Shift Linkage

When going through the wiring I found that the reverse-switch wasn't being tripped properly. The way the switch works is by literally pushing the button down when the shifter is locked into reverse. The problem was that said switch wasn't even being touched when reverse was "engaged". The linkage was always problematic when driving the car. Upon inspection the linkage is adjustable, so I removed the shifter, and the linkage.

The bracket that holds the shift handle had a huge lump of booger weld on it that I'm sure wasn't great for functionality. So I ground that off.

After a little more inspection after disassemblly I found what may be the problem with the shift linkage...

Yeah, that ain't a SAAB logo. I think I've got the linkage out of a f*@king beetle. I mean if you're gonna rob the linkage out of a car it might as well be the most common one on the planet. All the drawings I've found the linkage looks eerily similar so after a little modification I think I can make it work.

the bolt that holds tight the position on this bar needs a groove to fit in, so closest is the stock one and the second groove I made.

Tightened on

All reinstalled, I adjusted the linkage to about 2 to 3 inches shorter

re-greased the ball joint at the bottom of the shifter

Wiring: FINISHED

After god knows how many hours and how many feet of new wire, rebuild kits, the electrical system is finished! I finally got the wiper motor fixed after a $40 new brush plate, hours of modifying said brush plate, and more struggle it finally works. The heater fan works, the radiator fan works, the lights work, the back up switch work. If I'm honest I'm not 100% sure all the stuff in the gauges work but that will be an issue with the gauge not the wiring.

I've added an aftermarket radio to go in the hole the previous owner chopped through the dash. Wired up the spots for the speakers. So pictures of the beauty of my wiring to follow.

Wiper Motor Rebuild:

old plate on the table (top mounted brushes)

new brush plate installed, had to use longer screws than stock due to spacers

So the issue as it turns out with the wiper motor was with the old brush plate. Finding a new replacement was a pain in the ass because while Lucas (Lord of Darkness) put similar wiper motors in just about every single European developed car of the late 60's and 70's. Emphasize on "similar" as in not the same. So I bought a $40 new brush-plate for a Hillman Avenger. Which of course didn't fit right out of the box, so I spent close to 2 hours hacking it up with a Dremel tool. It then fit but the new plate has the brushes mounted in the middle instead of the top. So the new brushes were grounding out on the case, so after I added 2 nylon spacing washers to each screw, add power and the motor worked like a dream... or whatever it is Lucas parts work like.

Trunk Pan

The old trunk pan obviously was a little worse for wear. It's design allows for any moisture in the vehicle to pool there are rust through. Obviously that's not great for structural pieces to be so full of rust holes.

I took the old pan to 3 different metal shops in my area. None of them could help me. I'm pretty irritated that 2 shops that "specialize in metal fabrication" couldn't do a little bit of metal-brake work. So I splurged and bought the $110 plans for sheet metal from the Ashcrafts in Oregon. When they come I'm gonna do it my damn self.

Wheel Caps

Svettlana came with some some none-original wheel caps, they're chrome emblazoned with a large W and "Western". The wheels aren't chrome so the caps didn't match, not to mention they're generic so the fit isn't perfect.

With my second visit to Tim Nines at the junkyard I picked up some original plain alloy caps that go with the rims. They're from a junkyard car so they were really rough, dirty, oxidized, and 2 were pretty badly dented.

So they were wire wheeled, and I hit them with staggered decreasing grits of sandpaper to get a finish similar to the sandblasted rims. The two dented hubs I heated up with a torch and tapped out the dents from the back until I was content with their surface. Once they were done I clear coated them to prevent further oxidation.

Washer Motor Rebuild

The wiper motor doesn't work. So apart it comes.

Taken all apart

Base magnets are rusty as can be

Rotor is OK but the brass contact plates at the top are corroded. Common known problem so 600 grit sandpaper is the solution.

Cleaned out the old grease and the rust from the body

all the washers, C clips, and screws from the assembly

The brush plate. The #1 problem with these old Lucas motors. I'm going to get a new brush plate cause the springs have nearly rusted in half.

Here are where the studs for the plug pop in

Putting things back

Washers and clips almost all go here on the outside

All put back together. Even with the relay isn't working properly. Brush plate still needs replacement so it may be the issue.

EDIT: Relay wasn't working, so I got a new one, this didn't fix the problem. I could hear the relay energizing (clicking) but the motor wouldn't come on. So I replaced the brush-plate, that's in a later post.

Reservoir Strut

Got tired of looking at this nasty rusted reservoir strut and the rusted bolts that go with it. So I did the reasonable thing and redid it.

Looking rusty, beat up, and in general bad shape

The cap area was so corroded it actually makes getting the cap off a struggle

Forgot to take pictures of the strut out of the car but there it is.

I tried to match the color of the steering rack. Got pretty close, but now the valve covers are 2 or 3 shades darker blue.

Wiring

What with the whole wiring harness ripped out of the car it was time to put all new wires in. That's been the current undertaking for the past month or so.

Everything that was in the car electronically that I've replaced.

Spark plugs, ignition coil, distributor cap, distributor rotor, and spark plugs leads.

Random transformer that was wired in parallel with the distributor. It seems dingus was 

trying to use it as a ballast resistor, which of course isn't needed with the aftermarket ignition system. 

One of dingus' quality splicing jobs, this one was next to the starter 

 It looks like one of these wires burned up, and then instead of replacing it he just spliced in a new one.

The set of  headlight relays, working on the inter-relay connections. 

Soldered on the quick disconnect trailer connector

Labeled and finished connector

Set of relays installed

From further out

All the wires are in heat shrink, makes it look better. 

See? You can barely see the wires.