I've never in my life used sealer on a front pump gasket. I try to keep sealer as far away from an automatic transmission as possible.
1974 Plymouth Valiant Scamp - Restoration is a strong word
- Thread starter DigitalRelay
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DigitalRelay
Well-Known Member
It looks like I’ll be rebuilding this garbage.
Well that sure sucks.
DigitalRelay
Well-Known Member
Yeah, it does, but not totally unexpected either. I may do the rebuild on my own, but I'm leaning towards taking it in somewhere. I assume a transmission shop can bench test and assure there are no leaks without having to put it in the car. Oh well. At least the transmission is fairly clean, and I feel pretty good that I know I can pull it out in less than a couple hours when I need to. But I'm done for this weekend. It's football, adult beverages and maybe some simracing for the rest of the day.
DigitalRelay
Well-Known Member
Ammeter? We don’t need no stinking ammeter!
DigitalRelay
Well-Known Member
I dropped off the transmission Tuesday with a guy who was recommended by several people. He expects to be done before next weekend.
My license plate arrived. I was surprised to discover that Arizona Historic Vehicle plates are made of actual Arizona copper.
While waiting on the transmission, I decided to replace the ammeter with a voltmeter, and add a cheap, small tachometer.
I pulled the ammeter out and installed the new voltmeter after removing it from its housing. I had to clearance the mounting holes in the instrument panel to get it lined up. It looked good once back together, but there was too much light around the voltmeter.
I pulled it all apart, removed the faceplate of the voltmeter, and the faceplate of the ammeter. I had to drill small holes in the ammeter faceplate, then put that behind the voltmeter faceplate and put it all back together.
I'm pretty happy with it. Although it's a little tight, from the driver position, you can still see every gauge. With the lights on, the tach is way brighter than the other gauges. We'll see if that bothers me. Maybe I can do something to filter that light.
Here's one shot that shows how I mounted the tachometer.
I didn't love the idea of drilling holes, but I figured that even if I want to return things to stock, the holes are hard to see, and the housing is in need of refinishing anyway.
My license plate arrived. I was surprised to discover that Arizona Historic Vehicle plates are made of actual Arizona copper.
While waiting on the transmission, I decided to replace the ammeter with a voltmeter, and add a cheap, small tachometer.
I pulled the ammeter out and installed the new voltmeter after removing it from its housing. I had to clearance the mounting holes in the instrument panel to get it lined up. It looked good once back together, but there was too much light around the voltmeter.
I pulled it all apart, removed the faceplate of the voltmeter, and the faceplate of the ammeter. I had to drill small holes in the ammeter faceplate, then put that behind the voltmeter faceplate and put it all back together.
I'm pretty happy with it. Although it's a little tight, from the driver position, you can still see every gauge. With the lights on, the tach is way brighter than the other gauges. We'll see if that bothers me. Maybe I can do something to filter that light.
Here's one shot that shows how I mounted the tachometer.
I didn't love the idea of drilling holes, but I figured that even if I want to return things to stock, the holes are hard to see, and the housing is in need of refinishing anyway.
DigitalRelay
Well-Known Member
The transmission rebuild finally finished a few days ago. I got it and a new torque converter reinstalled Thursday night, and took it for a 60 minute drive yesterday. All good!
Durning the downtime, I decided to paint the grille black. I know it’s not “correct”, but it was already faded and I figured the worst case scenario was painting it twice. I dig it like this.
I pulled out of the garage this morning, and it was running rough. So grabbed my timing light and vacuum gauge. When I went to put the timing light in, I got shocked all the way up to my elbow. I shut the engine down and rechecked all the spark plug wires. Some were not tight. After that, I set timing with the light, and idle mixture by vacuum. It sounded much better.
Them my daughter and I took a 25 minute drove to a car show. The car ran better than ever before.
Here’s my favorite car at the show…
I’m going to install heater hoses and the heater control valve today. Just waiting on clamps. I have not needed heat in the AZ weather, but that’s about to change.
Durning the downtime, I decided to paint the grille black. I know it’s not “correct”, but it was already faded and I figured the worst case scenario was painting it twice. I dig it like this.
I pulled out of the garage this morning, and it was running rough. So grabbed my timing light and vacuum gauge. When I went to put the timing light in, I got shocked all the way up to my elbow. I shut the engine down and rechecked all the spark plug wires. Some were not tight. After that, I set timing with the light, and idle mixture by vacuum. It sounded much better.
