to do list, done list, and a few questions Options

[era vulgaris]

So I've been working my booty off trying to get this nightmare of a car I have into a safe, reliable, and drivable condition.

I've replaced the leaky brake master cylinder (which had been leaking for years, and is the reason the base of the pedal cluster and the floor under the pedal cluster are nonexistent. Thanks, Scotty Boy, btw, for omitting to mention the leaky BMC and non existent e-brake, and telling me the car was safe to drive 500 miles! That's classy!). Replaced the brake lines and hoses. Sourced an e-brake handle, and reconnected the e-brake lines.

To fix the oil that was hemorrhaging from the engine I replaced the oil cooler seals and the oil pressure switch. Found the oil pressure switch threads were stripped...argghh!!!! JB Weld is holding them on for now. Oil warning light still works, so I'm not worried about it at the moment.

I've rebuilt the non-functioning ignition system: new ignition coil, converted to electronic ignition, new cap, rotor, plugs, and wires. Set the timing.
The wires that came on the car weren't even all matched! WTF!

I've replaced every weather seal...ALL of which were deteriorated or not present.

I've sourced a lower dash pad, as well as driver and passenger armrests. All of which were missing.

Got new tires to replace the cracked ones that were on there (again, no mention of this when told the car was safe to drive 500 miles!). BTW, the car had 245/50/15 on the front and 225/50/15 on the rear. What idiot puts bigger tires on the front?!!!!
My new tires are 225/50/15 all around, and pretty happy with them.

I've spent days and days trying to get the doors (in particular the driver door) to close correctly with the windows up. Finally succeeded!!!!
Now I just need to figure out how to get the windows to roll up and down with those new scraper seals. They stick and won't let the window roll down.

Once I got the car to where it would go and stop, I had to chase down the 2200rpm idle. Step1: replaced the ancient and incorrectly routed vacuum hoses (some of which were not even connected and left lying open on top of the engine. And some of which were clear hard plastic weirdness) with brand new OE german hoses and routed them all correctly. Idle dropped to about 2000rpm.
Step2: pull the AAR and plugged the ports for it. Idle dropped to 1500rpm. Aha! On to something. Left AAR to soak in WD40.
Step3: replaced the oil filler gasket, replaced the manifold gaskets, replaced the intake runner boots, replaced the cold start valve gasket, replaced the large and small injector seals. Idle down to 1200rpm. Now we're getting somewhere!

I'll be doing a valve adjustment this week. But could that really be the cause of ~400rpm too high of an idle? Anything else I should check?

BTW, I have one green injector and three yellow injectors. Does this matter? Which are correct for my car?

Next on the list:

-rebuild pedal cluster. Currently impossible to accurately adjust the clutch because of the play in the pedals. Shifting into first is a nightmare! Also due to the fact that I don't have a wooden pedalboard, so I'm not sure where the clutch pedal is supposed to stop.

-patch floorpan....and I mean almost all of it. Putting the car on jacks to do the brakes felt like I was gambling with my life! I'm going with the POR15 floorpan and trunk kit. I don't have the funds for a real floorpan replacement, so this'll have to do for now.

-tackle the body rust. This one I don't know if I can really tackle. There's so much painted over, non-prepped rust that I'm just terrified of even going down this road.

-weld in the missing engine shelf under the battery tray. (Something that would've been nice to know was missing when I bought the car! I guess cutting out the engine shelf was the "rust repair" that I was told was done!)

-source carpet, source a backpad.

-fix non-sliding passenger seat.

-fix the right headlight that doesn't pop up all the way.

...I'm sure there's more!

Finally after several months since buying what I was told was a sorted and great car, am I able to actually get out and drive it. Man, does that engine sound great! Still a lot of work to do, still a lot of issues to fix, but at least I can get out behind the wheel of this thing now!
Oh yeah, I pulled those shitty looking decals off that up close looked like they'd been printed by a dot-matrix printer! Just need to paint the front bumper solid black and I'll have a normal looking car.