Jump to content

Winter projects

Atlas

By Atlas
in The Off-Topic Bar

 Share

Recommended Posts

Atlas Senior Enthusiast

Atlas

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

That's it for this year on the 'nine four three point four'...

 

New tires are on, car drives like new, smooth and straight. Gauge cluster removed, fixed, and replaced. New upper dash pad installed, no more cracks. Everything works as it should from the factory. I used spray-adhesive to take care of the drooping headliner for now. It actually looks good? For now. The car will really benefit from a replacement. They use abs plastic cores now instead of fiber/cardboard.

 

The rest is cosmetic which I'll focus on in the Spring. I did a 40 mile freeway run last weekend on the new tires, and another 30 mile backroads run "victory lap" yesterday evening while it was dry. Shifts nice, runs great, handles great...it's nice having a fully functional instrument cluster *with* an accurate speedometer now, all backlighting works, and all warning lamps work as they should...I'd say this one is officially official, returned to service and awaiting Spring adventures.

 

:)

 

Edit: It's not even winter yet. Ha! I call winter "spring" here (post January). Sure we might get a flurry or two but I'm always looking onwards/upwards at the longer daylight hours and the return of a few dry days after the New Year.

Edited by Atlas
  • Thanks 1
  • 2 weeks later...
  • Replies 33
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

CamGTP
CamGTP

I'm "rebuilding" a 6.0 for my Foxbody LS swap project. No idea on the miles or anything, just that it was a sludge monster lol. Lots of skipped oil changes from the looks of it but the bottom end seem

Atlas
Atlas

This followed me home yesterday, aka "winter project". It smells musty, the carpet in the rear is soaked, and it barely runs, just enough to drag itself up onto a trailer. The electronics are finicky,

CamGTP
CamGTP

More power.

Posted Images

KARNUT Senior Enthusiast

KARNUT

Posted
Posted
On 11/25/2025 at 9:44 AM, KARNUT said:

Sound deadening has helped. Coat number two for fender wells today.

I just returned from a trip to McAllister Oklahoma. A six hour drive with stops for lunch and the usual reasons. The sound deadening knock about 50 percent of the road noise down. Only the loudest worse surface penetration. Once the temperature comes back around. I believe one more coat in the fender wells will be enough. 

  • Like 1
customboss Senior Enthusiast

customboss

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, Atlas said:

@customboss that's coming along nicely! Are you doing the upholstery work yourself?

Thanks! Heck no. I paid a craftsman in Colorado Springs. 
Hey Atlas are you near flooding? 

Edited by customboss
  • Like 1
Atlas Senior Enthusiast

Atlas

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 12/14/2025 at 1:50 PM, customboss said:

Thanks! Heck no. I paid a craftsman in Colorado Springs. 
Hey Atlas are you near flooding? 

 

I don't have the patience for upholstery. I'd have to hire someone too. Yours looks excellent, they did a nice job.

 

Our place is fine, we are on higher ground with hills (but not landslides). It's starting to get ugly trying to get around with major roads/freeways either flooded or damaged by slides. We are lucky. A lot of folks can't say the same.

  • Like 1
txab Senior Enthusiast

txab

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, customboss said:

still trying to get that damn vinyl flooring to lay down. 

Did you try a little heat?

  • Thanks 1
customboss Senior Enthusiast

customboss

Posted
Posted
51 minutes ago, txab said:

Did you try a little heat?

Going to with a steamer or heat gun ( used very carefully). Don’t have the strength I used to have to stretch and horse things around. 
 

Your suggestion was what Upholstery guy does. 

diyer2 Senior Enthusiast

diyer2

Posted
Posted

Harbor Freight heat gun. mine has lasted a long time.

  • Thanks 1
  • 1 month later...
Atlas Senior Enthusiast

Atlas

Posted
  • Author
Posted

We're in the home stretch of winter, so why not crank out a few projects.

 

Side note, it's time to put HVAC in the shop. This is supposed to be fun, but it's less fun when I can see my breath out there and my hands are so cold I can't feel them. My portable electric heater melted down in spectacular fashion, why am I not surprised. Mini splits or a propane shop heater, probably do mini's.

