What’s Next?

Now that my car can be used it’s tempting to stamp “done” on this project, but that would be supremely premature. There is still a lot to do on this car both in terms of maintenance and improvement. I’ll use this entry to list those out for future reference. 

In no particular order this includes:

  • Intermittently broken odometer: Over two years ago when I first got the car one of the first things I did was fix the odometer. Somehow since then it has decided to occasionally stop working. I noticed this yesterday when I took it out for a quick trip to the grocery store. Perhaps the replacement gear also broke? Everything else in the cluster still works, so that’s my best guess.
  • Flashing ABS light: Now that I can drive the car more than around the block in my neighborhood I’ve found that the ABS warning light likes to occasionally flash on and off, usually when I hit bumps. I’m guessing that one or more of the ABS sensors are dirty as heck. If you remember from awhile back when we changed the brake pads we found that the front wheel dust guards were almost completely rusted away. This has definitely not helped in keeping those sensors clean. I’m hoping that a nice rinse off with brake cleaner will solve this issue. This leads me to…
  • Replace the missing front dust guards: These things are sort of hard to find and not cheap, but thankfully a guy in Poland by the Nom de Business of “Volvofan” had a set for a relatively reasonable price on eBay. I bought a set and waited quite some time for them to arrive, but arrive they have. I will have to modify them to get them to work with the ABS sensors but this is just a matter of cutting a small access hole so I’m not worried.
  • Engine is running rich: I’ve been getting a code from the computer complaining about a rich mixture at idle. At this point I’ve replaced or verified as working almost every component involved the fuel/air mixture system so I’m pretty confident it’s not the MAF, engine temperature sensor, injectors, air intake, throttle body, or fuel pressure regulator. Really all that leaves are the rest of the vacuum hoses, the fuel pump relay, and the Lambda/O2 sensor. I’ll check the former first and address the latter two if the hoses all look good.
  • Reattach exterior trim: There are a few pieces of exterior trim that are not currently attached. I physically have them, but I haven’t gotten around to actually reattaching them. This includes the rubber moulding strips that run along the bottom of the doors. They have come unglued in a few places.
  • Replace missing and broken interior trim: Specifically the emergency brake cover and the driver’s side b-pillar trim need replacing. I would also like to eventually replace the driver’s side door card as mine is in pretty bad shape.
  • Replace the antennae: This might require some professional body work to get the hole where the antennae goes into the proper shape.
  • Front shocks: The mechanic who did my inspection said that my front shocks were on their way out. It might be prudent to replace them before the next inspection or even well before seeing as how a nicer, smoother ride is something worth having.
  • New downpipe: My downpipe is fixed but it’s not optimal. I think it would be worthwhile to replace it and at the same time take the exhaust manifold off for cleaning and a new gasket.
  • Rewire the tail light connectors: The modular tail light connectors I originally used are, to but it bluntly, ass. They rely on somewhat flimsy crimp connections that haven’t held up as well as I had hoped. I got new ones that I will be soldering in place rather than crimping.
  • Overdrive solenoid: My old nemesis the, broken overdrive solenoid, is still laughing at me from it’s difficult to access position on top of the transmission. I am still thinking of how to go about this. Considering how the last attempt went I want to be ready with a solid plan before I take another stab at this.
  • Windshield wipers: My wipers work fine but could be improved. Specifically the front wipers don’t automatically park themselves when turned off and the rear wiper’s intermittent setting just does the same as the non-intermittent settings. I’d like to fix both of these situations.
  • New paint: One day I plan to have the car repainting. This will probably be the very last thing I do, but it’s definitely on the list.

As you can see there is still plenty of work to be done. Continue to watch this page for all that to happen.