Author Topic: New project... 1980 Runabout (Read 65572 times)

Pinto5.0 · « **Reply #90 on:** January 20, 2013, 09:15:39 PM »

All the work payed off. It cleaned up nice.

dga57 · « **Reply #91 on:** January 20, 2013, 09:44:04 PM »

It really is starting to look good, Matt. Keep up the good work!
Dwayne

r4pinto · « **Reply #92 on:** January 21, 2013, 03:08:14 PM »

Thanks Dwayne & Pinto5.0

. I hope to be able to take the car on the stampede this year since I won't be going to Carlisle since I'm buying a house this June.

Since it's in the 20s today and I don't have heat in the garage I wasn't able to work on the car much so I went ahead & grabbed the alloy wheel caps from the garage. They aren't perfect but turned out pretty good.

The one on the right is how they looked when I got them off ebay, and the one on the left is the end result after polishing.

dga57 · « **Reply #93 on:** January 21, 2013, 04:25:13 PM »

I'd say that's a major improvement!
Dwayne

r4pinto · « **Reply #94 on:** January 21, 2013, 04:46:58 PM »

Thanks Dwayne, The polish I'm using is called Royal Blue. I bought it at the Ohio State Fair and it's doing exactly what they claimed. the 1980 and the center caps are proof of that.

r4pinto · « **Reply #95 on:** January 27, 2013, 05:32:18 PM »

It seems this car hates me soooooo much.

I got the carb all back together & decided to start cleaning up the intake manifold. I sprayed it with some degreaser and sprayed the ports down. I wasn't gonna remove the cover where the coolant runs through since it wasn't leaking but after seeing the nastyness in the coolant port I went ahead & removed it. That was so disgusting that I'm not sure how the coolant was flowing from how plugged it is.

What's so irritating is that as frustrating the 77 was one thing I can say without a doubt is the cooling system was not a mess. I only drove the car about 3-5 miles before the LF blew & I don't even know how the car made it that far with this plugged cooling system.

I'm highly considering looking for another intake since this thing is so plugged I don't know how it will even come clean.

r4pinto · « **Reply #96 on:** January 27, 2013, 05:41:23 PM »

First pic is the goop that is in the manifold cooling port

r4pinto · « **Reply #97 on:** January 27, 2013, 05:43:20 PM »

Three more. With this I'm starting to question whether or not to replace the heater core while this is all apart.

cromcru · « **Reply #98 on:** January 27, 2013, 09:42:09 PM »

i say replace the heater core. i went thru the same thing when i bought my 74 in jan of 2010. it well save you major headaches later on.

r4pinto · « **Reply #99 on:** January 27, 2013, 10:18:47 PM »

That's what I'm thinking of doing. I'm not too sure it's gonna be good considering how plugged the intake was.

I did manage to poke & scrape at the manifold & got the blockage taken care of but considering how bad it was I'm pretty sure it's gonna be done for.

r4pinto · « **Reply #100 on:** January 28, 2013, 05:46:45 AM »

Yep, the manifold is done for. I scraped at more corrosion that was in there & underneath was some nasty wear inside. Considering the facts that it is a greasy mess, combined with the corrosion inside I'm gonna be getting a replacement manifold.

Anything worth doing is worth doing right and I don't feel using a corroded manifold would be right, let alone a good idea.

Pinto5.0 · « **Reply #101 on:** January 28, 2013, 05:35:14 PM »

I'd bet your heater core is nearly plugged as well & that antifreeze became acidic & ate the aluminum. It has something to do with electrolisis in the cooling system. That's the reason for bi-annual flush & fills or 5 year coolant. That is OLD coolant.

I would pop the soft plugs out(I'm betting they are nearly rotted through) and flush all the water passages in the head & block. Your water pump & thermostat housing are gonna be nasty as well. Use brass freeze plugs & a good brass thermostat, trust me....

r4pinto · « **Reply #102 on:** January 28, 2013, 07:24:42 PM »

The toriginal so I hermostat housing was actually rusted about half inch down so I have a replacement housing. The t-stat was the original so I got a replacement. The water pump is ok but I'm prolly gonna use a spare pump I have in the garage & replace it with a new unit when I pull the engine to be rebuilt. I'm not sure about the condition of the core plugs or the heater core but I'm more than likely gonna replace the heater core. I'm not even sure about the condition of the radiator. I ran water through it until it was clear but not sure of what to expect of it. Hopefully it's not shot as well.

r4pinto · « **Reply #103 on:** January 29, 2013, 07:00:12 PM »

Since it was so nice today I went ahead & painted the valve cover & timing cover I'm going to use for my car's engine. It wasn't necessary but it will make it look better. The timing cover was a spare unit I had in my parts selection & the valve cover was the original cover. I pulled the clean rocker arms out of the cleaner & set them on a clean rag to let them dry out some so I can inspect them. On Thursday I get paid so I can then get a can of brake cleaner to make sure they are clean of any residue and the bearings spin freely.

