Gas Tanks!

Dateline - 06/01/2013 - decided to start working on the gas tanks as well as more center console work.  Here is a reminder of the "Saga of the Tanks."  The XJ6 has two 12 gallon tanks, one in each rear fender.  The filler caps are on the top of the fender and recessed into a small cup.  The cup has a drain to let the water that collects there drain out.  But what ends up happening is the drain gets clogged with leaves, dirt, etc. and soon the cup turned into...well...a cup that holds water.  Once the water level gets high enough, it will drain past some vent holes in the gas cap and soon you have a significant amount of water in the tanks.  The specific gravity of water is heaver then gasoline, so the water will settle to the bottom of the tank and eventually rust it away.

Now, in a car that is being used all the time, there is enough jostling to keep the water from settling in one place, and in general, you use both tanks, so you are continually putting new gas in.  However, my car sat for several years outside and that did the tanks no good.

A couple of years ago, I took the tanks to a radiator shop to see what condition they were in.  The driver's side tank was in okay shape (it was still able to hold gas when I drove the car).  The passenger side tank, however, was Swiss cheese!  So I went on ebay and bought a passenger side tank.  I also bought a tank sealer kit from Eastwood that I planned to use on the driver's side tank.

Fast forward to this weekend.  I pull the tanks out from under the car (where they were being stored) and the new tank is in great shape.  So I masked off important areas and painted the tank.  The drivers side tank though had continued to rust, even in the dry garage environment.  I tipped the tank over and bunches of rust came out!  So, girding my loins, I pulled out the Eastwood tank sealing kit and started to read the instructions.  OMG.  I needed to buy muriatic acid, acetone and then follow a 12 step process to seal the tank.  I just wasn't up for that!  So, I went on ebay and bought a drivers side tank too!  So, at least I will have two brand new tanks, brand new sending units and fresh fuel hoses.  What price serenity!

I also spend some more time with the body filler this weekend.  I've just about got the center console done.  I have a little more sanding and fitting to get the radio to work correctly, but I should be able to finish that soon.

Finally, I did some filler on the chin piece of the car.  This is the last piece of bodywork that requires bondo work, so, I'm pretty pleased.

Light Work Day

Dateline - 05/25/2013 - Had a light work day on the car on Saturday.  Spent the first few hours cleaning the garage!  Needed to find some room on my workbench!  After that, I re-installed the air vents in the dash that I took off to get the wiring done.  Then I fitted the center console and started working on the center console facia.  If you remember, that's the carbon fiber layup that I did during the winter that didn't turn out so hot.  I took what I have and cut all the holes to the correct size and started using body filler to reshape it and fill gaps created in the molding process.  I still have a little more filler work to do, but it's pretty close.  Probably a couple more evenings.

I've really been tempted to work on the gas tanks.  I have a band new one that I need to paint, and the old driver side one that I needs the inside sealed.  It just has not been warm enough to really feel comfortable painting (low 60's) and the humidity has been high.  But once I get the tanks back in the car, I'm going to be pretty close to painting.  I guess I had better get on it and start talking to paint shops soon!

Down to the "Wire"

Dateline - 05/18/2013 - I'm almost done with the wiring!!!!!  It's been a really long haul, but I feel like I'm just inches away from being done.  As far as I can tell, all the wiring inside the car is done, tied up and ready to go.  I even activated the instrument lights to see if the dimmer worked.  All the lights, including those in the switches worked and dimmed fine!  Also wired in the power on/off and start switches.  They appear to be working also.  And I wired in the information center!  The only wires I could do are the "Cruse On" and "Cruse Set" lights that I wanted.  I ran the wires, but I will not know if I get a signal from the cruse control system until I have it up and working.

The only wiring left is in the trunk.  I need to put a fuse box back there and wire in center backup light, and trunk interior lights. 

Needless to say, I'm really happy!

