Today I... "Redux Edition"

[scarebird]

Finished up the refit on the 71, now operational:

[gm muscle]

Wow, Scarebird...beautiful! 

[Jack]

Very nice congrats.

[5th T/A]

Scarebird,

That is one sharp looking car, love the color combination!

[scarebird]

thank you all, it took a bit longer than forecast.

[roadking77]

X what everyone said!

[Casey]

I love that it has a stick, but I'm easy to please like that.

The blue on blue looks surprisingly good too.

[Casey]

Today this happened:


I'm all happy cries.

[5th T/A]

Wow, congratulations Casey!

Major milestone, wishing you much happiness!

[roadking77]

Congrats!

[737driver]

Finished up the refit on the 71, now operational:

Great job on the LeMans! Beautiful color!
Jim

[Casey]

Thanks guys! 

[ryeguy2006a]

Congrats Casey!

[djustice]

Congrats Casey!

On today i ... was a bonehead!  i have started on spring cleaning the exterior of the car, last nigth i polished the rims with mothers mag polish on a drill with a polish-ball attachment , on the last rim the polishball grabbed the polish, rim or the tire, and i lost control that darn ball vent straigth for the valvestem! of course it made a tear in the stem and i can hear air escaping.
This lead to youtube filled nigth with DIY videos on valvestems, early today i went to a automotive supply wharehouse and got 2x valvestems, i for sure was going to mess one attempt up, and i did!
Second attempt vent alot better using the weigth of the car to lower the brakerotor onto the tire close to the bead, and it broke the bead no problem, new valvstem in and a ligth coat of silicone paste on the now broken loose bead and where it rode on the innerbarrel.  i used a rachet strap on the outside of the wheel to aid in closing the bead and filled it up. And it worked, the bead popped back and it now holds air again.
Filled with selfpride i rode straigt down to the local burger joint and got myself the biggest and greasiest burger available with extra bacon.

[roadking77]

Justified Reward!  Makes me hungry!

[roadking77]

...I went to the AACA museum in Hershey PA. Really nice museum, I try to get there at least once or twice a year, but it has been about 3 yrs now since my last visit. They have a permanent collection of Tucker automobiles. They have 5 restored examples, 1 factory display chassis and about 6 or so motors, Preston Tuckers office, blueprints and all kinds of stuff for that car. It really was an interesting vehicle. The special theyre running right now is about the hemi, but it changes every 6 or 8 months. Today was national mustang birthday so I took my wifes mustang up and got free admission, which didnt really make any diff as I have a AACA membership which is free admission as well. Lots of mustangs showed up, mostly new stuff but a couple really nice older ones. I was the ONLY guy there that was wearing a Trans Am sweatshirt, go figure

[Casey]

Thanks everyone!

[roadking77]

2021-04-19_08-19-26 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
2021-04-19_08-19-04 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

Was warm enough(60) for a wash and 'spin' dry.  Got to take the car around the block for about a 40 min ride.

THEN, this happened!!!
2021-04-19_08-18-50 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr
2021-04-19_08-18-41 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr


At least it was the head that broke off the screw. Better than the hole being clapped out. I am pretty sure that I reinforced the opening with a plate when I put these together. Anyone with these pulls knows this is not uncommon. I have babied them since day, never really pulling hard, but maybe a gentle tug to get the door in motion. I will also grab the door top when ever I can to avoid using the straps. Oh well, just part of the fun I suppose.

[roadking77]

On the lighter side,  It looks like the shows and cruises have started opening up in my area. There is a monthly cruise this coming Sunday that a buddy of mine runs. Always look forward to going there. Last week I took my car to the shop (and I think I spied my TATA motor) for an oil change/lube, oil, filter.   
                                                                                                                                                                                          As a 4 year drive report the car seems like it runs better every time I drive it. I dont know if theres any truth to that or I just get happier every time I drive it! 

Update: Car is set up mostly stock. Stock rear drum brakes. Stock front disc brake. Original 400 motor rebuilt with a bit of muscle but not over the top. Still running the original rebuilt carb. All new brake and fuel lines, new brake booster, new fuel tank. RAIII manifolds, Pypes true dual exhaust with violator mufflers. I try to get it out for at least a short romp every weekend, have been on a couple of day trips a couple hours driving each way. Nothing too far or too long, YET. My first run out 4 years ago I had brake problems, turns out one of the fittings was not tight and leaking. I got stranded at a show with the original starter going kaput. I replaced that with a mini starter and knock on wood havent had any problems. The alternator died 2 summers ago, I had warnings but didnt realize what they were. Fortunately it died at my house. New replacement from NAPA, been working and charging fine since. I get an Oil change in the spring, keep it checked during the summer, then a change again in the fall. Also had to replace the original brake light switch. Other than that nothing else I can think of. Car has been great running and enjoyable to drive.

