On the Road Again!
Last weekend, I had a plan that would end with Pandora being back on the road. In fact, in an uncharacteristic moment of self-confidence, I put insurance on her and made an appointment at the DMV to get her re-registered after all this time.
Most everything actually went well. The back glass went in without trouble, I got the bent axle swapped out quickly and put a side mirror on her. I even decided to replace the leaky transmission pan gasket. I avoided this job as long as I could since they didn’t include drain plugs back then. The removal procedure was to loosen all the bolts, remove them from one corner and gently lower that corner so the fluid can pour out uncontrollably all over the ground. Of course, I was mopping up spilled transmission fluid when I found that the pan had been replaced at some point with one with a drain plug – it was just so crusted with grease and dirt that I didn’t see it.
Then during reassembly, I found one bolt hole was partially stripped. Thinking this TH-350 automatic would be replaced with a nice 5 or 6-speed manual eventually, I tried to save a step and tighten the bolt as much as I could. It ended up leaking worse than before I started, as one would expect.
Wednesday evening was my appointment with the DMV folks to get her re-registered. Other than not being able to use my old low-numbered environmental plate, that went smoothly. I picked up a Helicoil repair kit on my way home and was pretty much ready to call it a night, but decided to at least get the threads fixed on that hole. I ended up getting everything back together late last night. I would have gone for a drive then, but the headlight doors are still stuck closed. The slits let the lights mostly work, but I decided to take her for a spin the following evening after work.
I had to actually go into work and run a couple of errands this morning and my foggy sleep brain managed to realize I had a potentially drivable 1969 Camaro in the garage. I left a bit early to get gas and see how she would do for that short trip, then take the back roads into town if that went well. Instead I filled up and got right on the interstate.
She did fine. A little over 3 hours of driving around and making stops and she got me home again. A few issues came up. She doesn’t like to start when at temperature. There is an occasional popping sound near the driver’s front wheel and the temperature light started flickering when I was about 5 miles from home. I’ll probably keep her closer to home until I get time to go through the cooling system and check the ball joints and linkages up front. Still, I’m so freaking excited. I’ve missed driving this old girl.