Shocker

The shocks on a car like this need replacing every couple years, and we did some of the prep work to get the old ones loosened up, and got replacements ready to go. We had another work day with Grampy, and worked on installing the new shocks.

Here's the front side ready to get started:

 

Old vs. new, the old ones were pretty useless, since they compressed, and did not push back out.

Connor working the drivers side shock as Grampy supervised.

 The rear shocks seemed like they would be easier to replace, but oddly took a bit more contortion to get the wrenches in the right places.

Working in the back seat was not too bad, besides having to remove the seat and firewall to get at the bolts.

The tricky part was getting the bottoms unbolted, and getting the new shocks in and bolted in place.

Once the new shocks were in place, the car leveled out a bit better, and rode a bit higher. Pushing on the bumper, it now bounces back and levels off quite nicely.

More inside, out.

We've removed the rear dash panel, the front dash pad, and the dashboard. Behind the dashboard is a voltage regulator that keeps the gauges going. Here again, it's going from old mechanical technology to Solid State.
Here's the old gauge regulator, it operated by making contact which activated a heater element, that causes a bi-metalic arm to deform and open the circuit, which cools it off.

This happens many times a second, and creates that Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) voltage regulation similar to what is used for the Alternator Regulator.

Here's the inside of a new one, all Solid State (transistors, no moving parts, no vacuum tubes) Time will tell if the replacement will last as long as the original. There is something to be said for technology that will function 20 years or more.

Here's the regulator installed on the back side of the instrument panel:

All those wires are for the gauges, backlighting, and turn signals.

So the interior looks a bit better, we pop-riveted a few panels to the floorboards to patch up the biggest holes, and we used some reclaimed carpet to cover the floor. Not the final product, but something to work with while we focus on other pieces of this project.