 |
Went ahead and drove it down to the inspection place (last year for
inspections in Texas, unless you're in a county that requires emissions
(which I am) and your car is not exempt from emissions testing (which this
is)).
The drive was... harrowing. The rubbing and scraping were
nerve-wracking, the car wouldn't idle at stoplights, the speedometer only
reads ten miles per hour (regardless of speed), and the brakes are not
particularly effective. |
Regardless, it passed safety inspection. They had time to do an
alignment as well (which is good, because it really needed it)
While
it was on the rack, the first thing we noticed was that a lot of the rubbing
and scraping was the rear shocks hitting the little splash-shield things on
the rear axle. Since it was a 4-wheel alignment, they adjusted the
pinion down a little and that moved the shocks away from the shields. |  |
 | |
| I knew it needed an alignment. |  |
 |
Final numbers are pretty close to what I asked for. |
Next item on the list:
The tach looks to be reporting half the
correct RPMs.
Per the instructions, the two dip switches should be
set to UP-UP for an 8 cylinder, but for LS usages it should be set to 4
cylinder, switches UP-DOWN. Definitely shouldn'e be set to DOWN-UP for
6 cylinder. |  |
 |
.. but the only way I got the correct reading is to have the switches set to
DOWN-DOWN, which shouldn't even be valid. |
| Of course, I had to drop the dashboard to get the tach back in there
correctly. |  |
 |
Time to work on the binding in the steering column (because it's most
disconcerting).
Took the wheel off and it looked like this plastic
cover was broken and possibly in the way. Spoiler: it was broken, but
not the problem. |
| The trim ring had actually recessed itself into the column and was
rubbing on the inside edge. |  |
 |
You can see here where it was rubbing. |
I tried just grinding the edge of the trim ring down so it'd clear.
It did not go well. Luckily I had a spare.
Put some washers
between the column adapter and this ring, hopefully it'll keep enough space
to not bind up again... and if it does, I know how to fix it without pulling
the column. |  |
 |
Another issue while it was apart was on the way back from the inspection,
the turn signal lever stopped "latching" in the right-turn position.
I could not figure out how to get this apart so will worry about it later. |
Not pictured: