wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Water gets in through the wire seals. (Round pieces of rubber crimped to the terminals, which fit to the round cavities at the back of the connector where the wires enter.) Sometimes these are too small (They shouldn't be with your AC Delco plugs. This usually happens on cheap remans that come on motor units.) or they degrade over time. The grease is the only thing that's really going to buy you any time.


You can purchase the proper lock (It, and all the other connector parts, are made by Delphi - now Aptiv.) for a few cents. Please let me know if you want the P/N and I can pull it for you.

Number Tew

You're a wealth of knowledge! I really appreciate it. I imagine, since this is tucked away so much, the piece I used will do. And now I know a lot more about why this happens. Hopefully we don't run into any more issues with it for quite some time!

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

We get into the finer points of terminals and connectors in the Electronics section from time-to-time, but the pace of discussion is slower in that forum.

If you are going to keep the car and/or girlfriend for a long time and want to keep the wiring in good shape, I'd recommend downloading the following references and keeping them aside. (They may not be perpetually available, as the connectors and terminals on our cars get superseded.)

https://www.powerandsignal.com/docs/...%20Catalog.pdf
https://vdocuments.mx/terminales-y-conectores1.html
https://www.weber.edu/wsuimages/auto...%20Booklet.pdf

In the first catalog, parts for our F-Body wiring and connectors can be found in the following sections: (Mouser sells most of the components.)
Metri-Pack
Special Products: Lamp Sockets (Including new rubber socket seals!)
Special Products: Weather-Pack
Supplemental Products: Cable Seals & Cavity Plugs
Supplemental Products: Clips

If you want to make an investment in the needed crimpers, you'll be able to piece together most of the terminals/connectors on the car with this information. (No more pigtails or mid-wire splicing!!!)

The catalog above doesn't show pictures for all the part numbers it lists, but the Factory Service Manual does list some of the connector part numbers in the electrical sections, which also helps finding things. There are maybe 2-3% of the terminals and connectors on the car, which aren't easily found. In those cases, we have to comb Aptiv's (Delphi's) online engineering drawings to match things up. They have a pretty good search feature, so it's not too bad. So far, I've been able to find (and purchase) every terminal or connector part I've been after for my restorations or modifications.)

one sweet ws6

Number Tew

That is awesome! Thank you so much for all the help.

As far as keeping the girlfriend: she became the fiance on vacation last week. As far as keeping the car, she says she wants it forever. So, I definitely need to save that info!

Hey it is actually running great now and we did get a tune from Hostuned in Tampa. Great guy. The car runs much better after that. I still plan on redoing the PCV setup with AN fittings and such, but that is to come.

Thanks for the love guys!

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Congratulations!

I thought I would keep my Firebird "forever", but I purchased a Chevy Volt last November. I hardly ever touch my Firebird, now. So, I'm starting to get worried that it might sit in the garage, rot, and start smelling like "old people."

If I could ditch the back seat and put in a battery pack and an auxiliary generator/motor in the middle of the driveshaft, I'd be in heaven. (Although the low center of gravity of the EV is really nice.) Would you believe I have more fun driving the Volt? After driving an EV, the lag of an Internal Combustion Engine feels worse than Turbo Lag.

The future is coming - fast. I'm trying to reconcile all this. Maybe I can end up keeping the Firebird, but any scenario like that will definitely involve larger cylinder bores and a supercharger!

Number Tew

One of my best friends just got one of those funny looking BMW EVs and he LOVES it. This coming from a serious motorhead. Of course I had to give him some ribbing about it, but there really is a lot of advantage to an EV.

This car sat for a year so it sort of had the old people thing to start with. We are trying to drive it often enough to keep the kinks shaken out, but not wear it out

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Woah - I can't go that far. Friends don't let friends drive BMW's... (Although, we do have some members here with some sweet BMW LS conversions - that's different.)




Thanks. This is making me more worried...

Number Tew

Haha! Killing me!

I did not mention it before, but we have been having a power drain issue. If the car sat for a few days (or less) it would not start. A jump would take care of it, and the battery is just a year old so it should still be good.

