|
Quote:
|
She prolly would have, but the front seat wasn't very big, either, not enuf room for me & her both, dammittall... My Dad got it in Knoxville, it was bright Orange, w/a white hockey stick-like decal on the side-UT's colors. I found it rather revolting... The 2nd one, I gotta admit, even tho it was a total POS, I had a soft spot in my black heart for it.. In '76, I FINALLY got out of the Tinkertoy League, & talked my old man into a Olds Cutlass Supreme Brougham, which I kept thru college. In '79, I graduated, & my dad had Got Religion on Diesels, so he made mr trade the '76 on a '79 Cutlass 4.3 liter Diesel. But all that's another story for another time, & it DON'T end well...
|
Folks. I have officially gone into stupid territory with this car.
Last three weeks consisted of the rear end of the drivetrain being rebuilt due to suspicions about its condition and the possibility that I might not get parts later. I am now over $7000CAD into repairs on just the radiator and drivetrain on this car. Nothing else. This is all stuff that I should REALLY be doing at home due to half of that being labour charges but I simply do not stock a garage with tools for pulling gears, seals and bearings due to cost. At least we're done with it now. Everything else is regular garage work. Anyways it was found that both rear drum brakes had cracked shoes, the rear passenger side bearing was starting to get iffy and the differential pinion bearing and race were junk. https://oi11.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_2962.jpg I also got persuaded by my parents to have the radiator reassessed after the discovery of that leak during the flush. As it turned out the radiator failed testing due to the top tank coming loose. That was something I did not detect but man, that could of been bad. A re-core was $750 but a *new* exact replacement was $550, so I went for that. Now I'm here dismantling and cleaning the switches for the power seats. Initially I thought that just a flush with iso and compressed air would help but it made it worse, so now they need to be removed, dismantled, cleaned and rebuilt. https://oi11.photobucket.com/albums/...t/IMG_2979.jpg |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Maybe I'm to harsh saying that you need to have no legs to sit in the back.... you could get leg room if the person in the seat in front of you had no legs/was really short and need the seat about as far forward as it would go to reach the peadals or rest their feet on the firewall. |
Re-hose complete. Vacuum, emission, cooling and fuel lines have all been replaced. Swapped in new fuel filters, PCV and new hose clamps all around.
https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8441.jpg The result is the engine has not been idling as rough at a warm stop anymore and the coolant flush and refill has burped the air from the heater core. https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/IMG_3121.jpg ..and yes if you spotted it, I doubled the hose clamps on the core because I screwed up twisting the old hoses off and kinked the ports on the core.... They straightened out okay but leaked a little, so they were double clamped because screw pulling the entire goddamn dash out to swap a core that's not leaking in the air box. Edited: Also new speakers! https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8445.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8439.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8443.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8444.jpg I specifically hunted down speakers that would far better match the car than the aftermarket black Kickers in the front and a pair of trashed Audiovox cones in the back. These white 40W waterproof speakers were decently priced and had a grille that looked close to what one might expect. They were painted with a plastic bonding nutmeg spray paint. |
And today the vacuum reservoir for the Cruise Command finally arrived. It does not have an internal check valve (I'll have to buy one) but with this final piece installed I plugged the Yellow Control Box in and now have Cruise Control just in time for the summer. :banana:
https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8446.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8448.jpg |
Nice! The speakers look right at home.
|
This weekend consisted of testing the new impact sockets and dropping the tank for maintenance and cleaning.
https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8450.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8451.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8452.jpg The mounting hardware is all in good enough shape to be reused and after the tank was drained and left int he sun to evaporate the last of the gas it was charged with carbon dioxide and then vacuumed out. The pickup sock looks like new. https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8454.jpg The rollover check valve on the vapor line does not. Both stems have rusted off and it is not an easy to source a replacement, especially since the closest aftermarket valve is from Delorean. It had to be carefully dismantled, cleaned and new stems welded on before being sealed again. https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8455.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8456.jpg |
At least you're being cautious with the gas tank. It honestly doesn't matter how dry you get it, it can still catch fire easily.
|
Rollover check valve? Does it keep the tank from pissing gas out the vapor line if you end up upside down?
This is starting to look like a restoration project. great job! :thmbsp: |
Yep, that's all it does. For some reason however a liquid rollover check valve was not a thing for the 82 model Eagle at least, but was for the Concord.
