I've been on leave from work over Xmas so I've had some time to delve into a few jobs on the 940 project.
I bought a new transmission blind from FCP along with a few other things I forgot to order earlier. Now the indicator light displays correctly. It was pretty straightforward to install.
After this I was finally able to install the new shift lever and re-attached the overdrive switch.
Old vs new:
New shifter with the overdrive switch reattached:
I didn't need to solder extra wires onto the existing overdrive wires. While I had all this apart I removed the seats and carpets to give them a good clean. Upon removing the driver's side carpet I found a lot of extra wire for the overdrive switch curled up on the side of the trans tunnel. I was able to pull about 1/2 inch of extra wire through to the shifter which made it very easy to resolder the wires back onto the switch.
The carpets were in need of a damn good clean so they were removed and shampooed. Photos below show the driver's carpet. Front passenger was pretty much the same:
Before:
After:
Not completely clean but much better. It was oddly satisfying watching the dirty water being sucked up.
The back seat carpet was more involved. Someone had spilled something like Coke in the back seat as there was some bad staining on the carpet. However, when I lifted the back seat base up the foam on the underside and the floor under was covered in sticky brown shit that took ages to clean up. The foam is permanently stained.
I also found that someone had reversed the belt buckle on the right rear seat. Whoever did it must have been reasonably determined or was very bored as it took me a fair bit of fiddling to turn it back around to face the correct way.
On the upside, while removing the interior I found about $12 in loose change ?.
After this I gave the car its first wash in what was no doubt a very long time. This revealed the paint is actually in pretty good condition overall except for the boot lid which I'll get painted soon. Even the wheels came up very clean.
After washing I went over the paint with a clay bar then polished it. It came up really well but I still need to apply some wax to protect the paint.
On the weekend I started the Stage 0 service. First thing I replaced was the slightly leaky rocker cover gasket. This was not a fun job. I think this must have been the original gasket or, at least, it's very old. It was baked hard as a rock and took about 3 hours of work to remove it with a scraper. Photo below shows the aftermath:
Fortunately the inlet manifold gasket was much easier to replace.
While the cover was off it gave me a chance to inspect the top of the head and cam area. Looks pretty good to me:
Getting the shitty Ryco engine oil filter off was a pain as it was very tight and getting my filter tool in to remove it was difficult as the filter is a little taller than a Volvo/MAN one and was very close the engine mount bracket. I got there in the end.
Other work done so far:
Timing belt and tensioner, Engine oil and filter, air filter, spark plugs, coolant flush. I changed trans oil this morning. It was definitely overdue. No prizes for guessing which is old fluid and which is new:
I'm now in the process of changing the brake hoses before doing a full fluid flush. The rear hoses are original (date June 1993) and are well past their best.
I've replaced the right rear hose but the left rear is being a bitch. The fitting from the metal hard line is seized inside the rubber hose fitting. I've got some penetrating fluid on it now and I'll keep applying some occasionally today and have another go tomorrow.
Once this is done then (hopefully) all that is left is new tyres, repair to the battery tray/wheel arch area then road worthy and rego. I hope to have this car on the road by the end of January.
