Christmas Eve morning, after dicking with the door locks for what seemed like a month, the remote keyless entry is working with perfectly all new door locks that match the glovebox.  Now, I’ve only got to do the trunk, and run the wire for the popper.

Of course, I had Christmas obligations to attend to last night and today, so nothing today.

The bumper is back on!  I called the parts company this week wondering where my damn bushings were, and they found the paperwork sitting there and misplaced.  They fast-tracked the shipping and 2 days later the parts were here (yesterday).  UPS dropped them off about 10 minutes before my friend Zane got here, so I suckered him into helping me get the bumper back on.  I told him it would only take ten minutes.  An hour later, we had it secured.

Tonight, I went out and finished putting the bumper on, spacing the gap between it and the hood, reinforcing it, etc.   I’m sure I’ll find more places that need attaching later, but the lights are working (sorta) and it’s drivable-ish.

I learned a few things while doing research – most important, the car doesn’t have factory air.  Shit.  The aftermarket kits are decent, so I’m not too worried, they’re just expensive.  I also think that other than A/C, the car was loaded.  Auto locks, remote mirror, the works.

After I got the bumper on, I started looking at the wiring.  It’s really a mess.  Overwhelming, even.  I can’t wait to go to a car show where I can take a look at a perfectly restored Firebird and take photos, so I can see how it should look.

The next step is obviously to fix the locks.  I realized that the old power locks were seizing or something, and that’s why I now can’t get the driver’s side door open.  I’m not happy about having to hop my fat ass through the window every time I want to start it or get inside.  With any luck, Joe can gimme a hand over the holidays.  Or maybe Roy or Chris.  I need to buy beer.  It also shitty that  the mechanisms for the lock are buried way the fuck inside the door, so I’m shredding my forearms trying to get up in there.  Crap waffles.  I need to buy a lot of beer.

But for today, I’m stoked.

The old bird is happy this weekend. It got a lot of overdue attention. I first started out by lighting a few candles and apologizing for ignoring him for a few months due to things like going to Europe, getting married, post-Thanksgiving turkey sleepiness disorder. However, I did a bunch of shit this weekend and now allow myself to sit here with radiator fluid in my hair, raw knuckles and a strategically blended odor of tranny oil, degreaser and B.O. In a few words – best weekend ever.

Now, before I go too far, I need to list the things I’ve done:

1) Disassembled the front end and began refinishing it.

2) Replaced the transmission fluid pan.

3) Fixed the power steering.

4) Saved the cheerleader, saved the world.

5) Cleaned the engine.

Now, I know that doesn’t sound like much, but completely taking apart the bumper, which needed almost all the bolts cut off was a BITCH! However, I avoided lopping off a finger this time, so everything is awesome. I undid the whole cannoli, cleaned all the parts, wire-wheeled the rust off, and began paint on the under bumper frame (which has absolutely no name whatsoever). Because of the cold, I’ll have to paint it a few more times over the next week, but who cares. It’s looking good and I spent nothing on it. Goal achieved. Of course, I have to buy a few parts before I can put it back together (rubber bushings and most of the bumper bolts).

Transmission pan was simple too – just unbolted the old one with a hole in it, put gasket seal on the new one, and bolted it back in. No sweat. The pain in the ass part is that of the 3 jacks I own, the big 2 have shitty seals and I spent a lot of time figuring out that they suck donkey balls. Need rebuilt. Crap. Refilled El Kabong with tranny fluid and it’s as perfect as a burrito fart. While I was at the store, I also bought some new body bolts for the gap fix I need to do on the valance. With all the fluids and parts, I spend $80 this weekend. Could have been worse. (TC – $8980)

Now the steering was a nice surprise. While I was dicking around with the transmission fluid, I was looking for the refill/dipstick tube. What I assumed it was, turned out to be the power steering reservoir. Okay. I have power steering. And by filling it up, it works now. Butt-fucking brilliant! There’s $300 and a weekend I don’t have to spend on it. Can’t be better that that.