This completes the refurbishment of the entire cooling, vacuum, fuel and vapor control systems. The tank and mounting hardware will be reinstalled tomorrow once the rust paint dries. Quote:
|
Very fine work! When I was younger, before I got congestive heart failure, I wanted to do something like what you've done. I wound up doing vintage radios. I could only wish...
|
New paint, new hoses and hey look, a rebuilt valve! Suddenly my tank pressure system works again.
https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8463.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8465.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...IMG_3220_1.jpg |
Carburetor rebuild is completed. It took about 11 hours and aside from a few instances where we had extra parts left over (for the NON-feedback model) there were no issues with the rebuild.
https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/59DA3852.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8471.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/59DA3853.jpg There WAS however problems found. The vacuum port for the PCV and canister purge was mostly plugged, the accelerator pump adjustment was incorrect, the choke pull-back actuator is leaking AND not adjusted correctly and to top it off, some beaner had the low and high idle screws installed in reverse. Once that was all set it was much happier. Unfortunately the weekend fun ends there. With the vacuum, fuel and ignition systems now rebuilt it was safe to test the timing system and then reset the timing and THEN reset the idle speeds. There are two advance systems (distributor centrifugal and vacuum advance) and one retard system (computer operated). These were all tested separately with no issues found and then the timing was bumped down from the 22 degrees the previous owner set to 15 and as soon as we put in the low idle the missing stopped and the smell of gas left the tailpipe. But it no longer revved or took a load without stalling or misfiring. IT seems that right when you are needing vacuum at the distributor vacuum advance, it falls off a cliff, so either there's a leak somewhere or worse......for some reason the timing is wrong.....somehow......It's been suggested the harmonic balancer has slipped. Edited: Or it might just be a vacuum leak. The only thing between the distributor and the vacuum source is the Coolant Temperature Override switch (otherwise known as a Ported Vacuum switch. This dual-mode thingy disables the EGR when the engine is cold and runs the distributor off manifold vacuum for improved cold starting and driving. When the engine gets hot enough it activates the EGR and switches the vacuum advance to ported vacuum. While I don't know how entirely sealed it is supposed to be, something tells me if I plug all the ports and pull a vacuum on either the ported or manifold port I shouldn't lose my vacuum relatively quickly, else that's a vacuum that isn't reaching the distributor when the engine calls for it. I'll have to order a new one. Again, the CJ series used the same part so they are relatively inexpensive. https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...VS_diagram.png |
Nice work. Some vacuum valve thingies are intentionally vented, however it's usually fairly obvious by looking at it, and it would only vent the thing getting vacuum (say, the EGR) and not the vacuum source. However, I don't think this one is vented, because it's switching the vacuum source (right?). Anyhow, you could simply bypass the valve - since you know the vacuum path and all the functions of it - in order to see if it fixes the problem you're having.
|
That was basically my idea. If this is the cause of the timing advance issue when hot (and in ported vacuum mode) then bypassing it, setting the timing and then driving it while still hot should yield in a running engine. If it doesn't....that only leaves one thing left.
|
Finally found a #*$&@!? 1 1/4" wrench to replace that bastard CTO switch. God damn that thing is in an awful goddamn spot and requires removing a ton of vacuum lines, the fuel lines and the coolant temperature switch to finally reach it.
https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/IMG_3757.jpg While I was in there I also investigated the Coolant Temperature Switch itself. Unlike the 83 and later this is a three wire device that controls the computer and the manifold heater. In my case it read open on both outputs both hot and cold, meaning that the manifold heater didn't work and the computer never went into Closed Loop because it thinks the engine is still cold. https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...Bucket/CTS.jpg While the two internal switches are adjustable, removing the calibration pins found they had both corroded up. This switch after three weeks of looking is unobtanium so it will have to be dismantled, cleaned and recalibrated. Meanwhile I took advantage of the hot weather and drained coolant to remove the heater box and replace various foam gaskets that were buzzing or spraying foam everywhere every time I turned the heat on. In the process I discovered a leak in the heater core, so the car is gonna run for the next week or so without any air box at all because I'm not putting that thing back in, only to remove it next weekend. It's easy on the eagle, but still not enjoyable. |
Unobtainium, indeed.
Isn't the 'intake manifold heater' that flimsy tube that comes up off the exhaust manifold to feed the air cleaner warm air when it's cold out? I never got those. It's like, let's use air from around the exhaust manifold when it's cold as balls outside, and the engine is cold, so we warm up the air charge to better carburate the gas. Except when the engine is cold, and it's cold as balls out, the exhaust manifolds are cold too, and won't warm up appreciably until the engine has been run a few minutes, but by that time, the engine is running already and warming up so what's the point? What I'm getting at is that I don't think it's entirely necessary. If you find a 2 pin temp switch that fits the hole and switches at the correct temp, you could just forget about the manifold heater thing. |
Nope, that's the heat stove. The idea there was that it warmed up the air cleaner and carburetor for improved cold running. The Thermal Air Cleaner switch uses a bimetallic diaphragm that opens once warm and simply drops a door over the inlet port once it's warmed up. The Manifold heater is an electric heater below the carburetor that helps the intake manifold warm up when cold, otherwise you run a risk of fuel droplets forming on the walls of the manifold. I ended up just rebuilding the whole thing. There's a how-to over at the Eagles Den forum.
