winter projects
01-28-2015, 04:05 AM
#1
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
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winter projects
I've posted a couple of these in other threads, but I'm wrapping up my winter projects and finally managed to get a batch of photos off the phone.
I planned on replacing the driveshaft, exhaust and cleaning up the engine bay by removing some emissions and cold start gear....
The engine bay before is pretty stock, except the PO painted everything orange that he could... (the fan, the coolant reservoir...)
The first thing I needed to do for my sanity was to get rid of some orange. The cam itself was pretty filthy from old oil and too long between oil changes etc. I cleaned this up somewhat with seafoam and brushes.
I put all the valves back into spec. I say all of them because all of them were out of spec... by a lot. The second pic shows all the mung on the cam, the third pic shows the mung on the inside of the VC.
I did the valve cover in VHT flat black and white. I eventually had to redo this and added some of the crinkly VHT...
I planned on replacing the driveshaft, exhaust and cleaning up the engine bay by removing some emissions and cold start gear....
The engine bay before is pretty stock, except the PO painted everything orange that he could... (the fan, the coolant reservoir...)
The first thing I needed to do for my sanity was to get rid of some orange. The cam itself was pretty filthy from old oil and too long between oil changes etc. I cleaned this up somewhat with seafoam and brushes.
I put all the valves back into spec. I say all of them because all of them were out of spec... by a lot. The second pic shows all the mung on the cam, the third pic shows the mung on the inside of the VC.
I did the valve cover in VHT flat black and white. I eventually had to redo this and added some of the crinkly VHT...
Last edited by Pez; 01-28-2015 at 07:14 AM.
01-28-2015, 04:13 AM
#2
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
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So then I moved on to the intake and started cleaning that up... the first pic is the before pic. I took everything off and had it blasted with sea shells. I decided to not paint it as I liked the bare aluminum look.
After I found that the PO had made some modifications to the fuel rail, and after cleaning it and prepping it with flat black VHT, I decided to say the hell with it and build one (the internet can be dangerous). The third pic shows the general plan... Um, get some fittings and some extruded tubing and um.. go for it...
The fourth pic shows a portion of the finished rail and the brackets I made to bolt on to the intake bosses. I swear I had these injectors in and out of the intake a dozen times... that's what happens when your plan is written on a cardboard box. Anyway, after a few struggles it was good and I was pleased with the result.
The last pic shows the final intake 'build' before I took it off the bench and put it back in the car. I also serviced and cleaned the AAR until it was spotless... of course I couldt get all the orange paint off.... in the pic you can also see the EGR block off. I put bolts in all the threaded holes. The guy at Fastenal loves me... I come in with a list of about 15-20 obscure metric sizes that I need, it takes us a half hour to find everything, then I end up spending about six bucks.
After I found that the PO had made some modifications to the fuel rail, and after cleaning it and prepping it with flat black VHT, I decided to say the hell with it and build one (the internet can be dangerous). The third pic shows the general plan... Um, get some fittings and some extruded tubing and um.. go for it...
The fourth pic shows a portion of the finished rail and the brackets I made to bolt on to the intake bosses. I swear I had these injectors in and out of the intake a dozen times... that's what happens when your plan is written on a cardboard box. Anyway, after a few struggles it was good and I was pleased with the result.
The last pic shows the final intake 'build' before I took it off the bench and put it back in the car. I also serviced and cleaned the AAR until it was spotless... of course I couldt get all the orange paint off.... in the pic you can also see the EGR block off. I put bolts in all the threaded holes. The guy at Fastenal loves me... I come in with a list of about 15-20 obscure metric sizes that I need, it takes us a half hour to find everything, then I end up spending about six bucks.
Last edited by Pez; 01-28-2015 at 04:18 AM.
01-28-2015, 04:33 AM
#3
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
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I finally started reassembly.
I replaced all the intake / exhaust studs, spacers etc. The first pic shows the prepped gasket surface. I also took off the thermostat housing, nearly broke it... cleaned all the sensors as well as the housing itself and replaced the thermostat and gaskets. I did not take a single picture of that process... I admit I was mildly discouraged... (broken bolts, taps, a gallon of PB blaster...)
