73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Engine/Drivetrain => Topic started by: pcguysam on February 18, 2013, 10:40:19 am
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I will start this by saying that I am not a professional mechanic, nor have I ever claimed to be good at mechanictry(I know it's not a word). So if you are a professional mechanic or anyone else who reads this and wants to flame me over it, please don't... I am tired... I worked 10 hours on my truck yesterday and got very little accomplished and I have already beat myself up enough over all of this.
So I went to get my 81 inspected. Texas State inspection SUCKS! It is exempt from emissions testing, yet the emissions stuff has to be visibly there and hooked up. Makes NO sense. He failed it because I had no heat riser duct, non-factory breather, no vacuum lines to the charcoal canister... Whatever...
Anyway, it also failed safety:
Windshied wipers not working(they were, but the motor was VERY weak) - REPLACED MOTOR, Fixed
Parking brake light non functional(Replaced Bulb) - FIXED
High Beam indicator non functional(Yes it was, but it's SO dim that you can't see it in the daylight) - Looking for suggestions here
Observation by the inspector:
Steering column loose(Estimate 2.5 hours labor to repair, HA!)
Now this is where the repair got hairy. Whatever you do, DON'T BREAK THE TILT PIN REMOVER TOOL OFF IN THE TILT PIN... Nothing but bad things can happen if you do this. 5 hours later, after 3 trips to O'Reilly and Home Depot, about $25 worth of drill bits and worthless "extractor" tools, I finally drilled a hole in the column adjacent to the pin(yes, bad, I know), but think 'Deep Water Horizon' and using that hole and access to the side of the pin, I was able to pull the pin...
Tightened the column back up
Began reassembly, couldn't get the tilt spring back in place...
Tried
Tried more
Pushed
Begged
Pleaded
YouTubed
Googled... Nothing
... So I finally got the piece on top of it to begin to screw down thinking that would go ahead and push the spring in....
Nope, crack, pop... AND... I broke the inside plastic plate in the middle of the column, but only 1 of the 3 screw holes was rendered useless. This is the plate directly below the turn signal switch.
Frustrated, I quit for the evening(or so I thought)
20 minutes later I went back and took it back apart, and removed the spring...
Screwed, bolted, even had the patience to cut down a new screw for the turn signal handle and tighten it up nice and neat
Got EVERYTHING back together and proceeded to test it all and guess what! Everything works great, sans tilt spring...
I don't know if the column will stand the test of time, but it is working great now and lesson was learned on why not to use gorilla force, but it was a heavy duty spring afterall and those things can be a b!$%# to compress. So all in all, I don't feel SO bad.
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First off - if this is a tilt column which based on your description it is, there is a whole post dedicated to tightening this up in the tech section and it lists all the tools required including the pivot pin removal tool
Second, this is a family friendly forum. NO swearing of any sort please, it was part of the registration agreement you accepted.
Third - if he failed you on the loose column how it is not that the spring is gone, or am I missing something.
Forth - on the Hi beams, you might want to pull the cluster and make sure everything is clean and put a new bulb in that position.
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Let me address your Second first because i would never violate rules on purpose. I had to read my post a couple of times to see what you were talking about. I normally curse like a sailor, so I didn't realize that the 'dad cussing' and 'Q-Bert cussing' were in violation of the forum rules. I completely apologize and will make sure to refrain in the future. I am really sorry about that.
1. Yes sir, I read the post and followed the instructions which got me most of the way. I could not get the spring back in place. From what I could tell, all the tilt spring did was cause the wheel to flip upward when you pulled the tilt handle. It did not actually hold the tilt tight. I tightened the 4 reverse torque bolts just above the shifter and that took care of the "wobble".
3. See 1, the spring didn't actually do anything but push the column upward when the tilt lever was pulled.
4. I have pulled the entire cluster and cleaned it all up and replaced every bulb, whether burned out or not. The high beam indicator works like I say, but during the day time it is just REALLY dim. I was thinking of pulling the blue plastic lens out and painting the bulb blue or trying to find a thinner plastic lens that would show through better. It's the 2 little dots and they just aren't visible in the daytime.
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It won't ever be bright in daylight, especially on a 30+ year truck.
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This is just my experience, but i live in the DFW Area and I have an '84 SWB with a crate motor. There is no emission stuff anywhere in the engine compartment. I think the guy tellling you it has to be there is making that up. I suggest you try another shop if he did not pass it. I do not think you will have any problems getting it inspected if the only problems were what you listed.
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They passed it yesterday. I put a factory breather on it that I grabbed at the junkyard with some vacuum hoses that I hid under the breather and a heat riser duct. No problems. They even passed it in spite of the tint that they said was too dark. So truck is inspected and registered. Everything is coming together. Becoming an AC expert today. Trying to get it to pump cold air :-)
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Having cold air will be important soon! good luck.
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Vacuumed the AC out, recharged with a 134A conversion kit. I added a UV Dye to the refrigerant so that I can more easily locate leaks. It's blowing kinda cold :-) I was a can short. Picking it up today, but unfortunately it's hard to test the AC when it's 40 something degrees outside.
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**UPDATE 2/22/13**
Ok, had the truck for 10 days. So far I have:
Torn apart the steering column and tighted up the tilt & turn signal switch
Torn apart the dash and replaced all burned out bulbs
Replaced the Windshield Wiper Motor
Replaced the Brake Master Cylinder
Repaired the A/C, now blowing between 45 and 50 degrees vs 80 before
Taken out the radio that had the power and remote hooked to 12V, so it was on all the time. Removed the 6x9 boxes from behind the seat.
......
Maybe I'm more of a mechanic than I give myself credit for :-)