https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...d/CGS_8910.jpg |
And today's challenge: refoam the heater box!
https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/IMG_3801.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/IMG_3792.jpg Okay, this was more the other part of the weekend, but things went so sideways I was not able to actually start cutting out the new foam bits until today. Initially I enjoyed how easily the dash moves out of the way and the hater box drops out but as soon as the core was removed it was apparent that small leaks were developing and that it might be a better idea to just replace the core now instead of a few years down the line. My options were one that Saturday afternoon locally for $170, or one from Rock Auto next Monday for $60 shipped. I chose the latter, so the car is all levels of dismantled as I wait for the core to arrive. While I was doing that I decided to run a fluid check and found that there was fluid layering in the brake reservoir. I think what happened was that while the lid and the mechanics book says to use DOT3, at some point the car had its brake system flushed and refilled with DOT5. So when the car had the brakes done during the rear diff rebuild they topped it up as per book spec and it was just floating on the top layer. https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8923.jpg https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8925.jpg With the system now contaminated (which is VERY bad in this case as it can destroy everything) I had to pump out the reservoir (my hand vacuum pump comes with a nice kit for this so), fill it with new DOT3 and then bleed any remaining DOT 5 out of the master cylinder, lines and brake cylinders by bleeding each wheel and topping up the reservoir as new fluid was pumped in. :thumbsdn: |
Ew dot5 sucks. Dot 3 or 4 are better, and more available. Plus, really? dot5 in a 1982? Come on. Anyway good thing you noticed.
|
|
A power passenger seat! Zipties holding the switches on?
|
Let me guess: it is much harder to install than remove.
|
Quote:
For the last few years I've been noticing a Hornet Sportabout sitting in a driveway. The last time I rode by there it had sprouted a for sale sign. Ah, but the dear Mrs. dislikes wagons... |
Quote:
It's more frustrating that getting the thing requires lining up the oval defroster plenum port while not scraping the passenger door wall and dumping insulation into the box. Other than that it's a lot less painful than it looks. I got power seats but no Air conditioning, so I get heavy and slow moving seats but at least the dash comes out without a bunch of extra plumbing and a tray package. |
Power seats?
LUXURY! But no A/C and no power locks/windows. If AMC keeps this shit up, they'll be out of business. Oh wait... |
The configuration for this car is odd. It has power seats, heated rear window, hitch kit and the two-tone horn but no AC, lower tray package, dual map light dome lamp, or either the naturally aspirated or air pump air injection system for emissions control.
The more I look at this car and AMC's history, the more I realize how painfully obvious they were hurting for money. Look at the photos near the beginning of the thread, now look at a '72 model Hornet wagon from a decade earlier. https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media...xvbcwlpat9.jpg There's a FEW trim upgrades but otherwise there was pretty much nothing spent on modernizing the frame and body. |
Quote:
|
Today the last part of the feedback system was replaced. The O2 sensor.
https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8928.jpg This has almost certainly not been changed in a long, long time. It was completely dead and basically welded into the exhaust manifold. It had to be cut in half before a socket could be put over it and a lot of swearing, pulling and work with an impact driver could get it out. While installing the new sensor the harness side connector also broke off. I didn't have a replacement on hand so for now I crimped on a spade connector and glued the two halves together with RTV. In the future I'll come back and redo it properly once I find the proper replacement one-wire harness plug. The new sensor was reinstalled with a stainless steel plate stamped with the odometer reading and date of installation. In future I need to track down the emissions service light timer form a Jeep and install that. https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8927.jpg With the O2 sensor now working the engine warmed up and settled down to a SOLID idle. No more surging and sputtering and I was able to finally set the 500RPM curb as before I could not go below 600 before it would stall at stops. https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8926.jpg New problem though: during the carb rebuild we reset a number of adjustments to spec and this in turn nullified the factory set idle jet screw positioning, so the engine runs too lean. The above multimeter should read between .6 and .4v with an oscillation and constant stepper motor action. This will be another upcoming adjustment but otherwise all prerequisites required BEFORE you EVER touch the jet adjustments have been completed so it is now safe to perform this final tweak and not have any variables. Edited: Wait no, there's one last variable. An exhaust leak can cause a lean condition. Right now the entire length from the manifold to the back is a bit of a disaster or clamps, welds and whistling. It might be advisable to fix that first before proceeding. |
Quote:
Also, an analog meter might be better for reading the oscillating O2 sensor output, but obviously yours is quite a bit off. But there's also that thing where DVOMs don't necessarily read oscillating DC voltage that well. Also also, I feel like I suggested replacing the O2 sensor before, but I can't be fucked to go back and look :P Also also also, nobody ever replaces O2 sensors on pre-OBDII cars, because there's really no way that the driver would be informed of its failure. |
I blew up the gas tank.
