So I finally got around to doing work this weekend. As you all probably know, I have been complaining about my timing chain slapping all around the place, my idle being so low, and the worst smell of unburnt fuel in the world... btw I miss having a garage like you would not even know especially since my driveway is full of dirt and gravel, have you ever tried to sit in gravel or jack a car up on dirt? NOT FUN! Luckily when I did my timing tensioner I found a nice little cement spot a few blocks from my home and found some people to help me too, thank you craigslist.
Saturday - Mission: Timing Tensioner
Finally got the car up on a Volkswagen jack, yes i know unsafe but hey we worked with what we had, I left my rim under the car because honestly if the car fell Id rather the rim get damaged than one of us.
After removing the compressor, lowering the motor (thanks Fluffy for your over the phone help), etc. to our surprise the timing chain and tensioner seemed fine. Everything was tight and lined up, I was so confused! Then I went and looked again, whoa what do you know, the car is off timing by about 30 seconds, but how can this be if the tensioner didnt give out, it looks fine!!
Or so I thought, yeah I dont think a tensioner is supposed to fall into pieces when you remove it:
I took these pictures the next day when it was lighter out to show you guys the damage the tensioner had, I didnt notice this until I pulled the tensioner off:
After pulling the tensioner I said hey pull the chain out lets see how that looks, you cant really see in the picture but the chain was not right, it seemed to be on its last breath, plus I have always been told that chains should be replaced every 100k miles and i have no flippin idea how many miles this motor has on it. So I said f**k it lets replace the chain, its a super cheap part and we already have the cover off so why not!?
After putting everything back together and getting the timing right we put everything back together, cranked her up an WALA!!!! SHE WAS ALIVE, and quite peppy, she revved up to 2.5k rpms and then went back down for a normal cold start, I had the biggest kool aid smile on my face.
It was such a cheap job, the tensioner was $18.99 US and the chain was $25 US .. the cool part is, one of the guys who helped out gets discounts at the local auto place and I got the tensioner for about $12 US +tax and the Chain for $18 US +tax!!!
Sunday:
So one thing I have held secret about this car is that she randomly starts leaking oil, every few weeks she will randomly start smoking, it always turns out to be that my oil filter starts leaking on my downpipe, the last 4x I have just replaced the oil filter because I have not had time to replace the filter, plus I live 2 minutes walking distance from my job so I hardly drive anymore. Last night I was about to hop on the highway to Miami Beach and something told me to stop at the gas station first, Im glad I did! My car started smoking yet again! She started leaking oil even more than usual, but only when the car was running, luckily I was only about 1.5 miles from my house and was able to avoid all the red lights. Before I went home I drove over to the auto supply's parking lot to check out the car in good lighting, too my surprise the DAMN OIL FILTER WAS BROKEN AND SQUIRTING OIL EVERYWHERE! I was pissed, my Saturday night was f**ked!
I went home and decided to check the car out in the morning.
Long story short I jacked the car up in the morning and replaced the oil filter, but this time I had enough I decided to look all around the engine bay and under the car to see what the hell was damaging my filters and to fix every single issue I had with the car, I worked on the car from 7AM - 9PM....here are all the problems I found,
compliments of the previous owner:
see that lovely item thats bolted into the block, well guess what, IT WAS NEVER BOLTED IN! So anytime I hit a speed bump too hard or just drove to long this lovely mount would destroy my oil filter. I was livid.
Luckily I found some screws that fit perfectly
Can anyone tell me whats wrong with this picture??
or this one?
I rewired everything and wound everything up tight the way it should of been done when the previous owner put in this motor
I also tightened up that damn oil pan, luckily I bought a new oil pan gasket yesterday thinking I was going to have to drop the pan.
And cleaned up all the oil with "Purple Power" - love that stuff
Also here is some sway bar love
I then decided, well since im out here why dont I just finally install my struts:
It felt really good opening that box:
Bump stops, box cutter and myself = disaster:
Look closely at the edge of the blade, what do you see??
OUCH!
Yeah I need stitches but I have no insurance so its time for some Krazy Glue fun tomorrow.
After I was finally done with everything it was too dark to take anymore pics
All I have left to do is reweld my o2 sensor bung (hopefully doing this morning [monday]) its leaking like a madd man, stripped also by the previous owner.
Then off to paint
sorry this was so long, enjoy!