by sportriderok » Tue Jun 04, 2013 10:41 am
I've been making a lot of progress on the Vega lately. Got the engine buttoned up and all the mounts in and tight. Installed the driveshaft and thrust arm. I was ready to put the tank in when my friend noticed the fuel supply line was completely plugged with garbage, so after a few cans of carb cleaner blown through the lines, all the black goop is gone. I replaced all the rubber fuel lines and mounted the tank, just to find the wiring to the sender has been munched on by a rodent of some kind. So that leaves me with more wiring work. The dash renovation is done, except, you guessed it, wiring repair. Luckily it is just one dash bulb socket, but I'm inspecting all of the wiring while it is out. I got my new windshield a few days ago, so I removed the old broken one and cleaned up the old adhiesive. My channel is perfect. I'm ready to paint the interior metal to match the panels I dyed over the winter, and with the windshield out, it will be really easy. I also struck gold at the local pick and pull, they had a 74 Vega GT someone drug in out of a field, and the dash pad in it was perfect! For $15.00, you can't beat it!
Of course with the progress comes a new challenge. The 2.5 will not clear the Vega AC box. The carb and intake are touching it, and the air cleaner won't fit on it at all. With as rough as the 2.5 runs, I figure this won't work at all. So I'm digging though all my stuff trying to find the Monza AC setup I saved off the Blue car I parted out. I've found the thread here on changing over to the Vega, and it sounds within my scope of skill. But I am disappointed. I put a lot of work into restoring the Vega AC setup off of the Black GT, and I did a good job of reinstalling it in the wagon. I'm hoping to be able to do this without pulling the engine again. I hate undoing progress. Needless to say I missed my first fire goal.
On the bright side, I cleaned the floors of the wagon with metal prep last night, and once I get it undercoated, I can finally move it to my shop at my house. Currently the Vega is in my old shop about 40 miles away, because it has a lift. With the bottom side of the car about done, I can have it at home where I can work on it without losing the drive time. I'm still sorting through the engine wiring harness, repairing bad cuts and replacing anything that looks suspicious. It would have been easier to buy a new harness and redo the whole car at this point.
Still trying to get my pictures off the phone and camera and loaded here. Maybe someday...