Just days after returning from our sabbatical Utah and California trip, Terry needed something to occupy him. He's not the kind of guy who can just sit around and read like me and my dad, so since he finally had the time, Terry started tinkering on the old boat, the 1977 Chrysler New Yorker.
We acquired the huge car from Terry's Gramma who in turn got it from her Montana dwelling mother and sister-in-law. We discovered some old photos of Aunt Lucille at the Montana cabin when we stayed there in July. There's the New Yorker in its prime!
Last year we fixed a few things on the Chrysler so we could drive it home to our garage Christmas 2016 but quickly moved it out again because it filled the space with mouse stench. We drove it to church on Christmas Eve, but coughed on fumes since the vents didn't work. Sometime during the dark, cold winter Terry took the front end apart in search of the blower motor, thinking perhaps that was the reason there was no power to the dash or vents. He found a giant mouse nest inside. Once he got that cleaned out and replaced the blower motor in March, he drove it to church another time, each time hoping all it needed was to be driven more in order to run better.
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| blower motor mouse nest |
Sometime later he and Roy, a friend from church, took apart the dash in an attempt to discover what was preventing power from reaching where it needed to go. They searched for a chewed vacuum and/or power line and didn't find any so they removed a temperature control switch. Next Terry attempted and failed twice to have it replaced at a local junk yard, and there the boat sat on our curb for months. Until July 4th.
On that day Terry finally, miraculously, mercifully, discovered a chewed vacuum line in the dash. I think his joyful reaction was reasonable.
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| Notice the demolished dash... |
STINKING MICE!!! But once Terry replaced this line, low and behold, he had power to the dash!
But that's where his work had to halt. After we returned from our viewing of the July 4th fireworks, our new van door would not close. The sliding door cable was terribly frayed! This is the van that Terry drove all the way across the state to buy, the van we were disappointed wasn't in better shape, the van we had to do quite a few things to get it up to scratch for our two week trip. At least the door didn't break on the trip, especially when we were in the desert.
The Toyota dealership wanted $1,300 to fix the stinking thing!! That was not in the budget. Terry watched a how-to video on Youtube, searched the internet for the replacement power sliding door cable, called local places for the cable package, and made a deal with one of them for it a quarter of the price the dealership would have charged. There's the problem!
The cable was all frayed and couldn't roll up and unwind anymore, and since that's how the door opens and closes it was stuck.
Frayed cable again.
Based on the very long and detailed video he watched and the inflated cost that Toyota wanted, mostly due to labor, I thought it would take Terry days to finish. He was done in like three and a half hours!
Afterwards I was sitting out in the car with Terry discussing the dash and the nest when I wondered aloud if the system was really as cleaned out now as Terry thought. What if there was still more stuff in there? We both got out and looked up in the blower motor and discovered that it was indeed once again filled to the brim with mouse foulness. So gross! But since then, we haven't had any more messes present themselves and we believe all of it is out of the vents.
Just before we went to Montana for another trip near the end of July, Terry started work on the gas tank. When we originally started work at Gramma's house, we should have drained the gas tank and put in new clean fuel. Since we never did, we wondered if the old fuel was gumming up the system. The gas tank was nearly empty it which meant it was time to begin work on it.
Those are the gas tank straps hanging down.
In addition, the fuel gage had never worked. Terry removed the sending unit pictured here hoping that it was bad and replacing it would do the trick.
Yeah, that sending unit and its float was definitely bad. It was all rusty and sludge covered. No wonder it didn't work.
Here's the gas tank. It's a monster. We had no idea how big it really was until later... But looking inside the tank confirmed that the inside was rusty and dirty. Right before our trip Terry took it to a radiator shop for cleaning and they boiled it. He also ordered a new sending unit.
When we returned home again at the end of July, Terry put it all back together again, sprayed rubberized coating on the underside of the tank, put four gallons in, and still the fuel gauge wouldn't work! Talk about frustrating. So Terry drove it down to the gas station and put another four gallons in and yet again, no fuel registered. Terry called his California cousin Jackson who rebuilds old cars and asked for advice. Jackson suggested grounding the sending unit. That wouldn't work for him either. So Terry carved off some of the rubber coating and tried several different ways of getting it to work. Absolutely nothing helped.
Terry decided to call it quits for a while and started work on putting the dash back together and cleaning the beast up. During this time he also discovered the system did hold the freon he and his dad put in, just that it needed more. So now it blows cold-ish air. Also, Terry had the right caliper replaced after it got sort of dangerously stuck on a drive.
So pretty! He even polished it with Liquid Luster.
She's got a lot of junk in her trunk.
She's a good looking old girl. Just today on the way to church a guy passed us and told us what a nice car it was. Evie and Terry noticed a neighbor slow down to look at it closely yesterday.
The dash is all put back together! It sure is nice to drive in without the sharp metal bottom rub on my legs.
He vacuumed the inside yet again.
The bad mouse smell is better due to keeping the windows open, but it's not gone yet. We still need to probably pay someone to detail it with a professional carpet cleaner.
Back to that fuel gauge. We were going out to Paul and Jana's for a staff get together and decided to take the Chrysler for fun. We filled it up on the way out there and it took forever. That huge boat with it's enormous tank took 24 gallons!! Keep in mind that it already had six to eight gallons from when he was trying to get the fuel gauge to work so it must hold like 30 gallons. The tank is massive. Once the tank was totally full, what do you know would happen but the fuel gauge worked! Either the tank is so big that the float didn't register until it was quite full, or the sending unit isn't too precise. Either way, we know that it's grounded fine.
Driving around in the Chrysler is fun! All six of us plus Luna can fit comfortably inside.
Even Luna thinks it's great fun.
We have a good time with her in the car with us.
There is probably more to be done, but overall, the Chrysler is working well and ready to be driven more often. It's been a good sabbatical project. Terry learned a lot too!
Eva, this was awesome! I love how you are documenting some of these things. In the moment we assume we won't forget, but years later...we do!
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