Something funny happened on our way to owning a Chevrolet Corvette; since we bought this car three years ago I've realized my childhood dream of becoming an auto mechanic.
When I was a kid this is what I really wanted to do but my mother, God bless her salty, drug addicted heart, would have none of that. No, sir she wanted me to reach for the stars and be a postal worker. I showed us both up and have enjoyed a 30+ year career in broadcasting instead. Lick that stamp, mom.
Now, in terms of being a mechanic, with this car, I've really had no choice; if I didn't, I think we'd be broke. I wince at what it would have cost us to replace the alternator, fusible link wiring harness, starter, battery, the entire rear brake system save for the left rear caliper and rotors, and all of the accessory belts. That's not to mention what we elected to have done; the reupholstering of the interior and replacement the steering wheel.
The latest and greatest problem with what we lovingly refer to as "Rockn77" is this Rorschach test the old beast leaves on our driveway whenever we take it out. This is power steering fluid not a study of your personality characteristics and emotional functioning. She's always leaked a little something or other but late last summer she started getting really spritzy with the power steering fluid. The spritzing got so bad that it had me buying power steering fluid by the case. Alright, exaggeration...but not by much.
One of the biggest challenges with old cars is pin pointing the exact cause of a problem. Today, with on board diagnostics (OBD), you just plug the car into a computer and a read out tells you exactly what the problem is. The main culprit here, I believe, is this power steering cylinder which are, apparently, notorious for leaking. Do I have any idea how to replace this major component on our car's steering system? Did I know what I was doing when I replaced all the brake lines or anything else that I've done on this car for that matter? Do I have any idea what I'm doing in radio now that I think about it? Once again, not knowing what I was doing was not going to stop me from diving head on into a massive car project.
Hopefully it is this cylinder and not the control valve and or the pump itself. This was, for what its worth, an unconscionable pain in the ass to get out but I did it.
I'm replacing all the hoses too so that should take care of that possibility. Wish me luck.
I've gotten so used to weekends being burned up by working on "Rockn77" that I have to wonder what I will do when I finally have nothing to do on it. Oh, that's right; I'll try and enjoy it for what it is and not curse it for what it's not or for what it needs. Wish me luck with that too.
Nice article. I can relate (as I'm sure many classic car owners can) that you have to do a lot of work yourself or you will quickly spend more on "repairs" than the car is worth. The bottom line is that a $50 part could cost $2,500 to have an actual shop install it - and yes, that is a real "estimate" I got from a local shop. They also admitted to me that without computer diagnosis they really don't know what their doing, so I thanked them for their honesty & spent the $50 on the part and three hours later I had it installed on the car without any of their help. You have saved thousands by spending some weekend time doing the job yourself. Reward yourself for doing the job right by taking your wife out to dinner after the car is fixed! I have a '77 as well. They are beautiful and a lot of fun!
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