Last week I decided to get a slow leak in my right rear tire fixed. It had been leaking since I bought the car and every three to four days I had to put air in it. Corvettes do not come with a spare, they use runflat tires which allow you to drive at legal speeds for up to 50 miles with a completely flat tire. I read a few things on Goodyears site about needing specialized training and equipment to work on these tires, there was also vague reference to the repairs being done by Goodyear for free.
The first Goodyear I went to, they told me that runflat tires were not repairable
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Plate
Saturday Matty and I went to a local car show, it was the first time out with the Corvette and my new plates.
Normally I am not a big person on personalized plates but when my plates came as ANN593 they had a personalized look to them. The problem being the name ANN. I spoke with someone at the DMV and they explained they would not change them for me, so I decided to get a personalized plate.
The DMV required that I explain the meaning in 70 characters or less......
Normally I am not a big person on personalized plates but when my plates came as ANN593 they had a personalized look to them. The problem being the name ANN. I spoke with someone at the DMV and they explained they would not change them for me, so I decided to get a personalized plate.
The DMV required that I explain the meaning in 70 characters or less......
Saturday, January 1, 2011
New Years Resolution
My new years resolution this year was to get a brand new corvette. The one I bought is a year old, oh well I never was good at following through with new years resolutions....
Monday, December 6, 2010
Truck Seats Pt 9
I hit the local u-pull this weekend, they had 3 88-98's and over 20 f-150's in the same year range. Needless to say the OBS's were pretty picked over. I found some lighting in one of them that I had been wanting to get. The interior and under hood accessory lighting.
Because of how it is integrated into the cab harness I cut off the sockets and made my own harness that lights the foot wells, ashtray, and glove box.
I also drove 175 miles to look at this 91 Stepside 82k mile "creampuff" that was for sale at a dealership for 4599.00.
The add had numerous pics and I was excited at the prospect of finding a bone stock, fully loaded, low mile OBS I could use as a daily driver so I could tear mine apart.
Once I got close to it red flags went up with a really bad Earl Scheib type paint job that was flaking off everywhere. That was just the start of a wonderful test drive which included the worn out front end taking the truck where ever it wanted along with the hood deciding to release on its own and the glove box door falling off into my Tania's lap. This was going to be a bit more work than I wanted for Matty's first car.
When we got back I tried to close the hood and the passenger side headlight fell out. The sales dude then promptly says "that's why we have it marked down to 3999.00". I left my number with an offer of 3k including tax and by the time I got home the add was removed from CL.
Because of how it is integrated into the cab harness I cut off the sockets and made my own harness that lights the foot wells, ashtray, and glove box.
I also drove 175 miles to look at this 91 Stepside 82k mile "creampuff" that was for sale at a dealership for 4599.00.
The add had numerous pics and I was excited at the prospect of finding a bone stock, fully loaded, low mile OBS I could use as a daily driver so I could tear mine apart.
Once I got close to it red flags went up with a really bad Earl Scheib type paint job that was flaking off everywhere. That was just the start of a wonderful test drive which included the worn out front end taking the truck where ever it wanted along with the hood deciding to release on its own and the glove box door falling off into my Tania's lap. This was going to be a bit more work than I wanted for Matty's first car.
When we got back I tried to close the hood and the passenger side headlight fell out. The sales dude then promptly says "that's why we have it marked down to 3999.00". I left my number with an offer of 3k including tax and by the time I got home the add was removed from CL.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Truck Lights
Today I put in some TYC lights and DDM HID's. I had quite a bit of trouble getting the passenger side light to fit correctly. Many of the pictures I see after people have replaced their lights show them sitting at angles in relationship to the opening in the grille, now I know why. After I modified the headlight bucket and made a spacer for the upper inboard mount it placed the headlight parallel to the grille opening. For some reason the factory buckets have a spacer molded into the plastic that does not exist on the buckets that came with the TYC lights.
The DDM HID's are very impressive for the cost, they took less than 10 minutes to hook up and 30 minutes for me to figure out I needed to plug the headlight connector into them backwards to make them work.
The amount of light they put out is pretty amazing. With all the lighting laws they have in this area of Arizona these will be great on all the streets that have no street lights.
The DDM HID's are very impressive for the cost, they took less than 10 minutes to hook up and 30 minutes for me to figure out I needed to plug the headlight connector into them backwards to make them work.
The amount of light they put out is pretty amazing. With all the lighting laws they have in this area of Arizona these will be great on all the streets that have no street lights.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Truck Seats Pt 8
This weekend I had a bit more luck at the 3 acre pick and pull, in the form of a 2000 Suburban. When I got there the professional junkyarders were in the process of destroying the interior to get the door locks and window motors. I did manage to get the overhead console and Temp/Compass mirror.
Unfortunately the yard itself cut off the front clip to pull the motor and the temp probe and harness were gone.
The console is in very good shape but once I got it home I notice that someone had disassembled the map light switches internally.
