(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5249/5249705817_e7f64f414d.jpg)
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5045/5250308456_15b8610ea0.jpg)
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5208/5249706197_db8f04c9df.jpg)
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5130/5250308784_7a6824d4b7.jpg)
Since it was recommended I move this thread to here I hope some of you guys will forgive me for repeating myself...
Just got the car towed in the yard a few hours ago. All I've done so far is give it a quick once over with some soap and water. Tomorrow I'm going to start working on it to see if I can get it to crank. I know these aren't the best pictures, but you have to start somewhere. As you can see, i've got some work to do to stop the rusting before it takes off any worse. As of right now the rust really isn't that bad. It looks like it covers some areas, but it appears to be mainly surface rust making the paint peel away, underneath all of the metal is solid. I hope I've caught it in plenty of time to save this car. I guess technically I'm the 4th owner, but I bought it from an older guy who stopped his mom from scrapping it after his dad passed away, his dad was the only person who ever titled the car and drove it, so I'm calliing it a 1 owner car (it just makes me feel better to think of it that way). I talked him into selling it to me for $300. He didn't want to so I asked him if he'd just give it to me. $300 ended up being the price.
BTW, it appears to be all original with no modifications or repairs (and even the cigarette lighter still works).
(That was posted on Friday the 10th.)
Now at the end of the day on Saturday the 11th...
The car hasn't been driven in 20 years as near as I can tell. The original owner kept service records which I acquired along with the manual and window sticker shown in the pictures above. Those records run from 1980-1989. I believe he actual bought the car in 1978 and judging by the records I do have had it serviced at the ford dealership. The service records show odometer readings on most, so I know that the 77k miles shown on the odometer isn't really 177k. He passed away about 1990 and the car wasn't really driven much after that. I even found a phone book for 1989-90 under the driver seat which kind of reinforces that to me.
So, I went into today armed with a can of carb cleaner, a bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil, and a new battery. After removing the belt for the A/C compressor, I cleaned the carb (by which I mean, I sprayed carb cleaner in it until it started moving freely). Then I removed the spark plugs and dropped some Marvel Mystery Oil on top of the cylinders. While that soaked in, I put a new battery on the ground next to the car and just ran some wires to the solenoid and ground tether. I unhooked the fuel line just before the fuel pump and brought over a gas tank for a boat (without mixed gas in it) and hooked it up to the pump. I changed the oil, new filter, and new spark plugs. I rolled the engine over just enough to prime the oil pump, dumped in some coolant, and turned the key... the car started and ran a little rough, which considering several of the vacuum lines were off and the breather was 20 feet away I don't think is really a problem. It did smoke some (not too bad, it was mostly a white color) but I'm hoping that was mostly the Marvel Mystery Oil. It seemed to go into gear and moved in drive and reverse a short ways, which I believe is the first time it's moved under it's on power at all in quite some time. The transmission fluid looks fine, the power steering fluid looks good, but the brake fluid is rather nasty. Tomorrow I'll start breaking down the wheels (checking the calipers and re-packing the bearings) and based on the clog and my luck blowing air through the system I'll probably be going to check prices on a new master cylinder and maybe some calipers and pads.
So, anybody think I screwed up starting the car like that?
And I forget who asked, but I have all 4 beauty rings and small center caps for the wheels.
Hey, you have to start somewhere! I'd say you had a pretty productive day. It sounds like you covered your bases so no, I don't think you screwed up.
Dwayne :smile:
I've never tried to crank a car that's sat for so long before, so I was a little nervous about it.
It just dawned on me that in my tinkering so far the one thing I hadn't tried was the horn, so I put on my boots and jacket and ran outside in the dark to try it. Horn works too!!! So far, I'm still excited by the little things. Every single little thing that still works is one less thing that I have to work on.
I'm trying to get some repair manuals shipped to me for the car. As of right now, I don't yet have them. So if any of you guys could help me with some basic info I'd appreciate it. Like for instance, what's the proper spark plug gap? I just guessed and slapped them in today. (2.3L engine)
I run .034 or .035 on my 78's 2.3l motor. .034 is what the parts shops write on my plug boxes, but depending on which gauge I have with me (one doesn't have .034), I'll run .035 without any noticeable changes in drivability or mpg.