r4pinto · « **Reply #104 on:** January 30, 2013, 02:57:44 PM »

Well I figured out how to save a little money. What I'm going to do is take the heater core from the 77 parts car & install that in the 80. While the core is prolly the original one from 77 I always had good heat from the 77 so I might as well use what I have instead of buying new. Depending on weather I will be pulling the box from the 77 to get the heater core for the 80 this weekend.

r4pinto · « **Reply #105 on:** January 31, 2013, 08:05:17 PM »

Taking another cost cutting measure. For now I'm gonna bypass the heater core so I can get the car driveable & make sure the radiator is ok. I'm gonna pressure test it but have my doubts that it will be alright. The other cost cutting measure is I am gonna try to salvage the intake manifold even though it was corroded bigtime inside. We'll see what happens.

r4pinto · « **Reply #106 on:** February 03, 2013, 10:22:11 PM »

Got some work done to the cylinder head. Went ahead & cleared a spot on my work bench & scraped off the old dirt & grease, as well as any old gasket material. The engine had never been apart & the intake manifold gasket actually had the Ford logo on it. Next I removed the bad cam followers & camshaft. The lifters didn't want to come out too well as they were a bit varnished. I have them soaking over night & will make sure the lifter bosses are grime free before reinstalling them. The cam gasket was shot & leaking bigtime. With a sharpie I marked the valves & will soak them once I have them removed from the head. There is a lot of baked on carbon & oil so I gotta take care of making sure they are clean. Tomorrow I will look for my valve spring compressor & remove the valve springs so I can soak them & clean the head before reassembly with the ranger roller cam & followers.

r4pinto · « **Reply #107 on:** February 04, 2013, 07:24:45 PM »

Couldn't find my valve spring compressor so I picked one up from Harbor Freight for $15. When I got home I used it to remove the valves from the head. The valves are now soaking on cleaner, and tomorrow I plan on going over them with a brush to finish cleaning them. When I removed the valve stem seals they were cracking & crumbling bigtime. About half of them broke off in two pieces as I removed them from the head. Tomorrow I will also degrease the cylinder head so it'll be nice and clean once the valves are reinstalled in the head.

r4pinto · « **Reply #108 on:** March 16, 2013, 01:07:07 PM »

Today I got motivated big time so I started to work on the car. First thing I wanted to do is straighten out that crumpled mess of a lower core support. It was so bad the hood latch bracket that went from top to bottom of the core support was twisted up. I got out the torch & started to heat it up. I was heating & hammering but no luck. My Dad came out to give me a hand but still no luck. Then the lightbulb went off... Why not use a hydraulic jack as a ram to push it back into shape?
No luck. All the fluid would drain away from the cylinder & not pump. So Dad had an idea... Why not use the spare jack I had from the 77 Pinto? He got it in place wedged against the back of the bumper with the notch lined in the hole for the latch bracket. With the help of a Toyota lug wrench, and a little heat that sucker bent right back into shape!
I went ahead & filled up a pan of water & clinched the lower core support to keep it from bending back when I removed the jack. I let it cool for an additional 10 minutes & removed the jack. SUCCESS!!!!
The core support is now fixed so all I gotta do is put the hood latch bracket back on. Since it is all wet & dirty I can't paint it or anything but I will be doing that when I can so it looks better. Not seen much but I want it to look as good as possible.

r4pinto · « **Reply #109 on:** March 16, 2013, 01:30:54 PM »

I wish I had pics of it before I fixed it but too late for that now lol. Here's some of the repair

r4pinto · « **Reply #110 on:** March 16, 2013, 03:21:55 PM »

When it rains, it pours.....
Tried to work on the car some since it was so beautiful out today. Got the engine deck scraped down of any gasket material & fired up my compressor hoping to be able to remove the crank bolt. Luck was not on my side today, as it decided not to come out. Not because it doesn't want to, but because my impact decided to die on me. Not good considering I haven't had it long. Nope, can't return it since I got it at a flea market. It worked fine before but I had it on the garage floor. Apparently it floods to the point that water got to it & killed it. Same thing that happened to the last one. I wish Dad would friggin listen to me & fix the dang drain that is flooding the garage!!
Anyways I went ahead & tried to pressure test the radiator & it won't hold pressure. It was one out of an older Pinto anyways so I'm not too heartbroken but now I gotta track down a darn radiator since I can't pull the one from the 77 just yet. It gets better. Because of that now I am in complete doubt that I can save that heater core, especially with the crap that was coming out of it when I was flushing it. I officially think the Pinto Gods hate me, sending me this piece of junk to get back to running shape. I am beginning to think the only good thing on it is the fact that the floors have no rot & the interior is the deluxe interior. Not much else good about it at this time.
Especially since today I found out my rear window is leaking water at the window seal. I peel back the seal a little bit & there is some rust forming, indicating it's been leaking for some time.
Lastly I was going to install my spare water pump since the original is nasty & prolly no good considering everything else on the cooling system is shot, and couldn't find it for anything! At that point I gave up since the car clearly wants to piss me off. Was thinking of pulling the cylinder head off the work bench & giving it a quick coat of paint but with the way my luck was going with the car today I would prolly drop it on my foot & end up in the hospital lol.

