Project Road Trip

[rohnk]

Worked for a couple of more hours tonight. I was able to wrestle the AC cooler from in front of the radiator and removed the alternator, thermostat and radiator hoses. I'm going a little further than just taking off the air pump and AC compressor which I am glad I did. Found two problems. The lower radiator hose has been rubbing on the power steering resivoir and has two very soft spots. Almost enough to put my finger through. I also pulled the thermostat and found that whoever worked on this car didn't believe in buying gaskets. The thing was so full of RTV that it was stuck about half open and rusted. I had to use a pair of pliers to seperate it from the block it was so well RTV'd in there. Lucky it didn't leak.

Anyway, alternator came out tonight and I am working on the brackets that are in there now so I can convert over to non-AC bracket. I think I can move the power steering resivoir up as well but not sure if I am missing something like a special bracket or something.

[Prafeston]

Dang Rohn, you are really diggin in there! Sounds like you are doing it right though. Hope the process of putting everything back together goes smoothly!

[rohnk]

Well it goes like this. I'm planning to do project X and now that is half done it is only a little more work to get project Y and now Project Z might as well be done since it is in the open now.

One thing leads to another. If I didn't get this far into it, I wouldn't have found the problems. I'l make every effort to finish the job in a month and with all new parts and gaskets. I'm taking the alternator in tomorrow just to be run and checked. Should be ok, but why guess? Take it in and be sure.

[rohnk]

Nothing done today. Had to go to a school function of  my daughter's. I did take a couple of pics and add them to my April build log though.

http://s1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa455/rohnk/SX4%20Project%20April%202012/

and my dinosaur ribs came in!

[Prafeston]

Haha Dino ribs!

[vangremlin]

and my dinosaur ribs came in!

Those look like half the rack that used to tip over the Flintstone-mobile!!

[rohnk]

Yeah, but his probably were easier to chew! 

My new valve cover came in as well. Just a few more parts and pieces to get, clean up the bock a bit and everything can start going back together.

[rohnk]

Took the EGR out tonight and finished the disassembly on the AC/alternator brackets. I found that the front of the block is covered in about a half inch of sludge! That old cover has been leaking for some time now. Anyway, I started cleaning around the mounting area so I could figure out where things fit. Then MudKicker posted a picture for me and viola! It all made sense.

I also removed the heater hoses and one of the AC hoses tonight. That was two hours worth of work and I was pooped. Back at it again tomorrow night I guess. I'll be able to start putting it back together soon and make sense of how things should be routed with that AC gone.

I plan to set everything out on the floor this Saturday and take a picture to show what all was removed in this emissions/AC delete. Hopefully someone else can use something from my experience to help them later on.

After all, that's why we are all here! To share our experiences and learn more about our cars.

[rohnk]

No work yesterday, but I got a few things done tonight. Finally finished cleaning the old RTV off from the valve cover seat. Had to cut the air injection hardline at the converter since the u-clamp holding the pipes together was too rusted to wrench off. Also had to cut off a brace holding the line to the exhaust pipe. Then I removed the two air conditioning lines that were left going into the driver side firewall.

I stopped at Lowes and bought six of the 1/4" pipe plugs to cap the holes in the exhaust manifold where the air injection manifold bolted. I also picked up a 3/8" plug for where the CTO went into the intake. I used loctite just to lubricate the plugs going in as there is a lot of carbon in the threads of the exhaust manifold. It is only good to 300 degrees so it will burn off rather quickly.

Then it was time to clean shop and put away all my tools. Oh yeah, I also took out the wiper motor to make room for the new valve cover install.

Tomorrow I have to pick up some heater hoses and a new gasket for the carb. Then it will be a day of installing the hoses, alternator bracket and alternator, and tapping the two holes for the new valve cover. All my holes line up except for two on the driver side so I am going to just tap those two and use 1/4-20 bolts in the rest of the holes.

[rohnk]

Tapped two holes on the driver side of the head tonight for 1/4-20 helicoils. That way I have 1/4-20 threads all the way around on my valve cover. Once that was done, I cleaned all the removed and no longer needs parts off the bench and installed the new valve cover. Heater hoses will be next, then carb, then alternator. I'm also cleaning the battery tray off and plan to prime and paint some areas under the hood just to freshen it up. I took all the electronics off the pass side fender so I can clean it and organize a bit better.

Should be done under the hood sometime next week. Pictures are in my photobucket account and linked in other posts.

[rohnk]

Lately I've been cleaning brackets and painting them just to clean things up a bit. Installed the thermostat last night and started putting in new hoses. Sometime today I'll get the alternator back in and start tightening things down. The project is going well. Taking the AC and air pump out has made a lot of room.

I've been using a wire brush to clean the inner fenders and expose the rust areas. I'll treat those and spray with primer and paint before it is all said and done. More pics tonight!

[Prafeston]

 sounds like you are ding a great job Rohn. Keep up the guys work...summer shows are right around the corner. My first one is next weekend.

[rohnk]

Made good progress this weekend. Carb back on, alternator in, hoses routed, right side inner fender cleaned up and painted. Sure glad I bought those wire wheels for the drill to clean rust off things. Really shines it up.

With the AC delete, the new bracket fits just fine but I don't have the right bolts for it. I used the bolts from teh old one and it was a little long so I put a spacer on it and it worked perfectly. I'll change it sometime down the rode but for now it fits and I can run the engine with it. I forgot to pick up a new alternator belt though so I'll be doing that this week. If you look close at the picture for the May album, you'll notice that I used hose clamps that do not require a wrench. They have plastic tabs on them so you can tighten everything by hand. I like them and I hope they hold up. Time will tell. If they break of come loose, then I'll just replace them. Link below.

http://photobucket.com/sx4may2012

[Prafeston]

Rohn, your engine bay is really cleaning up nicely man. Looks great. Man, I really need to get my aluminum valve cover on!!

[rohnk]

When you do it, remove the washer wiper motor. It makes the job much easier.