Appreciate that info on the plug gaps.
Found out today that finding tires was a little strange. The only thing I could find that would fit are designated as trailer tires. I'm going to try again tomorrow when more of the shops are open. The car has 165/80B13's on it now. I'm going to check and see if I can find some white wall tires to go on it. Does anyone have any advice on tire sizes with the factory rims? I'm sure the tire shop will help me out on that one, but if you if anyone's had any experience with it, I'd like to hear your input because as far as I can tell A78-13 & A70-13 translate into exactly what is on it. The paperwork I have on the car also indicates B78-13, BR78-13 & BR70-13 are also acceptable... my best guess this would be 175/80-13.
I went today and ordered some parts which should arrive here tomorrow morning, though it may be too cold to get on and spend much time wrenching on the car. The transmission filter and gasket I need is a thirteen bolt pattern, the only ones I could find in stock were 11 bolts. Also in that order is a rear axle hub gasket, which is an 8 bolt pattern that wasn't in stock either. And my brake master cylinder should be arriving as well.
Ran into a strange problem with the brake lines today. After sitting for so long the brake lines had become clogged with some kind of sediment/corrosion. The only place the lines clogged was at the rubber hose sections going into the calipers up front and just before the splitter at the rear axle. I'd never seen brake fluid do that before, but I removed the lines and rodded them out until they would pass air. I'll be putting them back on, until I see that the car seems to be running fairly well. After that I may find that they need to be replaced soon, but for now they seem to be in pretty decent shape. The brake fluid inside the calipers and the steel lines all looked clean, but at the hoses that had congealed into a solid mass.
Pulling the gas tanks pickup and fuel level gauge showed me just how bad the tank has varnished. After cleaning up the fuel pickup unit I tested it with a multimeter and the fuel level sender seems to show resistance like it should. I think I'll be able to reuse that piece, but I picked up some new rubber fuel line to replace several sections with. I also bought an inline fuel filter to install before the pump, as well as the stock fuel filter for the carb. I'm hoping to just remove the loose debris from the tank and run it like it is. After the the car gets moving and passes some fuel through the tank I'll check the new inline filter and see if it warrants dropping the tank to do some cleaning inside, but trying to clean the pickup showed me the varnish doesn't seem to dissolve very well in regular gas. I'll post how this works out so if it's a mistake no one else does it too.
Another issue that came up with the fuel level gauge was the float. On this car it's a small brass? barrel shaped piece that had cracked and let fuel leak into it. I've tried to fill in the holes with some silver solder and I'm letting it soak in water overnight to see if it still leaks or I've managed to seal it up. So if your fuel gauge stops working that may be a suspect for you as well.
All in all, it's been a long day with little progress but with many a wrench turned. I'll keep posting through the next few weeks, as of right now my goal is to try and have it driveable by the first of the year. I guess we'll see how that pans out.
And a request for helping me find information...(again)
The codes off of the driver's side door jamb...
COLOR 9D (I've seen this shown as Polar White, Herron White or just plain White)
DSO 24 Jacksonville, FL
BODY 64B 3 Door Sedan
TRIM PN I can't find a thing about this trim code
SCH. DATE 24B Huh?
AXLE 4 3.18 Conventional
TRANS V C-3 A/T
A/C A Yes
If I've got something wrong, or you know one I couldn't find, please let me know.
Quote from: Hobbesga on December 12, 2010, 05:59:56 PM
)
TRIM PN I can't find a thing about this trim code
That trim code is the Starsky and Hutch one. a member on the car clyb has one of these cars. they are Quite rare from what I hear your the second PN code car that I have seen on the forum. Grats. talk to StarskyandHutch on here he can fill you in with anything about that car you might need to know
A cold one here today. Hard to do much out in the yard. Since being divorced I don't exactly have a garage anymore, I've been doing the work so far on a trailer in the yard. It barely broke 50 today in the sunlight and that wasn't counting the stiff breeze we had blowing.