So I took it out in the rain just to run the fluids through it, and I’m super happy with the new performance. Bunch of shit still to do, but for the time, I’m a fluffy bunny of happiness.

P.S. I finally took the thing back to Meineke (NEVER AGAIN!) and they got the fucking brakes right this time. Dude. Seriously. Anyway, I can stop again. Of course, the rear end sounds like robots fucking, so I’m starting to think I’m going to need to fix that. Which will be expensive, I’m sure, but once I get the lights back in and the locks on it, I’ll take it to a non-retarded place for a free look at the rear suspension. Fingers crossed. Maybe it only needs new rear brakes.

Ok, so I’ve had to take some time off from working on the car due to a couple little things… Things like getting married, running off to Europe, throwing a monster reception and Halloween party, which I also had to finish building the downstairs bathroom for.

So, I pulled the car out and took the bumper and valance off. I might have been a little rough, but the parts were mashed anyway. I bought a new valance, as well as new locks for the doors, trunk and glovebox for $170. Hopefully, I’ll have some of it in this weekend. Yay!

(TC – $8900)

I’m trying to get my head straight on what I need to do the the bird, versus what I want to do to it. Otherwise, I’d go nuts, go broke, and probably go into a ditch. When I bought the car, it had a bunch of extra parts that came with it, since the previous owner was in the middle of a nice restoration when he got another car and lost interest. The engine and interior were both nice, and a lot of the tough work had been done, new headliner, new door vinyl, new carb and spark wires and a lot of other things, but you could tell he stopped working on it and it sat outside for about a year. Little things, like rusty sparks and bald tires – simple and easy maintenance stuff, just neglected. Not bad, just needing attention.

I figure since I just dumped a bunch of moo-lah into the damn thing, I’d ease back on the hammers a little bit and do the stuff that he had planned and had parts for. Most importantly and number 1 on the list is the ball joints, front springs, and just about everything in the steering that needs redone. I don’t have the tools and stuff to do it, so I’m going to have to take it in, I think. But, since the final plan for the car is black/grey paint with red badges and accents, I think tonight I’ll hit the hardware store and pick up some red rustoleum spray paint and give the springs a good rust proofing and paint. Simple shit. I doubt I’ll be able to get the car in the shop until next weekend, since I have to go to an out-of-town wedding on Saturday, and won’t be home until Sunday afternoon. In the meantime, I guess I’ll look through my catalogs and drool. I could, however, do the brakes on Sunday if I’ve got the time.

I think #2 on the list is going to have to be the door locks/handles. Right now, to get out of the driver’s side, you have to reach through the window and open it from the outside. Classy. On top of that, there’s no key for the door locks, and even if there were, the lock mechanisms are either bent up, rusty or both. This would be why I don’t really want to park it in public right now. Also, if I’m going to be redoing all of this, I want to do it modern, with a remote entry keychain and power locks.

Now, after talking to my friend Roy, he thought I should shave off the handles and do a remote door popper and all this stuff that I had to look up. I’m thinking that’s a LOT of extra work, and if it gets fudged up, I’m permanently locked out of my car. I’m not that hot of a technician, so after a little research, I think I’m going to go with one of these sets, at around $100. Not bad.

A1 Electric – 2 Door Power Door & Keyless Entry Kit

JCorp – SPAL AS80 Remote Entry System w/ 2-Door Power Lock Kit

I don’t think I’ll be getting around to this for a while, since I’m going to try to keep the priorities in order; get the steering done and paid for, before buying the next big thing.

The next few things (not in any particular order) which I need to look into doing are tires and/or wheels, deck lid, spoiler and front bumper (which came with it), floor shifter & center console (which I have, but might sell since I think it’s ugly), seat covers & interior, radio & sound system, windshield wipers & motor, a/c unit, heat and sound guards for interior, front spoiler & valance bodywork (including busted front blinkers), and I’m sure there’s a pile of other things I don’t even know about yet.

Lesson #3 – This hobby is expensive.