I decided today to mess with the passenger side mirror, it came off with a large screw driver and prying against the pivot point in the center of the mirror. Once it was off I found one of the pivot balls on the adjustment screw was broken off. Being a Sunday afternoon buying the part was out of the question and since it was already broken me trying anything to fix it would be no loss if I failed.
First I drilled out the center of the tiny pivot ball and the center of the screw itself with a #40 drill.
After it was drilled I filled the holes with epoxy and screwed in a wall hook to hold them together.
I cut off the end of the hook and put the everything back together, the mirror works fine and is probably stronger than it was new.
I test wired up the rear-view mirror and the compass appears to work correctly. Tonight I am ordering the temp probe and connector, tomorrow I will run the wiring and put the mirror in.
Unfortunately the yard itself cut off the front clip to pull the motor and the temp probe and harness were gone.
I decided today to mess with the passenger side mirror, it came off with a large screw driver and prying against the pivot point in the center of the mirror. Once it was off I found one of the pivot balls on the adjustment screw was broken off. Being a Sunday afternoon buying the part was out of the question and since it was already broken me trying anything to fix it would be no loss if I failed.
First I drilled out the center of the tiny pivot ball and the center of the screw itself with a #40 drill.
I cut off the end of the hook and put the everything back together, the mirror works fine and is probably stronger than it was new.
I test wired up the rear-view mirror and the compass appears to work correctly. Tonight I am ordering the temp probe and connector, tomorrow I will run the wiring and put the mirror in.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Truck Seats Pt 7
This weekend I got the doors on the truck gutted and applied some more Peel N Seal inside.
Transferring everything from the 97 doors was fairly simple. I was surprised by how different the doors actually were. Had I tried to put the 93 panels in 97 doors it would have been much more of a problem due to the indentation at the top of the door that housed a grab handle on the older trucks.
I took the Delco speakers and cut the centers out to use as retaining rings to hold my Pro Series Bostons in the door. The cutouts were too big in diameter to screw the speakers into the panel.
Before I installed the new door panels I had some body panel mylar tape that I cut into .5" strips and stuck around the edge of the door where the door panel comes into contact. I hate the squeaking sound that plastic panels make when they rub against something.
The wire hookup went well and the difference between this and the work truck interior is night and day. I am still debating on the dash and what I am going to do, my next plans are for the carputer and that will dictate what I decide on the dash. I would like to put a touch screen where the stock radio control panel was. I currently have a wide screen GPS there and like its location and usability.
The last thing I need to figure out with the doors is the passenger side mirror, its not connected along its horizontal axis and basically flopping around. I've never messed with power mirrors and have no idea how it comes apart.
Transferring everything from the 97 doors was fairly simple. I was surprised by how different the doors actually were. Had I tried to put the 93 panels in 97 doors it would have been much more of a problem due to the indentation at the top of the door that housed a grab handle on the older trucks.
I took the Delco speakers and cut the centers out to use as retaining rings to hold my Pro Series Bostons in the door. The cutouts were too big in diameter to screw the speakers into the panel.
Before I installed the new door panels I had some body panel mylar tape that I cut into .5" strips and stuck around the edge of the door where the door panel comes into contact. I hate the squeaking sound that plastic panels make when they rub against something.
The wire hookup went well and the difference between this and the work truck interior is night and day. I am still debating on the dash and what I am going to do, my next plans are for the carputer and that will dictate what I decide on the dash. I would like to put a touch screen where the stock radio control panel was. I currently have a wide screen GPS there and like its location and usability.
The last thing I need to figure out with the doors is the passenger side mirror, its not connected along its horizontal axis and basically flopping around. I've never messed with power mirrors and have no idea how it comes apart.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Truck Seats Pt 6
While it would be really cool to try and adapt this as my new gauge cluster, I wasn't able to convince my wife it would be.
Her car like every other GM plastic interior had some creaks and rattles I worked on this weekend, one was the cluster itself. The rattles have gotten much worse since the dealership replaced the HUD, when I tore into it I found a few screws that were loose but the main rattle still existed.
The culprit was the lower left corner of the dash which has no supporting structure, I fabbed up a small bracket tying it to structure just above the emergency brake. This appears to have eliminated all the dash rattles.
On the truck I spent most of the weekend working on the harness for the doors. It was cut in five places when I bought the doors and needed the seat, airbag and courtesy light wiring removed. I spent a few hours trying to find wiring diagrams for a 97 with no luck until went to Alldata's website and found the "Try the demo" vehicle was a 98 chevy truck. I was able to download all the wiring diagrams for the harness and doors.
After a little testing with the fluke I found my truck has the needed wiring from the fuse box to the "courtesy center" so the only thing I have left is to get some small connector ends. The harness I have is from a 97 and uses one plug, the 93 courtesy center has all singles.
I was able to hook up some jumper leads and test the door locks, windows and mirrors. Everything worked but the window control on the passenger door. A couple shots of contact cleaner into the switch and it started working fine.
