When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I am so bad at wrenching on this car: 2018 edition!
Yup, I'm back to share the endless stories of my own idiocy for your amusement!
So, just to catch everyone up: Last year's saga went on for several months and 11 pages of idiocy and shenanigans, and ended with me actually making it to Frenzy! There were a couple of things revealed at Frenzy, like that my transmission leaks like a sieve, but the repairs held up and overall the car ran well. Considering I had the front of the motor off and much of the interior out, I was pretty jazzed!
So, in no particular order, here are the things I'd like to take care of this year:
Transmission.
Rear interior quarters.
Steering boots.
Windshield wiper fluid.
Seeping oil.
Dash pod/Seat belt warning buzzer.
No downshift at WOT.
The car hasn't moved since Frenzy. A week after getting back I picked up an unrelated project (in the tabletop gaming realm), that turned into another project and has now morphed into a second full-time job. That kept me completely occupied until the first week of January, by which time it was way too cold to be out in the garage.
In January, the Susquehanna River got froggy. You may remember that I lost my '79 Shark to the river flooding in 2011. Here it was January and, rather than a hurricane dumping feet of rain upstream, we were dealing with a massive ice jam due to warm weather. We cleared the first floor of the house and I went out to the garage to move the cars and the 928 had a tough time starting and wouldn't run. I noticed that the alternator light was on, so I took a look and it had thrown the belt. I restrung the belt and restarted and it threw it again! At this point I was out of time, so I crossed my fingers left Stitch to the mercy of the river. The ice jam broke before the river got to the house (although it did overrun the banks and get into the street at the end of my block), so a tragedy was averted.
Fast forward to February, and I got my annual company bonus, a portion of which bought me a Quickjack 7000. It lifts the car to a beautiful height; perfect for working on a creeper. The weather is starting to break, so I got under the car and restrung the alternator, realizing that a bolt had loosened and was giving it just enough play to throw the belt. I tightened everything back up and turned the car over and it stayed on.
But the car wasn't starting. I knew it didn't like to sit, so I tried a few times, recharged the battery to make sure it was good, tried some more, then thought about what I needed to get a car started: air, fuel, and spark. I was pretty sure I had all three. But then I remembered the time the previous summer I spent three days trying to diagnose an empty gas tank. I thought I'd parked it with a good amount in the tank after Frenzy, but did I? The last time I remember putting gas into it was outside Gettysburg - I think? So, I grabbed the can we use for the snowblower, dumped in some gas and tried again.
Success!
The idle was a little smokey at first, but in a couple minutes it cleared and settled and it's running just fine. A huge load off my mind!
Moving to the back, I finally got a good look at the transmission and decided that the connectors for the lines to the cooler were shot. Just old, icky and corroded. I'm in conversations with a couple people who are telling me that they're just low-pressure lines, and that I should be able to replace them for a few bucks with the appropriate hose and some clamps. But when I get under there, there's bolts and crush fittings and all sorts of stuff going on. Roger told me to get them off and on the bench and it would make more sense.
Last night I went out and unbolted the heat shield and then went after the banjo bolts. Those came off just fine and I was able to free that end of the hose. Then I cleaned up the connections between the hard lines and the hoses with a wire brush. There are 19mm fittings on both ends. The fitting on the hard line is basically brazed on there, so the fitting on the hose is going to be the one that turns. I got a couple wrenches on there and gave it what I had (after making sure about fifteen times that I was turning the right way), and it didn't budge. So, I sprayed it down with WD and left it to soak. I'll give it another try tonight, or maybe tomorrow.
One of the connections between the hose and the hard line.
The connections at the banjo bolt, and to the other hard line at the transmission.
It's great to be wrenching again! (Even if I'm not great at it.)
Last edited by Shawn Stanford; 03-23-2018 at 03:57 PM.
1. WD-40 is sub-optimal as a penetrating oil. Go to your local auto parts store and get some PB blaster or make your own by mixing acetone and auto trans fluid in a 50/50 mix.
2. If you don't have 17 and 19 mm flare wrenches, buy some. Flare wrenches put more bearing surface on the fasteners you are trying to loosen and reduce the chance of rounding stuff off.
3. You have four potential allies in the struggle against a stuck fastener - a good penetrating oil, heat, vibration and a brain. Hit the area with penetrant and if it looks like it may be a bear to break free, do this several times over the course of a couple of days (if you have the time). Heat - depending on the fastener and what is around it, getting stuck stuff good and hot and then letting it cool, often breaks stuff loose. Propane or Mapp gas on small stuff like this, Acetylene if working on a locomotive. Vibration or movement - judiciously whacking with a hammer can help and if appropriate, tightening is just another way of getting movement. Brain - patience, persistence and judgement. Use tools that don't invite rounding and use care when heating or whacking with a hammer. Walking away to fight another day may save you time you will lose replacing something you rounded or snapped off.
