Junk Yard Visit

The crew met at the local self service JY this morning. Ken came along to supervise and offer wheel advise. We were looking for 4 things: coil with ignition control module, rear shocks from a Camaro, a radiator and 15" wheels. We did not find the coil and ignition module.

We found 2 sets of shocks. The first was hydraulic and had no return. It was stiff on the compression though. The second set we found were gas and had good compression and return. They look fancy, but really, they were from a Camaro!

Even better, they were made in France!

We did pull an aluminum radiator with 2 fans out of a Nissan.

We also found some descent 15x6 wheels from another completely unrelated Nissan. They are aluminum wheels with crappy, dry rotted tires. They made me purchase the tires as I had no way to pull them off.

They do rub the shock tower, so we'll need spacers.

And we'll need longer studs, you know, so the lug nuts don't fall off and let the wheel have it's freedom.

The spacers will also help with keeping the wheel away from the rest of the car during heavy loads. This is fully turned in while on the ground. There is just barely enough space to put my littlest finger between them.

And for Ed, just because. These are from a Saab 900 turbo. The offset it too large and would require longer studs but no spacers. They are 15" wheels and the tires are skinny enough that they don't rub the shocks.

Since there is plenty of space in the wheel wells, I'm going to investigate 16" wheels. This will allow us even more tires choices. Hopefully it won't cause an issue with rubbing, but we'll figure that out if it does. 

Cold, but not Rochester Cold

First, A big welcome to our new team member, Dom. He's joined us while on the lam from the Upstate NY weather.

We worked on the spark problem and it seems like the ignitor module is dead. Everything else checks, but we're just not getting any spark. I probably fried it when I was messing with the HEI module install.

We did get the front shocks replaced. The old ones were just dead. No return or resistance. The car was relying on the springs for suspension. The new ones were more like a modern shock absorber cylinder that slides into the strut case. It's a good replacement for the built in set. The seals were shot on the existing shocks. While it may have been fun to repair/replace the seals in the old ones, I prefer the direct replacement of the modern shock. We did not cut the springs. I'm going to get some 15" wheels and see how they fit, then decide on lowering the car.

Dom tacked in another drivers side door bar. One more on that side and we'll be done. I still need to get the driver's side bars bent and they will be ready to go.

I read on the Lemons forums that CMP would be full course. Wow, oh wow, that would be a great course to drive. The short course looks fun, but the 2 back straights would be awesome. I haven't driven them, but I did walk them.

Gas Tank Uppdate

Hopefully with this last round of work, we've gotten the fuel issues sorted out. We pulled the tank last night and managed to drill some holes in the sump wall. One hole for each wall, or there about. Tested the fill rate by filling it with water and seeing how fast the sump filled. It look good. Tank was bolted back up and everything reconnected. That was the last thing we did that night.

The three other items had varying degrees of success.

I was able to tighten the steering box down as far as it would go and that helped. It still needs a ball joint on the pittman arm.Oh heck, it needs new ball joints and rubber all around.

I need to widen the bolt holes in the harness mount so I can put a sleeve in there to allow the mount to move. I also need to drill and mount the anti-submarine belt.

And the first thing we worked on was trying to change the differential oil. The fill plug was stuck and now it's stuck and stripped. A quick internet search reveals many options for fixing it. I think I'll weld something onto the bolt and go from there. Wish me luck!

Movin' On Up

I worked on the car today to get it ready for a car meet tomorrow at CU-ICAR. I got the sill bars tacked in and 2 of the right door bars. I installed the seat and 4/5ths of the harness. I mounted the shoulder straps and the left and right straps. I used the existing seatbelt mounting holes. I did not mount the anti-submarine belt.

I also dropped another fuel pickup line in the tank. I tried to get the electric pump to pull from it, but it was having problems. I hooked up the mechanical pump and it worked great! I got the car out of the garage and up to temperature. I took it down the block and back. It had a squeaking sound in the rear wheels that ended up being mis-installed brake springs. I also noticed a coolant leak in the radiator.I ran some sea foam through the system, but it was coming out as soon as it sucked it up. The great part is that some of the smoke came from the exhaust header where the cracks are. Those are some serious cracks that need to be fixed.

