Project lil' Eagle

[Baskinator]

Holy crap on a cracker, I've never seen a hole like that in an engine, especially with a cast iron block! At least the hood paint looks nice lol.

[TheWraith]

I witnessed a 258 in a Jeep drive all day with a hole like that in the side of the block.  I didn't think it would make it another five minutes but it just kept going and going.  We were deep in the woods and the owner figured he might as well get it as close to the trail head as possible.  We were all amazed when he made it out and put it on the trailer under its own power.  Needless to say that was the last time that engine ran.  If I didn't see it myself I wouldn't had believed it.  Pretty amazing engine the 258.

If you don't mind the suggestion, send that picture in to Car Craft for thier broken-engine-part page.

[maddog]

well if i remember right the 258 is based off the jeep engine used during world war two which was designed to be able to go a good distance without oil just in case when soldiers were fired upon and say a stray bullet put a whole in the block they could easily drive it to safety.

[mach1mustang351]

There is another thread somewhere where I admit being on here a little too much.  Well I haven't posted in a few days. 

On Tuesday a hurricane hit anchorage.  We had strong winds pushing 100mph in some parts of town.  I lost my power until about 1 am this morning.  I did remember to bring my hood inside before it blew away.  Crazy storm.  I have a mountain climb tomorrow but if I dont gas out too bad I hope to tackle some of the metal removal and fix planning. 

[mach1mustang351]

Well I was really hoping to put together a build thread but it seems like all I am able to do on this darn SX4 is to take things apart to assess the work needed. 

I was feeling a little beat down today because of a mountain climbing thing I did yesterday.  I decided to challenge myself and I did better than expected.  I am not in the shape I used to be but I found out I am still there mentally and my heart is there to push when tired.  That was exciting.  Anyway, I was tired and sore this morning so I didn't get out to the garage until about 5 and was able to put in a couple hours.  Here is the results from today.





I cut out the outer rocker on the drivers side.  It was rotten and I needed to assess the damage to the inner panel.  The above are some of the highlights.  There is a lot going on here. 




I then tore out the interior to see what is going on.  I managed to find $0.92 when I pulled out the carpet so I got a bonus there.  The rusty looking drivers side floor board is in fact solid and this rust is surface.  First break of the project!!!  The rust on the inner rocker goes all the way up to the door jam.  Oh Boy!!

[mach1mustang351]

Here is a couple other fun ones. 



I thought the bolt stripped... not exactly



Even the aluminum door sill cover couldn't escape the corrosion

[Baskinator]

That's exactly what my aluminum sills look like. I gave them a quick spray of clear coat before reinstalling to prevent further corrosion until I get new ones.

[MudPuppy]

  Dang, that's what the Black Mamba's aluminum door sills look like too. Wouldn't have thought that those things would corrode like that, until I seen the Mamba's.

[jim]

Some time ago I offered for sale a pretty decent set of door sill plates but no one wanted them.

[max98059]

theres a web sit out there.where you can by repops of the door sill pans for the spirit and they are the say as the sx4

[mach1mustang351]

Worked on the SX4 a little today.  Worked on cutting out the bad metal on the drivers inner rocker.  Still deciding how to approach the metal repair.  Since moving to AK I have lost my metal working tool connection.  I may have to invest in a bending brake.  I can do the tack, heat and bend method but with the volume of work that needs done that may be impractical.  Still gotta think on it.

[TheWraith]

If you have access to a shop/hydraulic press, you can put a 90 degree bend in a piece of steel by pressing it between two pieces of angle iron.  Of course it would be limited on length.  Just a thought.

Besure your angle iron jig is built right and secure in the press so as to avoid injury.  Easy/cheap to build, just be safe.

[mach1mustang351]

The new puppy has turned out to be more work than the most busted of Eagles.  Hopefully picking up my donor car next week.  Then I will have my engine, and 5 speed trans, and some other goodies. 

[Baskinator]

Hey Max, do you have a link for those Spirit sills? I might be interested in new ones someday

[mach1mustang351]

No pics today team but I did some work to the rig finally.  I finished cutting the last of the rusty metal out of the drivers side rockers.  The rust extended into the floor pan a little bit and into the kick panel some.  I also found the parking brake cable was broken so, that was easy to remove.  I started pulling the under coat off of the inside of the drivers front wheel well so I can POR15 and re coat to prevent future rust. 

Upon probing I found a small amount of rust around the upper control arm bolt.  This lead me to roll my eyes, say some choice language, and then pull the spring, shock and upper control arms on both sides to investigate.  There is a small pin hole portion only on the drivers side.  Should be an easy grind, and make a small reinforcement.  I also found a couple "about to be issues" that should be easily fixed with some grinding and sealing.  I also pulled the master cylinder for replacement and cleaned the garage.

I got another half a bucket of rust, dirt and leaves for the trash bin.

Tough day.  It still seems like I cant manage to get anything fixed just more taken apart. 

*sigh*