Wagon Travel and Deer Strike Pics. (Edited: Full Accident Repair and associated Mods Thread w/pics)

4/29/2016 - Re-post from Electrical section, in case seeing the above pics helps the diagnosis...

Got a short it seems. Dangit. Battery in the Roady would not keep a charge, despite me keeping it on a trickle charger, I kept having to jump the car to start it. Once started, it's fire right back up if shut off, but if left overnight the battery was flat.

Took the battery out, and it's 6-years old, and took a good hit when the deer got me, so Wally World tested it and said it had a bad cell. I bought a new battery, put it in yesterday, car fired right up. All seemed fine, gauges read fine...ok.

Decided to take a short drive to get the trans hot so I could re-check the level. Drove about a mile and all the sudden the radio and the climate control head went dark, then came back on (clock re-set when radio lost power), then both went dark again, then came back on, and even weirder when the radio came on the AUTO TONE changed from Pop to Rock to C/W all on it's own! SAY WHAT????

I shut the radio off and drove home. The car itself ran fine. Headlights didn't dim, volt gauge never jumped, no other issues.

SO I know this is about impossible to diagnose, especially online, but any ideas are appreciated. I am going to re-check the battery connections (they're clean, I know that) and the grounds for the wiring on the radiator support. I unplugged no wiring when doing the accident repairs, but all the harnesses on the front got moved and re-fed. And there are grounds on both sides of the radiator into the support. I'm going to unscrew those and sand some of the fresh paint off under them so hopefully that will create a better ground.

Couple of other things to add to the fun. I still had not seen the new engine fans come on, but had not let the car get really HOT yet, and since the a/c is not charged could not turn on the compressor to kick the fans on that way, so I read online to unplug the sensor at the water pump and that would kick the fans on. I did that and after a few seconds the passenger side fan came on, and then the driver's side followed. Good, they both work, but when I went to shut the car off, before re-plugging in the sensor, the Check Engine light was on. HA! I'm wondering, being a '96 OBDII car, if unplugging that sensor tripped the light. I HOPE that was it and that it's not related to the issue above.

LASTLY I think I overfilled the cooling system. The car did not come close to overheating, gauge never got above the halfway point, but I have coolant seeping out of the overflow bottle...looks like it's coming from around the cap on the bottle. Cap is new, and on tightly, but coolant seeps from around it onto the bottle and then drips down onto the (freshly-painted) front frame rail. I HOPE I just overfilled it. Is that how these are designed, if overfull to seep out like that?

Looks like I have some tinkering to do this weekend.....

-Mike

Oh, PS I got the trans fluid topped off. Took almost a quart when hot but perfectly at level now. Small victories....

Thought I better update this before I get behind.  

FIRST, Found the short! Battery ground at the fender was loose. Love it when it's an easy fix!!


Car seems to be running fine now!

The Check Engine light did go out, so that must have been from unplugging the sensor.   Last I syphoned fluid out of the coolant bottle when the car was cold...brought it back to the Full Cold line.   Put the cap back on and drove it.  No Leaks!

4/30/2016 - Picking up my Frankenstein'd Roadmaster Sedan seat for my wagon. Very Cool!








Sedan Sedan seat installed in the wagon. Wish I'd done this years ago!!







If you can't tell...I really really REALLY like this seat mod!!!  

NEXT!  Central Texas Metal Polishing made my roof rack rail look chromed! Whoa!







5/3/2016 - Getting her legal again!


5/4/2016. - Passed inspection, registered and new plates. On the road again!


5/9/2016 - Early Morning Pics showing the freshly-polished wood and wheels. Drove the Roady to work this morning. Will be dropping it off at lunchtime for the a/c repair.  
Waxed the woodgrain last night. First time I've EVER done that on this car...was a little worried it would dry out or hurt the Di-Nok, but it really made it shine! Also pulled out the Mother's mag polish for the wheels and then waxed them too. She GLOWS.



That's the latest Folks!   Thanks again for all the help and encouragement!!   I'm so happy to have my favorite car on the road again!  You guys are great!



