Getting oriented

[TTait]

Car arrived today, a 1975 Monza with a 262. It runs for a few minutes at a time and drives OK, but about half the gauges have failed and much of the vacuum system has been stripped out.

Lots to sort out. There is so much information here and its organized differently than the Delorean forum I'm used to - can you guys point me to a few essentials?

Is the 75 shop manual available as a PDF?

Is there an online resource for the wiring diagram, either complete or in sections?

Can someone point me to a vacuum diagram for the V8-262CID small block?

Tune up and fluid capacities and specs page?

I'm going to get the Orange cover shop manual supplement - any other must have references - hard copy or digital? Is there a Chilton or Haynes?

I'm just not finding what I need here, but I'm sure its an issue of not finding the forest for all the trees in the way. I could come up with a lot of questions, but if I could find the reference materials I could get a grip on a few items myself sooner rather than later.

Tom

[Smiley]

Welcome to the forum.
Click on board index then scroll down to electrical and click it.
The wiring diagrams are at the top of the electrical section.

[TTait]

Excellent! Thank you!

[cjbiagi]

Go to the H body home page and look for the FAQ. There is a ton of info posted there from decades of posts. Some may be a bit outdated but it is a great source of info. Is your car a hatchback? I have had my 75 hatchback since brand new, it is modified pretty much but I am happy to help with info and parts. cjbiagi@yahoo.com

[TTait]

Yes its the 262 hatchback. Factory air. No rear defogger. Not sure what the other options were. it has 3 of the four Chevy rubber floor mats however - aside from that its pretty spartan.

My first car was a 76 2+2 hatch in lime green with the 4 cyl and the Borg Warner 5 speed that I purchased cash from my former scoutmaster. I had always thought of getting another for fun but I'm glad I got the 75 instead - a 76 would have still been subject to Smog tests in CA - plus now I've got all this V8 power from the 262!

Anyway - the car was sold as a runner which was a stretch unfortunately. It runs a few hundred yards at a time so far. In the spirit of this thread I'll air some dirty laundry here and get some feedback.

Vacuum - I'm getting this sorted courtesy of another thread and it seems to be better - a little hard to tell due to my issues with the...

Fuel pump - the in tank assembly seems to have died entirely. It was bypassed by the PO and there is now a Holly gravity feed pump in the engine bay next to the battery. the problem is that its not a good configuration for a gravity feed pump and it constantly gets air in the line, even with siphoning, so the pump tends to cavitate and overheat and fail. I've ordered an inexpensive self priming plunger type pump, 4-7 psi, in hopes that it will get me through a few weeks at least before I figure out if I deal with putting a new unit in the gas tank or survey what solutions have worked well folks here. I'll also note that temp power for said fuel pump has been pulled off the BATT wire for the distributer - not sure that's a good Idea. I plan on crawling under the dash and trying to find a pink wire and tapping it and either fusing it at 5amps for the new pump directly or putting in a relay and fuse depending on if I can figure out which pink wire I've found. {Update - new pump arrive and installed today - seems to work well from the engine bay. Cavitated for the first 10 seconds till it sucked all the air out of the line then runs quietly, now wired in properly to the fuse box with a dedicated 5 amp fuse. Hopefully sorted until I decide if I need to drop the fuel tank}

Tachometer - the tach is dead for now. It looks like there is a circuit board inside the instrument cluster? I haven't found the correct search feature on this forum so I've only been browsing. I haven't seen good threads yet on troubleshooting the tach.

Electrical - I'm not sure if I should be optimistic or pessimistic here. Lots works and a fair amount doesn't - I haven't figured out if there is a pattern yet.

Working: Most lighting except as below, Horn, hazards and turn signals, fan speeds low and medium, voltage gauge, temp gauge, radio, low coolant light when cranking, AC clutch (tested by jumping 12V.

Not working: inner high beam lamps, instrument illumination, tach, fuel gauge, clock {Edit - as if today it ran for five minutes so I presume its mechanical issues}, in tank fuel pump, fan speed high, fan at any speed when AC is on max . When the car dies I can only attempt to re-start in Park - not neutral - so no rolling recoveries.

Unknown: Wiper/washer (need new blades or will damage windshield), AC (some residual R12 pressure but not enough to trigger low pressure switch) other instrument panel indicators.

Body - Do C3 Corvette armrests directly replace Monza armrests or do they require modifications? Wheel well trim is tweaked but potentially salvageable - are there sources for NOS or is there a guru who straightens them or a how to? Missing the small L shaped chromed plastic trim that sits on top of the black bumper in the front on the passenger side is it available? Does anyone sell stripe kits )Mona 2+2 or is the artwork available for download?

I've got some surface rust around the windshield, What is the recommended trim tool to remove the trim and get a better look and is there a good YouTube video showing technique? I don't want to damage clips. If its worse than it looks, has anyone found that a readily available windshield channel for a Camero or Nova or similar can be reasonably reworked and welded in if it comes to that?

I don't expect to get all my questions answered in one stop shopping - but a quick dump of what I'm thinking of also give you an idea of what I'm up against. As of now the plan is to keep the car closet to original and keep some of the patina. I'd like it to be a nice clean driver that looks like a well cared for original car, perhaps with some day 1 mods - it did come with some Keystone Mags that may be salvageable.

If anyone has tips, or sympathy. either is welcome! Either way all I really need it time and a little money.

Thanks guys.

Tom

[cjbiagi]

The one thing I can offer is just a bit of encouragement, it's easy to get overwhelmed so just tackle one job at a time. It sounds like many of your issues are electrical, so that may be something to concentrate on. It may not be the easiest depending upon your knowledge and skillset but that may fix many issues. May have to start at the battery/starter connections and work back cleaning and tightening everything. Then start checking fuses/voltage at the fusebox (check both sides of fuses) and move on from there. There is a PCB on the back of the tach, but I would look for other things first as you have to pull the dash cover to get in there. Keep us posted, keep asking questions.

[TTait]

Thanks man! Not overwhelmed yet - I actually fell like things are progressing nicely given I'm in limbo waiting for the manuals to show up. I appreciate the help.

I'm in a bit of resource management mode - what can I work on while I wait for things to get done, and based on how cooperative the car is being today. Ideally I'd be more linear in my approach, but each step forward is giving me more information and a few surprises so any progress is good progress. So while I wait on parts or documentation I turn my attention to what I can do on any given evening now.

[monzaaddict]

is this the car that was on ebay?

[TTait]

It is. I made a deal with the seller about a week before the auction ended and then the storm hit Texas and he was unable to complete the transaction until the last day. It would have been better if he had accepted payment earlier and ended the auction early, but that's not how it worked out.