Moving to P.R.

May, June, July, August 2016 Update


Not much to report but here it goes.......................

In the last 4 months , I took the 'Bird on its longest road trip due to the closer Home Depot in Ponce not having some glass block I needed to finish the master bathroom. Went early in the am and came up empty. Next closest store was in Mayaquez on the west coast of the island, and of course they had 300 in stock.

It was about an hour more away and I got some quick directions from the employees at the Ponce store and headed out with a prayer. Made it there and back with no issues, even with the trunk full of some cement bags and a few cinder blocks also. Ended up being a 142 mile round trip.


Did change the Orings and test charged the A/C, got the temp out the vents to 50* till the high pressure valve released all the freon. Have to change that to a different one for 134a ( needed on the V5 compressor) and fix the leaking shrader valve and get the 134a adapters . The spare ones I had came from another car and they leaked also. At least I know it works ...............


Did finally find some footballs for the rear springs at Walmart for $7 a piece. Problem is the springs are small and had to cut the rubber spring bumper in half just to get them in there . Once they were in, pumped them to about 20 lbs and they did the job. They last about 5 weeks or so till more air is needed.

Towed a 90 Lincoln Town car half a block home with the Bird for the guy next door, left in in low and it did it with no problem.


Have 140643 miles on it now and its running like a top.

Till the next update................Doug in P.R.:cool:
 
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thanks for the update
 
Sounds Like you had some adventures Doug! Only you and I would even consider towing a Town Car with a Sunbird for any distance!! LOL!!!!!
 
September, October, November, December 2016 Update...

Just a few things to report on the old bird the last 4 months..................

The old car is holding together pretty good,first to go was the footballs in the rear.springs.It wasa good idea but they didnt last since they got holes worn into them.Currently I put some 2x4 chunks of wood in between some of the coils to keep the rear up untill I make some spacers or get new springs.

Had to get a new battery for the old bird since my trucks got bad again and needed the bird's good Bosch battery..........since the truck's Duralast 1000 cranking amps got a bad cell just like the previous one. Autozone gave me the core charge and the time left on the warranty ( of course the free replacement had run out as usuall ) which was just enough + 13 bucks to buy a Value Power one at Walmart.

The automatic shifter broke in half a week ago, broke where the two 'U' shape halves come together and the handle shaft connects. Tried to weld it in the car with my arc welder but my extension cord was too long and it didnt weld hot enough. Went to Home Depot the next morning in the bird with vicegrips holding it together to get some welding wire for my wire feed welder. Took a while to get the shifter out ( 20 screws to get the console out/ figure it out) welded it on the back porch and put it all back in. Looks like the ignition/shifter innerlock cable was the culprit.Just left it disconnected , just didnt let you move the shifter unless the key was on anyway..............no biggy.

Passed emissions with flying colors again, got its 2017 registration this Friday after standing in line for 1 and a half hours.............:mad:

Installed the correct shorter lugnut covers for the Fiero center caps that I added a few months ago, the full cover ones were too long........Thanks to fellow JBody.Org member Orlen Brown in VA for getting them at a pick and pull over there.

Still have to get a trunk tension rod, might have a lead on a 90 Z24 that has one..........;)

Have some paint to touch up on the old bird,finally got some decent weather after Oct- Nov-early Dec heavy rains.

Thats all for now .......till next year...........Happy New Year 2017 Pontiac and Sunbird Owners.

Doug in P.R. :cool::cool:
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you cannt find the large rubber "O" rings to put between the coils? Happy New Year to you.
 
Thanks Mel, thought about those but heard on the net they fall out. Expensive here, almost half the cost of a spring set.

I'll come up with a solution oneway or another............;)

Doug in P.R.:cool:
 
I'm back after a year absence.Sunbird made through Maria fine, so did our house and us. Finally got power on 10 days ago.( 5 months and 3 days)No internet or home phone at the house. ( using a smartphone for that) As in the previous post, I did get the bolt in spring spacers, had to buy a new set of tires( which are worn out already) , broke my right quarter window weedwacking at work( taped up currently), passed emissions again in flying colors, added a voltmeter gauge, installed the last of the 4 motor mounts, and the right wheel cylinder.The bird still runs like a Swiss watch now with 146k miles on it. That's all that I can remember, probably more later. Doug in P.R.
 