New brake master cylinder went on without too many problems. I've got the lines filled up with fluid and I'll be bleeding the brakes in the near future. Eventually I'll have to replace the brake pads, but for now I'm going to leave the old ones on until I have a chance to drive the car a bit. I'd hate to ruin a new set of pads and shoes on these old rotors, but the old pads should work fine for at least long enough to scrub a layer of rust off of everything. Before I reconnected the brake lines I did push a good bit of fluid through them to make sure everything was clean.
Fought with the fill plug on the rear end for a while. Finally got it pulled out and dropped the pan on the rear end. 90W gear oil doesn't like to move much when it's cold out, but I did get the gasket scraped off. I'm going to hit the mating surfaces with a wire wheel brush tomorrow before I put the new gasket in and bolt everything up.
My float for the fuel tank held up after being submerged overnight. I'm going to be able to save it. The silver solder seemed to work fine, I don't believe gas will hurt it at all. But the tank may be in worse shape than I thought. I did remove some debris with a shop-vac today and I'll continue playing with that for the time being.
If anyone uses a shop-vac on a regular basis I'll tell you this little trick... A wet / dry shop-vac can be a pain to use if you're constantly switching back and forth, mainly because you have to remove the paper every time before you use it to pick-up any kind of fluids. However, if you take a 5-gallon bucket with the lid still on (I'm using an old hydraulic fluid bucket that has the pour spout built in) you can drill a hole in the lid to attach a small hose (I'm using a rubber grommet but caulk would probably work). That way, when you need to suddenly pick up some fluid, all you have to do is stick the end of the shop-vac hose into the pour spout. As long as the bucket seals up, your small hose will have suction and be able to pick up fluid without having to remove that paper filter everytime. It's worked for me to get the old gas out of the tank and the old brake fluid. My bucket is sealed up well enough that when you put your finger over the end of the tube you can actually see the bucket lid zoop in slightly (that's a good indication of a solid vacuum).
Still running into some problems finding tires for the car, but I've managed to locate some that will work. So far +/- $60 per tire mounted and balanced seems to be the best price I've been able to find, but I haven't found any tires with the whitewall yet (at least not for a reasonable price). I'd still love to hear any input you guys might have on the matter.
Other than popping the fuel filter on and fixing a vacuum leak, that's all I really got accomplished today (which I remember working on it for a good bit of the day, but it seems pitiful progress now that I've typed it all out).
By the way, I'm working on this car with the intention of getting it back in running condition as quickly as possible. Once it's on the road I'll know whether I've got a project I really want to take on and I'm going to start working on restoring the car. My question to you all is this... If you're restoring an all original car and want to keep it as factory as possible, where do you draw the line? I don't think recovering the seats is an issue, I'd prefer recovering to replacing them. Do you dye the carpet or replace it? Things like that. At what point does it stop being an original car?
Hobbes
Quick post for now... the rear axle went back together and bolted up with no problems. The transmission is a different story altogether. I ordered the new filter and gasket on Sunday and went out this morning to drop the pan and scrape the gasket off. This was a dirty job that resulted in everything within 20 feet of the car being covered in ATF. After I got the pan dropped I ran up to Autozone to pickup my new gasket and filter. While I was there i grabbed some gear oil and transmission fluid (the correct fluid appears to be Dexron-II but where do you find that stuff?). I ended up picking up some Dex/Merc fluid that appears to be a good substitute (if you know any different then please speak now). I came home and finished scraping off the old gasket and got ready to install the new filter and gasket... I grabbed up the package and started to tear into it when I noticed that the gasket only had 11 holes... A C4 gasket and filter? So, I started calling around and everyone insists that this is the correct gasket. So after a couple of hours on the phone I finally found a shop that knew what I was looking for. It should be in by lunch time tomorrow.
I've still got some work to do on the tires apparently. After getting called back today it seems like the Milestar tires that I had picked out are no longer being manufactured as of last year. And they looked so good with the large whitewall on them... not to mention cheap. I finally found a place that has Maxxis tires in whitewall and in the size I want, but they want $444.24 for 5 of them, which being more than I paid for the car made me choke. I think the tires are only really about $52 each and I may have found someone who'll mount and balance all 5 for about $40 so I may be just going to pick up the loose tires and deal with the rest on my on.
