Question from DynoDave

I recieved a question from DynoDave and thought I would share the answer with everyone.

Hey DynoDave and thanks for you comment. Actually I used a not so conventional method and
 applied a very strong and weather resistant glue to the points seen below on both sides of the lens so it's attached to the socket. Good thing about this kind of glue is that it's easily removable if needed.

However, since the lamps can be pulled out from behind and the bezel, lens and socket can be removed by three housing attachment nuts I decided to leave it this way.

I guess we just have to live with eachothers differences and the occasional swearing over wrenches. ;)

Oh, and I will answer any comments containing questions, so if you guys need to know anything, just fire away. :)

Day 4 - Slowly getting somewhere

Yeah I know, I promised not to go to the garage until my cold was gone. But I just couldn't wait. I'm in a real spree right now so I figured I need to do as much as possible as soon as possible. :) Todays contribution to the blog:

Remember I unscrewed the lens for the turn signals on
the hood? Well it was time to remove the cable and lamp.

Two connectors are attached to the turn signals, they both look
different so it's not possible to get them wrong on reassembly.

Since the electrical cables will have to come out at some point I
wrote where they go. I might have to redo this with better material later.

I moved on to the position lights in the grill.

They are only secured with two nuts on each side.
The lamp will come out if you twist it clock wise.

Lens and bezel removed.

Lamp removed by turning clock wise.

More writing on electrical cables. I remembered at this point it
would probaby be a good idea to write driver or passenger side as well.

Grill, headlamps, position lights and turn signals removed.

On to the rear lighting. I think I recall that this lens and bezel
can be removed by just pulling them straight out. But I lost a
lens while cruising last summer and to avoid that happening
again I made sure they cannot be removed by force or cruise. ;)

Instead, it's possible to remove the entire socket from inside
the luggage compartment. It's secured with three housing
attachment nuts: 2 at the top, 1 at the bottom.

After removing all three bolts, and just pulling the lamps out
straight from behind the whole thing comes out.

This is what bezel, lens and socket looks like...

And it leaves a nice little hole in the body. :)

Some Cordoba stuff against the wall.

The great shelf I bought today together with
assorted Cordoba items removed from the car.

I will do my best to keep the entire project this clean and organized! :)

That's all for today friends! Be sure to comment if you have any questions, suggestions or just want to leave a message. Check back soon, I have a feeling I will do a lot more work the next few weeks!

Day 3 - More basic and minor disassembly

There are times when you shouldn't go to the garage... I caught a bad cold yesterday(again) but I really wanted to do something on the car project, so I went to the tool shop and got some new wrenches(inch type). Since I live in Sweden all my tools are based on the metric system, and thanks to you guys never wanting to use a real system I will have to get double sets of everything, stupid inches! ;)

Today my cold was no better, but my girlfriend called me at work and told me she had gotten the stomach flu. So I chose the lesser of two evils and took my chances with possibly making my cold worse and went to the garage. :)

I started by removing the vent below the door latch striker.

This is what it looks like removed. I disconnected the two cables
seen above.The connector I am holding goes to the post opera lamp.

Removing the post opera lamp bezel and lense is easy,
just one screw on the top.

The socket is secured with two screws and is
just as easily removed. It can stick to the vinyl
roof so carefully bend it loose using a screwdriver.

If the cables from behind the vent have been disconnected
the socket can just be pulled out with the cable attached to it.

This is what it looks like without post opera
lamp and vent below door latch striker.

I started to bag and tag all the details, screws and bolts I've
removed. There is no way I'm going to loose anything now. :)
I don't have a picture showing the tagging, but I wrote
the name of the part and "passenger" or "drivers side" on the bag.

More bags and my '89 Dodge RAM B350 in the background.

Just for fun, the other vehicle I own.

Mopar performance in the garage. ;)

So, that's about it for today. As soon as I've recovered from my cold I'll head out again. I think it's time to remove the rear lights and bumpers. Stay tuned and be sure to follow this blog!

Day 2 - Disassembly continues

I got some inspiration after recieving the manuals I mentioned in my latest post, so I spent a couple of hours in the garage once again. It's pretty darn cold in Sweden right now and I haven't had the chance to install any heating in the garage, shucks!


Anyway, todays post will be about a lot of minor stuff, but it needs to come off anyway, eh? Some of the stuff will ofcourse be very basic, but my intention is to document everything so that this information can be used by anyone wanting to restore their beloved mopar. ;)

With these, chances of me screwing up are smaller. ;)

I went on to remove the trim support bracket
and stabilizers for the glass in the door...

It was fitted with three bolts, two of them secured glass stabilizers
as seen above. The side pushing against the window is coated with a
rubber like substance to keep the window straight without damaging it.

After removing the three bolts, just lift the trim support bracket.

I went on to the fender side marker lamp which was secured with two screws...

...just like the quarter panel side marker lamp.

Both of the above lights hide a light bulb that needs to be turned
counterclockwise to be pulled out from the lamps... Pretty standard.

To remove the chrome bezel around the main lamps, loosen
the three screws found at the top left, top right and bottom
of the bezel. Do not confuse these with the adjustments
(right and top).

This way the bezel will come out without affecting the lamp itself...

The lamp is secured into it's socket with three screws as well.
You will only have to unscrew them a little, and then the lamp
can be turned clockwise so that the screws align with the larger
holes as seen above. The lamp will then pop out of the socket.

You've all seen this, but I thought it would be nice to take a picture
anyway. A standard connection for the lamp.

The cable for the lamp.

I then went on to remove the door steps which I believe are aluminum.
Four screws did the trick and it could just be lifted off.

On the drivers side my steps are damaged. Can anyone confirm this
is aluminum, and is there any method I can use to fix the holes above?

I really should've cleaned the car before this work started, but to make
a long story short I couldn't get it cleaned before winter and I have no
waterhose in the garage. I will have to clean each part after it has come off.
This is the rocker panel which is secured with two screws.

Behind the rocker panel are several plastic snap-in-contraptions,
so once the two screws are removed, you need to carefully push
the rocker panel upwards and lift it off from the top, this will release
it from the bottom as well. I think there were three or four of those.
Some rust hid there as well.

The removed rocker panel. Yeah, I know, I should've cleaned it. ;)
In difference from what the picture hints the rocker panels are quite
nice except for the dirt.

It's getting close to the end of the day...

And the result: I removed main lights, exterior lighting on the fenders
and on the quarter panels, the rocker panels, the trim support bracket
at the windows, and the aluminum(?) steps.

See, I told you it was a lot of minor stuff, but soon it's all gone and I can concentrate on moving further to more advanced disassembly. I'll try to get out there as soon as possible so I can update the blog frequently! ;)

Documentation arrived...

Hey guys and sorry for not updating for a long time. It's been a troublesome end of the year for me, but I'm slowly getting back on track. Just wanted to update you that I recieved a very nice package from Canada today.

The chassis and body service manuals of 1975 Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge automobiles!

As visible from the second picture, the level of information in illustrations is just magnificent. After browsing through just a couple of the thousand or so pages I can honestly say these books might be my most precious items at the moment.

They seem to include sketches covering just about everything regarding the vehicle, as well as a complete set of wiring diagrams. If any of my readers needs any information regarding the 75 Cordobas(or any of the other Mopar vehicles from that year) I will be glad to share scannings or photos. Be sure to add your requests to comments below!

I promise to head out to the garage soon and provide you with another large update!