Update on my hi-miler Z project

[VetteMed]

Update: I removed the oil filter housing yet again, since I believe the oil pressure light switch is the cause of my persistent oil leak - I've had difficulty in diagnosing it until I realized it leaks mostly while running, not parked. After unscrewing the oil pressure switch, I held the switch with the threaded nose down, and the electrical terminals up. I filled the electrical terminal connector area with some oil, then used compressed air in the threaded fitting. Sure enough, it caused air and oil to spray through the terminals. Pretty much confirmed the leak. Hopefully that's the last leak for a while.

The AC system is giving me fits. I've got a new compressor/condensor/evaporator/accumulator/orifice tube. I added 3 oz of mineral oil to the evap, 2.5 to the accumulator, 1 to the condenser, and around 3 to the compressor. I evacuated the system down to 29.9mm Hg, then added 36 oz of R12 (the factory spec).

Cooling is nonexistent, the system cycles very rapidly, every 3-4 seconds, the low side gets cold but the evap fins do not get cold and therefore the air does not get cold. I disassembled the system today and found over 8 oz of oil in the evaporator, hardly anything in the other components. WTF is going on??

[VetteMed]

Update:

Engine oil no longer leaking, so it appears that the oil pressure switch was indeed the culprit.

AC system still giving me fits, it took 4 tries to get a correctly built evaporator - either the core was built improperly, or the fittings were metric (94+ is metric, prior to that is SAE). System is now bolted together and evacuated, awaiting charging again.

Replaced both motor mounts yesterday - I had suspected that they were damaged, since I just can't get clearance between the #1 header primary and the steering shaft, no matter what I do. The original mounts were cracked clear through.



In order to access the mounts, I had to remove the headers, and I was reminded of my laziness when I found half of the header bolts finger-tight, and the gasket blown-out at the #8 cylinder.

The rear diff pinion seal leak seemed to slow down, but it still soaking the entire nose of the rear diff, and running down the c-beam bolts. I'm going to re-do it once again, using the proper kent-moore seal driver, and applying loctite in between the repair sleeve and yoke.

[VetteMed]

I figured it was time for an update, since it's been about 6 months since my last one.

Current mileage:191,855

The little mishap involving the fencepost and the rear quarter panel is now behind me, thankfully. During that ordeal, I also had the headlight buckets and CHMSL housing repainted. Still need a total repaint, really, but that's not in the budget for a few years.

I refinished my seats, steering wheel, and shift knob, using SEM prep products and "Classic Coat" leather and vinyl paint. It may not be everyone's taste, but I like gray interior, and was in the mood for something different.






The steering column is out of the car right now, the upper tilt housing was worn, causing the pivot pins to wobble. Hopefully have a new column coming soon.

I've been having a flare-up in my old back problems, and I noticed that the lumbar support in my truck seems to help, so I made it a priority to get the lumbar supports in the 94-96 sport seats functioning. It would have been an easy thing to just pop the whole switch assembly into the console, but one of my favorite parts of the 90-91 interior is that the seat controls are backlit at night, and I didn't want to lose that. Therefore, I had to wire in the controls for the sport seats as a piggy-back to the existing controls, which ended up not being as difficult as I had initially feared.

The lumbar/side bolster controls are essentially independent of the fore/aft/front height/rear height adjustments. I bought a complete sport seat wiring harness off of ebay. I separated out the harness, removing the 6-pin rectangular plugs that connect to the seat motors, and with what I had left, I tapped into the original 90-93 lumbar power connection at the console, and the rest was plug and play into the seat bases. I hid the controls in the center console compartment:



I did a DIY 4-wheel alignment recently, surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I had feared it would be, though the trial-and-error process of adjusting shims for caster and camber was a little tiresome.

Going to need front tires somewhat soon, but I'm going to try to wait until the rear Sumitomos are a little more worn, and replace all four together.

[Blue Flame Restorations]

Being a "I want to build my own car" type of guy, I really like your thread and all of the things that you do to suit yourself.

Congrats and keep going!!

[-=Jeff=-]

I like how you mounted the Lumbar controls cool idea

[sammy]

is the airconditiong working now? like what you have done to your car . my black car has 199521 miles on it .race you to 200000.hehe

[GOLDCYLON]

Originally Posted by -=Jeff=-

I like how you mounted the Lumbar controls cool idea

I have to agree pretty slick mod there Andrew. GC

[mike100]

how much work is it to remove the column? I did some repairs on my last C4 in situ and it wasn't very fun.

[VetteMed]

Originally Posted by mike100

how much work is it to remove the column? I did some repairs on my last C4 in situ and it wasn't very fun.

Not bad, really. There's 2 nuts (13mm) that secure the lower mounting flange to the firewall.
The 2 10mm nuts that secure the accelerator pedal bracket also need to come off.
There is a nut on the coupler between the steering shaft and the column, just below the brake booster in the engine bay. I think that's a 13mm.

There's 2 15mm bolts that secure the column to the underside of the dashboard frame.

Other than that it's just trim and wiring

[VetteMed]

Originally Posted by -=Jeff=-

I like how you mounted the Lumbar controls cool idea

Originally Posted by GOLDCYLON

I have to agree pretty slick mod there Andrew. GC

Thanks guys... that was the only thing holding me back from doing the mod, I wasn't sure where to put the controls.

Hopefully my spine will thank me.