My neglected roadster

[GripFTW]

One of the mods a previous owner chose to do was delete the resonator from the intake crossover pipe. After doing some reading it seems that it does provide some benefits so I occasionally would check around to pick one up on the cheap. I figured I could find just the resonator but since it is riveted to the elbow they usually come as a whole unit. Ended getting pretty good deal on just the intake side and resonator.

Original piece


Hmm. Looks legit to me. The port was plugged with a cork and expertly wrapped in heavy black tape. Bravo.


Replacement part cleaned up and installed. Since I was there I cleaned up other plastic parts with Simple Green.


The other project for tonight was to fix the sagging glovebox door. It was clearly missing some screws, no big deal. Upon an actual inspection of the problem it became clear that a) this door has been repaired before 2) the screws were missing because the pieces the screw into had broken off and iii) since the stupid thing is busted I have nothing to lose trying to fix it before starting a hunt for a replacement.

Starting by cleaning up with more Simple Green, then the areas I planned to epoxy with Goof Off followed by an alcohol wipe down. Mixed up some 3 year old JB Weld and spread it on, screwed in the one good screw, and clamped the front edge. Wish me luck.

[GripFTW]

Got some garage time yesterday and decided to tackle another long ignored problem. My passenger window has always been very hard to roll up or down. My son complains about it every time he goes for a ride. I picked up a kit of new Delrin rollers from RestoRides a few months ago since all of the signs pointed there.

Took off the door cards to find that the lower cards had torn from the screws in some spots and the mounts in the upper had cracked completely. Ugh, we'll set that aside for now.


Once the glass was removed from the door this was what was left of the roller. The new Delrin piece is in the upper right of the picture.


I also removed the track and cleaned out all of the crusty and sticky grease that remained and lubed the window cables as well. It is still pretty stiff but much smoother and easier. Cleaned out the inside of the door of small leaves, pieces of disintegrated window roller and a flyer for a South FL gentleman's club. Wonder if they're still in business and would honor the free drink coupon.

Now, back to the door cards. I would like to do up some custom cards at some point in the future, but not today. I picked up some plastic spacers in the fastener section at Home Depot to replace the broken posts pictured below.


I ground down the post then pulled the vinyl back and drilled a hole so I could screw the post to the top part of the card with flat head screws. Once the posts were fixed I used contact cement to reattach the vinyl to cover the screws. I used washers to reattach the cards to the top section where they were torn. Not perfect, you can feel the screw edges very slightly through the vinyl if you try to find them.


My JB Welded glove box was clamped too tight. In order to get it to latch the front edge that I epoxied has cracked. So it looks better and doesn't rattle like it did but I'm afraid to put anything in it or open it for fear that it will all fall apart. Time to start looking for one in decent shape.

[Big Red]

I like whats happening here. least it looks like you have a better starting point than my na. Verry keen to see what happens next!

[GripFTW]

I like whats happening here. least it looks like you have a better starting point than my na. Verry keen to see what happens next!

Thanks Gareth. I am too.

I have some more parts in my stash yet to come.

[GripFTW]

I suspect that throughout its life the top was rarely up on this car. While I salute the prior owners for that. Much of the interior of the car when i got it was sun bleached, cracked and worn. One of the interior parts that has bugged me for quite a while is the HVAC control panel.

Old, cracked and crusty


I picked up a very nice replacement until a long while ago and it's been safely stored in the trunk of the car. Finally took some time tonight to get it swapped in. It looks really nice and was a pretty easy job.

Nice and clean.



While I was pulling the old unit the light in the passenger footwell that never worked started to turn on and off depending on how I was pushing/pulling on the radio surround and HVAC panel.

Hmm, evidently both lights work


As I investigated more I found this bundle of wire.


So what we have here is about 5 feet (no really, 5 freaking feet!) of wire. Starting at the plug we have one end of wire partially soldered to the red wire which cannot fit back in the plug. At the other end the wire is neatly attached to the screw on the back of the switch. In the middle the wire has been cut and the whole bundle shoved up into the dashboard. Unfortunately I cracked the bulb while I was getting the contacts cleaned. I'll see if I can find a replacement tomorrow and get it back in.


So, reaching out for some help here. I found a loose ground wire that is attached to the inner metal structure on the right side of the passenger footwell. I am guessing it is for grounding the stereo but there is a separate ground in the stereo wiring harness that attaches toward the center of the metal structure. Any thoughts? Yeah, yeah. Do a search noob.

[Big Red]

With the extra ground wire.... I'm assuming its not connected to anything, it was most likely the stock radio's ground wire & the previous owner most likely would have run or picked up another ground within the harness.

[GripFTW]

Awesome, thank you. That is what I thought but you never know what you'll find buried in this thing!

[sk4775]

Nice cork sport intake lol, and the NB wheels look great!

Damn, those PO mods/"fixes" are intense..

Maybe the ground was for a subwoofer? haha

[Big Red]

Awesome, thank you. That is what I thought but you never know what you'll find buried in this thing!

Both my Na6's have had very dark shady pasts..... I have found some amazing things done as far as wiring & DIY fixes.

[GripFTW]

Lol. To be fair, if I went back and looked at cars that I owned when I was younger/didn't care I am sure I'd find some head scratchers too.

[GripFTW]

In the middle of a very frustrating front brake job. Wrong pads. Missing hardware. Spent too long getting one of the old rotors unstuck from the hub. This sucks. [/bitchin]

Found a really helpful video to get the left rotor off. The threaded hole that you can use to free a stuck rotor was completely stripped. Beat on it with progressively larger hammers...

YouTube to the rescue.


Cheesy intro but worked like a charm.

Hopefully I can get this buttoned up tomorrow.

[maharaj]

So fresh and so clean! Nice!

[GripFTW]

Thanks. It is getting there... Slowly.

[GripFTW]

Another day and another project down. With a little extra help I finished up the brakes.

My "assistant" bolting on the caliper bracket.


Reassembled the passenger side without any issues. But the upper bolt on the drivers side caliper would not thread in straight for anything. Don't have any metric taps in that size so had I used a Dremel to DIY one of the old bolts to chase the threads.



And with that, the car is back on the ground and ready to roll for the long weekend.

Up next? Track down an annoying oil leak. 2 drops on the ground every time I park it. I know, don't worry about it until it stops leaking... But it's been bugging me for a while. It seems to be coming from the back of the head so a replacement cas o-ring is probably in the cards even though I did that when I did the timing belt 2 years ago. Did the valve cover gasket at the same time too so I don't think that is the problem.

[GripFTW]

Been a while since I've had any updates. Here's a substantial one.

The lumpy passenger fender and rough front bumper cover have been on the to-do list since I bout the car. I've had replacement parts from a local guy who parted his car out that have sat uninstalled because every time I look at pulling the bumper I realize I need to do some drastic surgery to get it off. The studs at either corner were completely rusted to the nut and had stripped. The ones inside the fender were similarly fused.

OK, with the liberal use of PB Blaster, a grinder, blood and some curse words the disassembly is complete.


Once the fenders came off and spewed out more than a few years worth of dirt and leaves I was rewarded by finding the diagnostic port cover. For some reason this made my day at the time. It was like finding ten bucks in your pocket that you had completely forgotten about.

Added some lightness since I was in there.


Reassembly was pretty much the reverse except the passenger fender mounting point at the front needed to be massaged back into position. I also put on the clear marker lights I've had for nearly 2 years thanks to YellowYata.


Back on the ground and in need of a wash.


So, the pile of parts in the garage is starting to dwindle. I need to come up with a solution for my top. Fix the cracked rear window or replace the top altogether. Decisions, decisions...