I just wanted to mention that if you've never tasted transmission fluid, you don't know what you're missing out on. Try using it instead of BBQ sauce the next time you grill, I promise you want regret it! Not only that, but it made my skin so soft and smooth, did an excellent job rinsing out my contacts, and was an absolute marvel as a floor cleaner. I'll bet it even acts as a fertilizer and makes the grass grow where I spilled it. Hell, throw a gallon on the kitchen floor before the misses gets home tomorrow and it'll probably make the floor shine like it was brand new.
HB
Wow! super nice find!! That is a Starsky & Hutch car and looks to be in great shape. Be very careful about the rubber portion of the brake line, they do indeed deteriorate from the inside out. That would be #1 on my things to replace list. Looks like you are are covering the bases on getting it started/running/driveable. Oh, BTW, that brass float on the sender...still available at your friendly Ford dealer! (just in case yours doesn't hold)
The '77-'78 body style is my second favorite (after the '71's!!) :)
Transmission pan went back on with the correct filter and gasket. I will say that the gasket I originally got from AutoZone was a cork style gasket (which I personally would have preferred, other people seem to shy away from those though), the gasket I finally got from Advance Auto Parts was a rubber gasket (I would have been alot happier about that if they hadn't wadded the gasket into a ball before cramming it into a small box).
I spent part of the day today cleaning and out the metal fuel lines and running new rubber sections. On this particular car the lines are 5/16" on the send and 1/4" on the return. I installed a large inline filter just outside of the fuel tank to catch any residual particles that I didn't get cleaned out.
I also replaced the battery cables with some new ones that I made out of an old set of heavy duty jumper cables. I've seen several people mention the deterioration of the passenger side fender well from what appears to be a battery acid leak. Does anyone have any helpful insight on the best way of dealing with this? The rust appears to be just starting to make a hole through the fender and hasn't yet done any substantial damage. I'm leaning towards hitting it with a sand blaster to clean off the rust and painting over it with some rust preventative paint. Any recommendations on paint type, or a better way of dealing with this?
I did eventually locate a set of tires for the car (Maxxis MA-1 P175/80R13), a set of 5 ended up costing me about $370 mounted and balanced. Considering I was originally quoted $442.24 for the same tires, I feel good about the deal.
Just as it was starting to rain today I fired the car up for the second time. It's still running rough, but I'm going to re-gap the spark plugs in the morning and start checking to make sure all of the cylinders are firing. After that I'll be running it down the road tomorrow for it's first test drive. I'll let you guys know tomorrow if it explodes in a fiery ball or just locks up tight and refuses to move. Otherwise I'll make a list of things to fix and start turning wrenches again.
As of right now I'm at a grand total of $969.22 into the car. So far the tires have cost more than the car so, if nothing else, I'll have a really nice set of tires to put on a trailer.
Check the dip stick on the transmission, it should tell you what type of fluid it takes. If your tranmission is a C3 then it should take type F fluid. Not sure what the dextron will do to it. Nice progress so far!
Yes, you're right... it's Type-F and I returned the other when I also returned the wrong gasket. The right gasket, filter, and Type-F fluid all came home with me and went on and in the car... as well as all over everything else in the vicinity and my hair.
I've been on here tonight reading through as many old posts as I can just trying to absorb as much information as I can from the Project board. I'm hoping that reading everyone else's struggles will help me pinpoint some of my own problems before I suffer through the guess and test method on my own.
I want to get started on the body and the interior so bad that I can taste it, but I don't want to move anything else forward until I can make a good driver out of this car. I've already started making some mock-ups for the new radio installation. I'm trying to keep the original radio in the car and work up some ways to mount a newer radio and some decent speakers without actually cutting into anything in the interior. If I get the car going before the end of the month I'm going to order some new carpet so I'll have something to color match. I'm thinking about making some kicker boxes to mount in the floor, I'll try and match the carpet to wrap the boxes so it's not glaringly obvious that the boxes don't belong in the car. Seeing as how most shops wrap their speaker boxes in either black or gray, I think that the red color will make the boxes look truly custom without detracting from the origianl feel of the interior. I haven't decided where exactly I want to mount the stereo yet, but I'm hoping to score one with a remote so I can stick it out of the way.
