SmashedGlass

I'll get together some pictures of all the wiring you guys asked about tomorrow.......EVERYTHING, and I mean everything (well, except that heater core, not effing with that) has been reduced as far as possible to component parts. Dash/console is completely dis-assembled, harness out and dash padding off. Since I've got it down this far, the 27 years of dirt, crud, and rodent surprises have been cleaned out of it, and all of the foam seals for the HVAC are getting replaced with weatherstrip foam from the hardware store--because the factory foam pretty much disintegrated as soon as I looked funny at it.... Also seriously considering going for a blackout interior with vinyl/fabric paint, since my interior has a mix of GL and Loyale pieces which aren't matches anyhow.

Somewhere on here, if I remember, was a write-up for doing a 'proper' HID setup where the poster removed the glass in order to polish out the refractor ridges (? I'm taking a guess as to what those are actually called).

Gutted car, again, while searching for source of rain water leak into cab.....this time all the way down to the firewall.

Found it, after mostly gutting out the dash and blower. Hole in the seam sealant behind and above where the blower was mounted.... Will be removing the fender tomorrow morning to get a look at the outside of the problem area.

Okay, so I replaced my cowling with a new one (with all tabs and molding strips intact), and added some sealant where it meets the windshield molding strip for good measure. Cleaned and inspected everywhere I could see and reach up in the cowl and along the firewall before installing that, to include the drain holes at the corner pockets of the cowl shelf. All that seems good, no longer have water leaking down through the fresh air intake. But..... There is a trickle of water running down inside the cabin (again!) where the firewall meets the passenger side sheet metal, up and behind the heater blower housing!!!! I'm at a loss as to how next to proceed. Pull the pass. fender off and check to see if there is a plugged drain in there (lower than the cowl drain, and inside the body)? Rip the dash out? Or can I get the heater blower housing out without pulling the whole dash? Irritated, immensely.

I'd say it was just a photo op. Look at the lift wheel on the tongue of the trailer; at full raise, it is still on the pavement. No way it can be towed that way, not legally anyhow. Matter of fact, it is beyond fully raised, and sitting above and to the side of the frame rail. No go.

Do they have stampings for the lower quarter panel area? Also, how is the Duplicolor vinyl paint holding up?

What is your plan for tackling the areas where you had the bedliner slathered on? I'm interested to know because I have to combat some rust down in my quarter panels too.

Looks good to me!

While re-doing some wiring in the center console and tidying things up, managed to nick a vacuum line when clipping off excess zip-tie *psssssssssssssssssssssssss.................* Wrapped the cut with aluminum flashing tape and it seems to have sealed it, we'll see in the long run. If it doesn't, I'm not looking forward to pulling the cluster to run heat-shrink tubing down that line.

I see your point; I was thinking of using something similar myself as the foam/rubber seal strips along the top and side edges pretty much turned to powder and fell off while removing the cowls.

What tires/size are they?

That's what I thought, thanks for verifying it for me.

The windshield glass on the 3rd gen bodies is glued on, and the rubber surround is just trim, correct? I'm asking because while working on my 'rain came through the fresh air inlet' problem, I discovered that the Safelite crew who replaced my cracked glass two years ago were a bit sloppy with the urethane, and had managed to get some under and on the top edges of the plastic cowl pieces in spots. After removing the cowls, I have two short spots where that rubber surround is lifted out of the channel between the body and glass. If it's just trim, I should be good; if it's the actual seal, I'm screwed?

Think I figured it. There was a very small machine screw (from where or what I do not know) that somehow ended up sitting on the cowl and miraculously wedged itself perfectly to fill the drain hole in the passenger side cowl drain hole. So perfectly, that it looked like it was supposed to be screwed in there. Debris had built up around it creating a perfect seal. When it rained, it rained buckets, and probably backed up and overflowed out of the depression there and straight down into the passenger fresh air intake. Of course, I had already started to remove my plastic cowl parts by this time to make sure it wasn't an internal problem and, since the numb nuts who installed my replacement windshield managed to get it glued in a few spots with windshield adhesive, a couple of the molded on clips broke off...... So now I'm patiently (ha) waiting for new cowl parts to arrive in the mail. On the bright side, at least the inside of the cowl area is now very clean. **ScoobieDubie, just about every car uses a similar two-part cowl setup. So I wouldn't blame Japanese engineering. I actually have heard more complaints about GM vehicles of the last 15 years or so having issues with leaking into the passenger compartment.

After tearing everything out again (fastest interior strip ever), it seems that the water was coming out of the join line between the heater blower, and the a/c evaporator core.....so I think the rain was hard enough to come in through the fresh air inlet???? But the HVAC system was set to off, and both sides vents were set to a/c months ago, so still a mystery..... Not coming in through the a/c line grommets, underneath the rubber cover (beneath the carpet passenger well) was dry, wet was on top of the rubber.

I just finished re-doing my carpet after it got damp last fall from over-zealous use of a pressure washer on the firewall. It rained very hard all day yesterday. Went out this morning to fiddle with the car and......the passenger footwell carpet is SOAKED. I did leave the hood open, could the rain have come in through the cowl because it was left open? '88 GL D/R wagon

Which kit is that, Discombobulated??? Doesn't look like the Metra or Scosche adapter.

Thanks Numbchux. I'll bite the bullet and order one. Worst case I guess, it isn't wide enough and I have to make some mods...or build my own out of wood like Jezek

For anyone that owns one of the Metra or Scosche stereo headunit adapter kits, can you measure exactly how thick it is or how much further away from the dash it will mount the headunit on a 3d gen wagon or sedan? It looks like an awful lot of space for the item to fill--my headunit has a good inch of body still showing, even mounted through a modified RX faceplate that sticks out some. The stock photos online don't really show the dimensions that well, and documentation for them has zero measurements listed.

I seriously doubt they are all supposed to be 15 amp. My '88 GL SPFI is not like that, by the book or the fuse cover. And there isn't that big of a difference, if any at all, in the way a DL carbie would be wired and therefore the fusing should be similar.

If you aren't getting around 14 or more with the engine running (accessories such as lights not withstanding, and you have not had a dead battery which required you to jump to start) there is an issue with the charging system.

That 360 is boner-inducing.

Good work, that grey looks nice and 'factory' (at least in my eye, having seen several different shades of grey in junkyard Subarus). Was thinking about doing my interior in the black as mine is currently multi-colored (reference the several different shades of grey....) but I'll wait to see how yours turns out with the Duplicolor grey. I'm assuming you're using what they call "Charcoal" grey?

Another +1 for heat shielding. A clogging cat won't rattle, but will smell like flame-roasted kittens. And I made the mistake (?) of buying a Y-pipe/cat with heat shield, instead of without, and within three weeks of installation that damn thing was rattling on acceleration. Never again, I'll wrap it with DEI next time.