Locks and Stuffs - 09/03/2011
The car has no locks, which makes it difficult to really go anywhere and let it out of my sight, since you know people tend to break in and steal things. Time to remedy that! And I also received the y-duct to replace the broken one, so I'll have defrost too!
Just a hole...
Installed! Luckily I found the old tumbler and rod in the trunk of the car, didn't have to cut a new rod and just slapped it right in.
Passenger side door is stripped. It's filthy inside too, all the drains are plugged. I fixed that! My pants were a nice shade of Arizona brown.
The lower door panel was brown before, now it's red! And all of the drains for IT are now cleaned too.
Window guide channel removed to access locks.
Old lock cylinder. It wasn't easy to get that clip off of the cylinder retaining it to the door...
New cylinder with old part! New clip installed too as part of the kit.
All installed and functioning properly! I repaired the loose and broken plastic clips on this door so now you can lock it from inside the car too. I also fixed the door pull, apparently some genius didn't understand how it was supposed to work and drilled excess holes in the door to "fix" it. I mounted it properly to the panel and just need to locate the proper sized sheet metal screws to allow the door panel to be retained to the inner door structure. I did the other door, pictures weren't terribly exciting for it. The driver's door was cleaner though, so it was a small bonus.
I pulled the dash! And left it hanging because I didn't need to completely remove it. I still think the steering wheel is the nicest part on the entire car...
Y duct is installed! It uses these washers that are a pain to remove and install to keep it in place on the upper dash part. Note how the bottom part is 1" away from the heater core. I speculate it was like this to allow heater case removal without removing the defroster ducts.
AC ductwork for the entire car is installed! I don't plan on doing a stereo install for a while, so I don't feel guilty putting this stuff in.
I've made a mess. Between broken duct pieces flying everywhere and removing old nasty window tinting, the car is filthy again. I removed the seat because I was intelligent and put a set of bolts on the console where they promptly all fell under the seat. Gives me a chance to vacuum underneath it and check for build sheets (no such luck). That is work for another day though...
I have found that you can tell a lot about a previous owner by the things they keep in their car. Or namely, what they don't throw away in their car. For instance, this car had a previous owner who collected nickels and pennies, smoked cigarettes with the very ironic "thank you for not smoking" sticker on the ashtray, loved canned peaches, wore plastic bead necklaces like Kenny Chesney and drank a TON of Negra Modelo bottled beer (we're talking 24-pack amounts of bottle caps here). I'd like to think that said previous owner had friends who helped contribute, but I can't help but get this mental picture of someone who weighs very little with a pocket full of change that has a hole driving down the road smoking a cigarette with a Negra Modelo in one hand and a peach on a plastic fork in the other, steering with their knees (naturally) on their way to the mall to buy more necklaces from Claires. I'd say it was just a pipe dream but it wouldn't surprise me if this person truly did exist and is currently driving whatever vehicle they own now doing the same thing...
I can now drive the car places and leave it without feeling guilty! And the ductwork all works properly inside the car too, which if you've ever owned one of these cars you know how rare that is. I have to finish the gauge cluster repairs to get the lights to all function, but once that is done it is time to fix the wipers, get it aligned, and finish stripping the tint off the back window and I'll be ready to drive it places without having to worry that someone is jacking my ride (easily).
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Last updated September 3rd, 2011