Amber Gramps

First off I have ZERO money to be throwing at the 911 right now so do I even dare try this???

I hate rust and I have rust on my engine tin. Lot's of it. I want it gone! I've also got a broken bolt and a crack in one of the pieces. Sand blasting, welding the crack, tapping out the broken bolt, and painting will be the easy part.

How much of the engine tin can be removed without a complete engine drop? Can I do a partial drop? Say, S-tube, rear mounts, main electrical, shift linkage....? What's it take to remove all the tin?

rusnak

I think you're looking at a partial drop, which is like a full drop except you leave the motor inside the engine bay area, just lowered about a foot. It's a long job because the dang cv bolts, cruise control, ac, fuel lines, shift rod, etc etc take time to disconnect and pull out of the way. The tranny should be supported so that the shift rod does not get bent against the tunnel. The oil lines, engine harness, tranny ground strap, tach wires, and backup wires, heater hoses, etc have an amazing ability to avoid your notice until drop time, so extra eyes help tons here.

Amber Gramps

Thanks Rusnak. As expected, the first bolt I put my wrench on snapped right off. Three days of religiously spraying PBB on them and SNAP.

$14,000 takes it all.

Amber Gramps

My boss just handed me my *** over this. "Do you know how lucky you are to be able to do this yourself? I've paid out thousands to fix silly problems like that. Knock it off and fix it."

dshepp806

"which" bolt, mate?

BEST!

Doyle

theiceman

dont think of it as dropping the engine .. how about leaving the engine where it is and lifting the car off it

rusnak

Now you tell me. I have a can of Kroil somewhere. Try a drop of brake fluid. I swear that stuff works.

Amber Gramps

As much as it kills me I'm going to post the pictures. Go easy on me.

This is the worst of it and it doesn't appear to be anywhere other than right on the motor tin and trans. Well, a few other small spots, but nothing like this. This isn't just surface rust like you would expect to see on untreated nuts and bolts, this is deep penetrating corrosion.

Here goes....

Amber Gramps

It's bad, isn't it?

EDIT: Adding a close up of the first picture posted. It shows the bolt that is broken off in the cam tower.

V2Rocket

Doug,

If the rust is confined to the engine/trans stuff and not the body, I would drop the whole assembly, take off individual rusty parts and try to clean them up (electric drill and a wire wheel do wonders on rust like this), repaint them/zinc them and put it back together.

If you've got a sandblaster at your disposal it should make quick work of most of the parts.

Let me know if you want help with anything, I'll be back in Riverside pretty much permanently starting next week.

rusnak

Those tins might make good sandblast/ powdercoat candidates.

Amber Gramps

My brother has a sandblaster so.....ya.

The more I research and the more I look at it the more optimistic I become. I'm gonna drop it a couple inches and see where I'm at. It almost looks like I could take off the heater blower and access some of the bolts over the top.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...ngine_drop.htm

Amber Gramps

Tonight was very productive. What I thought was going to be the worst of it was not so bad after all. The lower of the two 5mm hex bolts was rusted and stripped. I figured what the heck and jammed a Torx 5.5 in it and slammed it a dozen times with a 4 pound hammer. It's cool how the factory put a hole in the tin in just the right spot to feed the extension. Came right out.

So I come in the house and my wife asks me if I'm ever gonna get that box out of the entry way. What box? Then it hits me. Rusnak is up to his old tricks. There is an ECU, an AFM, an ICV, and two books on sushi that my wife immediately runs off with. Never mind that Rusnak has just sent me $2,000 worth of test parts to go with all the tools he sent me last month, Elayne wants sushi.

Rusnak, YOU are a total stud.

theiceman

Well First of all shocking ANY bolt with a blow with an impact driver or even as you did will do wonders. What amazes me is the amount of corrosion i see for a California car .. WOW .. Do you think it could have something to do with a combination of salt in the air because you live by the ocean and not having rustproofing ? I dont see many Canadian cars like that at all .. could be because we dont drive the older models all year round of course and Canadian cars all have thorough rust proofing everywhere..

Amber Gramps

Clive, this was an Ohio car owned by a professor at Ohio State who retired and moved to California just months before I found her. Trust me, this is the last birthday present my wife ever gets to pick out for me just because she likes the color.

My guess is that it was used year round and saw salted roads often.