1978 Pontiac Firebird Week 2009 03 29

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 P3280044_small We had a great turn out of the Car Nuts this week. We only had one meeting as I thought going to the Dentist on Wednesday would be more fun then crawling around on the garage floor, I guess that shows how smart I am!
We had Ken Long,  Frank Serafine, George Nick, Vince Falco, and Don Goodman.

We got a number of tasks completed, fuel line routed from front to rear, rear axles pulled (splines counted), Dashboard wired, and more patch panels.
 P3280018_small There is always a joker in the crowd. Here we have a Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge look a like from Star Trek.
 Axle P3280019_small First up Don and Ken jacked up the car, pulled the rear tire, the “C” clip elimator.
 Axle P3280020_small Ken and George pulled the differential cover.
 Axle P3280026_small  Axle P3280028_small
The photographer did not take a picture of the axle once it was pulled, but we found strong 31 spline after market axles in the car. I have now placed an order for a spool, some new rear studs, and some Royal Purple gear oil for the rear end.
 Axle P3280048_small We put everything back finger tight, with the intention of taking it back apart next weekend to install the spool. We did put back the new braced differential cover. Completion Transmission told ne this is a great way to increase the life expectancy of the rear end with the new transmission brake that has been installed.
 Fuel P3280017_small Frank Serafine, Vince Falco, and Don Goodman Worked on finishing up the fuel line from the rear of the car. Here we see thet hard line being routed along the frame from under the car and around the spring pocket and running forward to the front of the frame.
 Fuel P3280016_small This is the braided line that runs from the carburetor down along the front of the engine to the frame.
 Fuel P3280025_small People have asked “how many men does it take to screw in a light blub”, the question here is how many Car Nuts does it take to bend a gas line? In this case it takes Frank Serafine, Vince Falco, and Don Goodman.
 Fuel P3280031_small An now we have the carburetor connected to the gas tank once again after many months. One step closer to starting the engine in the car. It is not to far off now.
Patch P3280036_small More patch panels, these are the last ones (did I say the last ones?) that are needed to seal the firewall up. After these are done we can put the dashboard in.
 Patch P3280030_small  Patch P3280039_small
 Patch P3280040_small  Patch P3280041_small
 Patch P3280042_small With master patch panel builder Frank Serafine and George Nick on the job it took no time to build and install these panels.
Last, we wired the dash board.
 Dash P3260005_small  Dash P3260006_small
 Dash P3260007_small Here is another time saver I bought. It is a printed circuit board with four relays mounted on it. First problem was it was wire to operate by grounding the rely coil, the opposite of what I had planned.
 
Thinking I knew a little bit about electronics (always a problem of mine, thinking that I know what I am doing) I ground out the printed circuit between the hot lead and the coil, and then soldered in a ground wire in its place so that when power was supplied to the other side of the coil for the rely it would activate the rely. When I hooked it up we had a dead short. It took me a while to notice that the printed circuit was on both sides of the board (it was covered up by the relays). I had to drill all the way through the board to break the circuit.
 Dash P3260008_small  Dash P3260009_small
 Dash P3270011_small This was not your average “Painless wiring kit” this was done from scratch.
 Dash P3280012_small Mr. Yellen, do you think that we used enough wire ties?
 Dash P3280015_small Another DONE for this weekend. The dash board wash been wired with quick disconnections so the whole dash can be removed and worked on as needed.
 Dash P3280049_small Next step is to fix the holes in the floorboards, so that the floor can be painted and the car wiring started. All in all I think we had a very good meeting of the Car Nuts this weekend (four hours).