[Casey]

If the hardware for the pull straps only goes through the panel, and not into the door skin, why not use grade 8 nuts and bolts with some flat washers on the back for reinforcement?  Then you should be able to use them without worry.

[roadking77]

A couple of issues with that Casey. One the head for the bolt has to be very flat to fit under the trim cap of the strap. Not too big a deal though. I have a bag of screws we use for standing seam metal roof that worked perfect. Not sure why the head popped off.
Original does just screw into the sheet metal,  but I am 99% sure that I put a reinforced plate to beef it up a bit. I have already thought the process through in my head for my 79. Although the handles are different, the later 79-81 are still succeptable to breaking. I am going to spot weld a nut onto a backer plate, spot weld that to the door and just as you suggested use a bolt that will thread through the nut for support.

[Casey]

I've seen door straps for Miatas have sturdier mounting, and a Miata door probably weighs half of what a F-body door weighs.  Actually I'm fairly sure it is, having owned both.

[FormTA]

Ya, I have collected many doors over the years and all of them have ripped metal where those screws go in. I riveted a thick plate behind thw problem area and then drilled it out and forced the stock screws through it. Seems to be holding well.

[roadking77]

Luke, I def. put a piece of metal behind to reinforce. Thats why I wasnt really worried about them. I never really yanked them but still had a bit of confidence over stock. When I saw it was the head that broke off the screw I was a bit relieved actually. Had to work on the new dishwasher last night, maybe get to the car tonight.

[roadking77]

2021-04-26_08-33-07 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

Put back together. I had completely forgot how I installed these until I tried to take them apart. I thought the head of the screw had broken off. So I grabbed the stud with a pair of pliers and turned and turned and nothing happened. SO, now time to take the door panel off, which I was hoping not to. I installed the pull handles to the door trim panel, not the steel body as I had thought. There is a reinforcing strap that the pancake head screw goes through then through the trim, then it threads into the spring steel. I suppose with driving it backed out enough to loose its purchase on the spring steel. Turned it back into place and all is good.  Took about 15 minutes.

[TATurbo]

Today I...
 Thought I fixed my car.  But I didn't. 
 I've been going through the fuel system to clean up a gasket dressing mishap which gummed things up and maybe triggered P0171, P0174 (Too Lean) codes that recently cropped up.  Today was the day the final parts were to arrive (New fuel injectors)! Woo-Hoo! The Fed-ex guy came around 3.   I logged off work at 5 & by 5:10 I was in the garage to finish the job. Just pop the new injectors in, and check/tighten down the fuel line fittings.  Everything went together perfectly with no leaks. I Fired up the car, adjusted the fuel pressure, and after a couple of minutes, it was warmed up and idling nicely.  Time for a quick drive to check the fuel trims and verify the codes have been banished.   I walked around to close the hood and...The effing serpentine belt is riding one rib off the front of the AC compressor.  Hmm...Well it's a new belt.  Maybe I didn't get it fully set when I threw it on last week?  Popped it back up into the grove, fired up the car...'POP!' it immediately skipped back up out of place.  One rib over the front of the AC Pulley.   

This thing is just messing with me now.  And, it's starting to feel personal!

Tomorrow's another day.  I have a couple of ideas to mess with the belt.  Hopefully, it'll cooperate and get back in line easily. 
Tomorrow I'll get a win...I can feel it!

[roadking77]

That stinks!  Sounds like something out of alignment?  Hopefully its an easy fix.

[ryeguy2006a]

Did the compressor have a bad bearing possibly? Keeping my fingers crossed for you Tom.

[TATurbo]

Thanks guys,
  The Compressor pulley looks and feels fine. It has no play, looks straight, and feels fine / spins freely. But, as you know I did have some unusual 'smacking' noise coming from that area a week or two ago.  That noise stopped and never came back.  I installed a shorter belt today (the tensioner had been a little of out of it's normal range forever.)  The shorter belt didn't move out of place right away, but after a couple hours of driving it did end up one rib off the front of the compressor again. 

