Some pics of my 95 SLE (5/18 Update)

[95naSTA]

Nope on the pull up to shift into reverse. The reverse lock out components were chopped off to fit the shifter body between the air ducts.

[95naSTA]

Put some miles on the car over the weekend. Love the STS.

Some issues I ran into:

My right rear turn signal socket got water in it and corroded to the point where I needed to solder in a new socket.

I started hearing what I believe is a wheel bearing creak. The front wheels are tight but the rears (with 240k wheel bearings) both have a little play in them. I'll be ordering those soon.

My the back lighting on my instrument cluster isn't working for some reason. I have the wiring diags tabbed in the FSM and I'm hoping to work through that soon.

[95naSTA]

Wheel bearings were ordered.

I figured out what was wrong with the dash back lighting. I wired in my bluetooth module to what I thought was a ground but it was into that circuit. So I was back feeding into it. Now the bluetooth module is wired into a wire that's +12v only when the radio is on and I grounded it to the radio body.




Progress progress.

[zuper8]

Charcoal interior is so beautiful...

[ga93sle]

Man, that shifter looks strange there... Sexy, but strange...

[95naSTA]

Knowing a 92-99 Bonneville center console setup, it has to look strange. But I'm hoping to the general public it gets confused for a stock piece or something easily swap-able from another car.

Not too long ago I swapped in a new front left wheel bearing because I could hear the typical wheel bearing crunch with the windows down. It happens in/out of gear and at low speeds. The noise was still there and when I checked wheel play the other weekend. I found the rear wheel bearings to be loose and figured that was it. But, I was over at my buddy's shop Saturday and he too could hear the noise coming from the front left while standing outside the car. I threw it up on the lift, still no wheel play, no axle play, no noise when spinning in neutral, no noise when spinning in 1st, ABS connector clipped in place. Strange.. I figured I would just get some more miles on it and the noise would get worse and easier to figure out.

I put about 100 miles on the car this weekend and the bearing noise isn't getting any louder. I may swap bearings R-L to see if it follows.

Some highlights of driving it - some rubber neck action, a guy having me roll down my window to ask me what transmission I had in the car, and the car's coolant temps doing well in the heat (10.5:1 CR and iron heads).

[gonzo4191]

loking good man

[95naSTA]

I drove the car into work today.

I was showing a coworker my engine bay at lunch and we noticed my coolant hoses were collapsed again. When I got home I waited for them to collapse then unhooked the overflow tube to see if it was blocked. It was so I blew it out with compressed air.

I also think I may have fixed a creaking noise in my front driver's wheel. I don't think the studs in the wheel spacers I'm running were ever fully seated. There was just enough resistance to feel like the lug nuts were tight but I was able to tighten all of them a bit more. The noise seems like it's gone when i went to roll the car back and forth after.

We'll see tomorrow if both these issues are fixed.

[1oldman]

I drove the car into work today.

I was showing a coworker my engine bay at lunch

Just curious, but, just how much of the co-workers drool did you have to clean out of the engine bay, off the paint and out of the interior? I would be drooling all over the car. - BC

[95naSTA]

Haha. It's just a 90s family car to most so it was just one guy I work with. For car related things I feel like most people file me into the crazy category and steer clear. lol.

So that creaking thing is still there. :\

The collapsing heater hose issue continued. I unscrewed the cap to the prelude coolant reservoir in my fender and the it sucked a bunch of air in. I'll need to take the tank out and check the vent but for now the cap is loose.

My bluetooth module died so I bought/Installed a TranzIt Blu hands free module. I'm pretty happy with it. I discretely placed the call button in the ashtray and the mic on the top of the steering column.

One other thing I tried sorting out tonight is how fast the rpms drop when coming to a stop. The tack needle digs deep when I clutch in on fast decels, enough for the alt's regulator to kick off. I have some more playing to do with the tune.

[95naSTA]

In light of the mild weather I've been stretching the Bonneville's legs out a bit. Today I clocked somewhere around 180 miles and I drove it to/from work every day a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately I haven't really driven the car much over the past few years.. I'm traveling maybe 1/3 of the year, taking the Duc to/from work a bunch, and couldn't drive for over 2 months this year. I think I put less than 3k on the i30 this year.. I only ended up putting 450 this year but now at least I'm @ 241k. I was stuck at 240,xxx for the past few years.

