Project Boondoggle (or, so I went and bought a Z!)

[charliekwin]

Moderately productive weekend getting all the sound deadening removed.  The dry ice worked great on the horizontal surfaces, at least that went easy.

 

 

Sunday I tackled the vertical ones.  First tried putting it in aluminum foil, which only kinda worked.  Then used plastic bags, which was a minor improvement.  Took a lot of contorting to get into some places, but managed to get it all chipped away with a hammer and screwdriver.  Floor pans look good, too.

 

 

I feel like I'm getting to the edge of scope creep on this part of the project.  I'm tempted to remove the dash, since it would be easier to do the floors if I took it out out, AND there's also a dash available locally for a decent price that looks like it's in better condition.  I'm a little worried that I'll have an entirely empty interior and a car that won't get on the road for months on end, which is how projects tend to die.

[wheee!]

Great progress!

[grannyknot]

Mission creep certainly can end badly but just look at how focused you have been, you only got it in the spring and look what you have accomplished so far. Pulling the dash doesn't take more than an hour and you will probably never have your interior stripped this far down again.

And yeah, your floors look great!

Chris

[Pmg]

You have made great progress, wow! Sometimes it is good to put her back together and drive her for a bit to get that joy back; a reminder of what all the work is for. Once reinvigorated, tackle the other projects.....?

PMG

[charliekwin]

I appreciate the votes of confidence  It's a balancing act for sure.  I've fallen victim to the "well, while I'm at it, I guess I can take care of this too..." and then the whole dang thing is in pieces across the garage (and office) floors!

[charliekwin]

A little hodge-podge of work the last week or so.  While waiting on the paint to be delivered, I kept on with the interior.  Mostly chipping away at and trying to wipe off the rest of deadener residue.  It's getting pretty well cleaned up now.  Only one pinhole in the floorpans so far.  This was the pile of gross I pulled from the interior.

 

 

The weatherstripping on the doors was pretty far gone, so I decided to pull it off, and on a whim, checked the inventory at my local Pick-Your-Part for Kia Sportages.  The car gods were smiling on me; a 1999 had been there for about a week so I checked it out and other than this one section, they were in great (if dirty) shape.  They charge a buck a foot for it and the guy at the window said it looked like about 7 feet.  Since he's the professional, I wasn't gonna argue with him  Including the entry fee for the yard, not a bad score for $9!

 

 

The Masterseries paint also showed up this past weekend, so I figured I ought to at least get the tank back together.  I re-stripped and cleaned it and today was able to brush on two coats of their rust-proofing product.  I got to resurrect my outdoor paint setup again!  For a brush job, it came out okay, and my initial impression is that this stuff is a heck of a lot tougher than the Extreme Chassis Black.  On Friday or Saturday I should be able to shoot a couple coats of the satin black top coat, clean up a couple things I ignored the first time, and hopefully reinstall by the following weekend.

 

[wheee!]

Nice progress!

[charliekwin]

Still plugging away!  I sprayed the tank with the black top coat the weekend before last, which went ...not great.  The Masterseries stuff is a lot thicker than the Eastwood paint I used before, which caused some issues.  The first coat went on terribly, but the second -- which I thinned a lot more and fiddled with the gun settings -- was acceptable enough.  It ended up having almost a hammered look, which wasn't really what I was planning on but looks okay for what it is.

 

 

Since I was at it, this was also a chance to see if I could fix one of the J bolts that a PO had stripped the bejeezus out of.  The Harbor Freight tap and die set I bought saved it.  The inline filter I put on when I did the tank the last time was also fairly gunked up with stuff that I couldn't flush out, so I replaced that too.  And made some new linings for the straps out of an old bicycle inner tube. The tank went back in on Sunday night, and even with ~4 gallons in it, there's still no fuel getting into the lines, so that has to get straightened out.  Hopefully it's still just low. 

 

 

Work on the interior also coming along.  Finally got everything cleaned enough to be able to hit it with a wire wheel tomorrow and start prepping for paint.  One small victory: the broken seat bolt lost.  I tried using a screw extractor, which promptly broke off right when it occurred to me that this probably wasn't the best approach.  I got the broken part of and drilled out the rest of the bolt without even damaging the threads.  A small thing, but it's nice to get a win!

 

 

Then there's this thing, which used to be mounted to the transmission tunnel.  I'm pretty sure it's part of the cruise control system that someone put in.  The wires make their way down to a bundle underneath the brake booster, but I haven't traced them further.  Looks like it might be a sensor of some kind.  Anyone know for sure?

 

[Patcon]

It is the magnetic pick up for a cruise control system. there are probably magnets taped or epoxied to the drive shaft that would have lined up with the sensor. 

4 gallons is more than enough fuel to pick up, there is an issue somewhere else...

[charliekwin]

Thanks for confirming both. 4 gallons didn't seem right to me either. I didn't do anything to the inside of the tank, and last time I had no issues, so I was starting to question myself. Pulled the fuel line from the tank and there's nothing there. I wonder if my kidlet did a little work on the tank when I wasn't looking...

[charliekwin]

Been trying to make the most of the holiday break.  Got my fuel delivery problem solved, after spending an embarrassing amount of time trying to solve the problem, which I eventually diagnosed as -- wait for it -- a disconnected fuel pump.  In the middle of all that, my battery, which was on its way out, finally gave up for good, so I had to replace that.  The positive terminal and leads were in similarly bad shape, so yet another while-I'm-at-it project popped up.  I had leftover stuff from some audio installs; I do enjoy the easy ones that don't require multiple trips to the hardware store.

 

 

With that done, I went back to prepping the floor pans.  Passenger side is almost all cleaned up.  Just need to plug the couple holes.  Started with the wire wheel on the driver's side.  They look like they're a bit bent out of shape, though somewhat evenly.  If I had to guess, someone tried to jack or lift it from the pans.  I don't think it's worth trying to pound them back into shape.  I have a couple small holes to fill, then can prep with phosphoric acid and start painting.

 

 

Today, another audible.  I started thinking what I should do about the footwells and firewall and come to the conclusion that if I find out they're in bad shape after I've put the floors back together and installed the carpet, then I'd curse myself for not taking care of it now when it would be easier and convenient.  So out came the dash,  What I didn't realize was how much stuff would be left behind.

 

 

I'm not sure what I'm gonna do here just yet (aside from hoping that it's still in good shape), but at least it's an opportunity to get rid of that cruise control system.  Seriously, who thought this is an acceptable way to install something?!  

 

 

It's out!  And my engine bay looks a little bit nicer.  Now I have this pile; I guess I could throw it on ebay and see if it has any value.

 

[Pmg]

I'm envious of of where you're at. My ac doesn't function and I wish I had the access you have at this point. I don't want to pull my dash for fear of cracking it.

Keep on keeping on. Good work!

PMG