Long time no update, eh?
It has had various repairs but nothing particularly interesting, really. I guess I never posted the results from my leveling quest; I went with the big red bags and they worked great, though they needed a spacer to produce the right height.
I even towed a ridiculous rig with a heavy, needs-repair boat trailer on top of a lighter boat trailer, a small aluminum jon boat on top, a bunch of scrap metal in that little boat, and a large folded up piece of scrap metal directly on one of the trailers. The bags did a great job.
The engine, while I never would expect it to perform well with (or even without) a heavy load, was really bad. I checked it out and found that I had some awful vacuum leaks. While I was following the vacuum spaghetti under the hood I noticed that a spark plug wire was sitting on the exhaust manifold shorting out and I was running on 7 cylinders...no wonder it had been so incredibly lame for a while!
Another time, the left front lug nuts loosened and the wheel came off while I was driving. It crumpled the fender and some of the frame behind the fender. While remediating the body damage I got a good look and saw frame rot beginning. This car only has a few years left.
Last Thursday something broke and the clutch wouldn't release fully, or even much at all. I nursed it the rest of the way to work (closer than turning around to go back home), then towed it home at the end of the day (called my dad to come with his pickup, then hooked up the tow bar).
At least it's the perfect time of year (entire spring/summer ahead of me to fix stuff) and the weather is good. With a suggestion from mtheis, I was guessing the clutch disc had delaminated like my last one did.
That guess was wrong. On Saturday I took down the transmission and found the bellhousing cracked. It nucleated at an old crack that was welded before I ever got it, and went almost all the way around the thing. I either have to replace it (not exactly a common part, though they're plentiful on eBay for $200) or find someone who can weld cast aluminum.
It might have been destiny with the repaired bellhousing, but I don't think it would have failed for a long time (if ever) except the bolts from the bellhousing to the engine backed out (about a centimeter on average), allowing the bellhousing to unseat from the engine and from the alignment pins so it had TONS of room to flex.
I'm sick and tired of fasteners backing out of everygoddamnthing. I follow the manual, torquing to spec or a little beyond, and they all come loose. I think I'm going to start using red threadlocker on everything, add split lock washers whenever possible, and tighten everything to 150% or more of spec...though neither threadlocker nor lock washers will make sense on lug nuts. Damnit.
Anyway, the clutch disc is not damaged but it is worn (strangely enough, it's worn unevenly) and I had already ordered a replacement (which arrives today), so when I piece it back together I might as well put in the new disc. The current, now-worn one came with the first T5 transmission and I didn't use it at first because a larger one was available. The one that's coming today is the larger size again. The smaller one didn't slip, but since I have to order an a-la-carte mismatched disc either way, I might as well get the larger one which should last longer before wearing.
Worn but not broken:
Actually, I went out on a limb with this clutch disc order.
The first one, back in 2010, was specified for a 1983 Chevy S10 2.8 V6, a
NAPA ND4201. It was something like $90 back then, now it's $28.49, but when I was ordering I wanted an easy online order that would arrive at a known date. Napa says Call Store for Availability (not in stock but can order to the store) or 3-5 day shipping to home. Lame, that might mean a phone call and/or otherwise interacting with a human.
While digging I found out that the clutch for the AMC 2.5 I4 offered in a variety of AMC and Jeep models in the mid-1980s was also the same size and fit, though the clutch for the GM 2.5 I4 offered in the same vehicles was not (and there is much confusion when looking for either of those clutches).
Based on the AMC thing I found this
Omix-Ada 16905.04 for $38.85 at Amazon (just a few days later today it's $84!). I couldn't find specifications for it and couldn't confirm that it was the right one of the two possibilities, but the listing included an alternate part number that, with further digging, gave me just enough confidence to give it a try. I ordered it on Friday with Prime 2-day shipping.
Of course, as I mentioned earlier, on Saturday I found out this isn't going to be a quick clutch slap that gets the car on the road again the same day...so I'm making alternate plans. I could have ordered and waited for that Napa clutch after all. It was a sure fit and probably would have cost the same with shipping (or, FSM forbid, a little human interaction to get it for less ordered into the store).
