soontobered84

Like you, I have headers on my 84 cars. Although I was able to reinstall my heat shields, I did wrap my headers with (my choice) titanium header wrap. Wrapping the headers made a significant difference in the heat in the engine compartment as well as the passenger compartment. My guess is that it just moves a lot of the heat aft of where it would enter the car.

Carl Fausett

Moose - weren't your headers Jet-Hot coated by us? That coating is both inside and outside the pipes and does a wonderful job of trapping and retaining the heat inside the pipe. If Jet-Hot coated, then they need no other heat shield or heat wrap.

If Jet-Hot coated, they will look like this:

Carl Fausett

Yes - Post 39 - I see your headers are Jet-Hot coated. Don't worry about additional heat wraps on those headers. Not needed.

Technical information on that coating is here: http://www.jet-hot.com/enthusiasts

Rocinante

You probably already did this, but you checked that the engine is getting fuel and spark? (You pulled one of the plugs to check for spark?)

Majestic Moose

Carl Fausett & soontobered84- Yes Jet-Hot coated, my concern was with protecting the rubber of the engine mounts and possibly wrapping them. Though it looks like with minor trimming of the heat shields I will be able to reinstall them.

Rocinante - I am intentionally leaving the fuel pump off to crank the engine over to prime the oil pump since it is empty because I removed it to replace the O-rings. Problem is starter not working. I will have it tested tomorrow.

soontobered84

MM and Carl,
My headers are jet-hot coated as well. I still wrapped them. My thought is the coating will help protect the headers further.

Majestic Moose

Gentlemen! Nothing wrong with my starter!

It was the ground strap on the passenger side from engine to frame. I will admit I had only reinstalled it finger tight and forgot to follow up.

I cranked it over a couple times, then turned on the fuel pump and she came right to life and oil pressure to 5 bar. (normal on startup?)

I'm back on track!

Enjoy:

hlee96

Wow, great job! Sounds incredible. So, headers on the engine, loose, and engine mounts on the engine then angle them correctly to lower the engine onto the cross bar, right?

soontobered84

Yes. 5 Bar is normal on startup. It will normally reduce when the engine is up to normal operating temperature.

Majestic Moose

If I were to do it again I would install engine mounts on engine, remove heat shields, and leave passenger side header loose. If you have removed the steering rack, reinstall it into the steering knuckle but not to the cross member for access to tighten the engine mount.

Thanks, all is good then.

Majestic Moose

Big weekend done!

I replaced wheel bearings and reassembled the front end. Then replaced and bled front brake hoses.







I spent quite some time fiddling with the alignment and got it to where it looked good 'by eye'.



I noticed the bucket around one headlight was loose and rubbing against the fender on its way up and down. I got creative and epoxied a piece of steel to fill in the broken off piece out of the slot. No after photo but it has been fixed.



So then I moved on to install the rest of the exhaust but my headers ended up about 2cm too far apart. I will have to bring them together with a ratchet strap no big deal but at this point I couldn't resist getting the car back on four wheels and see how she runs. After mounting the tires I did have to go back in and tighten the spindle nuts to take out some play in the bearings.

Riding high:



So I went out with no exhaust, no hood, no inspection. I passed a police car, he didn't care.
So the good news, engine fires up immediately, and gearbox works MUCH better with all shifter bushings replaced. Turns out I have a good eye because the steering wheel is perfectly straight and does not pull. I am getting an alignment done anyway.
The bad, while warming up I still get the up/down rpm thing but after about 10 miles the idle settles down and stays constant. This was a bit awkward at such an obnoxious volume. I lost coolant out of the overflow hose, enough to empty the reservoir but I refilled and went about ten miles without losing any. No other leaks that I saw but I only drove a total of twenty miles.

I still have to do the rear brake hoses and replace gearbox oil. She cleans up pretty nice.



I want to thank everyone who has helped out and encouraged me.

Majestic Moose

I have replaced the rear brake hoses, one had a pretty good cut in it. By the way, in my prior experiences replacing brake hoses on other vehicles it is a bit of a hurry to get the new hoses on as the fluid drips out but on this car nothing came out, maybe a single drop, is that typical?





I checked the front wheels and there is play again, I have to tighten the spindle nut more. My thought is that I had too much grease in there giving me a false sense of tightness before that has worked out after a 20 mile ride.

Majestic Moose

I am having some trouble with the wheel bearing adjustments. If I tighten the nut with pliers that does remove all play but I certainly cannot move the washer around and is thus too tight and will cause bearing failure. However, the play left in the wheels when adjusted by the book will surely lead to a failed inspection. Everything is new and spindles did not show wear.
One thing I read is that some play will be eliminated with heat expansion while driving. Any advice here? I guess I can go for a 10 mile drive and check when bearings are warmed up.

Rocinante

I have heard this too for other classic cars. If you don't leave the right amount of play, you'll destroy the bearings.

I'm sure someone with more expertise will chime in here. Congrats on your progress to date MM!

Majestic Moose

I went quiet over the weekend, that's because I got to enjoy the car! I drove about 160 miles over both days. Initially after a hard throttle it was sticking at 2000 revs due to the cruise control cable getting hung up. After multiple attempts to adjust it (and not burn myself too badly), I realized the outer sheath is supposed to be connected to the adjuster and on a hard rev the inner sheath would come out and jam against the backside of the adjuster. Hard to explain but I ended up cutting the cable for a few reasons. The mounting screws to the throttle linkage are inaccessible without dismantling a bunch of stuff, cruise control didn't work and will not because of the LED conversion, I never use it, and the cable would need replacing anyway.
With that taken care of, the engine would not idle. Turns out the cruise cable was holding the throttle back and I had turned the idle screw all the way in to compensate.
OK so how does it drive?? Very tame and quiet until you enter the fun zone at 4000 revs. It runs strong, smooth, and makes all the right sounds! 1st through 3rd gears sometimes grind. I will replace whatever oil is in the gearbox because it does leak and is undoubtedly low. I haven't looked at adjusting the pedals yet but the clutch and brake are way out compared to the accelerator, probably close to 6 inches. Heel toeing is not possible for me. While shifting gears the revs drop like a rock requiring a blip of the throttle to rev match the next gear.
I'm still trying to figure out this cold start idle problem. It is very annoying and lasts a solid 15 minutes or miles until it idles steadily. For your viewing pleasure: I'm glad to have finished the big stuff now I can take little bites fixing small problems while driving and enjoying the car.