Making everything work... even the "little things"

Since my last post, I was able to get the seat motors installed and working.  #1 Son and I are getting pretty good at removing and replacing the seat!  I used easily removable ball lock pins to keep this removal/replacement process easy, even with the motors installed.  Sadly, I was in a rush and didn't take pictures... but it was a very straightforward install.  I had rebuild the mechanism months ago.  Of course, the seat needs to stay in the full-back position in order to be useful... the forward position is only for midgets.  But it does go up and down a few inches.

Yesterday, I wanted to get the wipers installed and working.  I had previously checked out the vacuum driven wiper motor... as far as I know, it is untouched since the car was new, or at least for the last 40 years!  Suprisingly, all it needed was a little brake fluid to refresh the internal leather seals, and it worked fine!  Here's a very poor cell phone video of the wiper motor hooked up to the engine vacuum.

Before I installed the wipers, I wanted to buff the short cowl piece where the wipers and washer nozzles go.  Once these pieces are installed, it is difficult to buff around them.  I've admittedly been obsessing about buffing out the paint, and have been researching buffers and compounds.  I'll discuss that in a later post.

Before I buffed the cowl, I wanted to practice buffing on some place less conspicuous.  I just got a new rotary buffer, and I wanted some practice before tackling the cowl.  So, I decided to buff out the splash guard under the trunk lid, which surrounds the fuel filler.  I cleaned the splash guard, taped the edges (which are the most likely place to burn through the paint) put on a 3" buffing pad, put some machine polish on the pad, and gently proceeded to buff.  It worked suprisingly well!  I unmasked the edges and hand buffed them.  I then masked and buffed the cowl.  I have been gaining confidence with the buffer.

Here's a shot of the cowl with the wipers and washer nozzles installed. The polish isn't evident in this picture.

 The hardest part of installing the wipers was hooking up the mechanism under the dash.  The rods connect in front of the wiper motor, and have to be attached "blind" using a funky spring clip.

The pins for connecting the actuator rods are on the front of the wiper motor, hard to reach.

With patience and some dexterity, they can be attached.  Here the rods are in place and the motor bolted to the mount.

 It took longer than I expected (doesn't it always), but it was very satisfying to have the wipers working!  The paper towels keep the wiper blades from sticking to the dry windshield.

Later in the evening, I hooked up the heater blower motor & defroster vent hose, and confirmed proper defroster operation.  The car is now "all weather capable"!  That is a great feeling!

Today I wanted to get the grille installed before visiting a friend from church.  Well, I took too long with the grille and will need to postpone my visit until tomorrow.  However, that freed up the afternoon for another celebration ride up the coast with my son! 

Today, I have been blessed!  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  I will post a retrospective reflection.