new here with a '73 Custom Cruiser

I just saw a news report on this a few days ago - people buying tires they thought were 'new' only to have a tread separation and a bad accident - finding out those 'new' tires had been sitting on a storage rack for 6 years.
-- I'd replace them.

 

Good thought, Krash, on the fuel filter. That's a cheap and easy replacement.

I've been taking it easy on closing the hood. Like a lot of things on this car, the hood hinges look literally brand new, and I'm assuming they were replaced when the car was repainted back in '05 as the hood was certainly removed for the repaint. I'm guessing the shop just stuck the hood back on without bothering to make a final adjustment. The two front doors don't close well (need to be slammed hard to fully latch), either, and they'll need lubrication and adjustment. Again, I think they were removed for the repaint and then just reattached without any final adjustment.

The photo below shows the hood closed. It does close and latch (and I am sensitive to not forcing it as I don't want to bend it!), but you can see how it's not well aligned on the driver's side. It's a little high all along the left side.





On the tailgate motor front, I did remove it and attach it to a bench 12-volt supply, and it does move, so the problem appears to be in the wiring. I attached a voltmeter to one of the two leads on the connector and to ground and tried the key switch on the back, and it didn't register 12 volts at any time. I need to check the wiring, which means starting at the fuse box, and that means probably waiting until I get the chassis manual, which should be any day now as I'd like to see a diagram of the fuse box before attempting anything.


But, like I said, the tailgate IS closed, so I can wash the car as soon as the temperature gets on the other size of the freezing mark, and I can turn some attention to other areas, like the radiator, as well as getting the front bumper back on. I also need to check the taillights. The turn signals, 4-way flashers, and brake lights all work, but the tail lamps do not light up when I turn on the headlights. The fuse is blown, and when I replaced it (when I thought it was the tailGATE fuse and not just the taillight fuse as it just says "tail" on the fuse box--that's da*n helpful!), it just blew again.

I love electrical problems!

By the way, when I turn the headlights on, both low-beams work. When I step on the high beams, the left low-beam kicks into high-beam mode, but the right-side low-beam goes off completely, and neither high-beam comes on. I'm guessing new headlights are in order. While I find it hard to believe that these would be the original headlights, there's no mention in the service records that I've found that they've ever been replaced. The only mention anywhere is on a service invoice from 3/4/05, where is says "fix headlamps." It doesn't say what the fix was, and I don't think new ones were put on because there are no headlights costs shown in the "material used" section of the invoice. He had the car in that day to have a new alternator put in ($87.48 for the alternator, $35.00 for the labor), and the mileage that date turned out to be only 11 miles earlier than the mileage on the car when I got it. The alternator still looks like it was installed yesterday.

 

Glide-Aways, thanks for the thought on the old tires. They do look darn good as they have only about 7,000 miles on them, but the age concerns me. I do think I will replace them before driving it anywhere beyond going around the block.

I don't think there is anything blocking the gate from moving upwards. When I was fiddling with the motor just now, I worked the gate a bit more upwards and downwards, and it did seem to get darn close to being fully closed. I think there just may be some rubber weatherstrips on the gate and on the edges of the window glide that are bumping into each other, and this may be intentional as that's how it gets water tight. I'm thinking the motor, when functioning correctly, might have a bit more torque then I am able to apply when I'm standing there pulling up on it, and it may close a little more tightly.

jeffreyalman, the motor holds the tailgate up. I took the motor off, pulled the tailgate up, and then put the motor back on as the gear teeth on the motor mesh with the big cog attached to the tailgate. When I have the motor out, I just use a 2x4 that's about 11" long as a prop up under the arm that attaches to the gate at one end and bends around to become the cog that gets moved by the motor.

By the way, I need to correct something I said earlier about the spark plugs. They were last changed later than I had thought, 7/31/96 with 99,968 miles on the car. So that means the ones that were on there had just a bit over 2600 miles on them, but they still looked like crap. Again, like I said, I bet that's because those 2600 miles, which were put on over the roughly 5.5 year period between July 1999 and March 2005 (so an average of just about 500 miles per year), consisted of short, 10-minute trips that never much got the car warmed up.

 

LOL on the miles that this car moved. x 3 on the tires. I got lucky twice in the Toro but never again. All 3 have new tires.

Taillights may be a corroded socket. Those bulbs tended to disintegrate

Sorry no help on the hood. My latch was messed up and I fixed it by installing a spring from some other GM hood latch and got lucky, and I do have to push down on the hood at the rear near the windshield to get it flush with the tops of the fenders, but I can live with that (only 1/2" off before I push so no biggie) and I am saving the hinges by lubing as discussed before, very important. Looks like it's working.

My poor car was so dried out and dirty and dusty it was a crime. Still have red clay dirt in spots.

Never ends.

 

The motor holds it up. The gear teeth on the motor mesh with the teeth on the big cog that's attached to the gate. If the motor won't move, neither will the gate! I took the motor off, moved the gate up, and reattached the motor.

 

...AARR...thats the spirit me bucko............

 

Thats thinking with your dip stick!!

Sheeze, I missed this thread....belated , nice wagon...dam nice wagon!

 

Hilarious! Good one, Jaunty!

 

An interesting thing about using your dipstick to fend off would be demo guys . I suppose you used a hubcap for a shield? You may wish to consider the aircleaner lid in future for an emergency kung fu style frisbee type of weapon. They work well, it is easy to wipe the blood off and if nothing else it will look like you were a clumsy mechanic, and DNA is covered with engine residue so cannot be used as evidence in a legal situation.

Sounds like your outing was a fun ride.

 

OK, guys, I have a question.

First off, I took the radiator out today and took it to a shop to be redone. I was getting a leak on the fan shroud, and it didn't look to be coming from anywhere on the engine. Guy at the shop was impressed with the size of the thing.

But that's not my question. I'm stealing a photo of the '71 Custom Cruiser on ebay to help with this, and it has to do with the rear bumper. In the first photo below, I've circled the bumper bolts, and they have these decorative covers that hide the bolt underneath. Are those part of the bumper bolt itself, or are they just little circular metal decorative covers? On my car (second photo), those covers are missing, and you can see the bolt head inside. Something should be there to cover it, I'm sure. My question is, what?

Thanks.

 

Jaunty, probably, the bolts on your bumper are not the original ones. Whoever put your bumper back on after the repaint just used regular bolts instead of the bolts with the chrome capped ends.

I would think you could find some decorative stainless caps at a good hardware store to put over these bolt heads.

David

 

Aren't those holes for the mounting of the optional bumper guards? And if you don't have them they are filled with the chrome plugs?

 

This was my thought. I'm certainly not going to remove the bolts just for this. It's looks like it would be semi-hell to get at the back side of them, anyway.

 

I'm not so sure about this. If you look at the lower photo, you can see that my car HAS rubber bumpers to either side of the backup lights. I wouldn't think that there was still an additional bumper guard available. How many bumper guards does one need?

 

Seems some GM models had those bumper pads glued on... Check this out.
http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3418