Glad you found it in time, that could have been disastrous.

 

One small update on this car. The outside drivers door handle quit working. Pulled the door panel off, found the linkage rod broken at the door latch. It broke where almost every one of these break, there is a flat slotted end on the otherwise round rod. This slot allows the inside mechanism to move the latch without moving the outside handle. The linkage broke right where the rod goes from round to flat. There is no good way to repair or replace this rod, so I needed a new latch assembly.

The latch was still good in one of my parts cars, so I robbed the entire latch assembly from the parts car. This is possible to do without removing the window and window regulator, but it is definitely not easy. The issue was compounded by the fact both cars had rounded out screws that hold the rear window track at the bottom of the track. I drilled out the one in the parts car, also drilled out the one in this car and had to drill it out to accept a screw to hold it back in place once finished.

To remove the old latch, I removed the screw described above in the bottom of the rear track. Unsnapped the old outside latch plastic rod connectors on the latch and lock. Removed the three torx screws that hold the latch in place. If you push hard toward the outside on the bottom of the track you can twist the latch around and between the track and inside door panel. It was much easier without a latch rod sticking up. Repeated the process to put the replacement in, but as I said it is very difficult to get the new latch assembly in with the door latch rod there. I finally got it around the window track and in place. If you have ever done this, you know how hard it is to get your hands to the correct place to engage the lock and latch rods back in place and snap the plastic holders back on the rods. Door panel back on, everything seems to work. I did take the time to apply white lithium grease on the latch assembly while I had it out. Hopefully this rod and the plastic holders hold up for a few more years.

 

Thanks Rodger for posting, something I have got to do very soon. How did you come out on your ball joint, new lower control arm are did you do the impossible and find ball joints that fit without replacing the arm?

 

Bill, nothing yet. I have been busy racing lately so haven’t had much time. Some guy in here found a ball joint with the correct size and taper on the shank so i need to find that post so i can buy them and give it a try.

 

Please let me know also since I would like to replace my bushings.

 

This car put me down a couple of months ago when the seals in one end of the steering rack blew out. Just poured out when added fluid. So I parked it until I could get time to address it. I robbed the rack off of one of my parts cars and threw it on this car. The boots were toast but I figured I could deal with that later. I put it on, did a quick alignment by just setting toe. I was 15 miles from town and I had forgotten to grab power steering fluid. I had a 5 gallon container of universal hydraulic fluid so i decided to use that. Figured I could change it out later. It works, but the steering is a little stiff with this fluid. Nice to have this back as my daily driver. 269,000 + miles on it and still running strong.

 

It has been a while since I updated this thread. About the only update involved the front end again. I kept burning up the inside of the front tires even after setting the tow. After several looks I found slack in the inner tie rod that just wasn’t showing up obvious when I aligned it. This on a rack I just put in a year or so ago that was supposed to be rebuilt with new ones. Just can’t rely on the rebuild we get now. So replaced the inner tie rod and set the tow again and seems to be doing ok on tire wear finally. There is still something screwed up in the acumen somehow, the tires drag when backing up with wheels turned. Also there is still some popping that I can’t find, ball joints seem ok. But it’s driving every day so will get around to looking closer when I get the chance.

 

Good morning Rodger,
I would like to know what you find out on the popping. I have same noise occasionally and my frontend man just not sure. My tires are wearing fine and as of today not hitting the fender liner. Have a great day.
Bill

 

If anybody is going to get that thing buttoned up its you Roger. Sounds like you're getting your use/money's worth out of this thing and driving it on a daily basis!

 

I haven’t had much time for SC shenanigans lately, but have been using this car as a daily lately. The other night I was about 1/4 mile from home and this poor guy ran out in front of me.



this was the result to the SC.


I had some headlights in storage since I have had several of these cars. I pulled and straightened the radiator and bumper cover supports and put the bumper cover back on. I ran up to NC and picked up a white hood. Other than the bad paint on the bumper cover it turned out ok so far. I think I may go pick up the cover from the parts car and maybe not even need any paint work. Diamond white pearl seems to hold up thru the years so everything still matches ok.




This car has 306,000 miles and still going pretty strong at the moment. They don’t last forever, but I will ride this horse til one of us gives up.

 

I forgot to include above, my cruise had quit working months ago. Would not turn on or operate. After a while I noticed that the horn no longer worked either. So, put two and two together and took a chance it was the steering wheel cable festoon thing (sorry don’t know the correct name). It has horn, cruise, and air bag cables in it. I took the one out of my old blue 93 parts car and put it in this car. Yay! Cruise works again. I have a long drive every day so I really missed this cruise. Now I have a straight (mostly) car again with cruise control.

 

I got worried upon seeing the first image. And that poor deer too-- nothing you could have done when it happens so suddenly. But I am glad you were able to patch it up well and get it back on the road with a donor hood. Easily repairable front bumper cover support metal is such a lucky break.

306k miles and still going is quite the survivor!!

 

He jumped off a small embankment and landed just feet in front of me. I am not sure I even had time to react to get off the throttle. When he landed it seems he squatted and I hit very solid. Otherwise I think he would have been up on the hood and in the windshield. It would seem I was high speed from the damage, but was only 45-50. He was a big guy, I hauled him away because he landed in a yard and I didn’t want them to have to deal with him. I barely got him in the back of my truck, thought for a while I would need help.

Unfortunately in rural Alabama we have lots of these and this time of year they are moving to find food after a dry summer.

The hood buckling is crazy. Anyone who has done work on these hoods knows the area of damage is 4 layers. I have cut/ chopped on hoods for the race car and typically even leaving a decent structure end up cutting out 25+ pounds. Good ole Lexus hood!

I did straighten (somewhat) the hood and drove the car for a few days until I could get the replacement hood. Straightening these guys takes some force!