BC

Stuck the whole fam in the MDX to go down to Poway today and strip more out and start with the wire brushes.... Chris says he's bailing the shop because he's not feeling well.... So no work tonight.

Thats okay, I got plenty to do on the 89.... Or maybe take a night off and watch our Firefly DVDs.

Thanks for the offer Steve. I may just take you up on your offer when there is stage where many hands will be usefull. Like when I put the other doors on after paint.

BC

Ah, but the spagetti as almost gone. Its now in the trunk of the "rental" I've driven since this "daily driver" went oily in September.

BC

Its daunting only when you don't go all the way. It seems to make so much more sense to me when I go down to the nubs and start over. You know whats daunting to me? When people can take SOME of the wiring apart, and not all of it. I did that on the 89 and that seems WAY more difficult. This is just strip and renew.


Well, there's a bit of a history here as I can see it in the records, and physical car.

Silver originally, non-S VERY early 78. As in 10th or around there produced. American model though. Very early in its life it had a HORRIBLE red paint job put on with S spoilerage DRILLED into the aluminum and steel with not a hint of prep. Rust on all the holes. I'll put up another pic:

Its big buut I need the resolution for my point.


See, that silver on t he door handle and on the rub strip area? The red peels off like a sticker.

NO prep, barely a good primer/paint relationship. And very little masking.

Get this: The wheel wells WERE black. I'm still hacking at them, but essentially, they had a heavy layer of Red dirt, clay-like -(what part of TX has that? Panhandle?) and THEY PAINTED UNDERBODY OVER THE DIRT.

You can just strape it off with your nails.

I think this car was METICULOUSLY taken care of until this paint job and then people just didn't care.

Who are we fighting with when we say "Damn SOB PO"? We are fighting with the middle owners. Not the new owners, and not the afficienados.

BC

Those are some strippers. I was chassing some stuff up front to figure out pathways and label some stuff. I couldn't find out how the brake lights are triggered of all things, and the WSMs are not helping. No Brake light switch like on the 89 and every other car since 1950. The crab snippers are in my pocket for those pics.

PorKen

Brendan,

If you didn't figure it out already, the brake lights are triggered by twin pressure switches on the master cylinder.

BC

I was just emailing you about the headlights.

No, I didn't read that, but I did suspect it. I'm dewiring that whole area except for the brake fluid level. I try and mount a brake light switch I guess, like the rest of the world, on the pedal.

I thought those were just for, you know, pressure info, for the dummy system, which, was you can see, was chucked early on.

Jadz928

That project looks effin' scary.

I've wondered Brendan... how did this car go from a daily driver to a custom wired, aftermarket fuel managment project?

JKelly

A few small bombs would have been just as effective.

BC

Trust me. This isn't for fun like the 89. This is for a daily driver that is dead nuts reliable. I'd still be driving it if it didn't get all pissy in La Jolla on September 8th. 8 quarts out the front main in about 20 seconds. That was only after I had obviously driven the car for 10 miles with little or no oil in it.... See - the 8 quarts were from NEW oil I was pooring in. So that engine was toast.

Its all just down hill from there. Free S Brakes from BCDAVIS, some nice carpet my wife got from Joanne's fabric, and Summit racing has an 18 channel loom and fuse box for under 300 bucks.

All this dirt and the fact that the CIS was not my best friend, led to this.

heinrich

holy guacamole that is ugly

BC

I'll clean it up with a wire brush and take more pics.

goliver

I admire your spirit Brendan. Rock on!!

Regards,

Jadz928

I admire his spirit too. He's more of a scientist it seems....

Jim_H

I think I saw this Shark on e-bay, it read "like new inside and out".

BC

Nice memory James, but alas, it was a "saturday night special" and was clearly disassembled and horrible Paint.

David Loyde actually trailered it for me and got it redy to pick up for shipping. I spelled his name wrong.