My '95 Caprice Classic STW, "Sally"

[gadget73]

I might be tempted to mount something inside the car from the roof trim that shines out through the top of the glass and just hard-wire it. It would be slightly in the way of putting things inside the back of the car though.

this does not look like a robust or reliable design.

[sly]

Idea for fixing it... clean the rust off of the contacts where the pins contact and then coat with conductive epoxy (defroster repair stuff) if you can't get some solder to attach to that spot.

[Arquemann]

The idea of improving the design I like more, but there's not really any good way to do so. Sly's proposition (and some of my half-baked ideas) would make it unserviceable without disassembly of the latch. Also a bunch of stupid contacts still left.

Also don't want a dildo hanging down from the headliner, a slim led dirtbike taillight might fit just below the weatherstrip above the glass. Wiring one wouldn't be too hard either, run the wires down the D-pillar and the tailgate harness is there by the left taillight. Cons: costs monies, might look dumb and requires molesting the wiring harness.

[Arquemann]

Went drifting in the snow on the 23rd with a few friends. Pretty fun to slide around proper, doing tandems with Volvo guys, though roundabouts are kinda small. Earned the approval of a few RWD Volvo guys (those being the go-to winter drift missiles).

On the 25th took a couple friends along to a party. A bit before 4AM, time to head home and the Caprice just cranks and cranks and cranks. Then the overwhelming smell of fuel hits me. Someone's previous botch job splice on the feed line off the pump had let loose completely. No wonder since the splice was done with a piece of nylon fuel line, which had no flared ends whatsoever. Great to know that some my fuel lines have been held together by hopes and dreams for as long as I've had the car.

Quick field repairs and it was again held together with same hopes and dreams, enough to get us home. It might've lasted years, but I'm redoing those splices before I'm driving the car again.

[Arquemann]

Well apparently it's not a splice on the fuel lines. Someone has cut the lines above the axle, and replaced the original plastic lines back to the tank with normal rubber hose.
I though it was just rubber line both ways from the plastic line and clamps, but it's actually protective sheathing over the plastic line, forwads from the axle.

So I can't do jack shit about the rubber line going to the plastic line. I clamped it more/better, but that's it. I'd need to redo the whole line between the pump and fuel filter, either in the correct plastic line with push fittings, or just in basic rubber line. Don't have access to the fuel pump, also the lines run through cavities and snake behind alot of stuff so it's not particularly easy to replace either.

Or I could get a barb fitting for the plastic line and have a splice that's not janky as hell. But the plastic line needs to be heated to install the fitting correctly, so why not light the fuel inside the lines, myself and the car on fire while at it?

[Arquemann]

This pile of Chevy is really getting to me.

Yesterday was time for the annual inspection, and unsurprisingly it didn't pass.
Surprisingly, the rear brake / parking brake bias is completely fuckulated. Just like last year!

For last year's inspection, new parking brake cables, wheel cylinder, brake shoes and hardware were fitted and all adjusted properly.
So why am I getting 70% bias to the left for service brakes and 94% bias to the left for the parking brake?
Left side braking force was fine on both.

So I suck up my disappointment and head home to lay in the sleet and get dripped on with muddy water. Fun.
The right side spins pretty easy by hand, I adjusted so it was dragging, loosen it a bit, still kinda stiff to turn by the tire. Felt really grabby when driving.
Went for a re-inspection today. Fail. Service brake bias at 56% left and and parking brake bias at 80% left.

Ain't gonna go back and forth any more, taking the car to a shop on monday, they'll adjust them on brake rollers to make sure it'll pass.

Looking at the inspection history, this is the FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW, WHERE THE PARKING BRAKE FAILED AN INSPECTION!

[DerekTheGreat]

Jesus, sounds like a nit-picky inspection. I'd just be concerned that the damn thing works, it's a PARKING brake. As for the regular brakes, 56% is good 'nuff for drum brakes. All a person really has is the starwheel to adjust, provided everything is in good shape. But jeez, so long as one wheel doesn't lock up under hard braking, I'd send it.

[Arquemann]

Jesus, sounds like a nit-picky inspection. I'd just be concerned that the damn thing works, it's a PARKING brake. As for the regular brakes, 56% is good 'nuff for drum brakes. All a person really has is the starwheel to adjust, provided everything is in good shape. But jeez, so long as one wheel doesn't lock up under hard braking, I'd send it.