So now I'm just going to let the car stay offline for some time while I fix this correctly, take my time to do everything the best I can, and catch up on a number of other repairs. Those air spring boosters have a leak (almost certainly in the line, not the bags), I'll find and fix it. Gonna re-hang the exhaust better than ever, it has been sagging a little again and after some violently shaky 2nd gear clutch-not-working-right launches on Thursday it barely held on and was scraping the whole 38 mile flat-tow home. Also gonna make that fuel tank venting/filling issue my bitch once and for all, gonna cut my own damn vent in the stupid thing.
Oh, and I think I might take the dash apart yet again. There's almost certainly a vacuum leak in the HVAC stuff; I can't select where the air will come out and of course vacuum is low. While it's apart I might engineer my own air director system; I almost never want air blowing at my feet, almost always at my face and/or the windshield (but there is no face + windshield option) and anyway I don't love the complexity of such systems, especially vacuum operated. I want to just have manually operated dampers at each vent, or at least for each vent category's duct.
While the car is offline I won't be without something to drive.
Over the winter I was given a 2001 LeSabre and a 1999 Silverado. Both had 200,000 miles, long-expired inspection stickers, rotted brake lines, sagging headliners, and had been sitting unused for a few years. I patched them up enough to nurse them home, and then planned to get them on the road...at first I thought I'd have them online quickly, but winter started delivering the bad weather immediately after I got them home. I got the truck good enough that I'm confident driving it, but it still needs repairs to inspect and register and drive long-term. I couldn't seem to get the brakes in the car to cooperate.
A couple weeks ago I changed the oil on both and noticed brake fluid dripping from the 2001 LeSabre; one of the problems with that car turned out to be a bad flare I put on one of the brake lines where it meets the master cylinder. Can't ask for a better place to have to fix something, right up at the top near the side under the hood, easy access. Fixed that at that time but the brakes still weren't right. Before I noticed that leak I figured I just hadn't bled it well enough, and I decided to create my own pressure bleeder by putting an air fitting through a master cylinder reservoir cap, but I never got around to trying it.
Saturday after I realized the 1980 was going to be offline and I need a car much sooner, I put the last few hours of the day into the 2001. My pressure bleeder works great and I don't think I ever want to bleed brakes any other way. All the struggling I did in the cold weather trying to bleed those brakes before, with a Mighty-Vac and speed bleeders and an assistant stepping on the brake, and that left rear line was still full of air. I had it all fixed up in 5 minutes of pressure bleeding and now the brake pedal feels great!
I still had a "BRAKE" indicator lit on the dash and a non-stop chime, which I realized was the parking brake which wasn't fully releasing. I struggled with that for a few hours and then finally figured out that there's too much slack; I could overhaul the entire system with all new parts and a ton of time or I could hack an adjustment to take up the extra slack. Guess which way I'm going with it!
The "AIR BAG" indicator is also lit, but I think that's just from sitting with a dead battery and/or from some reckless circuit probing I did. I don't have the right scanner to pull/clear air bag codes. Manual says it will clear after 255 error-free ignition cycles, so I guess I'm gonna have to sit there for a while.
It also has a valve cover gasket that leaks onto an exhaust manifold, producing smoke if you let it idle in one place for too long. I'll have to fix that soon, should be easy and cheap. The good news is I think it does NOT have the lower intake manifold gasket failure that is common to the 3800 Series II and related engines.
Tomorrow morning I'm going to the DMV first thing in the morning (in my wife's car) to register both vehicles. Then I'll finish making the 2001 inspectable and go get it inspected, then I can drive it. If all goes unexpectedly quickly then I might even manage to get the truck inspected too.
Of course the air conditioning doesn't work in either of them, nor in my old Buick, nor in a project vehicle that I'm selling soon (my dad's 2002 Tundra which I've finally gotten around to repairing). I think I'm gonna invest in a 30lb tank of R-134a...for $150 I won't need to buy tons of expensive 12oz cans and struggle to squeeze every drop out of them. I have a variety pack of HNBR O-rings, so hopefully I can seal any leaks.
Once the 1980 is back in business, the 2001 will be the commutemobile for my wife and I. We currently squeeze into her little Pontiac Sunfire and I have to shift as smooth and boring as an automatic and dodge potholes. Might as well let a slushbox do the shifting, plus comfy ride, plus 4-door, plus plenty of room, plus no more of her worries about how I drive her car, plus I can drill the dash for a dashcam mount.