Moving to P.R.

[melsg5]

Good to hear it's still on the road and your working again. I have a friend who is a commercial union electrician and he seems to get laid off periodically with the building cycles. Says if he had to do it all over again would have picked something else.

 

[92 Sunbird LE]

Says if he had to do it all over again would have picked something else.

Thanks Mel, me too like the best man to our wedding, worked for USPS and is retired already.....and younger than me....only 1 year and 10 months to go for me.

Doug in P.R.

 

[92 Sunbird LE]

4 month update:

Replaced the quarter window from the junk Z24 that sits at back of the mechanic shop that was flooded during Maria. A little struggle to get out, but wasn't too bad.

Got some replacement trunk tension rods from a fellow member at the JBody forum site. Took a day of struggling to figure how to install them, a little thicker than my originals since the came off a car with a spoiler, (Z24)

Had to finally replace the fuel pump , ( original AC ) went to start it on a Monday after driving it on Sunday, and it was not working. Got a Delphi pump and filter at AutoZone and fixed on Saturday. Changed the oil and filter too since it was due .

Touching up the black paint lately,have to paint the red on the drivers side faded pretty bad and I had repaired the bottom of the door and front fender because of rusting out.

Passed emissions in December easily, registration good for another year.

Still have to patch up the floorboards, waiting for a good cool day to do it.

148k miles and still running like a top , all good except for having to change the fuel pump.

That's all for now, till the next update.

Doug in P.R.

 

[melsg5]

How things going down there? Would you say back to almost normal or are some services still not available?

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[92 Sunbird LE]

Almost normal Mel , no cable based internet or TV or phone for 2 more years.

Traffic lights in town still not working, they replaced the ones near the highway entrance but they are just flashing, the other one by the center of town aren't working at all and a couple of them are missing as well.

Other than that, a few houses still have blue tarps on them.

Doug in P.R.

 

[melsg5]

Sorry to hear that, that's just not right for things to be that way.

 

[92 Sunbird LE]

The Clinton's are here for a week....

Doug in P.R.

 

[92 Sunbird LE]

Feb-March 2019 Update:

Not much to report in Feb other than my rearview mirror fell off and broke the glass, had a old one, so on it went with Loctite this time on the set screw.

Started the floor repair today, { see pics below) Got the interior out with no problem. Tomorrow metal repair, had to use a propane torch to remove the tar sound deadender to get to good metal.
Found the Build sheet , car was built in Lordstown, shipped to NJ ,and brought to dealer here in Bayamon. ( pics below)

Will post when more progress is made. ( on vacation this week}

Doug in P.R.

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[92 Sunbird LE]

Floors are done ! ( Topside at least ) Ran out of welding wire twice, 2 trips to Home Depot ,no fun the first trip ( rush hour ) 2nd time earlier and much faster !

Primed and seam sealed, (functional but not pretty ) interior all back in, washed the carpet, put sheets over the rear torn seat back, and the drivers upper one that had a shirt over it.

Rewrapped the wiring that runs on the floor, hooked up the used mirror's map lights, and repaired the fuel line I cut with the wheel of death ( my wife calls it that --- disaster avoided--Irish luck )

I forgot all the fuel and brake lines run under the floor next to the rocker on the drivers side, had a new cutoff wheel on, cut too deep.

Pics below, just have see whats up with the front motor mount again, maybe 3rd time to replace it............thats all for now.....

Doug in P.R.

 

[melsg5]

that build sheet was a nice find. Great you have access to the tools to do the repair.

 

[92 Sunbird LE]

April , May, June, July 2019 Update:

Driver's window roller finally got flat spotted and fell off the regulator stud, nothing in town at AutoZone, so had to drive to Advance the next town over to get the universal roller kit.

Drilled out the stud and installed the roller with the bolt in stud, with an off brand loctite of course.( Famous for falling out if you don't)

Got some new 168 L.E.D.s for my front side marker lights and the map lights on the rearview mirror that I switched in an earlier post. Came from China ( 10 for $7) Too big for the maplights so had to modify the reflectors to make them fit .

No painting done as of yet, too windy this summer so far, no rain to speak of either. Water rationing started last week, turn ours off Tues and Thurs .

Got some spare 14's from my wife's cousins tire shop for free, changed one on the passenger side. Have 4 more under a tarp.

Car is running great , almost to 150k miles now.

All for now....Doug in P.R.

 

[melsg5]

Thanks for the update and your contributions to this site.
I find it mind blowing that the island has to go through water rationing.
Why cant the federal government invest in desalination?

