The valve noise is not bad a at all so I had not prioritized that vary high. Issue is that the valve cover gasket is leaking a lot now and if I have to replace that might as well do the valves at the same time.
We have been wanting to do the interior. Unfortunately we keep moving it down the list to perform mechanical items. Seats, seat belts we considered mandatory. The carpet we did while doing a bunch of little items that had to get done but did not look like much. Any time we have to do several items that do not appear to make any changes we try to plan something visible that makes a difference. Helps keep mundane projects feel more important when added to a wow I can see a difference now project.
Been driving it more than working on it. Since May we have driven it about 400 - 500 miles. This is more than we drove all last year. It hit us when I looked down at the gas gauge and realized we have to fill it again. Some of the trips have just been hour and a half rides to nowhere. Others have been to town and back. All unplanned, just a nice day and nowhere to go.
Recently we changed the oil and installed a clock in the dash. Kids always wanted the clock since they first saw one installed in another car. It lights up as it should but does not keep time. The minute hand is loose and always points down. We debated about fixing the electric motor in it but decided not to since we commonly disconnect the battery anyways.
Finally got all of the parts to the emergency brake properly installed this weekend. We spent hours staring at this. A friend looked at it and we found that not only was the bar the linkage connected to bent but so was the mount the pivot point used to connect to the frame. Once that was bent back things lined up and we were able to connect everything. Now we just have to properly adjust the cables and this item might be able to be crossed off of the todo list.
We have hit a point where no one wants the car to be off the road so we do not want to start any big item and on top of that with both kids getting older any long stretches of time are getting fewer and fewer. We need a few less weekdays and a few more weekdays.
Ended July installing a headliner. The boys have wanted to use a flag so we used a 48 star US flag. It fits nicely. Unfortunately I had to fold in part of the stars due to the curve of the roof. Have not tucked in the rear yet as we still make something around the window.
Started making door cards. We had bought the canvas last year thinking we would do this over the winter. Other items took priority. Now that we do not want to do anything to take the car off the road we are working on the interior. Used duck canvas, hard board and for a little padding we used my wife's old yoga mat, she now has a new one. Installing the rear panel a few wrinkles appeared when the panel was bent to fit but we thought it still looked good.
Door handles and window cranks are back on. As well as the window trim on the doors. Since we left the dash with the original paint we decided to do the same with the trim pieces for the windows. There are scratches and marks but it somehow adds to the character of the car. For the escutcheons around the door handles and window cranks we found chair sliders that were the same color as the handles knobs and modified them to work. We only had a handful for the car. Completed the kick panels also. They were mounted with industrial Velcro. The driver's side is hiding the fuse block we installed. Having minivan bench seats installed has been nice for working on the car. They fold down and out of the way when you need more room to work on the interior. Since we made brackets to mount them with if we ever do get the original seats done we can swap them out without any issues. A goal has been to make it that anything we do can be undone down the road.
Took the valve cover off to fix a leaking valve cover gasket and found that the oil line to the rocker oiler was cut and that the return line was held on with a piece of wire. The old gasket was cracked at each corner and extremely hard. Thanks to the community at VCCA we were able to replace the part. My oldest took off the front set of rockers so we could slide the new oiler on. Using a compression fitting the old line could be attached to the new oiler. Once the rockers were all back in place we checked the spacing and verified that oil was going everywhere it was supposed to. Next we put a valve cover gasket on and gave it a test drive. No leaks appeared from the valve cover gasket and the engine sounds better since setting the spacing on the valves. Since we were doing all this work we changed the spark plugs also. They did not look bad but we had it apart.