When I took the Bonneville out to go to dinner with the gf tonight, they coincidentally sat us down at a window on the second floor where I could see my car in distance. A few groups of people stopped to check it out and one group stopped to take pics. Pretty cool to see since it's not out much.

Also with the help of the gf I was able to finally dial in my Dakota Digital speedometer converter (OBD1 specific prob with the F40). It was about 6-8 mph off at 70 mph. Now it's spot on up to and including 80 mph, gps verified.

I wanted to at least hit the 241k milestone because the can may be OOC for a while. The corrosion at the top of my windshield and at the bottom of the rear glass is something I've been meaning to address for the last few years. A friend of a friend is stopping by on Tuesday to help pull both the front and rear glass. The windshield will get replaced and I'll re-use the rear. I guess I'll see how bad the corrosion is.. My MIG is back in my possession and I've got some Blue Lightning rust remover and Zero Rust sandable paint to seal it up.

[zuper8]

ahh so cool! Makes me feel warm and fuzzy that in the time it took to have dinner so many passersby could appreciate what that car is.

[95naSTA]

Here's a few pics of the rust damage I pulled the glass to fix. Not terrible.. I took a peak on the back side of the worst spot in the top middle window frame and it didn't bubble through. So that's good at least. I'm waiting for the Zero Rust stuff to come in the mail before I start.










This is one of a few big ticket bodywork items that need to get done. The other biggies being the hood, minor rocker work, and front fender touch up. At some point the whole car will see a respray and I'll likely block the whole thing just before.

[95naSTA]

I'm very close to finishing up the window frame rust repair. All rust was ground or cut out. Three spots needed a little MIG filling and one section needed a body patch. Any welding is complimented by cavity wax sprayed on the back side of the repair.

I'm using Zero Rust and you're supposed to be able to use it as primer but I'm only going to be using it in the window recess for the most part. It lays on thicker than I'm comfortable with on the exterior panel and I don't want to distort the filler work. The rear will be all Zero Rust covered mostly by the seal around the window. On the front I decided I'll paint Zero Rust on the shelf of the window recess, shoot primer/filler over the filler work then a base coat starting just below the front lip of the window recess. I'll get the windshield back in but keep the top molding out until I clear/blend into the 1/4ers. That's the plan anyway.

I ordered new suede for the headliner since the current has watermarks and separation. A and C pillars will be wrapped too. Possibly the Bs.

Other than spraying the primer and base up front, I just need to finish up the passenger bottom corner of the rear window frame.





^^^ That will be blocked and base coat shot over it.

[zuper8]

That looks like a lot of work. Interested in the Zero Rust product!

[95naSTA]

^^ Yeah it was a bit more work than I anticipated. I finished up the last little section at the bottom of the rear window. So the rust repair is complete. I have 1 or two small dents on the roof I'll be fixing too before I lay down the base coat.

I decided to start re-doing the headliner. Water leaks ruined the job I did 6 years ago. I also remember the last time I did it that I might need a new board if I were to ever do it again. The board was in pretty rough shape when I got the material off yesterday.. I spent a good chunk of the day today repairing the cracks and weakened areas with fiberglass. I've never messed with anything other than kitty hair before so this was a new one for me.









All glass was laid from the rear. All cracks got 2 layers. All separated sections got resin in between and were clamped back together. On the material side I applied resin to all the cracks and damaged areas.

All in all the board is now in good shape and after a little more cleanup it'll be ready for new material.

[MattStrike]

Headliner repair - not fun smelling on the fiberglass resin! I'd give it at least a week to air out before putting it back in the car. When I did the Camaro headliner repair, it took a few months for the smell to finally go away.

[zuper8]

Totally impressed with the headliner, mine was very dilapidated after my first headliner recovering this summer. I also learned about fiberglass itch lol. Bet it feels good to get these projects out of the way.

[95naSTA]

@Matt, I actually don't mind that smell. It reminds me of when I worked at a cooperate MAACO.

@Rach, definitely feels good to chip away at the block of things I want to do.

Finished up the headliner.

[harofreak00]

I enjoy seeing that you used the same technique as when I redid mine 12 years ago!