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[92 Sunbird LE]

Don't know why Mel, our water down here in our town comes from an aquafir and we have had hardly any rain this spring or summer.

I guess it just a precaution so we don't run out. We have plenty of water stored at home in about 50 or so gallon bottles and one 55 gallon drum.

Plus my wife's uncle has a well 2 houses from us, so we are fine with it.

Doug in P.R.

 

[92 Sunbird LE]

August, September 2019 Update:

Just broke the 150k mile mark on the car , has been running great.

The dash cluster finally bit the dust a few weeks ago, the the copper fingers and the copper circuit sheet basically fell apart.

Most of the lights didn't work anymore, only the guages. The low oil light went out and then when I went to put the cluster back in after changing that bulb, nothing worked.

So I took out all the guages and bulbs and put my fan led back on it and ran it totally blind for 3 weeks.

After searching www.car-part.com for 2 days, finally found one in Newville Auto Parts in Wisconsin. They actually quoted me a decent shipping price ($20) for the $25 part. Other places wanted more than the part to ship it, thinking this is a foreign country. The cheapest I found was $ 14 for the cluster but no shipping to here.

It took 10 days for it to get here ( parcel post) but it was worth the wait. Every bulb worked in it and they were the original GE bulbs. Plus the circuit sheet was perfect! It just had a small crack on the front clear clear plastic which was no big deal. Even the dial needles still had color ! Swapped out my odometer since the new one had about 2000 less miles and installed a new green led on the temp guage for the cooling fan on indicator.

Installed it Thursday since no work due to rain on the farm, works great.

That's all for now, Doug in P.R.

 

[melsg5]

Glad you found it and got a good rate on shipping. I recently ordered a pair of coveralls from California. They were about $39 including the shipping. Well who ever determines their sizes should be fired. Way too small and when I went to ship them back in the original box the shipping was about $30. Got rid of the box and put them in a soft pack envelope which brought it down to $17. Learned a lesson about buying certain things long distance.

 

[92 Sunbird LE]

That's the way it is everyday for us here Mel, it's frustrating that shipping is so high, just to find someone to ship it to us ( like the cluster above) is merry-go-round.

I must of called about 10 different places on Car-Part that had the cluster. ( About 60 listed ) most listed that I didn't call were over $60 for the part alone. The other guy in Wisconsin that had one for the same price as the one I bought said it was sitting on the shelf for 4000 days! But he wanted $35 to ship.

When I buy anything off EBAY, I always look for Free shipping first.

Doug in P.R.

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[92 Sunbird LE]

Oct, Nov, Dec, 2019, Jan , Feb, Mar 2020 Update:

Wow it's been 6 months since the last update so here it goes.....

Passed emissions in December easily due to a good helping of Seafoam in the tank and a throttle body cleaning.

Repainted the left front fender and door with a good close matching Rust-Oleum I found.Didnt get the quarter panel done cause it needs a little spot putty in few spots.Still need the tailight panel painted also the passenger door has a rust hole that needs repair.

Put a couple of used tires up front, a few weeks later one picked up a nail so I patched it one Saturday morning.

Discovered my coolant was disappearing for a few weeks slowly , a little concerned about a head gasket needing replaced because couldnt find any obvious signs untill last Sunday, when I came home and seen a water mark in the street. Found out the nipple at the bottom of the overflow tank was cracked. So I broke it off and welded the tank with a propane torch and a screwdriver and some odd plastic I had hanging around. I then just moved the overflow hose to the top of the tanks overflow nipple and put in a new overflow on top side of the tank.

Had to cut the metal overflow tube that runs across the radiator past the last holddown because it was rusted . Likely I had some 3/8 rubber hose hanging around from Arizona that just long enough to reattach to the tank .

Also did my yearly oil change ( yes it takes a year to go 3000 miles here)

Last but not least, finally blew out a taillight bulb after 28 years!

Also made a tow hook and welded it to the rear frame rail to it is easier to hook up a rope than tying it around the bumper shock.

That's all for now till next update...


Doug in P.R.

 

[melsg5]

You are an excellent MacGyver!

 

[pippo]

Yup, reminds me of me....LOL

 

[pippo]

I just applied some copper high heat permatex around the donut at the exhaust flange as Doug recommended. Hope it seals up the exhaust and quiets down the noise as I drive as it has been so noisy lately. havnt tested it yet. Stuck home cuz of the virus scare.......