MX145 |
09-10-2015 10:17 PM |
I'm glad I put the car together before paint although I'm not looking forward to tearing it down again. I've ran into a number of electrical and mechanical issues which I didn't expect.
The 69 Camaro Painless wire harness didn't actually match the included wiring diagram. After burning up a brand new alternator I found a wire factory spliced into the ignition wire in the main harness. Apparently they expect everyone's running a 1 wire alternator even though the instructions cover multiple configurations. Separating the two and heat shrink got me squared away and my alternator light working as expected. I've since changed the factory Camaro gauges over to Dakota Digital which I couldn't be happier with.
Had some other minor issues such as leaking thermostat housings that were just poor quality, poor quality eBay valve covers that don't properly fit the gaskets, sticky fuel sending unit, unclear heater hose routing that I screwed around with for a month or so finally settling on an edelbrock aluminum pump and rerouting things, along with many interior trim parts that don't fit well/poor quality.
The biggest issue has been a vibration I have yet to track down. The transmission has been out the car numerous times, driveline trued and rebalanced 3 times and a weight recently fell off again! (Don't get me started on that vendor) new trans output shaft bushing and seal, replaced clutch/pressure plate, 3rd member, wheels with road force balancing. It's been a challenge. When I lost the ability to shift into second under high RPM I decided to pull the Super T10 out. I'm currently putting a Magnum T56 in with new bell and driveline.
Its been tough finding good quality shops in this area as well. Im envious of the guys in CA. I've hired out the headliner install, the exhaust install, and glass install. So far the headliner was the only work done to my satisfaction. The glass leaks as well as the exhaust, and it wasn't installed as agreed. The tailpipes are 2 piece/overlapping joint and welded directly to my mufflers instead of band clamped as requested and parts supplied. At this point I think I would have been better off buying a lift and doing the work myself being that I had 1k in parts plus 1k in labor for unsatisfactory work.
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