My wife and I both agree it is a total disgrace to this country that Puerto Rico is suffering this long. Glad to hear you and your family are OK plus the house and car.
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Doug glad to hear you and yours made it thru OK, Dick from the H-body forum let me know a while back you were doing OK just no power. I was relieved to hear that news.
 
Thanks Mel and Jeff,alot still without power, ours is on but it flickers alot due to our power plants in the south are basically running the north also.Its bad everywhere, look at Westchester county in NY.(going on 2 weeks in the winter with no power).Here there are people still crossing running rivers in cars to get home.Government here is a total failure. Thinking about moving back to Arizona. I did also add a fuel pump cutoff switch ( anti theft device) and a led on the dash to let me know the fuel pump is running. Doug in P.R.
 
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Definitely no chance of getting hit by a hurricane in Arizona, good luck.
 
We will welcome you and yours back on the mainland, PM me if you need anything. Glad the Sunbird is still alive and at least that is still working for you!
 
Update:
Picked up 2 new tires for the old Bird, Nika Avatars, put them on the rear. Picked up at PepBoys for $76 a pair out the door. Mounted my manual tire changer on a pallet to mount them myself but couldn't inflate them cause the beads were too narrow. ( Smaller 185/70/14s than the 205/70/14 larger size ones on the car) I got one inflated with the ether trick and balanced it on my bubble balancer, the other one I had to take to a tire shop and it took 3 trys to get it to seat. Then balanced it at home and installed it the next day.
Doug in P.R. :)
 
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I remember back in the 60's/70's the tire shops had a tube sort of like a bicycle inner tube but much larger in diameter. They mounted it around the tire and inflated it which forced the sidewalls to flex out towards the rim. Not sure if that technique is used anymore plus you need a compressor to inflate the tube. That was an incredible price for the tires. How is the power situation going for you now?
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Fine Mel,
Box fans don't seem to have the speed they used too
. It may be we are powering the north side of the island with our powerplant down south here. They brought in 2 giant generators they used in Katrina to power it up but that was supposed to happen in January, but it didn't. A dummy cut down a tree yesterday and knocked down a 50000 volt line that ran south to north. They were going to be without power for 12 hours but it came back on at 11pm last night instead.

Tried the ratchet strap trick on the tire mounting but the beads on the tire too were narrow and the sidwalls were too soft.

Doug in P.R. :)
 
April Update:
Installed 2 used tires on the front till I can the front end aligned. Was riding on basically slicks and was all over the road in the rain the other day. Got them for free and mounted and balanced them at home on my handy Harbor Freight tire changer and balancer.

Just when you think rust never sleeps quietly, it hit me hard on the way home the other day. First it was the front driver's bolt that pulled through the floor support. No biggie I thought, but to my surprise, the bracket broke on the seat itself opposite of the first break. So you can imagine driving with the just the rear bolts holding me in the seat. More like a carnival ride in my opinion. Had to fix it as soon as I got home in the hot sun. Welded the seat bracket on the seat by watering down the fabric around the bracket to keep it for bursting into flames. I then had to tackle the floor brace issue. I had some 1/2 square tubing scrap laying around and doubled it and it fit inside the floor brace with a piece of scrap 1/4 flat steel . I cut out the rusted section of the brace and welded it all with what was left of the brace. Then the seat hold down bolt to the top of the 2 pieces of square stock. Eyed it up with the cut out rusted piece and it was right on the money. I have to go back and fix the other side of the brace towards the console and more holes in each of the 4 floorboards. Rust never sleeps on this island.

Doug in P.R. :)
 
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Lucky you have the tools and skill to do it yourself.
 
May,June,July,August 2018:

Did a few repairs in May until I got laid off for 3 months, replaced both wheel hubs as one separated and was only held on with the axle nut, found out the left lower ball joint had 3/4 inch of slop in it , had to grind out the rivets because couldn't get them off with an air chisel.( No wonder why everyone just replaces the lower control arm) Buggered up the holes a little, so I had to weld some washers on the control arm for reinforcement.

Just finished last weekend repairing the rusted out a -pillars and roof, many large holes to fill in with reinforced Bondo, metal is so
gone, but the last repair lasted 2 years, so hopefully it will last another couple more years.( Glass will have to come out to fix it right)

Should be able to get the used quarter window this weekend to replace the broken-taped one that's been in for a bunch of months.

Other than that, some paint touch up, rust repair on the floors and drivers side lower door is inline to do soon, car still runs like a top, even though it was sitting most of the time for 3 months. Finally back to work and all is well.

Doug in P.R.:)
 
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