Next weekend I plan to start moving everything over to my truck.
Her car like every other GM plastic interior had some creaks and rattles I worked on this weekend, one was the cluster itself. The rattles have gotten much worse since the dealership replaced the HUD, when I tore into it I found a few screws that were loose but the main rattle still existed.
The culprit was the lower left corner of the dash which has no supporting structure, I fabbed up a small bracket tying it to structure just above the emergency brake. This appears to have eliminated all the dash rattles.
On the truck I spent most of the weekend working on the harness for the doors. It was cut in five places when I bought the doors and needed the seat, airbag and courtesy light wiring removed. I spent a few hours trying to find wiring diagrams for a 97 with no luck until went to Alldata's website and found the "Try the demo" vehicle was a 98 chevy truck. I was able to download all the wiring diagrams for the harness and doors.
After a little testing with the fluke I found my truck has the needed wiring from the fuse box to the "courtesy center" so the only thing I have left is to get some small connector ends. The harness I have is from a 97 and uses one plug, the 93 courtesy center has all singles.
I was able to hook up some jumper leads and test the door locks, windows and mirrors. Everything worked but the window control on the passenger door. A couple shots of contact cleaner into the switch and it started working fine.
Next weekend I plan to start moving everything over to my truck.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Truck Seats Pt 5
I was in a golf tournament Saturday and I did not have a lot of time to work on the truck, so I decided I would try and tackle the seat belts.
I got some belts from a 97 extended cab two weeks ago when I bought the doors. The problem is extended cabs used quite a bit different seat belts than the standard cabs. They mounted in much taller pods next to the "B" pillar so they would not be in the way when people tried to get in the back.
My options were to wait until I could find some grey ones for my truck or move the extended cab belt webs into my retractors. After a good soak in some oxyclean the webbing looked nearly new.
The hardest part of this was having the right twists in the right spots on the belts and putting all the retractor mechanisms back together correctly.
The ends of the retractor reels are staked, they were fairly easy to get apart and a little harder to restake.
This reel on the passenger side has a splined shaft which drives a mechanism which appears to lock the reel once it is extended to a certain point, I am no expert on this sort of thing but it appears to me that it is designed to allow the use of a car seat on the passenger side.
The finished belts look much better with the grey seats, Matty helped me paint the retractor covers.
I got some belts from a 97 extended cab two weeks ago when I bought the doors. The problem is extended cabs used quite a bit different seat belts than the standard cabs. They mounted in much taller pods next to the "B" pillar so they would not be in the way when people tried to get in the back.
My options were to wait until I could find some grey ones for my truck or move the extended cab belt webs into my retractors. After a good soak in some oxyclean the webbing looked nearly new.
The hardest part of this was having the right twists in the right spots on the belts and putting all the retractor mechanisms back together correctly.
The ends of the retractor reels are staked, they were fairly easy to get apart and a little harder to restake.
This reel on the passenger side has a splined shaft which drives a mechanism which appears to lock the reel once it is extended to a certain point, I am no expert on this sort of thing but it appears to me that it is designed to allow the use of a car seat on the passenger side.
The finished belts look much better with the grey seats, Matty helped me paint the retractor covers.
I also got the "A" pillar covers, kick panels, and the close out panels aft of the seat belts painted.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Truck Seats Pt 4
My ACC Carpet from stockinteriors came in Wednesday, I purchased their base carpet with a mass back upgrade. I think the shorter nap carpet will be easier to keep clean than the plush.
Saturday I finished the peel & stick in the footwells, and put in the new carpet. The installation was painless, the molded backing made placing the carpet in the correct spot very easy.
The only complaint I had over the carpet was the amount of oil or oil residue that came off of the mass backing.
A few months ago I found a tool at Lowes that was very similar to a cutter Makita sold years ago only at 5x the price. It was a Skill Powercutter and for projects like this it works awesome, they can be bought for under 30 dollars and cut through carpet like butter. They are also great for cutting those annoying blister packages.
Today I got the items I needed for the next part of my project from a forum member. Some loaded doors with power windows, locks and mirrors off a 97, along with some of the seat belts and trim.
Next weekend I plan to go through the harness for the doors and start moving everything into the passenger door.
Saturday I finished the peel & stick in the footwells, and put in the new carpet. The installation was painless, the molded backing made placing the carpet in the correct spot very easy.
The only complaint I had over the carpet was the amount of oil or oil residue that came off of the mass backing.
A few months ago I found a tool at Lowes that was very similar to a cutter Makita sold years ago only at 5x the price. It was a Skill Powercutter and for projects like this it works awesome, they can be bought for under 30 dollars and cut through carpet like butter. They are also great for cutting those annoying blister packages.
Today I got the items I needed for the next part of my project from a forum member. Some loaded doors with power windows, locks and mirrors off a 97, along with some of the seat belts and trim.
Next weekend I plan to go through the harness for the doors and start moving everything into the passenger door.
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