At this point having a pipe dream removed from the actual day to day wrenching is what's keeping me moving forward. Especially when I'm doing everything I can to not pull the engine out of the car, while I know that even if I don't do it now, I'll want to before it's all said and done.
Does anyone have any tips for pulling off the F O R D on the front lip of the hood? I'm going to have to take them off to do some sanding and painting, but I'd hate to break one of the letters. I'm imagining it's just hold your breath and pry gently, but hey if anyone has it down to a science I'd like to hear about it.
Tiny eyeglass screwdrivers, The Flat head on and carefully pry them up. little by little at each end. thats how I got the Mercury ones off my bobcat. it worked well and didnt ruin the letters, or the little things that Hold them in place.
Sounds like good progress! Glad to hear you didn't end up with transmission troubles like I did with my 73 wagon's C4!
For carpet, check out Stock Interiors at http://www.stockinteriors.com/ and order some carpet samples of their different shades of red plush cut pile to get a good idea of what color is closest to your factory carpet.
If you break any of the FORD letters, let me know, I have a few sets in storage.
Looking good. Like you found out, the C3 tranny as 13 bolts on the pan. The C4 has 11. Also on the C3 the modulator faces towards the passengers side door. I just went thru these issues on mine. Good luck with it.
Well, apparently the water pump is shot. I can't say I didn't expect it. Looks like I'll be replacing the belts (including the timing) and the pump. I'll probably end up replacing several of the hoses while I've got it snatched apart. I think I may also have a leaky heater core, but honestly, I can't tell for sure right now. So, anyone think of anything I should be looking at once I have the front side of the engine stripped down?
Well, here's an update as of about 8p tonight, the engine sounds like it just spun a bearing. I have a very long list of explectives that I've been using for the last few minutes. Some of which I may have even been the first to ever utter. So, I'm definitely snatching out the engine starting tomorrow. I've got my camera on charge tonight. Not that anyone's noticed yet, but I've just stolen all of the sandwich baggies out of the pantry. Since my shop manuals haven't arrived yet here's my gameplan for you guys to critique... hopefully if I've forgotten anything you'll be able to stop me before I snatch the engine out with the parts still attached.
So the way I see it is this...
1. Battery and cables unhooked
2. Fuel lines and drain tank
3. Drain radiator and unhook coolant lines
4. Radiator removal
5. Exhaust at headers
6. Wiring from the distributor
7. Gas Pedal linkage
8. Driveshaft from tranny
9. Shifter from the transmission tunnel
10. Speedometer cable
11. Motor mounts
and snatch???
Oh... maybe the power steering too...
Any opinions on the best order of removal for the radiator... Will it come out with the fan still attached or do I have to take off the belts and the fan before I pull it out?
Well, it looks like the engine compartment is going to get cleaned up and painted after all... I'm starting to wonder how much I can part the car out for...
If it weren't a Starsky & Hutch car, parting it out would be a viable option (although it looks to be in too decent shape to even consider that). I don't think you really want to part it out - your car is relatively rare. Hang in there and you'll have a car you can be proud of when you're finished. If not, at least offer it up "as is" here and you'll probably find some takers.
Dwayne :smile:
Well, after laying around in a puddle of my own juices for the last couple of days, I realized that my considering parting out the car was just the result of my fevered brain. So even though I still have a mild fever and my sinuses feel like they're packed full of wheel bearing grease I decided to spend a couple of hours working on the car today.
After a couple of minutes standing there in a daze I realized that I had absolutely nowhere to put any of the parts I was trying to pull off so I managed to build myself a small storage space out of old scrap lumber I had around...
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5010/5284408334_1763bba6ae.jpg)
If you're a carpenter, or just have any carpentry skills... then just keep any comments to yourself. I know it's ugly, but I did build it out of scrap while running a fever so it's good enough for me.
I've actually been taking quite a few pictures during the disassembly, but I don't think I'll be posting many of them unless someone needs to see how something is routed for their own project.
After getting the little shed built, I only had the energy left to remove the radiator...