-Texas Mike

what a nice car,....good job mike,. well done.

The patience and hard work paid off! Looks perfect! The polished rack and seat mod really set it apart even more!

Chris

Thanks All! I dropped it off for the a/c evac/re-charge yesterday. My garage sure looked empty last night. It's been a month since the body parts were painted so it's back to wet-sand and buffing next. Almost there!

-Mike

Looking so good...

Great work. Love that back seat!

So, I'm just gonna need you to move to Orlando and do all this to Hilda...

Hahahaha, thanks again ALL!  



-Mike

Lots of other GM parts, we'll call it stock enough!

stewzer55 wrote:

Lots of other GM parts, we'll call it stock enough!

Ok...how about we say it's how GM "could" have built one?

looks great all your hard work paid off

mtrhead79 wrote:

looks great all your hard work paid off

When I loop at your signature picture I don't feel as proud if the work I did anymore. You did a body-off on yours???

-Mike

Mike,thats a picture of a "Stomper" get ready for a 9 volt upgrade.

Mike-

Rear seat mod looks Fabu. Do you have a pic of the rear seat folded? I have thought about doing this mod but do like the flat folding of existing seats. A challenge I see is that the rear leg room is not great in these wagons and when folks get into the back they tend to sit and need to slide over a bit. Adult seats in the rear may make it tougher.

Wagoninabox wrote:

Mike-

Rear seat mod looks Fabu.  Do you have a pic of the rear seat folded?  I have thought about doing this mod but do like the flat folding of existing seats. A challenge I see is that the rear leg room is not great in these wagons and when folks get into the back they tend to sit and need to slide over a bit.  Adult seats in the rear may make it tougher.

Mine will only lean forward a bit, by my decision, enough to reach the lower hinge spring and remove the seatback totally from the car if needed. If you want it to lay totally down, it IS possible to notch out the lower corners of seatback like the original wagon seatback is notched, and then have your upholstery guy sew it up. See the comparison here:




I decided not to notch mine, as I think it looks SO MUCH better un-notched, and if I need to haul a big load...I'll use my truck.

Now you COULD just cut out the metal frame there and leave leather and pad, which is what some others have done, but when you lay the seat down it crushes the padding/leather, and I'm told it take a few days to smooth back out. That worries me. If I HAD to have a fully-folding seat, I'd go ahead and do it right and notch the lower corners.

But it looks SO MUCH better un-notched! Ha!



-Mike

Daylight pick of the re-painted roof-rack and polished 91-93 sliding rack rail (I like these polished low-profile racks a lot better than the tall black SUV-type rack the 94-96 Roady wagons got).

5/13/2016 - Friday the 13th, just picked the car up from paint polishing and a/c re-charge. It took 5-months but the Roadmaster Deer-Wreck Repairs are NOW COMPLETE. She shines and a/c is throwning snowballs. The car is now nicer than it's ever been in all the time I've owned it.






Happy Weekend All and Drive Safe!

-Texas Mike

December 21, 2015 / December 21, 2016. Took a lot of work to repair the Bambi damage, but my Roady is better than ever one year later.

Thanks to all my car-friends that helped locate parts and turned a wrench to bring her back. Had to drive it to work today! Stopped on the way to take the pic below. Stay Safe and Happy Holidays All!

December 21, 2015


December 21, 2016


Here is the link to the full public Album if you want to see the start-to-finish restoration build, including the Roadmaster Sedan rear seat mod:
 
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10208321417463751.1073742083.1553678810&type=3

Some folks were saying they couldn't see the pics here on the forum, so just in case, use that link.

STAY SAFE EVERYONE, and again, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

-Texas Mike

December 21, 2015 vrs December 21, 2018. Save the Whales!





Have HAPPY and SAFE Holiday Travels all your Longroofers! Merry Christmas!

-Texas Mike

Good looking wagon! I actually thought about putting all the burgundy interior from the wagon I'm parting out to the new one I just picked up, but it would be to much of a hassle, and I don't have a ton of time to spend on it.
Merry Christmas!