One step forward, half step back

Today I finally got my electric trunk release mounted, but I didn't have time to wire it. That will have to wait until my next days off. I did get my door handles changed out to the new metal ones, so I will never have to worry about them breaking off! Once we found the right size socket it only took about 10 minutes! Way easier than I thought it was going to be. I also figured out my brake light issue. My passenger brake light has always had one light that only worked some of the time. I was worried that it was the wiring, since the tail light boards are newer PJ Grady boards. So I took the light out and looked at the board. I followed the traces and found out that the two brake lights are on the same trace, so if one worked the other should, too. I looked at the socket and it looked fine. I tried switching out the bulbs, and it was doing the same thing, but on the other side. I looked at the bulb and found that it...wasn't right. The filament wasn't attached at both ends, and one end was just dangling. If you bumped it, it would connect, but if you moved it a little bit it would come loose and turn off. I've never seen anything like that before. So I replaced the bulb, cleaned the contacts just to be safe, and now all of my lights work! I am so relieved that it wasn't the wiring.

I actually drove it 50 miles today! I had forgotten just how much attention these cars get! Just on my little trip I had four different people come up to me and start talking about the car, I got three thumbs up, one kid asking to take some pictures of it, one guy taking a video of me driving, and countless stares.

I stopped by a car wash to wash the three years of dirt and leaves off and out of the car. It looks a lot better. I took a few pictures while we were there. :)







 

I need to replace the pass. side tail light lens, because it's faded and doesn't match the fairly new driver side lens.


While we were washing the car, the little grilles in the louvers popped out. I bought some double sided tape to reattach them, but decided I will wait until I have installed the third brake light, and paint it and the louvers. I will re-install them once everything is painted.

So being the first real driving experience I've had with it since working on it, I noticed some things. For one, I'm not totally convinced the hot start problem is completely taken care of. It could be, but I did have a couple of times when it didn't want to start. One time, after letting it sit for less than five minutes it wouldn't start at all no matter how much I cranked. I went to do the plug swap, and the wires on the control pressure regulator plug (gray plug) just pulled out of the plug with no effort! I replaced them as best I could, and it started up again, but I need to figure out how to permanently reattach them. So I'm not sure if that has anything to do with a starting problem, but it's all I've got to go on right now. A couple of times it started right back up, other times it took a few cranks, so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with those plug wires or not. It certainly couldn't have helped it any. Also, the stalling problem is fixed! But now the car doesn't idle smoothly. It surges a bit and sounds like it has a miss. Grr. Oh well, at least it's drivable now. I'll figure this stuff out another day.

I FINALLY got my new door struts from PJ Grady today. I ordered them on the 7th, so it took quite a while to get them here. But they are here now, and I am planning to install them in the morning. I am planning to drive it to work tomorrow, so I definitely want to try to have as much fixed as possible.

So on my list of things to do over the next few days:


Install third brake light

Wire electric trunk release

Paint louvers and black trim

Install new door struts

Re-brush some more


And speaking of re-brushing, here is an after picture of how the rear quarter panel looks after some re-brushing.




Compare to this picture from an earlier post showing the scratches! I'm pretty happy with the results so far!