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Swapping out my rear 1/4 extensions....

2K views 16 replies 7 participants last post by  scurling 
#1 ·
I ordered a pizza and got started. By the time the pizza got here 20 minutes later, it looked like this:



It all comes apart really easily.

There was something wacky with the parts that were on it. They were all warped, almost looks like from extreme heat. The reverse lamps were all melted, too. Also, part of the plastic bumper trim appears to be melted on the right side. The right 1/4 extension was the worst of the two with some sort of funky repair made to it. The right tail light housing was broken, too, and one of the bulb holders is broken.





I found a new pair of extensions locally and pick them up from the body shop with fresh paint tomorrow.

In other news:

- I'm very excited to receive several boxes of goodies that thefleetwoodguy sent me today! I'll finally have working AC, among other things.

- I replaced the old, yellowed coach lights with brandy new LED ones:



The car is shaping up nicely. It looks much more stately now that the level control works. Gotta get the vinyl roof taking care of. I'm dreading the quote for that work.
 
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#5 ·
Yes, I live very close to the pizza place. I'm embarrassed requesting delivery sometimes, but I gots things to do. Plus the kid likes to see how fast he can get here, as evidenced by the cheesy, saucy soup of a pizza they always bring me.
 
#4 ·
It's glass only. Some had 2 tracks, though, one for glass and one for the solid partition. It's controlled by switches in the front and back. I find myself fighting with the kids over it. I'm going to wire a lock-out switch up front that disables the rear switch. I want to mount another flat panel TV back there, so that will be my solid partition. I've been looking at power lifts, but I haven't found one thin enough yet.
 
#7 ·
Air tools help. Sometimes make things go too fast - as in too fast to remember how it goes back together....

But, it went together nicely. The body shop did a craptastic job on them but offered to try to buff some of the imperfections out. It looks 98% better though.



All my goodies came in from thefleetwoodguy so I could put the backup lights in. He sent lots of other tid bits to keep me busy (Thanks Jimbo!)

Tomorrow: A/C compressor.
 
#8 ·
thats great, fed ex rocks! ups sucks!
that took 1 day do you know what ups would have
charged for that, dont even want to guess
looks good......glad we could help
if you noticed I left the two lines
on the comp , crimped them
to try to maintain the compressor oil
the green rag was in case it leaked
they wouldnt call hazmat in....
 
#9 ·
I know! I couldn't believe it. I was on a work call and my GF's son popped in and told me FedEX was just here. I'm thinking "no way". But there it all was!

The compressor didn't leak at all - thanks for that. I was wondering how to guess how much oil I should put in the thing. Now I don't need to worry about it.

Lots of good stuff in those boxes. Can't find it anywhere else. Thanks again!
 
#11 ·
Yep, that top is a train wreck. I'm constantly gluing the edges down so it doesn't become a big sail while I'm driving. The back window is the worst of it, though.

I have 4 places to try. One guy I've been dealing with for smaller stuff and he seems reasonable and does good work. 2 others are recommendations by friends in the body business. The last did the top on my GTO longer ago than I care to remember, but he's still in business. I need to minimize the cost so I'll tear it off myself, remove the old adhesive and take care of any rust.

I'll probably get some estimates next week. It's better to do it now while the existing glue is hot from the sun. I don't know what they used, but it doesn't stick in the heat. I could have the whole top off the car in a matter of minutes.
 
#13 ·
It is fun. Except for the A/C compressor swap. That wasn't fun. And now it's sucked down 3 cans of R-134a without any sign of stopping. I'm wondering if there's a big 'ol leak in the rear climate control system. I vacuumed down the front system (forgot to flip the switch for the rear) and it held. The only logical explanation is that the rear system is substantially larger than the 1 lb. 12 oz. front system. It could be. The lines run a lot longer and the evap core might be bigger to cool all that volume. I just wish I had remembered to flip that switch to see if the entire system holds a vacuum.

I'm gonna keep putting refrigerant in it until the pressures get where they need to be....if they ever get there. I'm gonna draw the line at 3 more cans. They're expensive. I remember when R-134a came out the biggest selling point was that it was cheap - was only like $8 a can. Now it's like $18 a can. WTH?
 
#14 ·
Hey turbojimmy, how about tackling some rear tail light mods ? I mean you can also use 1980-92's tail light logo / emblems , we did this on my dad's ride and looked very cool indeed , GM should have not deleted those "arrow" logos
 
#15 ·
I didn't know that. You have pics?

The A/C recharge went poorly. The reason it took 6 cans of refrigerant is because there was indeed a massive leak on the limo portion of the system. Luckily, it was right at the front bumper where they had mounted another accumulator/drier.

So once the leak was fixed, the front A/C started to get nice and cool, but the back stayed hot. The "new" compressor works good and if I close the partition the driver's compartment gets ice cold. But the back isn't working. Hmmmm.....

There's a valve that opens the refrigerant flow up to the rear evap core. Not working. I verified that it was getting 12V, but it was dead.

Now I knew this would happen, but I wasn't sure exactly how devastating the consequences would be. I knew removing the failed valve would vent all of my $18 per can refrigerant into the car. The valve is behind the front passenger seat. I closed the partition and started removing it, hoping for a slow discharge of the refrigerant. Did I mention that someone had pumped the system full of fluorescent green dye? Rather than a controlled leak down, that valve popped like a grenade and green oil exploded everywhere.

Once it had depressurized, I cleaned everything up. It was everywhere. I removed the plunger from the valve so it's always open and put it back together.

I sucked it down to about 20 in hg of vacuum and the system held.

I'm on the fence about replacing the valve or just leaving it open as-is. The factory system always has refrigerant flowing through the evap core as long as the compressor is running, so why not leave it open in the back? I dunno - there must be a reason the coach builder put that valve in there.

The valves can be had on eBay for about $70. I gotta think about it......
 
#17 ·
I know what you mean about the extensions being misshaped. My bumper was "tapped" a few years ago, pushing it out of allignment which didn't help the situation. I had one rear backup light fall out of place one day. It had broken all three mounting tabs (plastic). I did a major repair job using aluminum channel stock from Home Depot to rebuild the tabs. I'll try to post the pictures soon. It may assist others with the same problem. Before making the repair, I drove about a year with the backup light taped in place....very tacky.

Stan
 
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