I don't think it's that nitpicky. Allowable bias for service brakes is <30%, for parking brake it's <70%. I certainly wouldn't want them any higher. There's something wrong in my brake adjustment, but for the parking brake on this thing, it's just complete garbage by design. Right side cable is 4 times the length of the left side, with no side-to-side balancing at all.

[sly]

Yeah... Panthers are pretty much the same. Kinda hard to balance that on a foot pedal parking brake vehicle. Center hand brake style are usually pretty symmetrical and easier to accomplish balance.

[Arquemann]

Well, it only took 6 days and ~450€ to pass inspection.
Dropped off the car at the shop yesterday evening, early this morning I got a text from the mechanic (my friend). It was along the lines of: "the right parking brake cable is fucked m8".

As was apparent from the pics he sent, the right side cable had multiple spots where something had rubbed through the rubber lining, aswell as a couple spots where the metal sheathing was starting to get rubbed thin. All provided brackets were used. The cable itself was starting to rust and was sticking in the sheathing. OE kwality!

He called around, but no parking brake cables available in Finland. Since the service brakes were fine with just adjusting, so he took apart, cleaned and greased the old cable, aswell as fixed up the sheath and mounted it back better. Only goal was to pass the inspection. And by the way, the instructions on the (last year's) new brake cables called for no lubricants to deter abrasion and crap buildup.

He ended up taking it through the inspection for me aswell, so now the pile of Chevy has another year on the road. Still has an advisory for front sway bar links, which I might do something about sometime. Maybe when it's not sleet and misery.

Will most likely putting this up for sale when I get my MGM back running and driving. But I have no idea what kinda situation I'll be in then.

[Arquemann]

Tried to fix the stupid facken antenna again, it doesn't stay up. If I flick the switch to up, let it whirr to the up position, it'll stay there until I crank the engine the next time. When I crank the engine, it goes all the way down and stays there, even if the switch is in the up position. I have to flick the switch to DN and then to UP for it to go up again.

When the control relay loses 12v from the switch, the antenna goes down. Last time I wired the switch I'm not sure if I used a fuse that was hot in crank, so I redid it today and piggybacked off the interior light fuse which I can see is hot in crank too. Still goes down when cranking, seems like the control relay is too picky and opens when the voltage drop to 9-10v when cranking.

I could probably use a capacitor to smooth out the voltage drop when cranking, but that's where my electrical knowledge runs out. I have absolutely no clue on what size cap I'd need.

[Arquemann]

So yeah, as I mentioned in the waywo thread, last saturday the car started making some intermittent grinding noise in the right rear sometimes when turning left. Also started making some "extra" exhaust sounds. On tuesday the hood release cable sheath broke, but it's holding on enough to function.

I didn't find anything visible that could cause a grinding noise around the rear axle, gotta check the under the trunk floor and inside wheelwell area for anything moving around.
For the exhaust, I found a thumb-sized hole at the front of the over-axle piece on the driver side. Also the clamp was mostly holding itself on instead of holding anything. I'll get a new clamp and figure out some bodge job to shut the hole in the pipe. To do things right I'd need new tailpipes, they are cruuusty.

Oh and the passenger front carpet is wet again, but I hope it's from snowy shoes this time.

[Arquemann]

Nope, nevermind. The whole passenger side floor of the car is completely soaked underneath the carpet, again.

[Arquemann]

So I tore apart the front passenger area again, all the water is coming from the front corner. Tore all the cowl stuff off and the weatherstripping on the side of the windshield. Cowl drains seem fine, no blockages or questionable looking seam sealer. Decided to take off the interior A-pillar trim and found a couple drops of water...
Removed the sunvisor and drooped the headliner a bit, a few more droplets.

Did a bit of testing and I'm 99% sure there's a leak on the top edge of the windshield.
That would make sense, as the windshield was replaced last spring. I did not have a water leak the previous winter. What I can't quite figure out is how the water gets to the corner of the footwell, under the dash, without wetting the headliner or seeing drips basically anywhere other than the floor.

Only other possibility really is the antenna cable grommet, but it is supposed to be away from the cowl drains. That would need the inner fender removed, which is a pretty big job.
I'm calling the glass company tomorrow, they get to fix their shit, for free! My warranty is still valid for 2 months.

[sly]

Possible pinhole rust? Leaks through the outer skin but catches on the inner skin and down the A pillar. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.