 

I think I'll keep the Camaro through this year. I'm working with a PDR guy to have him disappear a few minor dents. This is my first time with PDR, kinda excited to see how it goes.

txab Senior Enthusiast

txab

Posted
Posted

Don't know your winter temps, but mini-split is good, maybe go with a propane back-up for a quick boost on those super cold days. Mine is natural gas

  • Like 1

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • Chuck FB
      Software Update

      By Chuck FB · Posted

      I trust you saw the other comment where he knew what he was talking about !. Yes, these darned newer vehicles with all their so smart they are stupid technology, goes and drains the battery down. As you might see my other comment, I installed a Noco 5 battery tender under the hood and at this point still have the cord routed so I have to lift the hood and then plug it in but am typically parked in a garage or a shed so its not risking the engine hood in the wind. That way I am assured or hopefully so of not finding I have a battery drawn down and can't even start the truck and that also damages the battery to draw it down too far. 
    • Chuck FB
      Software Update

      By Chuck FB · Posted

      I guess no surprise my guesses were wrong !, at least now I know if I ever happen to see it grayed out in my own truck as to what is going on.    I never happened to catch my truck with it grayed out, it seemed every time I would test to see if there was an update it never found anything and yet more than once I would check to see if there was an update and there was nothing, then a day later or even that same morning I would drive to town and after more than one engine shut down in town as I did my errands it would pop up that there is an update now ready to install and the only place I have a connection to the internet is at home by wifi so its not as if it grabbed the download while driving. I don't trust these new vehicles due to all the crap they can decide to do while sitting for some days not running and run the battery down so most of the time if I know the truck will sit for a few days I plug in the battery tender I have mounted under the hood and so the only time the truck must have downloaded software was when it was sitting in the garage where the signal is awful but I have that tender plugged in and somehow it managed to download it. I honestly detest all this crap, way to easy to leave a person stranded.    Since I don't trust any of it I don't do the install of the already downloaded software until I get home and sometimes have even sat in the truck to watch what its doing as its going through the process to its conclusion as its not like it is set up that it will tell you the next time you fire up the engine that the update that was initialed actually installed or installed properly. Yes I can go into the updates and see the list. After I go through the install where I feel its safe to do so in case it breaks down as a result, I will plug in the battery tender after the fact to recharge as I don't know how much power its taking just to do the install and that can take a while for it to install. 
    • nfisherman
      Software Update

      By nfisherman · Posted

      Thanks for the reply. All settings were correct and the engine was off, as it was supposed to be. It turned out to be something simple. I took a drive for about an hour. I must have had a low battery without knowing it. The voltage gauge on the display looked ok. At the end of my drive, I shut off the engine and the update prompt came up and it updated normally. It’s ironic because one of the features of the update is a reduction of battery drain. 
    • kickass audio
      Software Update

      By kickass audio · Posted

      when it's greyed out that is it's way of telling you that it's downloading the patch in the background. Eventually it will be fully downloaded and then it will prompt you at ignition shut down to run the update. I highly recommend doing the update once you get home and can run it a few times. I've had several issues with updates not going the first time around and I had to retry the update multiple times in my driveway before it was successful.   Some updates are huge and take awhile to download. You can help it by connecting to your home WiFi and keep the truck on service mode for the ignition and keep it alive for awhile on a battery charger too. There are specs it needs to be in for updating such as a full enough battery charge, no running ignition, etc.
    • Chuck FB
      Software Update

      By Chuck FB · Posted

      I am not techy at all but wondered if you have the truck running but sitting still in park as some functions gray out as soon as the truck is moving. I believe in the settings for updates you can choose for it NOT to update and I wonder by chance if maybe that was chosen before and now it won't allow you to chose to press update, I think that is back in the settings menu where it has all the items one wants on or off etc. Also I assume you have a wifi connection and checked that it has some signal strength, not that it would have anything to do with the grayed out updates choice in that case. What I am thinking out loud of here may be be of no value but thought I would suggest it, sometimes it can be the simplest thing that resolves an issue.  

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...