Them my daughter and I took a 25 minute drove to a car show. The car ran better than ever before.
Here’s my favorite car at the show…
I’m going to install heater hoses and the heater control valve today. Just waiting on clamps. I have not needed heat in the AZ weather, but that’s about to change.
Have you checked the heater core yet to see if it's leaking? Might be why it is disconnected.
DigitalRelay
Well-Known Member
I have not, but the old heater control valve was falling apart, which leads me to think that’s why the heater was bypassed. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.
mygasser
Well-Known Member
connect a garden hose to one bulkhead fitting and put your thumb over the other once water starts to come out. have someone in the car to look for the warerfall, lol.
neil.
neil.
DigitalRelay
Well-Known Member
Hearer hoses and control valve are installed and there do not seem to be any leaks.
I’m not getting what I would call hot air in the cabin. The heater hoses both feel hot at the heater core. I played around with the some of the vacuum actuators, which are slow and not moving all the way. I also had to replace one of the vacuum lines that go to the engine bay because it snapped. That was fun. I also still need to verify that the two vacuum lines in the engine bay aren’t swapped.
Oh, I also got a trunk lock and key.
I’m not getting what I would call hot air in the cabin. The heater hoses both feel hot at the heater core. I played around with the some of the vacuum actuators, which are slow and not moving all the way. I also had to replace one of the vacuum lines that go to the engine bay because it snapped. That was fun. I also still need to verify that the two vacuum lines in the engine bay aren’t swapped.
Oh, I also got a trunk lock and key.
DigitalRelay
Well-Known Member
Quick update… I swapped the vacuum lines in the engine bay. Engine vacuum at the canister, and the heater control valve. Everything now seems to work exactly as it is supposed to. Pretty neat!
DigitalRelay
Well-Known Member
After adjusting the kick down linkage, I went for a casual drive this morning. A couple of times, the throttle pedal stuck open. I was able to unstick it by lifting the pedal with my foot. When I got home, I took a close look and it seemed like at part throttle, the kick down linkage was barely scraping my license plate heat shield. It was a quick fix with a precision file, but in case anyone following this thread and that mod tries it, make sure you have clearance.
mygasser
Well-Known Member
i had that after installing one of those carb insulation stacks, the ones where there's 5-6 ally plates with gaskets in between each. it was scary as **** as it only happened at full throttle, lol.
neil.
neil.
DigitalRelay
Well-Known Member
After reading some threads about "hidden bluetooth stereo", I pulled the trigger on some very budget friendly gear.
Amazon.com Bluetooth power amp was $32 with coupon.
Amazon.com (2) 3.5" Pyle spears were $22 Amazon Warehouse deal.
I used the original 4x10 speaker as a template to create a mount out of some press board I had laying around.
I mocked up the amp and speakers. Not super impressive sound quality of volume, but I expected that.
After some less-than-elegant cutting and drilling of the new mount, and slight carving up my hands getting it installed under the dash...
To test it out, I sat the amp on the floor and ran temp power to it. Plan A going forward is to mount the amp inside my AM radio, hopefully I can figure out how to use the original volume control to control the new amp. That may not be necessary though, as I can still control volume from my phone. If I can't make the amp work inside the radio, I'll hide in the glove box, or under the front seat.
It's definitely not the greatest sounding system in the world, but the convenience of bluetooth that turns on with the car and doesn't need charging or cables is what I was after.
Amazon.com Bluetooth power amp was $32 with coupon.
Amazon.com (2) 3.5" Pyle spears were $22 Amazon Warehouse deal.
I used the original 4x10 speaker as a template to create a mount out of some press board I had laying around.
I mocked up the amp and speakers. Not super impressive sound quality of volume, but I expected that.
After some less-than-elegant cutting and drilling of the new mount, and slight carving up my hands getting it installed under the dash...
To test it out, I sat the amp on the floor and ran temp power to it. Plan A going forward is to mount the amp inside my AM radio, hopefully I can figure out how to use the original volume control to control the new amp. That may not be necessary though, as I can still control volume from my phone. If I can't make the amp work inside the radio, I'll hide in the glove box, or under the front seat.
It's definitely not the greatest sounding system in the world, but the convenience of bluetooth that turns on with the car and doesn't need charging or cables is what I was after.
DigitalRelay
Well-Known Member
After taking the old radio apart, I couldn’t see a way to keep the stock look while making room for the Bluetooth amp, so I put the old non-working radio back together and installed the amp in the glove box. It’s hidden, but very accessible.
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