The next pic shows the dry fit of the new MSA 3-2 header without the smog fittings... ooh shiny thing. There was a small heat shield down near the transmission that would not allow the header to seat properly against the head. After some coercion (hammer), I was able to precisely modify it's shape (vise grips) to a custom, high quality (no one will ever see it) fit.
Third pic shows the engine bay with the intake back in but before I reattached the electrical. I had a few deletes to do (AAR, CSV etc). This finally looked like real progress (I told my wife I was almost done anyway).
I had to replace a couple coolant fittings that supplied and returned from the AAR... a small plug in the thermo housing, and I was able to find a large fitting on the return side that deleted the additional branch that was the return branch on the AAR.
I replaced all the intake / exhaust studs, spacers etc. The first pic shows the prepped gasket surface. I also took off the thermostat housing, nearly broke it... cleaned all the sensors as well as the housing itself and replaced the thermostat and gaskets. I did not take a single picture of that process... I admit I was mildly discouraged... (broken bolts, taps, a gallon of PB blaster...)
The next pic shows the dry fit of the new MSA 3-2 header without the smog fittings... ooh shiny thing. There was a small heat shield down near the transmission that would not allow the header to seat properly against the head. After some coercion (hammer), I was able to precisely modify it's shape (vise grips) to a custom, high quality (no one will ever see it) fit.
Third pic shows the engine bay with the intake back in but before I reattached the electrical. I had a few deletes to do (AAR, CSV etc). This finally looked like real progress (I told my wife I was almost done anyway).
I had to replace a couple coolant fittings that supplied and returned from the AAR... a small plug in the thermo housing, and I was able to find a large fitting on the return side that deleted the additional branch that was the return branch on the AAR.
Last edited by Pez; 01-28-2015 at 04:36 AM.
01-28-2015, 04:37 AM
#4
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
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So the engine bay nearly done, I moved under the car.
The first order of business was to remove the old diff mount and replace it with an RT mount and a bushing. There was a lot of chicken / egg engineering problems and I had to take it out / Put in a couple times. I had to modify the ES bushing to cut a small radius in the polyurethane. Then I had to install the bushing on the diff and loose fit the bolts. Then put the RT mount in place and blindly get the bolt through the top of the mount and into the threaded holes in the top of the bushing. Once I had those things loosely fit, I attached the sides of the mount to the channel. I had a difficult time getting the four bolts in because the mount was slightly narrow. I ended up mounting one side loosely, then using a set of vise grips to pull the other side to the holes.
Once I got all the bolts in loosely, I cranked everything down... the bolts that secure the diff to the bushing, the bolt that holds the bushing to the mount, then finally the bolts that hold the mount to the channel.
I sucked it up and immediately installed the driveshaft. I think I would replace the drive shaft bolts with hex heads, as it's a royal pain in the **** to tighten them. After an hour or so I had them cranked down, and drank several beers to make sure.
The first order of business was to remove the old diff mount and replace it with an RT mount and a bushing. There was a lot of chicken / egg engineering problems and I had to take it out / Put in a couple times. I had to modify the ES bushing to cut a small radius in the polyurethane. Then I had to install the bushing on the diff and loose fit the bolts. Then put the RT mount in place and blindly get the bolt through the top of the mount and into the threaded holes in the top of the bushing. Once I had those things loosely fit, I attached the sides of the mount to the channel. I had a difficult time getting the four bolts in because the mount was slightly narrow. I ended up mounting one side loosely, then using a set of vise grips to pull the other side to the holes.
Once I got all the bolts in loosely, I cranked everything down... the bolts that secure the diff to the bushing, the bolt that holds the bushing to the mount, then finally the bolts that hold the mount to the channel.
I sucked it up and immediately installed the driveshaft. I think I would replace the drive shaft bolts with hex heads, as it's a royal pain in the **** to tighten them. After an hour or so I had them cranked down, and drank several beers to make sure.
Last edited by Pez; 01-28-2015 at 04:49 AM.
01-28-2015, 05:11 AM
#6
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Location: Fort Wayne, IN
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I started installing the MSA 3-2 exhaust... the first pic shows the old exhaust. Obviously I took this off before I did the engine bay work. Removing the old exhaust was actually one of the easiest tasks, and the damn thing was just about to fall off on it's own. It was fastened only by the muffler hanger. once this was loose,, the muffler separated from the exhaust on it's own... I wondered why I smelled so much exhaust.
