The All About My 1980 Pontiac LeMans Station Wagon Thread...

[motorhead]

Last of 'em.

[good2win22]

Them wheels and tires look sick! 

[motorhead]

Them wheels and tires look sick!

Thanks! It is turning out like I had envisioned.

[motorhead]

I finished renotching the frame and the compressor fits like a glove now.  One of my main objectives has been to maintain accessibility to OEM parts in this build what with so many pieces coming from a donor 4th Gen F-body - because who wants to try and service a car with one-off parts while out on a road trip?  Not me. I want to be able to call up any jobber and get bits and pieces with relative ease and little delay.

With this in mind we are using a hybrid system of F-body and G-body AC parts.  The main lines coming off the compressor are factory F-body - these will likely be the main failure point down the road - and are easy to find.  I spliced in the hard lines from a Grand National from the Receiver/Dryer and the Condenser using the F-body connectors.  This allowed me to integrate the 4th Gen Pressure Valve.  Interestingly the Evaporator already had the "blue" Ford hi-flow orifice tube in it - so I kept it as it only had 5000 miles on it and was clean.  Also, I decided to use the OEM style condenser vs. the Spectra replacement since it is rumored to exchange heat better due its size, volume, and fin density.

Mocked up the heater lines, I want to put a mechanical bypass valve in place later on - probably just use a ball valve and brass tees.

I also built some double flare to -6 AN adapter fittings to connect the F-body trans cooler lines to the aftermarket bits.  Nothing to crazy, just some drilling and tapping.

And one header is hung using Stage 8 locking header bolts, I imagine this thing will try and rattle them free.

[motorhead]

Got some more stuff painted, bolted on, and fabricated this weekend.  Wire, cable, hose and tube management is a huge time consumer - the only reward is not having stuff wear through at a later date; call it reliability.  Had a huge issue fitting the DS cat on the header thanks to the G-Force crossmember being in the way (again), granted this is a byproduct of the motor mount adapter plates moving the engine up and the Hooker headers being designed for a set of motor mounts (Hooker's own) that would set the engine lower, and that I modified the aforementioned G-Force crossmember - just another victim of stacking tolerances.  This forced me to build an S-pipe to reorient the cat down to and to the inside (about 1/2" - 3/4"); however, the side benefit is that I found a home for the WBO2 sensor.

I still have to find the parts (and means) to connect the ignition lockout switch from the column.

[nocooler]

looking good....

[motorhead]

Elephant penis intake complete.

[motorhead]

Nothing major to report. 


However, I did get the throttle cable connected last night which allowed me to sit behind the steering wheel making vroom-vroom noises while playing with the throttle and shifting gears (as if I am the only one who does this).  Also, I got the best-worst noise ever when I turned the key on - the fuel pump primed!

All things being equal I might be able to get it to start and run this weekend - but, still need a driveshaft in order to move it.


Back to checking for leaks.

[good2win22]

You're not alone...  Good luck on the start up and shoot some vid when you do crank it

[Be4u]

Damn, this thread has been read over 20k times.

[motorhead]

Damn, this thread has been read over 20k times.

That is mostly me fixing my spelling and grammar.

And there will be videos... we just ordered a GoPro-style camera.

[daveismissing]

You should live stream a garage channel for us to live your evening adventures vicariously

[motorhead]

You should live stream a garage channel for us to live your evening adventures vicariously

You would have loved tonight's episode... it was mostly me crawling around on my hands and knees with the dust pan and wisk cleaning up the last two weeks worth of project fallout.  Scintillating.

[good2win22]

You should live stream a garage channel for us to live your evening adventures vicariously

You would have loved tonight's episode... it was mostly me crawling around on my hands and knees with the dust pan and wisk cleaning up the last two weeks worth of project fallout.  Scintillating.

LOL!  I know how that feels... especially after the father in law has been out in the barn.  He is one messy dude with no care in the world as to what he messes up or leaves behind.

[daveismissing]

Find I don't have the omph after a project to tidy right away. Result?
Took me a couple of  weekends of cleanup to find my tablesaw.
Believe Paul Beal took a photo to show to his wife to prove that HE was indeed quite tidy...