HOOP TAAAAYYYYYYY - Beginning of the disastery

In reply to yupididit :

Seriously, best car decision ive made since my truck, 20 years ago

I wonder what cheap turbo or supercharger kits can these take.  

Mr_Asa said:

I am inordinately pleased with this car.

It is solid, damn near suspiciously solid.  I'd drive it to Tallahassee tomorrow, but I'm trying to make sure that I have enough seat time to ensure its not gonna strand me.  I think I'll work on the OBDII port and cigarette lighter not working (they're on the same fuse, so hopefully that's the issue,) do the brakes, and see how bad the steering leak is.  By then I should be confident enough to go cross country if need be.

 

Why didn't I buy one of these years ago? (oh right, my ex wife)

In reply to yupididit :

This one would give me $22 to play with in-budget
https://www.ma xpeed ingrods.com/product/universal-turbo-t3-flange-pipe-bov-adaptor-wastegate-turbocharger-kits-25-psi.html

I must be livin right.

Every yard thats easy to get to has had the front end stripped off already.

This one has a full one, and an axle with a locker in it?

The more I work on this car, the more I feel it was owned by me, 20 years ago.
This isn't a good thing.

I was enthusiastic, but very stupid.This can be seen by many things.  The headlights are "installed" but half of it is not done correctly.
It has LED bulbs, and something is wrong with 'em.

I haven't poked at them that much as there were bigger worries, but I figured it was just an issue of bad collars (as they wouldn't seat) so while I was in the junkyard I pulled as many as I could to make sure they went together.  Turns out I didn't need a damned one of 'em.  

He lined them up and pushed 'em together like:

and just... left 'em like that? Knowing what I was like 20+ years ago, he probably couldn't get the o-rings to seat into the socket.  So I spit on 'em and shoved 'em in.  The rings cranked down and... the bulbs are installed.
15 minutes per side, and that was mostly cause I removed the entire headlight to make sure there were no other issues.

So I take the car out at night to see what its like, one of them is pointed at the rooflines of houses, the other is about 10 feet in front of the car.

:sigh:  Gonna be a long road.

Part of the road. 

I had a rear axle leak. Read up on it and its a common 8.8 issue.  So I ordered some parts.
Long story short, the seal on the driver side was a different color and type from the passenger side, so someone had been in here before to try and fix it.  And of course, they did it poorly.

Only needed one bearing.  Adding $28.68 and $9.09 to the budget.  Provided the emergency wear and tear rule doesn't apply.
Reading the rules, I don't need to add fluid costs?  That's correct?  

I pulled everything and found some nice wear at the shaft.  I was worried that the repair bearing wasn't gonna work, but after some careful measurement it looks like the repair bearing sits well past this.  I still knocked it down with a fine file, and slid it in.
I'll search around and do a better fix later that is in line with Challenge budget.  Till then its gonna ride.

Now one thing I'm worried about, I did this in the car, so I know I didn't get all the metal out.
Again.  I'll ride with it till I find something more in line with Challenge budget.
However, in the meantime, I did think of a fairly nice hack.

We all know what these filings are gonna do to this magnet, right?
Wrong

Cause I gave it a love glove.

Three or four of those, plenty of brake cleaning spray, and it was nice and clean.
I'm sure there's still some in there, but you can't win 'em all.

My Hoop-Tay brings all GRM to my yard/an I'm like "it looks better from next door"/damn right, it looks better next door/I could polish it, but I'm not that bored. 

Hate to say I told ya so but....

Really its almost just become a new purchase maintenace thing with me, buy a panther, do the rear bearings.  The repair bearing you bought is specifically designed to move to a good part of the axle so you should be fine with it.   I've never used them so I cannot speak to the longevity of it but they've been used by a lot of people for many years so I'd say they are a safe bet.   Good job on the cleanout.  I might be inclined to put the cheapest gear oil I can in there and flush it again after a week or so of use but it looks like you did a great job.

Its definitely looking just the right amount of good now.   Don't want them too nice or you start to feel bad when things happen :)

Matching front bumper ftw!  I hate threads like the because I've always wanted one of these and yet in owning nearly 200 cars in my life I've never bought one.  Yet.

Thanks for being an enabler...

In reply to Loweguy5 : 

200 cars........WOW!

My wife has driven the past 46 years (16-62) and has owned 6 cars.  She picks a new car and drives it a decade or more. 

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

It's either a badge of honor or a severe sign of a lack of commitment on my part lol.  I am 54, and currently own 6 (that includes the Wrangler I co-own with my wife, but since I ordered and paid for it I count it).  I was also in the car business for 15 years and traded frequently because of ridiculous deals befalling me.

At many points in my life I have owned 4-6 at a time.  Thankfully our current home has a long driveway...  I'm trying to narrow the fleet a bit now but adulting is hard!

