With the car all back together and running again, it was time to get my smog check done. I had asked the place in town where I take the daily drivers if they would do it, and they said no – we don’t know what to look for on the visual inspection. Plus it will cost $120 because of the enhanced checks required on a car this old with no OBD (or other) onboard diagnostics.
So I took it up to Sacramento instead, to the shop where Clint brings his. The guy was very cool, respectful of the car and quick about the inspection. It passed with flying colors, coming in not only dramatically below the high marks, but significantly below average. What a load off!
Only problem was that with the 106 degree weather, a long drive up from Vacaville, idling for 20 minutes in the parking lot of the test station, and the dyno run – the temps really started climbing. When we left the test station to check out a discount metal warehouse nearby, I was sitting right at 220. I made the drive back to Clint’s place with the A/C off and heater going full blast (106 outside, remember…) to keep things cool. After a few hours cooling off in Clint’s garage, it was safe to drive home and stayed cool the whole way. It didn’t hurt that the ambient temperature went down dramatically in the evening.
Not quite sure why it got so warm, as the water pump is working, the system holds pressure and isn’t leaking, the fans are working, etc. I think perhaps overuse of the A/C due to the high outside temp was killing the radiator’s efficiency. I may investigate a new radiator this year. I don’t believe mine is original, but it is quite old.
This week I’ve put some vinyl tubing over the torsion bars to protect them from rubbing on the door hinge and eliminated a buzzing noise from where the T panel joins the windshield header. Just needed some new foam underneath to shim it up. I also tracked down a clunking noise from the rear end – it turned out to be my jug of coolant in the frunk banging around. The fiberglass tub can really mask where noises are coming from.
Tonight I’m going to make a jumper to eliminate my dashboard rheostat (my lights are all LED, so having a resistive dimmer is just silly and causes them to go out sometimes) and maybe take another drive. Just waiting for my new, new, new, new door strut brackets to come and then I can put everything back together!