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IndyJimW

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Posts posted by IndyJimW

  1. Out of curiosity, has anyone who has installed these things noticed any problems in the event the car has to be towed? As in, the tow truck damages the air dam when the hook is fasted on and the winch starts to pull the car onto the flatbed?

    Why would you ever need to tow an Avanti?

    These are a soft plastic, mine is held on with 2 rivets. Easy to remove or bend.

    Ran thru a deep puddle on my lot today, a lot of steam and water drained out of the engine compartment for a half hour. If it directs that much air its doing a great job.

    Safe Motoring,

    Jim Wood

  2. Not a big fan of the "vapor lock" bugaboo, in my 40 years as a mechanic I have never seen it.

    Start with the basics. This engine was designed to operate at those temperatures so you probably have a problem with one of it's sub-systems.

    Is the choke fully opening?

    The air intake should have a vacuum flap that draws hot air off of the exhaust manifold when cold. Is it closing when hot or are you still drawing hot air with the engine at operating temperature?

    On the passenger side of the engine there is a vacuum operated EFE valve connected to the exhaust manifold. If it is stuck shut it directs exhaust gases under the carburetor to the other side exhaust to heat up the carburetor when cold.

    Test the fuel pump. Fuel pressure at idle should be 5.5-6.5 psi. Volume should be 1 pint in 30 seconds. Replace the pump if it can't meet these specs.

    Is the EGR valve operating properly? This can cause a vacuum leak and poor running.

    The cooling system is designed to operate at 195 degrees so that sound OK. I would check it anyway.

    Check the ignition system for heat break down problems.

    If you have the big cap distributor I found that the vacuum advance may not work or the advance weights stick. Both of these will cause drivability problems.

    Safe motoring,

    Jim Wood

  3. Since my center console is out, installing a Vintage Air system, I removed my switch and took it to my auto electric vendor for ID. He didn't have one but we believe it came out of a 1983-86 Jeep CJ5, CJ7 and CJ8. Crown PN 5758687 or 19106.02 or J5758687.

    https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVrwnGXNVDkkA2h8nnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Crown+5758687&fr=yhs-mozilla-004&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-004

    My switch in addition to the rear electrical plug also had a hole drilled into the metal housing and a ground wire added to it.

    Safe motoring,

    Jim Wood

  4. My left turn refuses to cancel even after I put a new switch in, so sometimes I'm that guy too!

    If its a GM type column you have a left and right spring in the switch and a plastic cancel cam / horn ring that slides over the column. If you have replaced the switch, check the lobes on the cancel cam.

    https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=turn+signal+cancel+cam&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

    Safe motoring

    Jim Wood

  5. When I decided to repair all the faults in the fiberglass, paint and remove the rubber molding from around the car I discovered that the front and rear wrap around bumpers were bolted to the body sides with recessed elevator bolts that were hidden by the molding.

    135570523.jpg

    I didn’t want the head of the bolt showing so I looked for chrome plated bumper bolts and found these;

    http://www.classicautoproducts.com/visibolts.html

    The company made me some 3/8 x 2” bolts in Amber and Red

    393552081.jpg

    They fit the recess perfect and add something different. They are a lot brighter then they appear in the photos.

    411317809.jpg

    411317810.jpg

    I noticed on the Visibolt site that they offer a Dual Brightness Module to use them as turn signals also, I'll be making the upgrade.

    Safe motoring,

    Jim Wood

  6. That finally became me but I discovered a cure by accident. One of the problems that I had with the interior lights was the heat, melted lens, burned my fingers on the metal edges of the dash lights etc.

    I changed over to LED lights which eliminated the heat and had a surprising added benefit. I replaced the dash light bulbs with LED’s of the same color, green for turn signal indicators, blue for high beams etc. The added benefit was that the lights are so clear that it’s impossible not to notice them even in sunlight. Not a glaring light that blinds you, just bright day and night.

    I used the BA9s bulbs.

    https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/ba9s-ba7s/

    Safe motoring,

    Jim Wood

  7. Were the #10 LED bulbs also used in the trunk(old backup light) positions and 3rd brake light also?

    My 1987 Avanti came with tail/brake lights in the trunk but I noticed that they were dimmer than the outer tail/brake lights. When I removed the lens I found that there is no housing inside the trunk. The black fiberglass inner and outer shells of the trunk allow the light to dissipate into the gap between them. I purchased some chrome duct tape and built myself a housing to reflect the light out the lens.

    411317778.jpg

    It’s been around eight years ago that I installed the LED lights so my memory was a little rusty. The lights that I used were the short 13 LED tower bulb (I have edited my original post). It has 5 rows of 2 LED’s on the sides with 3 LED’s on the top it’s about the same size as an 1157 bulb.

    411317779.jpg

    The heat from the 3rd Brake light bulb had melted the socket so I purchased an 1157 socket, epoxy it into the housing and used the same 13 LED tower bulb for it as well.

    411317780.jpg

    LED’s have come a long way since I installed mine. At the time the reason I used a tower type bulb is that I wanted to fill the tail light housings with light so as to be seen from the sides like the original. LED’s can be directional so if all the LED’s are pointed to the rear you have to be where they are pointed to see them.