Loweguy5 said:

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

It's either a badge of honor or a severe sign of a lack of commitment on my part lol.  I am 54, and currently own 6 (that includes the Wrangler I co-own with my wife, but since I ordered and paid for it I count it).  I was also in the car business for 15 years and traded frequently because of ridiculous deals befalling me.

At many points in my life I have owned 4-6 at a time.  Thankfully our current home has a long driveway...  I'm trying to narrow the fleet a bit now but adulting is hard!

 

FWIW Im about the same age as you and also at the 200+ mark, its a sickness but there are worse things in life.  However I have owned 3 panthers so you definitely need to add one to your list of automotive experiences :)

Huh.  Well that's no bueno.  Middle of a drive to north Florida as well

Coolant, judging by the taste, confirmed by the hissing and sprayed coolant all over everything when I opened the hood.

The glycol demons got too hot and tried to escape...

Recon1342 said:

The glycol demons got too hot and tried to escape...

Not to worry.  I know the proper rites for The Binding of The K Seal.  Not my first time battling these demons on the road 

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Oh man.  Before putting k seal in I would try to understand what and why it is leaking.  K seal can do nasty things for future you.

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

There appears to be a crack in the end tank on the driver's side.  Haven't actually dug in and seen it, but based on where I hear it hissing thats where and what it is

So this past weekend I got Hoop-Tay on a lift to check out the rear suspension.

Good damned thing I did.

I didn't take pictures, but here's an example shot.  See the nut on the upper a-arm?  In front?  That was missing.  Scrounged a spare out of a NYG box (guess its a good thing I got one filled with nothing but used nuts and bolts 2-3 years back) and got it back tight.  Didn't have time to do a full nut and bolt check, but I'm gonna do so before I drive it much of anywhere else.
Also, the radiator end tank split pretty good driving back from north Florida this past weekend so I'm going to call that replaceable under Challenge rules, and the front lower control arm bushings (the rear ones) look like they are going out.  Might fill those with urethane before they are completely gone.

Rear suspension?  Completely fine.  100% tight, absolutely no issues.  Felt and looked like a car with 10k down dusty roads.  No clue what was going on there.  Must just be the suspension type.

And another thing.

Apparently, in a 200-210 mile drive, I averaged 29.9 MPG.  How in the world, you ask?  Cause apparently the odometer is reading about 1.5 miles per actual mile.  Said I had done 339 miles.
No clue what that's about.  Speedo is approximately accurate.  At a steady state it holds true, but if I go from 60-70 it sorta drifts along till it gets there.

Please tell me you didn't put k seal in!  Hopefully you just used an old oil bottle with a small hole for the overflow.

Good find on the suspension!

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

It has an overflow bottle from stock.  The leak was dropping an inch or two over the course of a couple days, but when that crack opened wider after this past weekend I was having to fill the entire overflow which was about a gallon.

Curious what you've seen with K-Seal.  I didn't use it here, but I've used it on two vehicles in the past with no issues and have heard good things from others.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Yea, I misunderstood or misread your post.  I was picturing overflow bottle, not radiator end tank.

I have tried k seal in a few different circumstances.  It can clog small passageways and cause issues.  I have had it make a goopy mess of the cooling system once I got around to actually fixing the problem "the right way".

In other words, I would probably use it if I was stuck on the side of the road and needed to get somewhere (knowing that it might make the "real repair" more involved), but I would not use it for a "permanent fix".

Ordered my radiator this past weekend when it went out.  Good thing as Powerstop didn’t include rear pads in the full kit I bought for Betsy and I need to sideline her for a bit.

So, tonight was radiator time!
So much room for activities underhood. Not sure if thats a function of pure size, or if its "we are building a fleet car. Lets make sure its maintainable."
In any case, it only took 2 hrs, and a solid 30-45 min was dicking around lookin for tools/how best to get it out and trying to cut corners.

In the future, its best to just disconnect radiator, ac condenser  and power steering cooler and pull it all at once.

Mr_Asa said:

And another thing.

Apparently, in a 200-210 mile drive, I averaged 29.9 MPG.  How in the world, you ask?  Cause apparently the odometer is reading about 1.5 miles per actual mile.  Said I had done 339 miles.
No clue what that's about.  Speedo is approximately accurate.  At a steady state it holds true, but if I go from 60-70 it sorta drifts along till it gets there.

It looks like its in km.  I'll have to figure out how to switch that.

Mr_Asa said:

Mr_Asa said:

And another thing.

Apparently, in a 200-210 mile drive, I averaged 29.9 MPG.  How in the world, you ask?  Cause apparently the odometer is reading about 1.5 miles per actual mile.  Said I had done 339 miles.
No clue what that's about.  Speedo is approximately accurate.  At a steady state it holds true, but if I go from 60-70 it sorta drifts along till it gets there.

It looks like its in km.  I'll have to figure out how to switch that.

Insert Mars Climate Orbiter story here.