The second pic is a dry fit of the exhaust on jack stands. You can see a bit more of the Diff mount here, including the orange bit on top that is the bushing. Safety guys might flame me here as it appears I'm doing all this with a hydraulic jack underneath the dif. The car is actually on ramps in the front and on jack stands in the back. The jack under the diff is a fail safe in case I get crazy and knock it off the stands (I'm not keen on death).
The last pic is just another pic of the exhaust.
The second pic is a dry fit of the exhaust on jack stands. You can see a bit more of the Diff mount here, including the orange bit on top that is the bushing. Safety guys might flame me here as it appears I'm doing all this with a hydraulic jack underneath the dif. The car is actually on ramps in the front and on jack stands in the back. The jack under the diff is a fail safe in case I get crazy and knock it off the stands (I'm not keen on death).
The last pic is just another pic of the exhaust.
01-28-2015, 05:34 AM
#8
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Fort Wayne, IN
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After I fired it up, I started heat tempering the exhaust...
Despite the cool factor of shooting flames out the exhaust, I realized something was amiss. Among them was a coolant leak that I had to address, and then I was all set to check for vacuum leaks that might be causing the after fire.
I stewed on it for a day and then got back to work. I was looking at the coolant leak and managed to discover that one of the hose clamps was just hanging there on the hose. I tightened it up and that problem was solved.
I hypothesized that the after fire was potentially due to a vacuum leak, perhaps interfering with the vac advance on the dizzy...
A buddy came over to provide a second opinion and a second beer, and as he was staring at the motor he noted that I had tagged the plug wires 1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 6....
Switched the 5 and 4, and the flames were doused. I will get a vid posted, but I swear she started purring and grinning like Cheshire cat. Big pile of dopamine after hitting a big milestone in the work.
As embarrasing as it sounds, I think a problem that is solved by tightening a clamp and switching two wires might reflect badly on my attention to detail, but it's not like it's two separate vacuum leaks or a wire messed up in the EFI.
Looking forward to the snow melting.
Despite the cool factor of shooting flames out the exhaust, I realized something was amiss. Among them was a coolant leak that I had to address, and then I was all set to check for vacuum leaks that might be causing the after fire.
I stewed on it for a day and then got back to work. I was looking at the coolant leak and managed to discover that one of the hose clamps was just hanging there on the hose. I tightened it up and that problem was solved.
I hypothesized that the after fire was potentially due to a vacuum leak, perhaps interfering with the vac advance on the dizzy...
A buddy came over to provide a second opinion and a second beer, and as he was staring at the motor he noted that I had tagged the plug wires 1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 6....
Switched the 5 and 4, and the flames were doused. I will get a vid posted, but I swear she started purring and grinning like Cheshire cat. Big pile of dopamine after hitting a big milestone in the work.
As embarrasing as it sounds, I think a problem that is solved by tightening a clamp and switching two wires might reflect badly on my attention to detail, but it's not like it's two separate vacuum leaks or a wire messed up in the EFI.
Looking forward to the snow melting.
01-28-2015, 11:41 AM
#9
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Tucson, Arizona USA
Posts: 576
That's great work and a lot of it. I too especially like the black valve cover finish.
Yes, you can barely see one of the jack stands supporting the car - you're good!
The flame photo is a keeper.
Congratulations, I hope your snow melts soon. We had snow here once ...
Yes, you can barely see one of the jack stands supporting the car - you're good!
The flame photo is a keeper.
Congratulations, I hope your snow melts soon. We had snow here once ...
01-28-2015, 01:52 PM
#11
I have a present for you...
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: dayton, nevada usa
Posts: 1,691
You could switch the wires back and melt all that snow. I made the same exact mistake once and damn near snatched my self bald trying to figure it out because it actually ran okay except for the occasional flames and gunfire.
Looks great!
Looks great!
01-29-2015, 04:17 PM
#13
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Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Tucson, Arizona USA
Posts: 576
I share my experiences as hopefully a pay-it-forward for all those who have shared in the past as well as those more experienced who continue to chime in with advice and guidance.
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