My new 1988 T/A

[DynoDave]

Boy, it's been a bad month for working on the car.

That JET switch was not going to work (wrong diameter), so the search for a suitable (3/8" NPT, cooler set points) switch was on. I had saved an old thread from TGO where a member was able to post the on/off set points of 5 different switches in the GP Sorenson line available at Advance Auto Parts. Sadly in the intervening years, GP Sorenson has gotten out of the switch and sensor business, and I could not find anyone with an NOS GP Sorenson switch of the part# I wanted.

Checked at NAPA, Rock, O'Reilly's, Auto Value etc. with no luck. Everyone lists just one switch part #, with it having the factory set points.

After a lot of digging through a dozen of more pages of results on the Summit site, I found this Ron Francis unit that is just shy of the right length (a touch longer, but I'm hoping it will be alright), which uses the factory style connector (no trying to cut/splice/seal a connection up inside that little pocket of space under the manifold), and comes with a replacement factory style connector. This is good insurance for me, as the factory switch broke off in the factory connector, so in case I can't get that broken piece out, this will be Plan B.

Set points: 200F on, 185F off.






With an appalling lack of focus, I dove into adding a hard wire for my radar detector. Because if I were somehow to get the car ready into for it's first trip, I'd want the radar detector.



While the pad is off, I ran through and snugged all the screws, chasing those squeaks and rattles. I'll be adding some cloth patches to the back side of the pad at contact points. Just trying to make another 2% improvement on the hundreds of rattles this car has.

Pulled the hush panel from under the dash on the driver side. Didn't know, or had forgotten, there was this hidden on/off switch for the alarm system (I guess...not attached to anything now). Might be able to use that in the future.



And while it's never caused a problem, and I like to not fix what isn't broke, I'll probably remove and seal these tap connections from the alarm while I'm in there.

[MP81]

Oh look at that, you've got some upgraded 4x6s in the dash.

And I have the same kind of (disconnected, I think) switch on the bottom of my dash - no doubt related to the 37 alarms my uncle had installed throughout the car's life. I really need to remove the remnants of all of them because the wiring is just...horrific. But considering "under the dash" is a place I don't like finding myself, it's much easier just to shove it all back up and ignore it (until it falls on my feet when I'm trying to drive).

[DynoDave]

Yeah, I've known that stuff was under there, but since it wasn't creating a problem, I decided to leave it be (until now).

[DynoDave]

Sadly, I was not able to get these repairs done in time for the planned May trip. But I just did not want to rush putting it back together, only to have to remove the same pieces again when I got back to complete other work. Sucks, but that's the way it is.

[MP81]

Yeah, there's no point in wasting time putting it back together if it needs to come back apart. Plus, rushing to put it back together could lead to mistakes, which are...not ideal.

[DynoDave]

Sad how little I've gotten done with the car this summer. I decided to go ahead and replace the water pump and radiator. Couldn't get the water pump pulley bolts to break loose, so when the new rad arrived, I started pulling the old one out. Not much corrosion on this car, but I pre-treated the trans cooler connections with some PB Blaster, just to make sure everything came apart without issue.

Can't really make it out in this photo, but there was just a bit of debris UNDER the radiator...a leaf or two, a few helicopters, that sort of thing. No biggie.

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Went underneath to get the fan electrical connector. Easy.

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Wiring harness clip had already popped off the fan body...I'll have to crimp that shut a little more when it goes back on.

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Snipped that factory zip-tie too. Would love to find another one like that, but not even sure what it's called.

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A 3/8" ratchet with a thinner head and a short 13mm socket allowed me to get the bottom bolts for the fan without interference from the swaybar.

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Original cooling fan motor decal, for those into that sort of thing.

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[MP81]

Looks like something like this would be the proper replacement?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/195891692055

[DynoDave]

Trans cooler lines came off without an issue. One less thing to have to re-work.

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Those little bits of leave and things I could see with the radiator in place, turned out to be a lot larger pieces of trash than I had suspected.

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There's even a page of a newspaper and a napkin in here...good grief.

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I find this fascinating. This car had no cooling issues....ran at the temps specified by the manufacturer. I intend to run it a little cooler, but had no issues. Looking up from under the car through the cooling air intake, the face of the a/c condenser is spotless. The backside of the condenser, facing the radiator, spotless. The backside of the radiator where the fan mounts, fins as clean as could be. But the forward facing side of the radiator, right behind that spotless condenser....filthy in the area directly in front of the fan, and just above it.

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Crazy. So if you are ever fighting an overheat or running hot condition on a setup like this, don't give the condenser and rad a clean bill of health until you have looked between them! I would have never guessed this was like this. That's a good 10-15% of the surface area with no air flow.

Makes me suspect that all that debris that is now under the radiator was probably also sucked in front of it at one time. The radiator is not sealed by foam or other material to the condenser, so with the fan on, it must have pulled this trash in from the sides or bottom. The condenser is pretty well sealed to the core support, so this stuff did not pass around the condenser from under the car.

[DynoDave]

Looks like something like this would be the proper replacement?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/195891692055

Perfect! Thank you Kyle.

[MP81]

Perfect! Thank you Kyle.

Not a problem! Though eBay is going to think I am a NOS-Zip-Tie enthusiast now.

[DynoDave]

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[DynoDave]

My sole accomplishment for the weekend...I cleaned the trash out of the core support (while on a phone call). I unfolded the paper, and found the story about Bill Elliott wining the pole for the Southern 500 at Darlington, and it mentions the speed he ran. A little detective work traces that to the September 1988 running of the race. My cars build date on the door decal is 9/87. Assuming that paper didn't get thrown out 20 years later, then it's been stuck in the radiator since the car was about 1 year old.

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[MP81]

Wow - it's honestly in pretty fantastic shape for being nearly 40 years old!

[DynoDave]

It is. It's funny...when I started to unfold it, I thought it would be super crispy and flake apart. Completely the opposite, it is very "soft", almost like cloth. Despite the engine compartment environment, it has lead an easy life, no rain, no winters, etc.

[DynoDave]

Good grief...no real progress since last August.

I've been getting some garage time in the last month. A lot of cleaning and organizing...amazing how much stuff gets in the way in the shop when I'm not actively using it.

Where did I leave off....water pump is off, have a couple of replacement options. One of the heater core coolant hose pipes (NOT on the heater core itself) was a little corroded under the hose. So it got a couple of rounds of sanding/scuffing, cleaned with L.A.'s Totally Awesome, and finally with some Eastwood Pre (paint prep). I will hit the end of that pipe with some KBS Rust Seal.



And while I have a small tin or cup of that product dispensed from the can, I'll touch up the rust on the crank pully, and on the surprisingly rusty timing chain cover. That cover is the rustiest thing on the whole car, steering and suspension parts included. Thin paint and forward facing into road and fan spray I guess. This got dowsed a couple of times in spray engine cleaner, brushed, and rinsed with water. Then several liberal sprayings of L.A.'s Totally Awesome (my favorite post-garage fire spray cleaner) to remove the oily film left by the engine cleaner, then rinsed again. Dried for several days it looks ready for coating. Gloss black KBS will be close enough to black engine paint for these surfaces, especially since they are nearly invisible when the pump, radiator, fan, belts and hoses are back in place.