I'd like to point out here that the shop manual lists the steps in removal as
1. Drain the cooling system
2. Remove the upper and lower radiator hoses
3. Detach the two ATF cooler lines from the bottom of the radiator
4. Undo and remove the bolts securing the radiator to the front panel
5. The radiator may now be lifted upwards and away from the engine
Ha! Yeah, that's basically it, but what should have taken less than 15 minutes if I had some help took me more like 45 minutes by myself. The fan shroud was a total pain in my a$$. If I had just had someone else there to help me get the drain cock and bottom radiator hose connection up past the bottom of the shroud it would have popped right out. Instead I spent a long time trying to finesse it out and finally ended up cracking the old plastic shroud. I don't know what was going on, but I've removed and replaced several radiators and never had this much trouble before.
I then broke the A/C compressor loose from the mounting bracket and laid it over to one side and started working on removing the power steering pump. Hopefully, I continue to feel better over the next few days and be able to get back out there.
I can't believe that I worked on the car in such bad weather for several days and got sick just as the weather got better. I've wasted a couple of perfect days to work on the thing laying on the couch. (There was a long sigh involved in typing that out.)
Well, I'm glad to hear your insanity was due to a fever and that you're now feeling better! :lol: Would have really hated seeing that car parted out!
Dwayne :smile:
Hang in there Hobb!
If you live in the country, like I do, then you would probably think it would be easy to find an engine hoist to borrow. Well, I didn't have any luck finding one, and I couldn't move the car over underneath my usual oak tree. So I asked my dad if he had a minute to give me a hand with it. Turns out he had an engine hoist all along, I just didn't recognize it for what it was.
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5167/5288629843_1254b9e8de.jpg)
And so after a few minutes here it is...
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5127/5289231340_9cc4df0556.jpg)
Now it starts for real...
A fellow has to be careful using those old "hind diggers". Old worn hoses and weapy boom cylinders.
I've done it (lifting stuff) with all sized hoes & excacators. Always make sure the person near what is being lifted is clear that no body parts get near pinch points etc.
(track hoe operator with about 25 years on those alone)
Well, it's been a minute since I posted so I figured an update was in order...
The engine has been completely torn down. I'm glad I did it. Overall it appears to be in good shape, but the hydraulic lifters had frozen up and weren't moving on their springs very well, not to mention that the water jacket was corroded up pretty badly. I'm expecting the rebuild kit that I ordered to arrive either tomorrow or the first of the week at the latest. If I'm happy with the kit once I've got it in my hands I'll post the link where I bought it, in case anyone else would even consider rebuilding the little 4 banger. I've made some attempts to track down various parts for the car that haven't met with much success. Come to find out, a nearby automotive garage runs a racing team, which turns pintos into drag cars. In other words, they have bought up every single Pinto within a 100 mile radius for parts cars and then scrapped all the pieces after stripping them down.
Also, I finally decided that since I was going to be doing all of this work I needed to deal with the gas tank. I dropped it out from under the car and cut off the top half with a small grinder with a cutting wheel on it. You wouldn't believe the amount of sludge I've removed from the tank. While I was cleaning it up today I also discovered some small holes in the top of the tank. They're all above the level of the filler neck, so chances are I wouldn't have noticed the tank leaking if I'd continued to use it, but the sludge in the bottom would have probably clogged my little inline filter I added rather quickly. I'll be trying to clean up the filler neck and weld a new end on that while I'm working on it this weekend as well. It also appears that the tank could use some rubber padding between it and the bottom of the rear floor. I found some areas under there that look like it rubs pretty good when the cars going down the road.
After the block comes back from the machine shop I'll probably post a couple of pics showing it in it's fresh and clean state.
Until then...
Nice find I think keeping it is the best option, I myself have a 77 S&H white/red
mine has the roll back sunroof however no A/C. Like the others said you do have a rare find.
Congrads.man on your find
Paul
Welcome to the odd ball option club. Thats a keeper. My '80 has a black/gold theme that made it worth keeping.
After reading your posts I would definitely replace the front & rear rubber brake lines. 20 years of sitting has them swelled closed. That's why fluid won't go through them easily. They are not safe to drive on & the fronts are cheap. The rear is a bit pricey but you will never need to do it again.
