Casper 2.0

fireflyse

fireflyse

Active member
It has begun. Casper 2.0 is mine now and I am a pretty lucky guy to have acquired this clean survivor car. It was almost a 500 km one way trip but it was mostly uneventful and even pleasurable to a degree. Tomorrow I will post a walk around in depth video of the car and describe the trip and discuss the possibilities and plans. I invite all of you to contribute your thoughts, ideas, comments and advice to this new thread as I build my dream of a Pontiac Formula Firefly Turbo.
 
I forgot to mention that it had a little vibe at highway speeds...most likely unbalanced/ poorly balanced tires. or the pass side cv axle missing grease...
ahhh! I see in the video you lost the headlight button already!

the led headlamp bulbs are *slightly* better than the halogens that were in there...one side was the original bulb, the other side was a phillips replacement...you could see the filaments were in poor shape, on side you had to tap it to get it to light up...
all I had on hand were those 9004 led bulbs, no regular halogens..so, those went in.
the shift cable could use some adjustment then, i thought it was just me.
yup, thats a automatic only throttle/kickdown cable assembly. most times they have broken clips at the firewall, and the cable frays at the transmission end.
last cable i got, i went thru megazip for my auto car.
i noticed those bolts as well in the hatch trim- this car was owned by an elderly (70 +) couple. being cheap, instead of paying for the proper clips...
 
They were smokers too, the ashtray had ashes and baking soda in it. Not a problem, at least the interior didn't reek of tar. Lighter had never been used though.
 
Having an opportunity to drive Casper 2.0 the past couple of days has shown me he has great drivability and shifts very well. The transmission fluid is overfilled but clear red and without odors. I still have to be ginger with the shifter drive detent but I'm used to it now and really isn't a major concern right now.
It was up to -13 today and things that needed attending to were nagging on my conscious so while an awesome dinner was cooking I worked on the Caspers. I did manage to inspect and adjust the idle as the car would propel itself at about 40 kmh with a closed throttle. Someone unplugged the idle mix cap and tinkered with it. I screwed it in almost all the way and it behaves much better now. Timing is about where it usually is on a G10.
I swapped the drivers doors too. Due to the temperature I didn't spend a lot of time adjusting it but it closes ok and now Casper 2.0 has a working drivers door window regulator. Back to work tomorrow morning.
 
That is a nice clean car you found.
Wish you lots of save miles in and with it 8-)
 
Fixed a bunch of little things like replacing the hatch supports so that it will stay up on it's own, hammered out the passenger side headlight bucket and got a lot better aim out of both headlights and polished them but the right side bracket is toast and will have to be replaced tomorrow. I also installed the cargo hatch cover and had a look at the spare, it's never been used. The previous owner replaced the spare tire cover with 3/16 plywood! I replaced the rear hatch trim panel and got rid of the lag bolts replacing them with OE push pins. I also spent time scraping a bunch of stickers off of the windows. I r&r the centre high mount stop lamp to clean the lens and glass underneath it as well as adjust the mount bracket to hold it against the rear glass without shaking. This was all in -10 centigrade temperatures.

We drove to Unity SK. and back 376.9km on 23.35 litres of regular. That's 45.29 miles per imperial gallon. We did the 100kph limit into the wind all the way there and never got above 80kph on the way back with a tail wind. No where near the 70mpgs I could easily pull from the n/a 5 speed but but respectable none the less. I am really enjoying the automatic way more than I should.
 
sometimes its just nice to jump in and let the car do the rest for you...
my dd is an auto, I have become so used to it that the last time I drove a 5spd, I went half-way to town in 4th....then shifted to 5th :lol:
 
It got up to -5c today so I replaced the headlight assembly on the passenger side and aimed it up. I noticed the right front bumper mount is bent in about an 1/8 of an inch so that will need to be massaged in the future. I changed the front right turn signal housing and lens to get a better reflector and an un-damaged lens.
I also changed the left rear fixed glass to save some stickers and replace the release handle that was damaged. Then I stripped the turbo hatchback of everything including the lock seal that was missing from Casper 2.0.
Does anyone know how to remove the washer jet from the hatch?
Next I replaced the torn right outer cv boot. I was surprised that almost no fluid came out the axle hole.
The headlights work well now that they are adjusted and polished.
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blueturbofly said:
sometimes its just nice to jump in and let the car do the rest for you...
my dd is an auto, I have become so used to it that the last time I drove a 5spd, I went half-way to town in 4th....then shifted to 5th :lol:
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This car drives very nicely, I wonder how it would respond to a cam and some timing. I would love to swap the turbo onto the automatic but it's not a plug and play and without a garage to tinker in I am a little reticent to go that way. I have to have a start and finish on all the work I do to the car due to my personal living situation. I have to keep the car in running condition. I wish I had your garage.
 
Rageous said:
I’m betting casper 2.0 is one happy camper getting all this detailed attention. :D
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I've always been one to dote on my car, and the more I do the quieter and or nicer it becomes to drive. Just need to swap over Casper's 13's to get better wheel balance and the front right tie rod has some play, more doting needed.
 
So an annoying and sometimes scary problem has arisen. The throttle cable has some water in it and it freezes stuck at w.o.t. It's only -21 c right now so I was out there with a buddy's heat gun, a twelve millimetre combination wrench and some WD40 trying to fix it. We will see in the morning, it will only be -25 then.
 
The frozen throttle cable seems to be ok now since the work yesterday, tonight it's -31c here and Casper 2.0 is not plugged in. We will see then if I fixed it or not. And if it starts.
 
Rageous said:
Thats pretty scary stuff. Glad your sorted that out.

I use G96 on my cables
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Gun Oil? Wouldn't 3in1 do as well? The WD40 was just to help displace the water.

Casper started after 6 turns, sputtered and died. I keyed off, keyed then restarted on the first turn and he stayed running. I let him warm up for 20 minutes due to the -31c temperatures. This was without any assistance electro-thermally and using conventional 5w30. I love these cars!
 
Yes sir. I’ve never used 3 in 1. Not saying that won’t work tho. I was told buy a old timer gunsmith to be careful what oil you put on your triggers. Some oils may actually freeze up and potentially attracting grime.
He recommended G96 for lubrication of anything that’s subject to extreme freezing.

Btw it’s a balmy 8*C here right now.
 
Rageous said:
Will Casper 2.0 be getting a Cessna exhaust system too? ;)
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Call me old if you must, but I am rather enjoying the silence of the stock exhaust system. I think at least a Supertrapp or something with low restriction but good noise baffling is in order.
-27 right now with a high of -17 today... would it be brave or stupid if I went out to strip old Casper of some parts?
 
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