We were just gone for 7 days, she hopped in the car today (8 days now) and it fired right up. I wonder if the headlight issue was also causing some drain? Just thinking, since the headlights can be turned on at any time on their own without need for the ignition.

So, hopefully that's just something else off the list.

Do you have any recommendations on catch cans? A search of that yields thousands of results, with mostly opinions put in. I am thinking of getting the nylon braided hose with AN fittings to redo the PCV vacuum stuff;. Aesthetically pleasing and I can make it the right lengths, since all the factory stuff disintegrated as you might remember.

Thanks so much for all the help!

WS6 #3392

I like and use MightyMouse Solutions.

Number Tew

That seems to be the general rule for the top dog

Number Tew

Alright time for a quick update. Took the car to Myrtle Beach for the F-Body beach bash. I was a bit nervous taking it on a thousand mile trip but it worked out great. Only issue we really uncovered was the A/C would start out blowing strong, then it would slowly dwindle to almost nothing.

I pulled out the blower motor and cleaned out the leaves but that made no difference. Through research we determined it may be the evaporator freezing from improper Freon levels. This seemed likely because I could turn off the A/C and use the vent only and it would blow cold for a while, and slowly get stronger blowing, essentially thawing out the frozen area. So once in Myrtle Beach we got the Freon vacuumed down and filled, though on the return trip it continued to do the same thing. So, I’m stumped.

We also noticed some water coming in on the T-Tops when we washed the car. It looks like the seal that goes onto the middle T separator track thingy is possibly mis-shaped. I plan to attack that ASAP. I will also be lubricating the rest of the seals. The driver’s window might need some adjustment because at speed it makes some noise and it seems to let water in as well. Nothing like a trip to find issues!

Anyhow, onto the rest of the update:

Prior to leaving I installed a Mighty Mouse Solutions catch can. The piece seems to be very high quality. I have not yet checked it to see if we’re getting any oil – either way it’s a nice unit and needed to be done.

The one I ordered:

https://www.mightymousesolutions.com...en-f-body-mild

Pics:




The Beach Bash was great, and the people at Hawks were awesome. While at the car show I purchased and installed the Strano master cylinder brace. The part is very high quality, install is very simple. One of my biggest complaints with the car thus far is the stopping ability compared to other vehicles we have. This changed that IMMENSELY. By far the biggest improvement I’ve ever seen from any part that installs in minutes. On the way back to the hotel I had to slam the brakes and it felt like the rear end lifted off the ground. Great!

We also ordered a set of subframe connectors, though I know there are mixed reviews on how necessary they are. I also ordered a set of UMI lowering springs.

The parts that we ordered/installed:

http://www.stranoparts.com/partdetai...=269&ModelID=7

from Hawks: http://www.hawksmotorsports.com/stra...camaro-firebird/

SFCs: http://www.hawksmotorsports.com/hawk...nectors-boxed/

Springs: http://www.hawksmotorsports.com/cama...i-performance/

(I have new shocks to put in at the house already)

So all of those parts should be installed soon!

During our time in South Carolina we drove the car around a bit and took some pics. We did not do the Autocross (though I really wanted to) mostly because we wanted to make sure we could make it 500 miles back home. We all know stuff breaks when you start having fun. The event looked awesome. Drag racing got cancelled because of damage from Hurricane Florence.

She ended up placing in the car show, and it was the only CETA that we saw. I will say, there were probably more deserving cars at the show, but she was really happy to win something. Most people probably did not realize there’s almost 130k on the clock! Either way, it was tons of fun, here are some shots from the trip.

Thanks for looking:

Bracket pics and install:




Touchless Car Wash!








On a side note, if you’ve never been to Myrtle Beach – I am pretty sure you could eat at a different breakfast place, seafood buffet for lunch and an Italian restaurant for dinner every single day and not eat at the same place twice for like two weeks. You could also putt putt golf at a difference place every day. It was pretty amusing!

After hearing all the cammed cars, she wants H/C/I – good time to uh, freshen up the motor!

