[T3] Lots of questions...

["Tad Heckaman" <tad@heckaman.com>]

Here's a lot of questions about the 69 fastback that I have.

First, the engine turns! After taking out the spark plugs and putting
some mystery oil in the cylinders, we cranked the engine by hand (the
clutch seems to be slightly loose, when I put it in gear and tried to
spin the wheels, the engine sorta moved, but dint turn. Any ideas?)
After we cranked the engine a few times (to make sure its not seized up)
we hooked up the battery and ran the starter, so that works also. After
that we tried the lights. The left turn signal blinked, but the right
one dint, and when we turned it off, it kept clicking in the dash. Maybe
its because the water which drips down the steering column when we hosed
the car off. The headlights dint work (they have been sitting for 8
years...) but the right running lights worked, as did the turn signal
and brake. The other side must have some burned out bulbs (I hope)
because only the running light worked. The hazard lights don't work
either, nor does the horn (every time we push the horn, it shorts out
the lights in the dash, possibly the whole car too.) The brakes don't
work, mostly because the fluid container was empty. Hopefully we only
need to bleed the brakes and test for leaks. The emergency brake also
doesn't work, so I have to check into that too (that was fun getting
towed to the house without any brakes, hit the van once, but it was neat
seeing the bumper work with its shocks.) Any ideas about the E-brake? We
don't see any leaks after pushing the brake pedal a few times after
filling it, so the PO must have drained the whole system, along with the
fuel tank. The fuel tank is out a karmaan gia (sp?) or a bug, cant tell,
but its not the original one, since its filling up the trunk, sitting on
top of the old tank (have to open the trunk to fill it too). The
passenger door was very tight, but a few ounces of various oils fixed
that. The drivers door works perfectly, not a single hang up at all. The
steering also works fine, after playing bumper cars with the van pulling
me. The chrome on the bumpers is flaky and rusty, feels like sandpaper.
The body is rather good condition, the most bad places are along the
bottom, with random holes (and lots of mud), on the hood (lots of rust
spots), and the fenders (mostly under the headlights and near the
windshield). I am probably forgetting most of it though. The windows are
kind of bad, with the rear pop out (that correct? It's the ones that
open) windows being caulked shut, because it leaked. I cant seem to find
any replacement window seals for the rear pop out windows, except in a
place in the UK, so you can imagine the shipping costs. The roof of the
car, along with the rear truck lid, is near rust free, which is really
nice. The "gills" on the back are also rust free too, very nice that I
wont have to fix those up. The rear trunk area is a mess, we had to rip
out all the soggy insulation, and there is quite allot of rust there
too. The water must have come from the leaking rear windows (the caulked
up ones) so I need to get rid of that. The seats in the car are in good
condition too, I think the PO had them redone. The floor pan is mostly
rust free too, even though it had water sitting in it every time it
rained (gotta clean those tubes out) The battery tray is rusted out I
think, since its sitting on a piece of metal and a block of wood. What
was fun is when we hooked the battery up for the first time, we hooked
it up backwards. The PO had replaced the cables, and put the RED cable
on the chassis, and the BLACK cable to the wires. Hopefully it dint fry
anything too badly. I am planning on redoing the whole electrical
system, or at least the things that don't work, because it acted too
funny. Also could somebody tell me what the lights mean on the dash, I
cant figure out what the [G] light is, even though I am sure its simple.
Any tips or help is welcome!

Doug (Tad) Heckaman

KG4YMG

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