I'll leave the Lobby with some positive energy tonight...
 The shorter belt seeming to have helped the most recent problem I did get a nice long drive this evening with the new injectors and cleaned out fuel system.   The P0171, P0174 code issue seems to be resolved!  LTFT's are right around 0 now.  Better than they've ever been. And, the car was running great this evening.

It looks like I had a couple different things going on trigger the lean condition:
1) Use of the wrong gasket dressing on the fuel sending unit gasket lead to the gasket dressing running down inside.  Clogging up the sock and fuel injectors.
2) An inaccurate fuel pressure gauge resulted in a fuel pressure that was too low.  Replacing the cheap JEGS brand FP gauge showed what I thought was around 60PSI was actually closer to 40.   

A contributing factor might've been that I wasn't running the proper size fuel filter in-line.  I was running a 40Mic filter...I believe a 10Mic filter is recommended/required.  I don't know if it would've stopped the injectors from getting clogged up, but i suspect it might've.  As part of going over the system I have installed a 10Mic filter.

[roadking77]

Glad you got it running smooth. Hope the belt thing is a simple fix.

[Casey]

Sounds like maybe the pulleys are out of alignment with each other?

[FormTA]

Today I took the family out on a cruise in the TA. Had a guy in a old Jeep flag me down in the middle of the road. He said I was driving is daughter's favorite car, would I just pull in his driveway so she could see it. I said sure and followed him down the road a ways and they had a long 500' drive but I could hear is daughter freaking out when we pulled in. They were a really cool family and really appreciative we stopped. He said he saw us in town and then again where we met on his road so it was ment to be. They took pictures and ogled over the car. I was pretty impressed that a 15/16 year old girl would even know what it was. He did say she made him watch smokey and the bandit a few days ago.

It was neat interaction.

[b_hill_86]

That’s pretty cool. I took my car for a ride tonight too. Had a person record me on the interstate for the first time which was kinda cool. I get thumbs up here and there. My wife actually gets a kick out of that. I think she finds it cool that (some) other people like the car as much as they do.

[Gene-73]

I drove mine to the gas station a couple days ago for it's first real road test. Didn't even finish parking at the pump and 3 people started asking questions and taking photos. I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle the attention. 

[roadking77]

Thats pretty cool Luke, sounds like something I would get myself into!  Yea, these cars garner a lot of attention. I went to a monthly cruise last weekend, about a 40 minute drive. I saw at least 4 people taking pics along the way, I was flattered and embarrassed at the same time.  Im not really a look at me kinda person BUT when you drive a car with a giant bird on the hood, what do you expect!!!

[Jack]

Mine draws the same attention but I was called "white trash" but again I live near Boston...

[5th T/A]

Back in early 1973 I purchased a brand new white TA with a blue bird. This is the first year the large bird was available as an option. In the first couple of weeks there were several times I was stopped for a red light and people walking across the street stopped dead in their tracks and just stared at the car. As Kerry mentioned it was almost embarrassing.

Unrelated story;
I walk my dog around the neighborhood everyday. For years one of my neighbors had a 69 Firebird convertible and a 66 or 67 GTO hardtop. His daily driver is a late model Challenger, not sure what engine. I have given him the thumbs up when I see him driving any of his cars, but we have never talked. Saturday I am walking the dog and a red 73 TA passes by me, I didn't see the driver, but the plate was "73 TA". Sunday I am walking the dog again, walk by his house. The garage door is open and I see the red TA. His wife is sitting in front of the house, getting some sun and reading. I walk up to her and start asking about the TA. She said it has been under restoration for almost ten years and they just got it back a couple days ago. I start telling her about a friend of mine who owns dozens of old Pontiac muscle cars including three 1970 TA's and a 69 TA convertible. She mentions him by name and said she knows him from their Pontiac club.

It's a small world.

Sorry for rambling on!

[roadking77]

Cool story Larry, I wish I had neighbors like that, mine are just about the exact opposite which is kinda good in a way all in itself!

[Casey]

The Formula got a lot of looks, but so does the Miata.  Actually the Miata gets a lot more attention, especially with the top down.  I have bystanders wave at me all the time, it's kinda nice actually.

[Mumbles]

I received my 2nd dose of the Covid Vaccine yesterday. Feeling like crap today, but I'm happy to have done my part to help make this pandemic a thing of the past. I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to do the same.