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

There are histories with both of these things. You'll want to hop in here with pictures before pioneering. Some parts of the T-Top bar are particularly rare/impossible to get.

For the glass, you'll want to make sure your regulator isn't tearing into the door from a prior bad motor replacement. If not, it's an easy adjustment following the shbox instructions.

Number Tew

O boy, that makes me feel a lot less comfortable ha!

I will have to get the door panel off and take a look. I'd hate to think I messed up on the motor replacement, but anything is possible. I am hoping it's just an adjustment issue. I noticed the door panel may not be 100% set in right. On the corner furthest away from the vehicle (on the driver's side, think top left if you are sitting in the car) looks like it may not be just right after comparing to some other vehicles in the car show.

Car shows are great because you can see "O this is how that's supposed to look" haha

01Z0H6

iTrader: (63)

Read through your thread. I for one am a fan of the CETA's.... Most especially the fact that it is an M6. I too like to do the "small" stuff on these cars that the previous owner neglected or didn't care to keep up with. The FACT that this is your GF's car is pretty cool. Hope she truly appreciates your efforts and attention to detail. Its a great car and has came a long way since its purchase. I recently picked up an 01 Formula Firehawk that will be delivered tomorrow. It too needs a little love that I am totally ready to give. Perhaps i'll document the process as well. Great thread. Keep it up.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Did you post about your window motor replacement? (I forget.) As long as you didn't remove the regulator in that process and followed the shbox instructions, you should be OK.

Number Tew

That Formula looks great! And the small things can really make the car! I appreciate the love. I've been a forum nerd for many years (starting in middle school) - so I love to over document everything. I do the same thing with my house actually haha!

Yes sir. It was one of the first things I did, and I followed the Shbox method and did not remove the regulator. I know the shbox method had been previously used because the holes were already there. So hopefully it's just an adjustment issue. I'll have to get the panel off and take a look. I think the notorious crack may not have been perfect when I fixed it the first time so I might add some more plastic weld to it. I noticed it looking rough on the passenger side as well. Just gotta keep up with these things haha!

I plan to look into this stuff tomorrow and will post pics of what the center piece on the T-Tops looks like. But basically, the seal that is supposed to go over top the center piece from, what i assume is the windshield seal, is like tucked under the center piece somehow. Pics will explain better.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

You should be good, then. Sometimes, the stops in the door just need adjustment to get the seal right. shbox has an excellent process for doing this adjustment and I recommend following it exactly. You can use the good reveal on your passenger side to gauge your work on the driver's side. (before you do the ultimate rain test on it)

For sure. Those rubber tabs at the end of the center bar are only glued on and are impossible to find for a reasonable price. With a pic, we can give you some recommendations on how to handle them.

Number Tew

Awesome, so right now I'll go out and pull the panel and start with the Shbox method. I'll probably see if I can add some strength to the area behind the notorious crack. I already removed the hog rings and added nuts and bolts with some room to breathe like I saw in a writeup on here, somewhere.

Subframe connectors showed up today!

Here are a couple pics of the T-Top center piece:

Front:


Rear:


Thanks for all the help!

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

The door panel instructions should be in a sticky.

Those are gnarly. The one by the windshield may be OK, but it looks like the rear flap may need to be removed, flattened and glued back on. (Super glue, if I recall correctly, should do the job.)

When you put the T-Tops in, you need to make sure that the corners go under those flaps, otherwise they get bent out of shape. It's just something that you'll need to be careful with after you fix these. For example, after seeing the front passenger corner, you'd want to pull the top back out, get it under the tab, and then everything will settle back into the proper place.

If you take the T-Tops out, you can remove the screws holding the plastic bar down and then pop it off. It should be held down with those lightly tightened screws and some foam tape. (You can get the new tape at any auto parts store.)

Once the center bar is out, you should be able to put it in a warm place and the rubber ends should start to relax. You may have to heat them up with a low temperature heat gun to get the flat shape back if you can't park the car with the tops off (in a garage) for a while. Once you have everything flat again, the bar goes back on top of the car and then the rubber ends get bent and tucked under the front and back lips again.