Yeah, the brake lines are getting replaced. I just needed to get it working enough to figure out how much of the brake system was intact. It worked long enough for me to trouble shoot most of the system. I've already got the new master cylinder installed and I'm waiting to put the lines on until after I get the replacement shocks. I also got a delivery in the mail today of some of the POR-15 paint that I was wanting to test out, I'm hoping the Chasis Black is going to bring back some life to some of the suspension parts that I've been cleaning up lately.
The gas tank went back together today after a good scraping... My advice is that if anyone else decides to cut into their tank to clean it... don't. The thin metal was a pain to weld. It wouldn't have necessarily been too bad to do, but even after some serious cleaning and repeated hits with the wire wheel and a flapper wheel the metal was still contaminated. Let's just say it made for some interesting work.
The fill line going into the tank had also picked up some rust. Turns out that the 2-1/4" line was matched up well by some old exhaust tubing that was laying around. Removed the rusted section and replaced it with that.
Also managed to fix my old water neck, was too cheap to buy a new one and the ones in the junkyard were almost as bad as mine. I'll have to take a picture of it before I reinstall it. Cut off the neck and replaced it with a piece of stainless pipe. It's kind of cool looking and weighs more than twice what the old one did.
The big excitement today came when Fed-Ex showed up. I thought my parts had surely arrived. I got excited. The truck went into reverse and backed up... Despair and despondency washed over me. The truck pulled forward again and the drive called out my name. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, my parts! No. He handed me a small envelope and left me walking on my lower lip all the way into the house. Maybe Monday...
nice car great progress
dont be afraid to ask for parts if you need them many of us have gathered spare parts even if we may not need them
as i have a wagon but have alot of sedan parts just in case some one can use them.
phil
Well, engine reassembly has begun. The block has been brought back from the machine shop... One of the auxillary shaft bearings was set incorrectly and had to be taken back to have them replaced. I posted in another thread about the kit I purchased, but I'll repeat it here...
I purchased an engine rebuild master kit from RPM Machines online, they're based out of Colorado. The kit cost me about $390 after shipping and handling. It included a complete gasket kit, a new Melling oil pump, sealed power seals and pistons (30 over), Durabond bearings (10 under), hydraulic lash adjusters, new camshaft, and a complete set of new timing components.
The block was tanked and I had the crank turned while it was out of the car (The crank was right on the border of still being within tolerances, so I opted to have it turned because, as deep as I was into the engine, I was hoping that it would be enough to help me get 200k miles out of this thing.) Other than having the chambers bored over, which might have been a pointless decision, but the machine shop offered to do it for $12.50 a hole and I couldn't pass up the chance to squeeze a little more out of the engine.
So now I've questionably used Plastikote Primer and Enamel paint to coat the engine. The primer and paint is rated to handle up to 500F. We'll see how well it holds up. I've included some pictures of the work after two coats. I'm trying to decide whether to throw a third coat on before I call it done. I've also bought some black Hi-Temp paint to coat the exhaust in.
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5213/5437242323_7ac925320e.jpg)
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5138/5437850696_95d40dd55e.jpg)
I'm going to be continuing on for the next couple of days so I'll keep you guys posted.
Looks beautiful!
I can't wait until I get the chance to pull the motor out of my 78 and paint it. I should have done it after my dad and I rebuilt the motor but I just didn't care about the car at that time in my life.
that is, without a doubt, the coolest engine hoist i have ever seen!
Well, I just wanted to throw a little update out there. I've got the car back up on the trailer and blocked up. I've dropped the front suspension and rack and pinion. I've also pulled the rear end out from under the car and started pressure washing it all off. I still haven't gotten any of my most recent orders in the mail yet, but I'm hoping to be ready to start painting the underside with some rubberized undercoating by the end of the weekend. Once everything starts going back together I'll try and get some good pictures of it. All of the pressure washing in the world still hasn't cleaned up the tunnel though, so I'll be on my back scrubbing until it comes clean.
I've got some more looking around to do, but I need to find some donor material for the passenger side inner fender. I've already got a plan on fabbing up a new battery mount, but I'm not sure whether I want to try and find a panel to cut and weld in place, or if I'll have better luck just finding some material to work with and banging out my own replacement.
If you've got any experience with the rubberized undercoatings, or with repairing that inner panel, I'd like to hear from you guys.
