Had some really nice weather today so I spent most of the day out working on Sadie.
Actually, about a month ago, I installed a small tach. I do eventually plan on cutting down the mounting bracket a little because it's blocking my high beam indicator and I want to figure out how to make its light green so it matches the rest of the instruments.
(click thumbnail for bigger version)
View attachment 463064
Today, I did a temporary patch on the driver's side cowl. It's got some rust holes on the outer part as well as the collar (it was only attached by a 1" spot). Right now, I'm not ready to rip apart the whole front end and drill out hundreds of spot welds to do a proper cowl repair/replacment but I need the leak stopped so it doesn't rust out the floor (I have a cowl cover, but it looks like crap, also leaks
View attachment 463066 View attachment 463068
So, I figured the easiest way to do a temporary fix (I want to stress that I in no way plan on or expect this to be a permanant fix) would be to patch the holes with fiberglass (after spraying it all with a rust converting primer). . .
. . . and replace the collar with one of the plastic ones.
A couple things about the collar repair, though. 1) the holes don't line up quite right so if you ever plan on using the kit, you may have to do a little cutting. 2) I didn't clean the area good enough so the RTV didn't stick very well and it's still leaking from there, but I'm going to give it another try tomorrow. In theory, though, after I get that fixed, my leaking cowl should be fixed for a while.
I also have a rust hole in the driver's side outer wheel housing.
Since I already had the fiberglass out, my mom figured she'd patch that hole (she still needs to do a little more work on it). Again, this is just a temporary fix. I know the best way would be to weld in a patch, but because it's right up to the quarter panel, I'm afraid of accidently burning through the quarter and causing an even bigger repair. So if it ever gets worse or I have to replace the quarter for some reason, then I'll weld in a patch. But until then, this will keep the water from getting kicked up in there and rusting out the bottom of my quarter and the trunk drop off.
No pics, but I also fixed my windshield washers. The switch thingie in the old pedal (that turns on the wipers when it's pressed) wasn't working so I just replaced it with the one from old Sadie (which worked fine). Now all I have to do is buy a few more feet of tubing so I can get the fluid all hooked up.
I also pulled out that dumb little antenna that was mounted to the quarter panel and filled in that hole with fiberglass.
For now, It's still hooked up but in the trunk. Reception isn't great, but it's better than no antenna (I can pick up about 4 FM stations). I really like the look of not having an antenna mounted to the outside so I'm either going to figure out how to get better reception from one mounted in the trunk or I'll install a power antenna.
So tomorrow, assuming it's not really hot, I'll try to redo the cowl collar, get the tubing for my windshield washers, and probably paint old Sadie's hood so I can put it on new Sadie (new Sadie's hood has issues which I don't want to deal with ::cough::bondo::cough:: . Old Sadie's has a little bit of rust in the bracing on the underside, but otherwise it's in pretty good shape so I think I can salvage it).
-Chelle
Actually, about a month ago, I installed a small tach. I do eventually plan on cutting down the mounting bracket a little because it's blocking my high beam indicator and I want to figure out how to make its light green so it matches the rest of the instruments.
(click thumbnail for bigger version)
View attachment 463064
Today, I did a temporary patch on the driver's side cowl. It's got some rust holes on the outer part as well as the collar (it was only attached by a 1" spot). Right now, I'm not ready to rip apart the whole front end and drill out hundreds of spot welds to do a proper cowl repair/replacment but I need the leak stopped so it doesn't rust out the floor (I have a cowl cover, but it looks like crap, also leaks
View attachment 463066 View attachment 463068
So, I figured the easiest way to do a temporary fix (I want to stress that I in no way plan on or expect this to be a permanant fix) would be to patch the holes with fiberglass (after spraying it all with a rust converting primer). . .
. . . and replace the collar with one of the plastic ones.
A couple things about the collar repair, though. 1) the holes don't line up quite right so if you ever plan on using the kit, you may have to do a little cutting. 2) I didn't clean the area good enough so the RTV didn't stick very well and it's still leaking from there, but I'm going to give it another try tomorrow. In theory, though, after I get that fixed, my leaking cowl should be fixed for a while.
I also have a rust hole in the driver's side outer wheel housing.
Since I already had the fiberglass out, my mom figured she'd patch that hole (she still needs to do a little more work on it). Again, this is just a temporary fix. I know the best way would be to weld in a patch, but because it's right up to the quarter panel, I'm afraid of accidently burning through the quarter and causing an even bigger repair. So if it ever gets worse or I have to replace the quarter for some reason, then I'll weld in a patch. But until then, this will keep the water from getting kicked up in there and rusting out the bottom of my quarter and the trunk drop off.
No pics, but I also fixed my windshield washers. The switch thingie in the old pedal (that turns on the wipers when it's pressed) wasn't working so I just replaced it with the one from old Sadie (which worked fine). Now all I have to do is buy a few more feet of tubing so I can get the fluid all hooked up.
I also pulled out that dumb little antenna that was mounted to the quarter panel and filled in that hole with fiberglass.
For now, It's still hooked up but in the trunk. Reception isn't great, but it's better than no antenna (I can pick up about 4 FM stations). I really like the look of not having an antenna mounted to the outside so I'm either going to figure out how to get better reception from one mounted in the trunk or I'll install a power antenna.
So tomorrow, assuming it's not really hot, I'll try to redo the cowl collar, get the tubing for my windshield washers, and probably paint old Sadie's hood so I can put it on new Sadie (new Sadie's hood has issues which I don't want to deal with ::cough::bondo::cough:: . Old Sadie's has a little bit of rust in the bracing on the underside, but otherwise it's in pretty good shape so I think I can salvage it).
-Chelle