1. I love your posts. They make me feel like I'm not the only one who gets frustrated. God knows I've made some amazing blunders. I just don't have the patience or time to document it. (I mean its embarrassing to say it took me 5 week-ends to do motor mounts, headers and the oil pan; of course i did lose an afternoon from falling asleep under the car...)
2. PB Blaster and Kroil are your best friends for frozen bolts. I've never used WD40...
3. You just cant drop "tabletop gaming realm" and not provide at least a few specifics! There are enough nerds here that love that s***.
1. I love your posts. They make me feel like I'm not the only one who gets frustrated. God knows I've made some amazing blunders. I just don't have the patience or time to document it. (I mean its embarrassing to say it took me 5 week-ends to do motor mounts, headers and the oil pan; of course i did lose an afternoon from falling asleep under the car...)
2. PB Blaster and Kroil are your best friends for frozen bolts. I've never used WD40...
1 - Me too. Your posts do wonders to help me realize that I'm not the only one fighting and struggling sometimes.
2 - WD-40 is not penetrating oil. It's not lubricant either. It's "Water Displacement" (formula #40). It was originally used to protect the fuel tanks on Atlas Missiles.
We are fortunate to have some very fine writers and story-tellers on this forum. And some very fine mechanics. My car and my psyche need both, plus fellow wretched wrenchers.
Okay, point taken about the PB blaster. I'll pick some up tomorrow and soak the hell out of it. Thanks everyone! I do have a question about the hoses and connectors, though: If I understood on what Roger told me, I should see hose clamps, not screw on fittings. Am I misunderstanding, or is my car weird?
Originally Posted by linderpat
Shawn - I'd like to see pics of that quickjack!
I'll take a couple this weekend.
Originally Posted by monkez
3. You just cant drop "tabletop gaming realm" and not provide at least a few specifics! There are enough nerds here that love that s***.
Heh. Sure, here you go: http://www.legendarypants.net/. Our big project right now is 'code::2050'. The thing that pulled me after Frenzy was getting a demo module ready for Philly Pax 2017. After Pax, one of the guys who played asked us if we'd write a 10 episode series for streaming, which we did:
I have rebuilt the transmission cooling lines on the Red Witch. Not a super terrible job, but tedious. Look through my thread. It is not 100% identical, but you can get and idea of what you are getting into.
Also, take a hard look at whether you actually have to separate those fittings or not. I had similar fittings about midway through the lines. The swivel parts are never to swivel again. So, I removed the lines in one piece, cut the hoses off, separated the fittings, cleaned them, coated them in antiseize, reassembled them, and fitted new hoses. Just a thought...
I have rebuilt the transmission cooling lines on the Red Witch. Not a super terrible job, but tedious. Look through my thread. It is not 100% identical, but you can get and idea of what you are getting into.
I love my Quickjack 7000. Got the optional pucks for lifting the Sequoia. Highly recommend.
I have a Cayenne, so I was interested in the extra height thingers. They're $200! The lift was only $1,500! I'm going to build some using black iron nipples and stanchions and hockey pucks. Should cost me about $50.
...
I have a Cayenne, so I was interested in the extra height thingers. They're $200! The lift was only $1,500! I'm going to build some using black iron nipples and stanchions and hockey pucks. Should cost me about $50.
I add hockey pucks with little rubber feet screwed to the middle of one side The feet are about 15mm 0r 5/8" OD, so index nicely in the jack pads on the 928. No damaging the jack pads when lifting, even when using a floor jack or stands. Most stands have V tops that try to collapse the jack pads on the car; the indexed pucks eliminate that issue nicely.
Okay: I've got a 'no start'. It started and ran fine a week ago, and nothing's changed under the hood since then. I know there's fuel in the tank, and I can definitely smell it after a couple tries at starting. I will cough everyone once in a while, but not often. I feel like it's too rich on startup, especially considering that it ran smoky as hell until it warmed up the last time it did start. I'm not sure what or how I would have borked something, since it was running well enough last year after Frenzy. Maybe I over adjusted the idle screw? Anyway, if anyone has hints on troubleshooting this on an '82, let me know. I'll poke through the board for ideas.
On the transmission front: Following everyone's advice, I tried to cut off the crush fittings on the hoses, remove the hoses from the existing fittings and put on new hoses. But I've been wresting with that for a couple of sessions and it's really being a pain in the ***. I can't get good leverage on the crush fittings and the brazed fittings are simply not going to budge. Looking at the crap that Seth found in his when he finally did get them apart, I'm not surprised I can't move them; I'm not a big guy. So, I think I'm going to cut off the existing fittings close to the brazed end, flare the end, and put on new hose. That will shorten the hard pipe by an inch or so, but I'm not seeing a lot of options.
The no start is really bugging me. He wants to fire so bad...
03-23-2018, 03:27 PM
I am so bad at wrenching on this car: 2018 edition!