My impression from the test drive: It's a terribly, wonderful crapcan. There's too much play in the steering. The shocks bounce and bounce and bounce, then bounce some more. The front right brake locks up under hard braking. And there is very little power, probably from the exhaust header leak.

We still have some work to do, but it's looking better!

Breakthrough!

I installed the diagonal and harness bar last night. Until the door bars come, that's the last of the cage for now. I can almost see an end to this part of the project.

Ed showed up and helped me with the harness bar and then we moved onto getting the car running. We did some additional troubleshooting with the fuel pump. We moved the electric pump back to the engine compartment and wired it to run when the key was turned on. We installed a see through inline fuel filter to monitor the fuel flow. We got the car started and it ran. And ran. And ran. It ran until the temperature gauge actually lifted off C and settled in the middle of the gauge. Around this time, the fuel filter ran dry. The pump was still running and spitting a little bit of fuel in the filter. After about a minute, the car stalled and died. The fuel gauge was showing almost 1/2 a tank of gas. We pulled the sending unit out of the tank to see what the heck was going on. Well, the tank had plenty of gas, but the sump, where the sending unit sucks up the gas, was empty. Huh? That's right, there's a self contained sump (for lack of better word) in the tank where the fuel pickup (or old electric pump) would sit. I think it's there to allow fuel pickup during turns, acceleration and braking. I put on a nitrile glove and stuck my hand in to see how the gas got in the sump. There's a small metal tube on the very bottom that goes to another part of the tank and pulls fuel from there. So the tube must be clogged. I tried to run a stiff wire through the tube, but there's too many right angles and not enough room to get a good grip with the gloves on. I then tried a plastic tie wrap. I was able to get it about 6-8 inches in the tube before it stopped. That still didn't allow the sump to fill up.

Grrrrr...What next? I'll call a few radiator shops and see if they can clean the tank. Is it possible to get the tank split in half and see what the real problem is? If not that, then a fuel cell may be the next option. There are some on sale through Lemons. A 15 gallon cell would be just under $600. That's out of the budget, so we need to make the existing tank work.

This has been one of the best work sessions in terms of problem resolution. The car ran for an extended period and then we discovered why it was dying. We wouldn't be at this point if it weren't for all the people that have come over to help look at the problem: Ken and Ed S. and of course my constant team mates, Eric and Ed G. That's about all the internet fame I can offer you guys at this point. :-)

Electric pump good! Connections bad!

I spent Saturday afternoon tearing the front of the riding mower apart to reattach the muffler. The previous owner had attached it with bolts without lock washers. One of the bolts decided to use that as an opportunity for freedom. I got the muffler reattached. I also notice the new carb bowl was leaking at the solenoid. I tightened it down just enough to crack it. Looks like time for a new carb bowl. This will be the 2nd bowl this year.

I also tested the electric pump on the Celi. It flows very well when pulling from a gas jug. And it flows when pulling from the tank line. I hooked it up to the tank in the rear with the electrical connections, but it wasn't turning on. So either the relay or oil pressure sensor is having issues. Maybe I'll just leave it in the engine compartment?

With this, I'm guessing the carb is getting flooded. I'll see if I can add a T with a smaller outlet to allow the excess to return to the tank. That would be a godsend if it solved the problem. More next week after the next session.

More progress...

Ken and Ed knocked out the back stays last night. They look good tacked in place.

I need to get new door bars and sill bars from Roll Cage Components. The first set was too short. I pushed the main hoop back about 10", so we would have more room in the cabin. While we wait for them to arrive, we can put the diagonal and harness bar in.

I made a list of To Do items and put it on the roof of the car. This will help focus the work on things that need to be done. They get marked off as they're done. Feeling of accomplishment: Accomplished!

We ran out of gas for the welder. Luckily National Welding is just down the road from work. A quick stop on the way in and $45 later, we're set to weld again.

Lastly, I welded the old emission holes in the exhaust manifold. The car sounds completely different. It's quite and seems to run better. We are still having a fuel delivery problem. It would run some with the mechanical pump, then die. It did the same thing with the electric pump. I'll get a pressure gauge and see if there's a pressure problem.