The Journals of a Frustrated Pilgrim

or

How I Learned To Love the Bomb

Here for you amusement is the laundry list of problems I have discovered in the course of working on this poor abused and wayward car.  Sometimes, I really do feel sorry for a car when I see what other dipsticks have done to them.

• Rusted through front floor pans.
• Cob jobs in the wiring harnesses.
• Twisted together dry wiring splices (corroded, too).
• Butchered fusible link (is it really fusible if it's just a wire?)
• 10 ohms of ground resistance between the wiring in the front and the under dash wiring.
• Missing half the bulbs in the interior.
• Cobbed stereo wiring... but there wasn't a stereo anyway.
• Too much cam for the current engine build.
• Worn out carburetor.
• Three bent rims, two tires with "dry rot", one tire with a "BLEM" stamp conveniently hidden on the inside.
• Overheated within two miles.
• Oil seeping into the intake runners causing my heart to sink when I saw the white puffs of smoke (just needed sealant).
• Charging system did not work.
• No horn... even the steering wheel was put together wrong.
• Wiper motor cobbed in... won't auto-park.
• Rear end differential geared at 4.30:1 - would have left it but the pinion leaked, too. 
• U-Joints shot.
• Hell, driveshaft was bent and dinged, too.
• Transmission decided to leak profusely out of the shift column seal.
• Transmission case was broken around the starter mount as evidenced by the heli-arc welds on it. 
• Speedometer out.
• Bad vibration at medium speeds.
• Missing heater and passenger side vent cable and box.
• Proportioning Valve flapping in the breeze... no mounting bolt in sight.
• Sway bar links stripped on sway bar end.
• Mufflers welded in crooked to compensate for not doing the pipes correctly.
• Brass nuts and nylocks used on exhaust nuts.
• 5/16" bolts/nuts used on two-bolt exhaust manifold flanges. Again... to compensate for not doing the pipes correctly.
• 26" Radiator mounted on a 22" brace.
• Transmission cooler butchered to cob into crushed cooling lines.
• No backup light harness.
• No console light harness.
• Headlight harness on the fritz.
• Poor ground on the engine harness.
• Tail light harness corroded and cross-wired.
• Shifter worn too much to hit all the gears.
• Missing block dowel pin (transmission alignment pin).
• Torque converter hub area in the crank rusted.
• Lower ball joints completely shot.
• Missing bumpers on the lower control arms.
• Upper ball joints were not far behind the lowers - at least THEY had grease on them.
• JB Weld used on an intake runner on driver's side head to cover an extensive crack.

If I think of any more I'll be sure to add them... although it's embarrassing to post such a long laundry list of problems. haha

MOST of the laundry list is done... well the stuff that has to be done and the stuff that annoys me.    But if any of this evokes  deep sympathy on your part, feel free to contribute to the SAVE THE GTX FOUNDATION by sending Paypal funds to txsdrifter@comcast.net   hehehe

The following journal pages will chronicle my exploits along the restoration trail.  Some of what I have found, I moved over to the tech pages to preserve for others to use. Some was found on the web... some is experience, so take it all with a grain of salt.