Oh, and I know I mentioned the remade water neck in a previous post. If you look close at the second engine pic I posted above you can see a really good shot of it.
Uh, I also feel obligated to mention that I painted my exhaust manifold with some of that high temperature black paint. Which has to be cured by baking it for and hour or two at either 400 or 600 degrees in an oven. Now I know that the can clearly indicates that this should be done in an outside oven, but who has an extra oven outside for baking parts? So, when I informed the other residents in the house that it was Manifold Manicotti that was in the oven I got some very strange looks. If you decide to follow my lead on this one, can I suggest doing it on a day when you're at home alone and can open up some doors and windows. The paint itself didn't seem to be too bad, but some of the deposits inside of the manifold started to smoke and kind of pissed some people off. Not to mention that they weren't too happy with the timing covers hanging from the fireplace mantle to finish drying. Oh well, you can't make everybody happy all the time. I do want to get a picture posted though after the carb is rebuilt with all of it mounted together. The old style ford blue looks great with the black parts.
So...
Today I carried on with cleaning and painting suspension components. And then my carburetor rebuild kit arrived and I managed to complete that task before it got too late. I just wanted to throw this little tid bit out there for anyone struggling with a question I found myself perplexed by...
The original tag that was on the top of the carb identifying what model was in the car was long gone. So, when I went to order the kit for the carb I was torn between which kit to order. A kit was suggested elsewhere in the threads that would be usable to rebuild any carb on any Pinto. While that suggestion was certainly good information, I did find stamped into the base of the carb, just above where it bolts onto the gasket and riser. The stamp was on the face of the base in small numbers but showed that mine was model #R7950. I already knew that the base model of the carb was listed as a Model 5200 VV, but that small set of numbers helped me get more information and determine (with some doubt still) that the information shown in my Chilton's repair manual for the carbs was incorrect. The Haynes manual information appears to list the carb correctly.
Of course, I haven't cranked the engine yet to be able to check out how it runs. I'll definitely let you guys know if I find out that I'm wrong about which manual has the more accurate information. Then again, my engine has been bored over so the correct settings may be off from what's shown in the books.
I hope that little bit of info helps someone else out. Once, I get finished with the carb and some of the other parts I'll post some new engine picks to show how it's all coming together.
Then I have a question for you guys. I'm getting ready to prep for repairing the engine bay and do a little painting. The engine compartment was originally painted the same white color as the rest of the car's exterior. I'm going to lean toward not going back with the white, but instead painting the engine compartment a flat (or semi-gloss) black color to help hide some of the dirt. Plus, since I'm intending on using the black rubberized undercoating on the bottom of the car (once again, instead of the white) I think it'll make the transition a little easier on the eyes. The other option is to continue the undercoating into the engine area... Any ideas or suggestions on this?
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5180/5498839124_780497dff4.jpg)
Just wanted to show that there's some progress going on...
If i was going to paint it .I`d use gloss black,,, flat will get glossy when oil gets on it ...and it will look patchy,, Id leave it the white myself .
I agree with S&H paint it white I left mine white , it stays clean and hides the dirt well. Really no kidding it does.
I painted my 78's engine compartment semi-gloss black with engine paint. It's holding up well, but the dirt IS visible when I don't keep up on the power plant cleanliness.
Okay, so I haven't been on here in a bit. I had some serious trouble with my computer and have had to break down and buy a new one. Now that I'm back online, I have a question. I need help with replacing some parts. I'm about to have to buy a new radiator to go in the car. The one that's in it now has some problems and is probably repairable, but I think I'd prefer to just replace it like I've done with everything else...
Some of my research has indicated that there's a problem with the cooling capacity of the stock radiators. Has anyone else found this to be true? Should I consider upgrading to a larger radiator, or in your experience has the stock radiator provided sufficient cooling on the little 4 cylinder engine?
i have a 76 with ac and the stock radiator is just fine
I agree with Phil. I had to replace my radiator after I tossed a hammer in the garage & it went straight through it (non repairable). But when I replaced it I got a used one from a 74 Pinto & have had no problems with overheating at all. I would say just have the old one fixed. It will be cheaper if it can be repaired & will cool your car just fine.