The SX/4 money pit

[IowaEagle]

Makes me wonder what my bill will be at the alignment shop will be today.  Not counting the cost of the tires they were about wore out anyway.

[Smitty]

Ahhh, the Money Pit.  I am sorry to say that not much has been done to the car recently.  I had the wagon in the garage for a week or so doing the head gasket and stuff.  Yesterday and today the J10 was in the garage getting some much needed maintenance and tomorrow night the J10 gets a new water pump so it will be a few more days before I get back to the SX$4.

I did order an Offy 4V intake for it and the gaskets are coming from Rockauto so maybe next weekend I can finish it up.  It needs to get done soon cause the wagon will get an engine transplant and I want the SX done before I start on the wagon.  All that needs to get done before OntarioEagle gets home so I can go look at that Sundancer up by him.  That might end up on a trailer behind the J10 and find its way here too.  Skeezix will shoot me

Then there is that 69 Ambo waiting to be finished for the Hot Rod Power Tour.  (guess that might be the 2007 tour?)  No end to the projects but something has to get finished soon or I will be walking to work

[IowaEagle]

Or riding in style in your new Sundancer.

[Smitty]

Well, I guess I have pretty much settled on the Crower Baja Beast cam.  It has 280 duration on intake and exhaust and has a .448" lift.  Basically it is meant for the 1800 to 4500 rpm range and seems to be liked by the Jeep guys.  the component kit has the lifters, springs and keepers along with new pushrods.

from Crower the cam is $148 and the component kit is $165.  Should make for a healthy 258 with the Offy 4V intake and Holley 390 carb.  We might use an earlier piston to bring the compression ratio up a bit.  I will run the GM HEI dizzy in it for added spark.  Will be ordering the cam tomorrow.

[Gil-SX4]

Sounds like a good choice, just dont forget that it will not worke like in a Jeep since the gear ratio in AMC Eagles is a high ratio compare to the Jeep.

[IowaEagle]

Looks good to me too.  I know you will keep us posted.

[Smitty]

I sure wish the six bangers had the alignment dowels for the head like the V8s do!!  I had to stand on the shock towers and set the head on cause the gasket wanted to slide too much.  That head gets heavy at arms length .  Anyway, I finally got the lifters changed out.  I should have done it before the engine went in but I was hoping they would pump up after running a little.  Two of them would randomly bleed down and clatter so I said @#$%^&  and changed them out.  Tore it apart yesterday and put it mostly back together after Church today.  Hope to have it running again tomorrow night.  I believe I have most everything to finish putting the interior back together now so I guess I had better jump on fixing the rust in the drivers floor and pass rocker so I can get the new carpet in.

I will say, I was very pleased with how the cylinders looked and the pistons looked like new.  No carbon build up.  They looked better than they should for a  52k mile engine.  I did decide to put the motorcraft on this car and keep the Holley 4V for the wagon when that engine comes back in a week or so.  The Holley was a little too much carb with the stock cam.

One of these day I might get to drive it other than test drives in front of the house.

[IowaEagle]

I think you will need to make a video of that Smitty!  Sometimes working alone is so much fun.

[Smitty]

As I mentioned in another post, I have not had time to work on the money pit for a few days.  I hope to get back to it this weekend.  It all depends on Skeezix.  She was carted off, by ambulance, from work on Tuesday and has spent the last few days in the cardiac unit of the hospital.  I brought her home last night but she still does not feel well.  Her heart rate took off and went to 140 plus, which dropped her blood pressure and she passed out.  It recurred a few times while on monitors in the hospital but they can not find a cause.  So, it may be a while before I get back to mundane things like working on toys.

[Gil-SX4]

Smitty and Skeezix best of wishes and hope all comes out ok for you both.

[IowaEagle]

Yes!  Please give her our best for a speedy recovery.  Have the doc's said what they think it might be?  Will be thinking about both of you.

[Smitty]

Thanks for the kind thoughts.  They have run test after test and can not find the cause.  This has been going on sporadically for years but this week it is one event right after another.  Each time it happens it has the same effect as if she she has run hard for 10 or 15 minutes and it has just plain ole worn her out.  At least it finally happened when they had her on the machines so they could record exactly what happens.  Still no answers but we will keep looking..  We have an appointment with a specialist in Syracuse at the end of the month and by then we will have the results from a special (read $879, non insurance covered) ion panel blood test that will measure about 80 trace minerals and elements.  We believe she has a heavy metal build up in her body from when she was a kid but whether that can cause her heart issues, we don't know.

[IowaEagle]

Thanks Smitty.  Keep us posted, please.

[jim]

Really sorry to hear about her problems.  Hope for a speedy recovery.

[Smitty]

Thanks for everyones thoughts.  They are appreciated.

I found out the hard way last night that I had the wrong heater core from Rockauto.  The one in the car did not look too bad so it is at the radiator shop getting cleaned and tested.  I should have it back by tonight..  Got a little more grinding done on the drive side floor and may put some fiberglass mat in there tonight.  I was thinking about trying to make a metal patch but the compound curves of the floor, firewall and tranny hump are more of a challenge than I care to tackle right now.  With glass mat I know it won't rust again. 

I also managed to drill out a broken bolt on the AC bracket and helicoil it so now I can tighten up the alternator and have it stay in place.  Depending on how Skeezix is doing tonight, a couple of hours to put the heater core back in and hook up everything under the hood and I may have it running again.  I hope those new lifters quiet things down.  All the cam lobes looked good so I think the clatter was just from sitting so long.  When they did not clatter, it real real smooth but then one or two would bleed down and it sounded like rocks in there.  I know I keep saying this, but maybe soon I can drive this thing farther than up and down the road in front of my house.  Besides, the engine for the wagon should be done this weekend so that project means this car has to be done.