Mog Rod

Today’s tool tally: 7-10 sawzall blades and 3-5 cutting discs….

Damn, Pontiac wasn’t messing around when they chose their metals for the body panels….

Quite literally tore into the Solstice some today.. it’s missing a good bit of metal now.

Really tore into the Solstice today. Started by removing the pedal assembly, which will be carried over to the Morgan. The drive-by-wire system should set right up in its new home none the wiser. After that, I removed the clutch slave, brake booster, and ABS module. After talking with a few folks, I’ve come to the decision to not bother with carrying over the ABS; our Barracuda is a tank compared to even the Solstice, and that stops just fine with a basic drum brake system, so the lighter Morgan will do fine with discs all around.

Done with those bits, I quickly removed the windshield wiper assembly, and then proceded to remove the plumbing for the AC system and the radiator / fan. None of that will be carried over to the Morgan. I also fed the steering shaft back up through the firewall, and may hold onto it for use with the steering setup for the Morgan. From there, the last big item of the day was the AC compressor, just three bolts and it was out… except I don’t know how the hell a mechanic could get at those three bolts with the car still assembled. It must cost an arm and a leg in labor costs to replace an AC compressor on a Solstice…

Next in line will be the prep work for getting the cabin off of  the chassis, though that will involve moving the Solstice back to the shop lift so I can make sure there’s nothing on the underside of the car that I need to worry about.

Got home in a funk from a boring and tedious day at work, decided to just get wrenching on something, and that something turned out the be the Solstice. I started off with emptying the A/C system, which actually had a lot less in it than I thought. After that was emptied out, I disconnected the coolant lines from the heater and pushed the unit off of the firewall. Once out, I moved to pull the rest of the wiring through the firewall. This entailed disconnecting a few items and feeding it all through a few inches wide hole. All the while, I moved around and disconnected other items, like the windshield washer fluid unit and a biggie, the large bolts holding the cabin frame to the chassis. The cabin will be removed and chopped up for recycle, with a few select pieces being held on to for either reference or to transfer over to the new setup for the Morgan.

Just a minor update, was cleaning up around the shop lift and ended up pulling apart the door from the Solstice. Managed to save the wiring harness, the buttons, the window mechanism, and the window itself. Amazing that the window was in one piece considering the hit the door took. The door was dumped in my “big box of metal scrap” to be recycled later on.