Hey that is nice! How do you actually do that? Can you post a link that would guide any of us who would want to do something like that ourselves?

 

I just did a Google Image search for the Oldsmobile emblem, and used my Cricut machine to cut it out.

 

The vinyl emblem was a trick idea, it looks great- and you can't beat the cost of it

 

It’s 73° today, so I vacuumed and cleaned out the interior. I also conditioned the leather and used 303 Protectant on the plastics.

 

The carbon fiber vinyl grille emblem didn't fit quite right, so I re-did it. I used brushed gunmetal vinyl this time.

 

I went to the junkyard this afternoon. They had a '92 Bravada there. I was hoping that it had a power seat track that was in better shape than mine, but it turned out to have manual seats. It did, however, have a console with the two little doors over the 12-volt outlets that aren't broken like mine are, so I grabbed that. The rest of the console was in horrible shape. I might go back and get the wheels, since they're in better shape than mine are.

It turned out that the console top was broken on the bottom, but I did get to put the 12-volt outlet covers on mine. I also took off the SmartTrak badge and replaced it with a plain Oldsmobile label.

 

Wow, that console cleaned up nice!

 

That is a pretty clean Bravada.

 

I got some Iron-X to spray on the wheels. It dissolves any iron particles from brake dust, which are what caused the rust on the aluminum wheels.




Unfortunately, the pitting turned out to be a bit worse than what can be fixed by using Iron-X. I'll have to strip the clearcoat and refinish them...or replace them. Maybe I can find a set of ZR-1 wheels like ChevyRiders put on his Jimmy.

Today, I pulled the Bravada into the garage to replace the tie rod ends.




I rented a tie rod end puller from O'Reilly's, which worked great to pull the outer tie rod end from the spindle, but there wasn't room for the puller to fit where it attaches to the centerlink. So, I had to get a pickle fork for that. Turns out Harbor Freight has a huge one for $9.99. It works way better than the tiny pickle fork I rented from O'Reilly's when I did the idler arm. Then, I realized that the new tie rod ends weren't pre-greased like the idler arm was, so I had to get a grease gun. So, now, the car is just sitting in the garage, on jack stands.



Hopefully tomorrow, I'll be able to get the tie rods back on, and the brake pads replaced.

 

All right...I got the tie rod ends installed, and the brake pads on the passenger side.
Then, when I went to do the driver's side brake pads, I found that the hole on the spindle where the lower caliper bolt attaches was stripped, drilled out, and re-tapped at some point in the past. They had put one of those coil things in there that's supposed to adapt the threads to the bolt, but I wasn't able to get it back in.


I've ordered another thread repair kit, but I'm not optimistic that it's going to work, so I'll probably end up hittting the junkyard to get a new spindle. While I have the whole assembly taken apart, I might as well replace the ball joints and bearings. Part of why I bought this car was so I wouldn't have to attempt to drive my Mazda3 in the snow. At this point, it's looking like it's going to be in the garage until at least January. Fortunately, we haven't had any snow yet, and there's none in the forecast for the forseeable future.