metaruss

Heard a strange scraping sound as I pulled into the driveway.  It was part of the rusted, twisted hulk that was my radiator core support.  Time to drive the CSX for a while.

The rusty areas of the floor pans are prepped for POR-15.  Most of it is surface rust, but it is starting to pit and flake in a few spots, so it is a good time to address them.  I also noticed a crack in the firewall, but I don’t really have time to deal with it now.  If/when I ever pull this motor for a rebuild, I’ll patch up the firewall properly.

The radiator core support is coming apart again…almost have the CSX done.

Well, I have the oil pan back in.  I dropped it to fix a leak and went ahead and welded a temp sensor bung, side baffles, and some reinforcements on the bottom after banging out all the dents.  It was then stripped and painted with POR-15.  I also cleaned and painted the control arms and radiator/IC brackets.  The control arm bushing on the passenger side was walking out of the arm, so I purchased new poly bushings for it again.  I don’t think it was properly lubricated, so it shouldn’t happen again.  I also got the radiator recored, which has been in dire need since I bought the car.

Swapped back to the original tires and put the Blizzaks in storage.  They were excellent tires in the sloppy weather, though we had a fairly mild winter this year.  Dry traction and handling is horrible, but I was expecting that given the very soft compound and tall treads.  Gonna start on the CSX so I can start tearing into this thing.

Strange thing happened.  I tried to go to work one snowy morning, but I couldn’t get the beast started.  It popped a few times, but then nothing.  It was snowing out, which made it a pain to diagnose, but I had fuel and spark.  Finally I checked the timing and found that the cam was fine but the ignition had jumped about 50 degrees.  I cranked the distributer around to get the rotor pointing at #1 again and it fired right up.  The timing belt was done anyway, so I went ahead and replaced it.  Also fixed a bunch of little vacuum leaks.  Runs better than ever.  Will have the Blizzaks shortly….

The stupid radiator core support broke and the engine mount smashed the crap out of the radiator.  Whatever moron at whatever body shop fixed this thing did a really crappy job.  They replaced some of the metal, but didn’t bother to actually weld any of it together.  Instead they put a couple of pop rivits in, used the wrong bolts on the ends, and let the rest of it float around (which is why the hood looks a little unsteady at speed).  The core support itself was not even straightened out.  Instead they welded some angle iron and a piece of a bed frame to it and hoped for the best.  The remaining sheet metal fatigued, cracked, and ripped apart.  I pushed everything back where it is supposed to be, more or less, and welded it together.  It should hold for a while.  Ideally I should cut that whole mess out and weld in a new one, but I can probably do some creative sheet metal bending and make it work too.

My intent was to build-up this motor over the summer, but I simply didn’t have time.  I also wanted to fix the fender and paint the hood, but again no time (house stuff).  I spent most of my free time trying to get the CSX ready for the convention.  So, the Daytona basically sat in the garage all summer while I drove the CSX.

Before putting the CSX away and getting the Daytona back on the road, I did manage to fix a few things.  I went to a local fabric store and purchased new headliner material and finally fixed that stupid thing.  While I had it out, I installed the ’87 overhead console and associated wiring.  While doing that, I also prepared the wiring to accept the early 12-button navigator in the ’91 slot.  This required splicing in about 12″ of wire into the harness so it would reach.  Also fixed a few other electrical gremlins.  The compass in the overhead console has a problem retaining it’s calibration and the thermometer was way out of whack.  I managed to calibrate the thermometer, but I was not able to get the little microcontroller in there to keep its memory.  I’m not sure what causes it to lose its brains, but it is fairly intermittent.  My primary motivation to install it was the compass (I don’t have the best sense of direction), but it will have to wait.

Put the car to rest for the winter.  The inner tripod on the passenger side axle is pretty loose and the car needs tires, but other than that it ran good all summer/fall.  I do need to drop the oil pan and install the crank scraper, oil temp bung, and possibly some baffling.  The one thing that got me at the driving school at SDAC was oil supply problems.  By the end of the session the car was running pretty bad because of collapsed lifters.

On the road again.  New intermediate shaft, new seals.  Thanks to Dave for the crankshaft seal housing (had to strip the orange paint…sorry :).  I still have a rattle coming from the tranny in neutral.  I noticed that it doesn’t rattle if I release the clutch slowly, so perhaps it has something to do with this 6-puck HD clutch disc.  Nice to have A/C again.

Disclaimer: The projects described in these web pages may use dangerous materials, and components.  This material is intended for advanced electronics experimenters only and may cause your vehicle to be suitable for off-road use only.  The author assumes no liability for damages incurred through the use or misuse of the information provided herein.  This information is provided "as is" and without warranties as to performance of or any other warranties whether expressed or implied.  No warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is offered.