1968 Camaro - AC Pump and IDIDIT column

                     With the dash pad loosely installed - and the new AC pump having arrived this week - I decided to leave the interior for a bit so I could get the engine and its componenets buttoned up....

If you've been following along closely, you'll recall the first AC pump I was given for the Camaro was too long for this application. After a couple tries - and an hour or two of research -   I finally figured out the issue....

  Last week a new, shorter AC Pump arrived (courtsey of the owner) and today - it got installed.

This pump has a compeltely different hookup, which looks like it'll add some complexity to the AC hook-up, but that's something for the specialist to worry about....  My job is to get it all installed!

And.....after about 30 minutes - it was in.

       Another few minutes (!) and the Rad was back in place as well  - ready for coolant!

stay tuned while I finish up the column install and get on with re-instaling all the windows, chrome and various acroutemounts needed to complete this sweetheart ride!

Porsche break

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When I get frustrated after doing one job too long (wiring!), I often just switch tasks to something else - which mixes things up and renews my interest in being in the shop:

                    With everything opened up you have access to the top side of the engine bay -

One of the est things about having a Porsche is knowing that every owner (2 before me) had very likely taken incredible care with it, leaving it in near perfect shape, near 14 years later.

Parts, plugs and patience!

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Lots of parts and pieces needed have come in, making if possible to finalzie many of the jobs.

 Rag Joint for Ididit Steering column:

90* fitting for fuel pump:

New 3/8" fuel hose:

Chrome capped bumper bolts:

....and with those, it was time to pre-asssemble the rear bumper bar:

Odd marks around the square cut holes....hopefully not a place for rust to start!

Newly painted brackets - 

Fuel lines get a corrugated cover for extra protection -

Notice the 90* fitting making the fuel line much more relaxed,
                                                           with no pinch-points that could sever

Replacing the V-belt pulley for serpentine on Sanden AC pump .

Here I made a wrench to hold the pulley still while I loosened the centre bolt - 

With the Serpentine pulley on, I tried the pump in the space again...

But the ass-end is still up against the engine block....

 With the AC pump back on the bench - until more research proved it to be the wrong model for the kit.....I got back to wiring and got 'er nearly done:

                          Lots of solder used on the fused link 12V+ that powers the gauges -

Remote GPS mount for speedo - 

the lengths I go to make everything right, watertight and gutten-tight!

Wiring the Camaro and The Art of Zen

 If you think you're going to wire up a car - perhaps with a "so-called" Painless" wiring harness, or maybe you're going to splice in a new AC unit, new gauges, or even a stereo, you'd best get in the right frame of mind!

Some of the mess I started with - the original harness had been out, put back in, spliced for stereo's and who knows what else.....Agh!

So, I got my "Zen" on and began with a plan. The orignal gauge harness is on top, while one of 4 (yes FOUR!), new ones is on the bottom. Instructions are a must.

The original speedo-cable with grommet  wasstill attached. It has long since fit the hole, since the last electrician decided to route most of everything else through the same hole...jamming other plastic convoluted tubes thrugh the same hole -

The gauges had 2 harnesses each, one for power and lights, the other for speed and RPM signals.

Connections for water temp, oil pressure and to the tach for RPM, where next. The oil pressure  gauge was mechanical, but this gauge system is all electrical, so a bung was swapped in, turning oil pressure into into an electrical signal,

Slowly, each wire was identified, routed, labelled and connected. 

Everything was soldered and heat-shrink wrapped.

The original thermostat housing took off to the left, towards the upper rad-hose connection, but with the temp sensor installed, the hose would not fit on the housing. 

The answer was a straight-aread thermostat housing swap....

Serpentine hold up and ididit replacement steering column upgrade

The serpentine set-up was nearing completion - until a couple items ground it to a halt...

The March pulley kit didn't include a pulley for the AC pump, which was odd, since this was a specific kit to mount an AC pump.... Even worse, was that the serpentine belts themeselves weren't included - in a serpentine pulley kit...really?

While I was dry-fitting the AC pump to the Mrch bracketry, I found that the current fuel pump and filter set-up where going to be in the way unless I changed the entire set up...adding several more items to the parts store shopping list.

And speaking of parts store lists, I still need to find a thermostat housing that will work with this set up. 

While awaiting the AC pump serp-pulley and re-organizing the fuel-feed set up, I decided to move back into the interior to replace the old stock steering column 

with a state-of-the-art ididit column set-up.

In the engine compartment, the so-called rag-joint needed to be seperated to pull the old column out -  allowing the columns to be swapped out. 

                     Tomorrow we'll get the wiring sorted and begin on the dash and new gauges -

A bit of a shame to see the 'old-parts' pile continue to mount.....