r4pinto · « **Reply #111 on:** March 16, 2013, 04:39:09 PM »

While coming home from some errands something popped off in my head. The radiator cap looked ancient & is a cheap fix so I went ahead & got a new radiator cap. At this time I'm gonna prolly end up installing it & leaving the heater core alone to save a few bucks. Worse case scenario I gotta disconnect the heater core for now but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. The carpet is shot anyways so I can't ruin it.

r4pinto · « **Reply #112 on:** March 23, 2013, 04:12:47 PM »

Since I decided I am going to Carlisle this year I have kicked things into high gear so to speak. I have gone ahead & got me a little work done on the car today and hope to get more done, provided the weather stays nice. We're supposed to get snow so I'm not sure what else I will be able to get done in the next few days.
Since it was nice enough I decided to clean up the cylinder head and get ready to reassemble it. I degreased it completely & got it all scraped of any old head gasket material & then took it by the garage door to give it a fresh coat of Ford Blue paint. While I was at it I also painted the block so it looks a little better. Not as good of a job as my 77 but better than it was.
In addition I also took the time to install the mirrors I had in the garage. The paint doesn't match & they need cleaned up but they look better than what the car had before, which was nothing.

r4pinto · « **Reply #113 on:** March 23, 2013, 04:14:12 PM »

Pics of the head & block:

r4pinto · « **Reply #114 on:** March 23, 2013, 04:15:21 PM »

Now for the mirrors

r4pinto · « **Reply #115 on:** December 28, 2013, 07:02:17 PM »

The car pretty much looks the same as it did at the beginning of the year but 2014 will be the start of a new year. The car is still at my dad's house but I am going to figure a way to push it to my house to swap the engine with the 77 sedan. That car is being parted out due to severe rust and rather than do a half way rebuild I am going to yank the engine out of the 78 and install it on my engine stand, and drop in the engine from the 77. Since I've pretty much got settled at my house I hope to start the work in 2014.

r4pinto · « **Reply #116 on:** June 14, 2014, 03:19:31 PM »

The car is at my house, as is the 77 parts car with the engine that will go in the 80. In the next day or two I'm gonna remove the hood, and start to get the engine pulled on the 80 so I can get the engine compartment ready for the 77s engine. When I went to Carlisle this year I got the car a grille, as well as the rocker panel trim I need. Hope to get those parts installed soon, as well as the tires from the 77 on. I got a set of hubcaps from an 84-85 Ford Tempo that will be going on the car. Not exactly the right ones for the car but nicer than the steel wheels.

Runabout75 · « **Reply #117 on:** June 16, 2014, 03:08:14 PM »

Great save. Sorry about the engine fire. Hope you can bring it back.

r4pinto · « **Reply #118 on:** June 22, 2014, 03:06:37 PM »

Quote from: Runabout75 on June 16, 2014, 03:08:14 PM

Great save. Sorry about the engine fire. Hope you can bring it back.

Thanks

The car currently sits in my garage but later on tonight I'm gonna get the shop light from my Dad's house, remove the hood, and start tearing into the engine compartment to get it ready to pull. I figure I should be able to pull it rather easily. The 77 donor car will fire right up with the push of a button- rigged starter system. Gotta move the mowers out of the way so I can get the engine hoist in there. Then I can go ahead & yank the engine block. The old engine will sit on some old tires until I can get my engine stand from my Dad's house & mount the bare block that is currently on it, in the 77. There is so much to do to the car before it makes the trip to Michigan. Hopefully I will have the majority of the work done before the trip. If the car runs and stops I will be a happy camper.

dianne · « **Reply #119 on:** June 22, 2014, 04:20:32 PM »

Quote from: r4pinto on June 24, 2012, 09:05:29 PM

Had myself a setback today. I replaced the accelerator pump diaphragm & was doing some other work to the car. Tried to start it but it didn't wanna go. Finally the carb backfired & next thing I knew the engine was on fire!!! I ran to the garage & grabbed the fire extinguisher but couldn't get it working! Dad saw me freaking out so I yelled at him that my car was on fire & to call 911. He ran outside & ran to the back yard & got the garden hose. He got the fire out & within 15 minutes we were looking over the damage.

I now need a set of plug wires, various vacuum lines, and parts of the wiring harness repaired. We'll see what happens now.

I'm sorry to hear about your setback. I loved those seats... Hope you can get it fixed up!

Pics of the damage?

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Author Topic: New project... 1980 Runabout (Read 65572 times)