The EVAP system has been gradually repaired as when I got the car it didn't work at all and on Saturday I finally replaced the gas cap and the system pressurized normally again. However in the past at some point after it had failed the tank had developed leaks and was patched with putty and now that everything was under pressure again it promptly began weeping fuel out around the patches. Tank rebuild is $450, but a new OEM tank is $155 plus shipping. Guess what I'm doing. |
Quote:
Here's the thing though (I mean obviously you need a new tank anyway, but) the tank really shouldn't BE under pressure. It should either be vented to atmosphere or under a slight vacuum. Granted, I'm not familiar with the evap system on that particular car - or older cars in general - but a pressurized gas tank is like a bomb, I can't really think of any practical reason for it to be under pressure at any point in time. |
EVAP system on the eagle allows the tank to pressurize and forces vapor through a steel line to the charcoal canister up front. From there it's burned whenever ported vacuum is present (opens the purge valve during acceleration).
Well I guess with the tank out I can verify the vent line isn't restricted. I did check it before when I rebuilt the rollover check valve. |
New tank went in...
...more problems came out. :/ When the fuel sending unit was removed and put in a safe place until the new tank came in, even though I was extremely gentle with it I discovered that something has shifted. These senders have two metal end stops for the full and empty states and in between you get a resistance between 30 and 230 or so. An empty tank will cause a high resistance but for some reason it now sticks at 160 ohms for an empty tank, which is about 1/4 tank on the needle. Curiously the full resistance has dropped to 3 ohms, so a full tank swings the needle past the F and pegs it. It's almost as if internally the slider has moved on its pivot rod, but neither AMC nor the internet implies this is adjustable. Well the tank's full now. I'll have to take a look once the tank is pretty much emptied out again. For those also asking about just buying a new one, there are none. :thumbsdn: |
You wanted something unique and you got it. A K-car would have been so boring in comparison. :D
|
I think at this point a Reliant would of been more...reliable by this point?
|
It's possible you bent the float arm. Really weird symptom, anyhow, cuz generally, there is no more resistance... uh, travel? than it can have... if that makes any sense.
|
It turned out the plastic grommet in the sender assembly is cracked. It must of gotten nudged.
https://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a...t/CGS_8954.jpg The good news is that even though it split the pickup is still snug enough to be nudged back and then recalibrated (with a few frustrating misadjustments before getting it perfect), so I've been happily running with a happy tank and sender for the remainder of the summer. In the meantime the headliner was dropped to begin with reupholstry, the console was reinstalled and the prewiring began for all the funky accessories. The final thing that was performed before summer officially ended was to adjust the mixture screws. The carb rebuild left a lean running condition and we verified that all adjustments are still matching to the Carter spec, so now that we know the engine, exhaust, electrical, intake and the carburetor are in good order we can perform the adjustment and not need to worry about external variables. The problem is that AMC's own documentation does not describe how to do the adjustment on an electronic feedback carburetor. In fact, it's as if the half a page of mixture screw adjustment procedures are not intended specifically for this car at all... The internet is awash with different ways to do it (by vacuum, by ear....these people are crazy), but me and my mechanic determined the easiest way was: -Turn the computer on while telling it the engine is cold. This centers the stepper motor and the metering pins. We don't want them trying to correct the mix while adjusting or you will be stuck rubberbanding your adjustments, so sticking them in the middle means we can make the adjustment and not have to bias too lean or rich to compensate. -Turn the computer off and unplug the stepper motor -Attach tachometer -Start the car and let it come up to temp. -Set the curb idle to spec -Perform the mixture adjustment, as per spec. You will need two screwdrivers with marks drawn on them to ensure you are turning both screws at the same time and to the same positions. -Complete adjustment by turning off engine, removing tachometer and reconnecting the stepper motor. It will re-initialize the next time you turn the car on -Verify adjustment by installing plastic air cleaner cover (the how-to is in the book but it's basically a piece of plexiglass over the top of the air cleaner), starting the car, letting the car enter closed loop and ensure the metering pins oscillate back and fourth within their range -Optional: Probe the signal wire for the O2 sensor and attach either a Digital Multimeter or an oscilloscope. If the mixture adjustment is correct the voltage should swing between 0.8 and 0.1v with no prolonged time on either end of the waveform (due to still running still too lean or too rich) The great thing about the electronic feedback is that precise mixture screw adjustment isn't necessary. Just get it in the ballpark and it will do the rest. So everything under the hood is now done after a year of work, it's getting 24 highway and 17 city in 2WD and the interior is coming together. Next year is gonna be all about suspension and bushings and it badly needs all of that. |
| All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:22 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2026, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
©Copyright 2012 VideoKarma.org, All rights reserved.