So here's something wierd....I put the drivers side window retainer on the glass last night. I used the thin .048 tape I used on the passenger side and it was too thin! Worked perfectly on the other side. Turns out the channel in the drivers side retainer was .020" wider! Thankfully I also ordered an .063" roll of setting tape. So the passenger side has .048 tape and the drivers side has .063 tape. Nice QC on the repro parts...
Drivers door put up a bit of a fight but it's done. Had to do the same repair to the drivers vent window regulator. Drivers wing window was loose so since I had some extra setting tape, I removed it and reset it in the vent. Everything is adjusted up. Thank God that's done! Next up is some basic service. Been a year since we changed the oil, so another oil change. Going to change the gear oil in the trans and maybe do a rear end service too. Grease the front end and lastly a wash. Thrn she'll be ready to go home
It has been a joy reading this thread. It very much mimics when I pulled my parent's old car out of the junkyard. Motor mounts, driveshaft center support bearing, blower motor, etc. Great work.
A pal of mine here in NC owned and drove a 63 Wildcat convertible 4 speed years ago. I wonder if this could be the same car?
Oops! Shoulda read the beginning more closely! Hardtop! Well,in any event , Bill carries on about his Wildcat hitting 100 mph w/no sweat
The roof does look like a convertible with its sharp angles. Even though iv'e been following this thread I almost asked how the Wildcat emblem stays on over time from the roof going up and down
Here's a few pictures of the 'Cat the day i bought it.....pretty nice at that point and i forget the mileage......i should have kept it but i had 5 other Wildcats at the time and i hated to leave one out all the time....traded it to a local guy that was into Riviera's for a Black 1986 El Camino with a 350 and a factory 4-speed and some ca$h.....i regret it now that i see it's past...he never drove it much and then parked it for like 20 years....glad to see it resurrected from the Dead Peace WildBill
So the wildcat is still here. Eric hasn't picked it up! In his defense, he's got alot of irons in the fire these days. Bad part is Jennifer has convinced herself that the car is really mine and I'm BS'ing her about the car being Eric's. I felt bad for it today. It's been sitting for almost 2 months. I got her running, topped off the tank and ran her on the highway to the Long Island Buick Club after holiday lunch. Didn't miss a beat! This car runs so good.
So today I tackled the inop wipers. What a pain the rectum! When I turned the wipers on, all I heard was a click from the motor. Taking it off the car required the wipers to be removed and the painted cowl piece between the hood and windshield to be removed. A job in itself Took the washer off and found this red wire burned up and grounding itself to the the high speed ground terminal and the 12v terminal. That can't be good! I carefully soldered a new section of wire and rerouted it so it doesn't happen again. Pretty slick if I do say so myself Gave the motor and the washer a little grease and put it all back together. Now it works! The wiper trans is a little stiff. Looks like it hasn't seen any lube since the factory so while it's all apart, I'll pop out the wiper trans and give it some love
That style of motor can actually be taken off the car without removing the cowl. There is enough play to get it off the firewall.
I am so happy I found this thread. This was my dads car. He bought it from WildBill. Unfortunately in 2002 my dad had a liver transplant and he was never really able to keep up with all the cars he had. This car actually was in my pole barn for a very long time. Some kids broke into it one night and decided to terrorize the cars. About 10 years ago he decided to pull it out of the barn and park it outside. I moved away in 2006 so I didn't keep up with the cars like I should have. When I sold the collection off I had actually planned on the buying the Cat back as that was one of our favorite cars. When WB and I were talking as I driving to the guys house I knew I couldn't invest the money into it that was needed. So I am glad Eric got it and is having all this work done on it. I talked to him a couple times on the phone. I would run this car on our local strip (kids hangout) and make people look silly in the old man car. The day I got on US31 and was covering both lanes white line to white line still in third gear no one ever talked bad about the Cat. Thank you for bringing life back into a car I deeply loved. AJ
