Summer Job!

[Baskinator]

I'm finally home for the summer, and I now have a job at a local hardware store to fund my project

Here is the new rear seat mount riveted in for the passenger side. The seat frame fits perfectly and it's very strong! Will be welded later.


I also ordered my new aluminum radiator and rear Monroe coil shocks the other night. The shocks should be here today, so I'll have them installed pronto.

[Baskinator]

The rear end of the SX/4 is significantly higher with my new load leveling shocks. Of course, only one of the old ones was working at all anymore. Boy were they a pain to get in, my arms were sore the day after!



My shiny new aluminum radiator gets here tomorrow, can't wait!!!

[Prafeston]

The back end looks great hard to tell how high it's actually sitting cause there are no fender flares.

[Baskinator]

Not sure what you mean casper. The strut rod bushings are brand new, but I still need to get an alignment (when it's actually road worthy). I lined the tires up as straight as possible, though I'm sure they aren't even close to perfect. Even so, driving it a little like this won't harm anything. I've had it over 50mph on the back road behind my house a few times. No vibrations at all, just loud. The wheel might be turned a tiny bit in this picture.

Thanks Rafe. It's probably about stock height, or a little less because my leaf springs are very worn, and the coil springs in the front (though replaced) aren't brand new either. Still a great height, and better than before. There's also no outer rocker panel on this side currently, so it's deceiving.

[Baskinator]

Nearly stock tires, at 205/75/R15. They're B.F. Goodrich Radial Long Trail T/A's though, and look big with full tread

There may be somewhat of an illusion regarding the front tire, due to camera angle and the fact that I cut out a badly rusted part of the fender at the wheel well.

Good information, I read everything that's posted here no matter how long. The wheels are straight enough that I didn't get any vibration or major pulling on the road. However, I won't be driving it much for that to matter, as it will be aligned around the same time as inspection. I replaced everything that was bad in the suspension, so there shouldn't be any major problems.

[Baskinator]

How about that?




New radiator and hoses are installed, and it looks awesome. Plus, it's now better cooling capacity than stock and it won't rust! I didn't bother routing the transmission fluid through the internal cooler, since I have an external one already, but I don't think that will be necessary.

***Some obstacles I overcame in case anyone else is looking to install this radiator:
-New holes must be drilled as wide as possible so the bolts can go in easily
-The lower hose may need to be cut shorter and wiggled on in an odd way. The new tube from the radiator is much more steep than stock.
-The old fan shroud does not fit. I may end up fabbing one for the 4.0 swap, but won't worry about it now.
-My old rad bolts weren't all original, so only three would fit back in. They are tapered at the end, and screw into tiny clips.
-The rubber overflow hose will need to be longer because the filler neck is farther away and the tube faces the opposite direction.
***

I also cleaned up a bunch under the hood and put in some shiny new hardware here and there (free auction grabs from the weekend). I realized that all the nasty black soot that covered everything was coming from the insulator under the hood, so I just pulled it. Painted the hood latch too. I'll clean up the plastic overflow container and washer fluid one pretty soon.

I fabbed another floor mount for the driver seat today, but the rain kept me from installing it. I will be learning to weld in the next week or so because I got a little arc welder at auction for $15. Then it will be smooth sailing 

[Baskinator]

The credit goes to Captspillane for the idea. It's a 2 row Champion all aluminum radiator from eBay, originally for a Jeep CJ7. The best part is that it cost $160 total, which is cheaper than any other radiator I've seen for this car. I would've liked more rows, but the next step up was a 4 row with built in electric fans for over $400. I thought I saw a 3 row before, but couldn't find one anywhere from the same brand.

Basically, all it really requires is to drill new mounting holes a little higher so that it will fit under the hood. It's about the same size, just with more fins and internal cooling area.

[BaldEagle]

I'd suggest you be very careful with that arc welder and sheet metal. I have a small 110V, and it can burn through the thin stuff real easily. If you have any exhaust that needs repairing, that makes for great practice. The exhaust on my Subaru was all done with that welder, and is sound............but UuuuGLY!!!
~E

[Baskinator]

I will get in some practice before I start welding on the car. The metal I'm working with now is at least pretty thick, so hopefully it won't be too bad. My brother has done a good bit of welding in the past and can probably help me if I need it.

The sheet metal work I'm doing will be uglier than the welds anyway, and I'm going to grind them down and paint everything before the carpet is put in. I'm not worried about that at all.

[macdude443]

Enjoying the progress!  Next time I'm back in the area I'll have to see it in person.

[Baskinator]

Absolutely! While you're around, you could also check out captspillane's sanctuary down the road and see about 7 or 8 Eagles and AMCs all in one spot. He's probably my biggest source of parts lol

My seat frames are put together and solid, despite a whole bunch of previous repairs and weld globs. The passenger side now fits perfectly into the new floor mount, and now I'm working on making the driver side rear mount. I may even start painting the seat frames tonight since I have everything for it.

All that's left before inspection are rust repairs and getting the speedometer working. I've tried my hand at welding, but my welder is extremely limited. I have another one to test out, so hopefully it won't be so bad this time. Then, I can start seam sealing and painting the floors.

[Prafeston]

Just saw the news from Captspillane in another thread that the car passed PA inspection!!! Congrats man! Did you take it to school with you then?

[Baskinator]

Indeed it did, and it made the 100+ mile trip yesterday without any issues!


Here it is just after inspection. The "missing" rocker panels weren't a problem as long as there were no sharp edges, so I was required to put the trim back on temporarily to cover it.


I will update soon with pictures of all the repairs I've done over summer.

[Baskinator]

This one's for you Rafe   My SX/4 parked in front of the new apartment today.

[Prafeston]

AHHHH a Festiva! Nice shot! I wish I had the lighter colored Aqua one. I got the darker Teal instead! Now I have to find an Eagle and snap a shot with my Festiva! I'm now calling it the Micro Machine!