A Newer Project!

[jannes_z-28]

Great find for you and your son. Looking forward to a long thread :-)

You sure know how to find them.

[KevinW]

Steve Congrats! I was recently looking at a 93 Camaro for my kid and saw the roof paint issues, did not know it was related to the glue! Too bad the Camaro did not fit her, in order for her to reach the pedals the seat was too far forward and she was too close to the airbag. Good luck on the new father/son project! Not that there is too much to do on this [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]

[tjs44]

I had a 99 and a 02 WS6 for my Co. cars.Loved them!Tom

[Xplantdad]

Very cool Steve!!

[njsteve]

Today I drove the car down to my buddy's garage to try to get those pesky GM wheel locks off the rims. The seller couldn't find the key and deduced that Pep Boys didn't bother to put it back in the car when they sold her the most recent set of tires two years ago. So, luckily the Cornwall Tool truck showed up as we were trying the worn out lock remover socket that he had. They had a brand new one with sharp internal teeth that took the locks off rather easily. What a relief!

Later in the day the boy and I took the wheels off and cleaned the back sides of the rims to get the brake dust out. One thing I noticed was that the rear axle snubbers that are mounted to the frame had no snubber material left - it had just crumbled away when I touched the last bits of it. Were they made of some weird, purplish looking urethane that didn't survive 13 years?

[njsteve]

I did some research on those axle snubbers and it turns out that they were made of some inferior foam material that decomposed ten minutes after original warranty coverage. Most guys install aftermarket urethane snubbers, or originals from the 93-97 cars which used a more durable rubber material.

[njsteve]

It was a nice day so I had the boy do an oil change on the car. I instructed him on the safe way to jack up the car and where to place the jackstands. Hysterical to watch an 80-pound kid try to turn a wrench on the drain plug. All he succeeded in doing was to rotate himself around the underside of the car. I then told him to brace himself against something and then try again. That worked a little better after I loosened it.

I was able to locate the engine VIN and take a photo of the spot, That only took about 25 attempts to get the light in one spot, the mirror in another spot and the camera in a position to capture it all.

The machine-etched VIN is on the back of the engine mounting area that mates with the transmission bellhousing. It is directly blocked from view by the driver's side catalytic converter. You can reach it with a mirror and then see it in reverse. I was thrilled to see it matched the car's VIN.

Here is the general location. The silver rod is the handle of the mirror.



And the actual VIN, stamped in a dot matrix format, as viewed on the mirror face.

[TMagda]

Love this thread. Great car, father and son, thank you Steve. Black car will keep him busy!

[njsteve]

Nothing like asking a teenager if you can borrow &quot;his&quot; car. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

The new ACC carpet set arrived yesterday and is currently stretching out on the floor in the playroom. It is one giant piece from front to hatch area. Hopefully that will get rid of the cigarette smell, otherwise we will do the T-top headliner fabric next.

We had to do this with my daughter's car when we got it. It was a 4,000 mile Impala that we got at a great price, but the former owner was a chainsmoker. We had to gut the interior, disinfect the upholstery, and throw away the original carpeting. It then took a year for the residue to go away.

[TMagda]

Steve, you may be able to steam the headliner instead of replacing it. Check this, Larry from Ammonyc. Great detailer with tons of technique vids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjHEcPcTJTE