reprieve - e350 fix

A couple weeks ago I hinted the van was down.

The month leading up to the dreaded moment,

I regaled in how bulletproof the free van had been.

Usually this is when I'll make a deal,

replace your aging fluids,

clean the inside of the excess tonnage,

you deserve it...

The meltdown wasn't truly catastrophic,

a coolant leak,

typical from a cracked plastic intake manifold,

common on the Ford modular design.

The intimidating part was the location,

the limited access,

and the daunting amount of hoses, fuel injection,wires etc.

I could take it apart no problem,

but could I put it back together properly?

Local auto shops quoted minimum $800,

as long as there were no unseen issues.

The workbook estimated 4.5 work hours,

that's with all the proper tools.

My estimate was 20 spread out over the month.

I went into denial,

and for 2+ weeks drove the hot rods as dailies.

I didn't want to jinx it,

but I searched for a possible replacement.

All we really needed was a gas sipper,

and these 1990-ish toyota camry wagons have a cult following.

Four doors for the kids,

work space in the back,

a little 4-banger to putt-putt down the freeway...

Another option was the chevy astrovan.

The big 4.6 engine perfect for pulling the boat,

and they cruise on the freeway.

This was all a late night pipe dream,

I'd have to go into major flip mode to make those happen.

The hot rods were a blast to drive around,

but San Diego's roads pounded the old suspensions.

Time to fix the van.

The plan was to temporarily plug up the whole,

get it to the shop,

and tear it up.

I've never used the egg-white trick,

and this was the perfect opportunity.

Coolant leaked out immediately,

and what a surprise,

a relieving "doh" moment.

Water wasn't coming from a crack in the plastic,

there was a small hole in a heater tube!

Before there were hoses and wires in the way,

coercing the stream into the valley pan,

making it seem like an intake crack.

This was not the time for metric wrenches and screwdrivers,

I needed plastic fantastic.

A dab of JB weld,

a cover of permatex #2,

a scrap of hose and a couple clamps...

The fix!

It was like winning the lottery,

at least a $5 scratcher.

If the van can go a week or a year,

this reprieve is a huge relief.

The van definitely deserved rejuvenating fluids,

the coolant was embarassingly brown.

Let's see how long it'll last...

TP

April Fools... Proform vs Scorpion

Welcome again to the money pit.

Some cars need never ending attention and must be showered with expensive trinkets,

like women or girls I tend to avoid.

Sadly if you buy substandard items,

even if the salesmen suggests them,

the outcome isn't pretty.

Thanks Jegs...

The question is what came first,

the broken rocker arm(s) or the new worn lifters

and probably camshaft.

Even the unworn lifters had issues,

fully compressed.

The trouble was most likely a result of the edelbrock performer rpm heads,

which have heavy duty valve springs.

Although these little lifters were suggested by a Jegs salesperson,

who had access to K's sales history,

there's no way they could stand the constant pressure,

if compared to the overbuilt Scorpion versions.

The proform rocker arms were questionable out of the packing.

Like an April Fools joke,

they'd rattle when shaken.

Not a good sign on a precision machine part.

We had even called up the Jegs tech-line,

to question there use,

but were given the go ahead.

Nothing has made me want to work on the whaler 

more than this frustrating situation!

A new cam kit is on order...

TP

33 steps

Years ago,

when scouting places to move to in San Diego,

the Point Loma area was an obvious choice.

A little bit higher rent,

but a safe neighborhood for the kids,

in a city of a million people.

Typically a place where locking a car or house up isn't necessary.

 However,

in the 33 steps from our front door to the wife's car,

if you drop a wallet with rent money in it,

chances are it will be ripped off within 30 seconds.

Obviously I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Who drops important stuff in front of their house?

One of the reasons I had one with bright orange metal-flake.

I've definitely become comfortable in our surroundings.

Sometimes it'll take an hour to load tools or toys up,

nobody has ever taken anything.

That's cause in this area not many people walk!

At noon this is what the nearest cross street looks like.

.Of course the one lucky pedestrian,

a 30-40 year old woman who walked right by me

happens to be a thief.

A neighbor saw the whole thing,

said she picked it up,

looked at me,

and took off!

Sucks when ya trust the neighborhood alley bums more than the upscale looking  exercise women.

Makes me wanna move to a ranch out in the boonies.

Not good times...

TP

How to - change a head gasket

Here's an unintentional project,

that's taken a life of it's own.

It all started with a holey radiator,

expanding to a blown head gasket.

The easy fix would have been cleaning the surfaces,

bolting on a new head gasket,

and fixing the radiator.

That was a 70-30 call,

a steel headed ford 302 should absorb a little heat,

but who knows the continued reliability as a daily driver.

The original engine bay was a nasty mess.

I felt like a high schooler,

pulling the engine out off the street!

The car rope towed to a conveniently vacant garage.

This was a chance to fix other gremlins.

The brakes have never been 100%,

more like 30%.

On went a shiny new disc brake kit.

The tired engine underwent a total transformation.

New everything!

And that's putting it lightly.

New heads, intake, cam, rockers...

Cubic dollars!

Even the oil pump shaft was replaced.

I had heard of these twisting,

but never saw one.

I'd run this engine in the 40.

My budget is the swap a head gasket fix.

New headers were installed,

not without typical "bolt-on" problems.

See anything out of the ordinary?

Usually companies send extra fasteners,

especially when they're cheap steel.

Somehow Hooker Headers sent the only threadless stud in the 10,000,000 they process.

A 69 camaro exhaust was retrofitted to the 69 mustang.

Surprised how similar both cars are.

Then all the rust was cut out,

patches and covered with sloppy bondo.

Some rust was known,

this was hidden under a panel.

It took a crack team of experts to troubleshoot a tuning issue to a faulty carburetor.

Thanks uncle Steve and Mike...

Then of course the special gaskets popped out,

resulting in a major oil leak.

I've done this enough times to not trust gaskets over silicon,

but with the aluminum heads and new intake,

I figured an Edelbrock labeled gasket set would work.

With the engine bay scrubbed,

new motor, carburetor and radiator...

this is like a new car.

Almost.

We're waiting on a new brake proportioning valve.

the replacement had stuck closed.

TP

Junkyard Dog

Some people choose their daily drivers by comfort or performance.

There's another factor in our equation.

The junkyard.

If your gonna have an Armageddon vehicle,

cheap plentiful parts is key!

The check engine light was glowing on the wife's car.

Thankfully she warned me early on,

the car had a shudder and the light would blink.

Holey Chit...

With some family troubleshooting help,

The first thing checked was the fuel filter.

 I could barely blow through it.

Easy fix!

Nope...

It did seem to drive better,

but there was another gremlin.

After reading the manual and researching online,

the problem was one of 24 things.

For $20,

a local shop ran a diagnostic.

First time at a mechanic in 20 years!

Supposedly there's an OBD2 code reader that plugs into an iPhone,

I may look into that.

A definite timesaver,

the code pinpointed the problem to a misfire on cylinder 4,

The Ford 4.6 uses a separate ignition coil for each cylinder,

a trick design,

however they do burn out.

It was time to make a judgement call.

The part isn't really expensive,

$45-75 depending on the brand,

but there was a principle to uphold.

Our Mercury Grand Marquis was picked for multiple  reasons,

lotsa space,

and mass produced for cheaper parts.

The Ford Crown Victoria is used as taxis and cop cars.

There are literally tons of them at the junkyards.

We had to go.

The perfect donor was found,

a beat up P71 police interceptor.

Definitely on my next car to own list,

these are built way beefier then our cruiser.

I hoped a government car would have had better servicing then an old taxi.

The remaining coils were tested and pirated,

a whopping $60 for 5,

including the rubber boots!

Motorcraft brand not aftermarket junk.

Here's the bummer.

I really wanted Jakob to check out the place,

but no minors were allowed inside.

He was a trooper though and napped for the 20 minutes.

We had a good cruise regardless.

I ended up swapping out a couple coils.

The car ran great for the test drive.

So far our $1800 car has given us about 20k miles,

and besides 2 smog checks and a couple oil changes,

this was the first issue.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

TP