Summer Job!

[Prafeston]

That interior is looking pretty sharp man.

[Baskinator]

That interior is looking pretty sharp man.

Actually, the interior is the only thing that's gotten worse since I bought the car I tore up the passenger carpet to grind away the rusty floor, and the driver door panel was taken off to repair the outside handle. I also still need a new shifter because the button on mine is broken, and the seat tracks are very rusty.

I bought a new battery today, as well as the new steel fuel line coming from the fuel pump, and installed both. The new battery is much larger than the old one, which I could tell before was clearly the wrong battery. It feels much better knowing I have the correct battery. I even know now that my trunk popper is working for sure!

The old battery is on the right, it didn't even fit in the battery tray.

[Baskinator]

I saw the Optimas online, but they're about 3 or more times as much as the one I bought. I could barely afford to buy this one, which I chose over the PlusStart from Sears. It should be fine for daily driving, I'm not doing any serious offroading anytime soon. It was definitely cranking better than before, and started right up. Has a 2 year full replacement warranty, so I'm not worried.

[shaggimo]

eh you'll be fine, I put one in the eagle a couple years ago (wallyworld battery), never a glitch. Honestly *most* batteries all come from the same producer anyways, I found that out from my old boss. He worked next to a battery wholesaler, you could walk in, ask for your series, and then they'd ask what brand do you want? Say, mopar, they'd grab a blank battery, grab a mopar sticker, punch the date and slap the sticker on, lol. I'm not as picky about my batteries anymore  .

[thereverendbill]

I norminally just swap batteries with cars that come to my work that are totaled.  Right now I have a cobalt factory battery in my property jeep cause the old one got a hole in it somehow

[maximus7001]

Painted my trans oil pan and replaced it along with a new gasket, filter, and fluid yesterday and today. The old fluid was pretty gunked up and nasty, it almost looked like a thick white paint in the pan.

I decided to practice with clear coat since the pan's not in a visible spot anyway. It didn't turn out so great, especially being outside where all kinds of moths could get in it, and the clear is matte so it just gave it a white haze.

From the look of what was in the trans pan I would suspect that the cooler in the rad has a leak.

[Baskinator]

From the look of what was in the trans pan I would suspect that the cooler in the rad has a leak.

Is this fixable, or does it require a replacement?

[maddog]

just to be on the safe side i would replace it.

[Baskinator]

just to be on the safe side i would replace it.

Wait, do you mean the cooler or the entire radiator? I know the hard trans lines going to the radiator are pretty rusty, which may be another culprit, but I sure hope it's not the radiator. That's way out of my price range

[maddog]

sadly i mean the whole thing and while your at it i would replace the cooler lines as well.

[Baskinator]

I was planning on replacing the lines soon anyway. I drained the coolant today and I'm afraid you may be right. It was a dark green color and it looked as though there may be some kind of oil in it (ATF in this case). I guess I'll search the junkyards for one, and hopefully I can get an ok deal. Or does anybody know where to find a new one for around $100 or less?

I was going to do a total flush, clean, fill, and seal to day, but the rtv on my thermostat housing wouldn't cure fast enough (also replaced thermo, old one seemed seized or something). Probably a good thing, because after reading online about the Liquid Aluminum Stop Leak I bought, I no longer think it would be a good idea to use. I bet some of you guys have good things to say about it, too Looks like just a temp fix and could possibly cause engine problems, clogs in the water pump, and other fun stuff.

Old coolant, yuck  One on the right I diluted with water through the radiator.


My line up, minus the stop leak now.


Also made a little money this morning and stopped at Harbor Freight Tools to pick up some things. Got a new angle grinder for cheap + a bunch of cutting, grinding, sanding discs and a couple wire wheels. Maybe I'll try to get the rest of the rust grinded away tomorrow instead of worrying about the cooling system or brakes, which I can't do anything to now anyway since I need parts .

[Whuntmore]

Looks like it's moving right along.  Keep up the great work, and keep on posting.

[Baskinator]

  Well, it seems I've come to the point where I just don't know what to do. The trans lines look much more difficult to remove than I thought, and I don't know how or if I can even get a wrench in there to remove them from the trans. They will almost definitely need replacing, especially if I put in another radiator, because the fittings are rusted fast to the lines at the bottom of the radiator and one line looks leaky at the other end.

I know removing the transmission would be the best way to do it, but I just can't do that with the tools I have and wouldn't know how to do it if I had them. Even if I was going to do that, my best bet would be to put in a whole different trans. I guess I've really got a predicament here

If I could get the lines off the radiator without damaging them further, do you think I could just get an external trans cooler and mount it in front of the radiator where the condenser is (since I don't have a/c anyway) then plug the connections on the radiator?

Also, my thermostat housing cracked when reinstalling it, that's why it wouldn't seal. I didn't realize they were so easy to break. I'll have to get a new one then to replace it.

[jim]

You can definitely mount an external trans cooler, whether or not you have ac.  I have one on the 83 with ac.

[Baskinator]

Ok, I might just do that. It's a lot cheaper than replacing the radiator right now. I would take out my condenser because it does nothing right now and put it there since it's the best, coolest place for it. Thanks Jim.

Still, does anyone have any tips for the cooler lines?