My latest mistake "star 80"

EricM wrote:

patgizz wrote: one has to assume a bypassed heater core means it was leaking and they were way too lazy to be bothered pulling the dash out to change it.

:-( here's hoping it was some other reason that has nothing to do with a leak. First the lights..... Last night I broke my vacuum pump and gauge by dropping it. Looks like I am planning a trip to Harbor Freight.

I have the core bypassed on mine. Never drive when I need heat in the car. I live in Vermont. Tons of heat come into the car even when bypassed.

This is the E36 M3.

Can't wait until my son is a teen. Hopefully he's into cars.

Raze wrote: Tell your son the price of his new ride is a mullet...

and a satin jacket

So the other day my son's girlfriend rolled the windows down by trying to roll both down at the same time (more on that later) and they both stopped half way down and wouldnt go back up.

(I was going to just tell my son to check the fuse, but I didn't)

Today he figured it out himself.

First he looked in the manual that that came with the 'vette

and found the page on window electronics, noticing the note that says he has to look in the auxiliary section.

so we took a look at that

Then he chased down the fuse under the dash

He asked if he should put in one bigger than 15A, I was all like, "um, no that is a bad idea, just put one in the same size"

He did all this while I was still at work texting me from the garage when he got home from school. I had him recreate the process for the photos.

• now back to the windows failing in the first place. It turns out for the model year 1980, it is a known problem that if you try to roll down both windows at the same time you will blow the fuse. I didn't know that, my son didn't know that, and it is the case that neither did his girlfriend.

I am proud that my son just dug into the problem, used resources (both the printed material and the internet) and figured it out.

And now here he is watching "Drag Week live feed" on his phone in the 'vette, via the house wi fi.

A kid in my high school had a brown 305-powered 1980 vette. He thought it was the coolest. We didn't.

Your son's on the other hand is neither brown or saddled with a 305. His peers will worship him! Also, good on him for chasing down the electrical gremlins!

When I was a junior in high school, my physics teacher took the class on an impromptu field trip to the student parking to check out the '75 Corvette that one of the kids in the class had just bought.

Least expensive Variable LED (what impresses my son the most) stereo with a 1A powered USB port at Crutchfield, I honestly didn't even look anywhere else shrugs. I was looking for one without a CD player, but I guess we are getting a CD player.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDR760/JVC-KD-R760.html?tp=5684&omnews=11710492

I have used that stereo in a ton of different cars. Great unit for the momey. Radio reception leaves some to be desired, but all aroundggreat performer. Good call.

"have you tried turning off and back on again?"

I disconnected all the hoses for the headlights. I reconnected them and made sure of a tight seal. We are able to actuate the headlights without killing the motor. The passenger side regulator has a leak. If we disconnect it the driver side pops up and down as if it were new. When we plug the passenger side in it slows the entire system down.

https://youtu.be/5qsTMM8xEIc

We pressure tested the AC, ZERO vacume, ZERO HG, so out it comes.

Now there is a lot of room in the engine bay

We did put the brackets for the pump back in as they are needed to make sure that the front cover of the motor is tight. We leaked a little coolant when we had it off.

A small thing was that the rear view mirror was not attached, we cleaned up the mount

And a little bit of super glue and Bingo!

Ah, now we can see what is behind us

So, no AC and currently no heat. We may just leave it like that...

At some point the steering wheel was removed and put back sideways. Here it was with the wheels straight.

So we pulled the wheel, the telescoping feature was sticky so we chased the threads out with a tap. and reinstalled it straight.

Autozone had the puller to borrow and the tap set was ten bucks.

And here it is with the wheel on straight.

Now we have to get the horn working again......

Cool project!

Petrolburner wrote: Cool project!

Thanks!

The tilt/telescope column is wonderful when it works properly. It is a total mother to get back right when someone has monkeyed with it that didn't know what they were doing.

You strike me as someone who knows what they are doing.

And white with a red interior is my favorite c3 color combo.

Dusterbd13 wrote: You strike me as someone who knows what they are doing.

I have fooled a lot of people ;-)

Great 1st car love that he is digging into problems and was watching drag week too

See that hole right in front of where the water hose hooks up?

What is that for? Should I plug it? Should I plug it with a bolt or with like a rubber thing?

Thanks,

Eric

It's for a reinforcement bracket for the accessories. Some went into the water jacket, some didn't. Normal threaded bolt with sealant if it did.

thanks. i poked at it with a screw driver and it had a solid bottom so I will leave it alone.

stereo install. nothing makes sense.

Well, I know that the front and rear speakers are wired correctly as the harness I baught clips in perfectly.

Problem. Switched power, constant power, powered antenna, and ground.

Ground should be "the black wire" Well there are two black wires and both seem to have 12v run through them when I touch them and a metal piece of the car.

Online in corvette forums is says switched should be the "yellow" wire. Well the yellow wire has 12v when the ignition is off and noe when the switch is turned on.

There is a red wire and it does nothing, no power, doesn't appear to be a ground, not sure why it is even there.

the grey wire has 12v, and the second black wire has 12v.

The vette may or may not have had constant, I can pull that from the cigerette lighter if I need to.

here is yellow grey and black

Here is front and back speakers and the weird red wire

antenea and the black wire that "should" be the ground wire (capped with a yellow cap in the lower portion of the picture

well good news, I am not crazy. The hot wire is the yellow, and the "third black" is the ground. It turns out the head unit was DOA. Props to Crutchfield for helping me on a Sunday and shipping me out a new head unit.

So, Stereo install will wait until the new head unit arrives.

Dang. What are the chances of a DOA headunit? Glad the problem is solved.

EricM wrote:

Raze wrote: Tell your son the price of his new ride is a mullet...

and a satin jacket

eBay probably has a sweet Style Auto jacket that goes with that car.

Wallie wrote:

EricM wrote:

Raze wrote: Tell your son the price of his new ride is a mullet...

and a satin jacket

eBay probably has a sweet Style Auto jacket that goes with that car.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRxqFQoTCPedi7bPnMgCFQ06kgod7-IB-A&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2FMENS-MEDIUM-STYLE-AUTO-BLACK-CORVETTE-RACING-JACKET-PRE-OWEND-W-HIDDEN-HOOD-%2F261997902728&bvm=bv.103627116,d.aWw&psig=AFQjCNEVGJmexixhru1xOFNLgPi7geCa0g&ust=1443629037819261

LULZ