka Graphics paint their bases the
roof color, figuring that would help the caulk persevere. I sealed
the lenses, I thought well. Over the years, the bulbs have one-by-one
failed. Since I don't drive much at night and think those lights are
a useless hold-over from the days when a guide watched tall vehicles
to be sure they'd go under the bridge, I didn't worry about them being
out. And I never got stopped for them. But when SHE found out that
we had only 3 in front and 2 in the rear, SHE began to complain. Even
I didn't much like the electrical tape covering the holes the sun had
eaten in some of them. Still, I didn't want to go back to the OEM
lights, which seem most available with LED's, because of the different
footprint in the paint.
Finally, after a LOT of internet searching, I found sources for
replacement lenses for cheeep. Since I could not find the complete
lights with LED's, I decided to install my own. I had 9 little
1"x1-1/4" PC boards with 9 bright LED's each that I'd bought a year
ago for cheeep too. By using a Dremel tool to cut away the old rusty
sockets, I was able to preserve the lens screw sockets and make room
for the PC boards. Angled slightly and hot-glued in place, those
LED's look about as good as any I've seen, and my cost was nearly
nothing. While I was tempted to cast the lenses full of clear epoxy,
that would have complicated the job just too much, so I merely bedded
them well in caulk. If they last another 10+ years, I doubt that I'll
care what their state of being is. I'm awaiting another shipment of
the LED's to MAYBE replace the remaining, still working, lamp.
That done, I got interested in my instrument panel again. When I
first started fooling with EFI, I installed a cheeep Chinee fuel
pressure gauge. The sender didn't last long, but the VDO replacement
worked well with the gauge for a few months. Then it decided it might
as well just read 30 psi at any time 12 VDC was available. Since I
only want about 18 psi, I got tired of that indication. Finding a
spare vacuum gauge in my Instruments Box, I decided to use it to
monitor my brake vacuum tank, which is kept evacuated by the new Super
Pump (I added a dash activity light for that when I installed the
pump). That has already proven to be more useful than I expected --
with the pump and the engine producing about the same vacuum, a slight
vacuum loss will cause the pump to come on unexpectedly, even with the
engine running. I'll have to find that vacuum leak.
With the instrument panel's back side exposed, I decided I might as
well add another indicator I've needed: Since I control the dash A/C
with a thermostat for the compressor clutch, I need to know when the
compressor's running. Many years ago I added a green LED to the face
of the HVAC control panel, but that now resides in the console where
the LED is nearly invisible. So, I paralleled that LED with a new one
on the dash. HVAC control will be a lot more pleasant now that I
don't have to convince HER to stand on her head on the engine hatch to
tell me if the compressor is OFF or ON. :-)
Yandina sent me a replacement C160 combiner for the one that failed
during last summer's "out West" trip. While I very much like
combiners, I've had too many failures: 2 each C100's, and now the
C160 to which I upgraded after the 2nd C100 failure. Ann-Marie's
never told me the results of the tear-downs on them; she just sends me
new ones.
.
'Nuff of my tinkering...
Ken H.
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Ken Henderson
Americus, GA
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Large Wiring Diagrams
76 X-Birchaven
76 X-Palm Beach
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