2004: Welcome home!!
(2004)
With the new house constructed, it was time to bring the missing Trans Am home again where
it belonged. Special consideration was made to provide a third spot in the garage for this
machine, and it was time to put it to use.
(2004)
I have to admit, I was fearful of what was waiting for me when I first went to fetch it.
Two years of inactivity, no special prepwork done for that long duration storage, since it wasn't
initially supposed to be a long duration storage anyway!! I had visions of caked carburetor
passages and sticking floats in the bowl, causing possible fuel spillage and maybe even an
underhood fire. Or maybe the transmission failing due to having dumped it's fluid all over the
garage floor at the storage spot. Or maybe the ignition dying... or the engine seizing... or...
My fears seem to have been unfounded. I took some precautions before the initial fire-up.
I removed all the spark plugs while having the block heater plugged in, swapped in a fresh
battery, squirted a whole lot of carb cleaner in every passage I could spot that might have
access to the float, and cranked it for a bit to build up oil and fuel pressure and possibly
refill the float bowl. Once pressure was seen on the gauge, I replaced the plugs and wires, and
fired it up. The think started RIGHT AWAY with no smoke or any stumbling. The transmission was
refilled a bit, and the car tooks it's first steps in two years, up an incredibly steep slope
out of the garage and onto the street, where it sat idling for a half-hour or more as I refilled
the transmission to spec and adjusted air pressure in the tires. Once things were deemed safe,
the car effortlessly made it home, where it had to stay outdoors in the elements for 2 weeks
until room was found in the garage.
(2004)
(2004)
With the garage cleared out, I finally had my cars all tucked safely in their
respective spots.
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At least I was able to enjoy a couple of months of casual driving around the new neighborhood
before the time came to store the car again. It gave me the necessary time to get to know the car
once again. To be honest, there are a couple of small issues that have arisen most likely
due to the long storage (noisy heater motor, occasional rough idle for no reason) and hopefully
this will get ironed out throughout 2005 (for example, the occasional rough idle might be
corrected once fresher gas is circulated through the system. It pretty much ran on vintage-2002
fuel all the rest of 2004!).
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Nonetheless, an attempt was made to press the car into as much regular service around
the neighborhood as possible, just to get things rolling again.
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At least when the time came to tuck the car away for 2004 in late November, it felt
much better to know I'd have it with me all winter. 2005 should see a bunch of improvements
for this car.
(2004)
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