What is next before paint? 
- Mount the radio
- Mount the climate control switches
- Finish the air recirculation box
- Mount the new emergency brake cable
- Pull out the transmission speedo adapter so that I can buy one that fits my speedo transponder.
- Clean, seal and paint both gas tanks
- Mount the gas tanks
- Finish side the driver side of the car
- Get it painted!

While the car is in the paintshop:
- Finish the front center console fascia
- Stain and finish the dash board

When the car come back:
- Install sound proofing
- Put the car back together

So, my plan has changed.  I thought I could get this car done this year.  The way things look, I'm going to be happy if I can get the car painted before winter.  That will give me three months to put everything back together (and not have to hurry through it).  So, it looks like next spring I should have it running.

Getting Closer and Closer

Dateline - 05/12/2013 - More wiring this weekend, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  I believe I have all the wiring done inside the car accept for the dimmer control, the power/ignition switches, connections for the Information Center and the fuse block in the trunk!  All the switches are wired, all the instrument lights are wired, the radio is wired, the climate control is wired and I've cleaned up almost all the wiring harnesses!  Boy it will be nice to be done with wiring!

On Sunday I worked on the dimmer control.  I bought this dimmer control (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L4KKF2/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and found the box to be too big and the screw connectors were not what I wanted.  So I printed a new box using my 3D printer and ABS plastic, and created a new box that will allow me to mount the dinner control and the box easily.  I mounted the CB and glued the halves together using hot glue which should make it pretty water tight also.  Here are pictures:

No Work On The Car This Weekend.

Dateline - 05/04/2013 - No work on the car this weekend.  We had our first 80 degree weekend and I *had* to do yard work.  My cat walked out into the lawn on Saturday and disappeared in the grass!  Good news now is that all I have to do is maintain it now.  I may be able to get some time in the evenings to work on the car.  I've been biking to work three days a week so when I get home, I'm not very motivated to work on the car, and it's getting on to 7:00 pm. But if I'm going to get it done, I need to do it!

Like What I Said Last Week - "Why Can't The Wiring Be Done Already!"

Dateline - 04/28/2013 - Took Saturday off because I wasn't feeling well, so worked on the car 1/2 day on Sunday.  Again, more wiring, but I'm really making headway!  I have all eight switches that go into the center console wired and tied off!  YES!  Now I have two switches that go on the left lower facia (Master Power and Headlight Override) to wire, but I need to order the connectors.  I also have the digital dimmer switch to finish up.  I printed the box for it on my 3D printer on Saturday, so now I just need to wire it up.  I have to change the instrument light wiring that I created last year because I need to run the ground back to the switch, not to the chassis as I had originally ran it.  That gave me a chance to clean up some of that wiring too.

So what is left?  Wiring the fuse box in the trunk, dimmer switch, and cleaning up the remaining wiring harnesses.  Wow!  I'm really getting there!  Yahoo!

Why Can't The Wiring Be Done Already!

Dateline - 04/20/2013 - Another full day of working on wiring.  Boy-o-boy is this getting old!  The good news is that I've rerouted all the wires the way I want them, and laced them all together.  I left off with making up the wires for the switches.  I know how long they need to be and have them all ready to go, but ran out of steam at 5:00 pm.  So now, all I need to do is make up the switch connectors.  I do need to do some rewire for the instrument lights because I bought a digital dimmer control, but that shouldn't take too long.  I still have to sort out the wires running to the trunk on the drivers side of the car.  I also need to mount my new fuse block in the trunk.  But it's coming down to brass tacks now.

After I got done working on wiring, I went into the house and did some more work on the rear air recirculation box.  Several posts ago I reported that I scrubbed away a great deal of the rust and fiber glassed the holes.  This weekend I put a nice clear coat of resin to fill in any gaps.  I also took about the three remaining flapper doors and cleaned then up and rust sealed them.  I need to make one flapper door out of some sheet steel, then find a good replacement fabric for the hinges.  Yes, the original used a rubber impregnated silk as a hinge!  I think I'm going to get a good ripstop nylon or Kevlar.

Well, that's it for this weekend!