    A good site to see what is available in LED’s is

    https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/led-vehicle-replacement-bulbs/

    Safe motoring,

    Jim Wood

  8. Like some of you I wanted to make sure that my 1987 Avanti brake lights can be seen, here are some of my recommendations.

    Remove the brake light lens and clean them and the reflectors. The lens and reflectors have a pattern on the inside that holds dirt. I used an old toothbrush with some toothpaste to clean and polish the inside of the lens.

    The chrome on the insides of my tail light housings was flaking off and dirty and not a good reflective surface. I removed my housings and cleaned the insides. I taped off the exterior chrome and painted the insides of the housings first with primer and then with a chrome paint. In the picture of the housings below, before is in the rear and the front housing is after painting. The pads on the left side are for the reflector mounting. My housings have a second bulb socket in the center that was drilled at the factory

    400796716.jpg

    I converted over to LED bulbs for most of my interior and exterior lights years ago. I replaced my 1157 bulbs with the short red 13 LED tower bulbs that fit the original socket. The 18 LED tower bulbs were too long and hit the lens before the socket would set in the hole. I found that when compared with 1157 bulbs that the LED’s were brighter and you could see them turn on faster because they don’t have to heat a filament.

    My 1987 Avanti came with 7 brake light bulbs, for those of you that want to add brake lights I have taken pictures of the different combinations.

    2 LED’s

    305202205.jpg

    4 LED’s – 2 bulbs in standard housing

    305202221.jpg

    2 LED’s and 3rd Brake light

    305202207.jpg

    4 LED’s and 3rd Brake light

    305202217.jpg

    4 LED’s and Truck lid LED’s

    305202206.jpg

    2 LED’s, Truck LED’s and 3rd brake light

    305202225.jpg

    4 LED’s, Trunk LED’s and 3rd Brake light

    305225871.jpg

    My 3rd Brake light housing was melted from the heat of the bulb so when I rebuilt it I changed it to a LED bulb,

    LED bulbs work best when they are the same color as the lens.

    I kept the 1157 amber bulbs in the front turn signals and didn’t need to replace my flasher.

    Safe motoring,

    Jim Wood

  9. I would start with making sure that you are getting power to the starter solenoid. Attach a volt meter to the solenoid terminal and see if you get 12 volts to it when you try to start the engine.

    In my 87 Avanti the problem was caused by a bad connection at the plug that supplied the rear TV console. I didn't have a rear TV but the power for the ignition switch traveled thru that plug and back before going to the ignition switch. Wired around the plug and problem gone.

    You can use a volt meter to check your wiring with a voltage drop test. Attach the + probe of the volt meter to the battery terminal and the - probe to the starter cable terminal. Crank the engine and watch the meter reading, anything over .2 volts is resistance caused by corrosion or a bad cable.

    Good luck,

    Jim Wood

  10. Will not work if your 87 Avanti is like mine. If you remove the front bumper you will find that the factory cut off the lower part of the fenders to make the bumper fit. Click on the website below my Avanti VIN to see pictures.

  11. What do you mean by will cut the tires off?

    The drop spindles that I used moved the position of the tie rod ends and changed the toe out so much that you could hear the tires squeal going straight down the road. Had to cut some of the threads off of the tie rod ends, because they bottomed out in the adjustment sleeve, to get the toe back into specs.

    I have not had any problems with ground clearance or tires rubbing the fenders. If I turn the wheel all the way to the left lock the tire will rub the inner fender where the parking cable runs behind it and causes a bulge, not worth fixing.

    I replaced most of my lights with LED's years ago. Gets rid of the heated lens in the interior. A good source for LED lights is;

    http://www.superbrightleds.com

    I also recommend the Monte Carlo site for most info for your drivetrain;

    http://www.montecarloss.com

    Good luck,

    Jim

  12. In 2004 I installed 2" Belltech drop spindles on my '87 Avanti. I searched the Forum but can't find the Post. AOAI published my acticle in their magazine on how to install them, I can look it up if you want a copy. It dropped the front bumper 2 1/2 inches with no problems. Search for Chev. S10 drop spindles, the Monte Carlo front end is the same. It will need an alignment and will cut the tires off if you try to drive it.

    I used 1157 & 1156 replacement LED bulb that you can get from any parts stone. Get the short 13 LED's ones because the long ones may touch the lens when you try to install them.

    Silverstones is what I use.

    The engine code should be stamped on the flat area behind the alternator, mine was blank. I got part of the orginal Monte Carlo VIN from the transmission housing and figured it out from there.

  13. I bought a pair of these seals and they don't look even close to what is on my '85.

    Jim, do your windows have the metal frame around them or no?

    Do you have any close-up photos of the seal area so I can get a feel for how they are mounted - perhaps these can be made to work...

    Thanks.

    No metal frame around my windows. '87 Was the first year for the Monte Carlo based Avanti and Avanti Corp used all the parts they could from the donor car. My Avanti has metal frames for the seal to sit in along the top and rear.

    Jim

  14. Was my everyday driver, put over 30,000 miles on it in 4 years. Took it apart 3 years ago to paint, then decided to etc. etc. etc. Just now starting to drive it again, but still installing parts.

    Bought it to drive, didn't want to tell people about the 1987 Avanti I have at home in my garage.

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