Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

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tankinbeans
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by tankinbeans »

I heard my name. Why are you talking about Tank?

Hehe
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by theholycow »

I considered putting my tank in a case made of beans, that way I could "give it the beans" when I want to, but decided that it was too much work.
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by Rope-Pusher »

While on the subject of "Work",.....

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"ERG!"
An erg is approximately the amount of work done (or energy consumed) by one common house fly performing one "push up", the leg-bending dip that brings its mouth to the surface on which it stands and back up. It is also the sound that the house fly makes while grunting out its last push up.
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by theholycow »

50% off at Pick n Pull this weekend, and they may have a few early 1990s Caprices/Roadmasters...I think I'm gonna get Roadmaster wagon rear springs for my sagging rear, and I kinda wonder if I should try for the complete antilock braking system too. It should be 3-channel, so no need to take the rear axle assy or any components from it, and I can get a VSS signal from an adapter I have somewhere (just need to dig through my stuff to find it).
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by Rope-Pusher »

".....my sagging rear......"TMI!
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by theholycow »

I did some digging. Looking in an aftermarket replacement parts catalog isn't useful, but the Buick OEM parts manual has far more options.

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(Tangent: I scored that parts manual on eBay, scanned the whole thing, and sent it off to the admin of the linked site to postprocess/OCR and host. Good guy to work with.)

My rear GAWR is 1146kg and my car came with 205/75-15 tires, putting me in spring part number 485722 or maybe 485740. Rockauto easily cross-references to Moog, and Moog has specifications. The data probably isn't an exact match to OEM, but should demonstrate the differences.

485722 = Moog 5557: Installed height 10, bar diameter .56, spring rate 126, load 848 lbs.
485740 = Moog 5245: Installed height 9, bar diameter 0.59, spring rate 133, load 1060 lbs.

482064 = Moog 6363: Installed height 10, bar diameter .59, spring rate 132, load 1035 lbs.
482082 = Moog 5549: Installed height 10, bar diameter .64, spring rate 167, load 1257 lbs.

527780 = Moog 5043: Installed height 10, bar diameter .64, spring rate 171, load 1140 lbs.

I probably need 2 or 3 inches...or more. Besides the general OEM stance and the 37 year old worn OEM stance, I also have more weight in the back but not more in the front. Hitch receiver, 4-down tow bar, hitch haul on folding drawbar, full size spare (on aluminum wheel), three gallons of spare fluids in trunk, various other stuff in trunk (and my recovery chain is MIA). I should squeeze some of the heavy/dense stuff into space under the hood for balance. There are some decent spaces where I could make mounts and bins.

Anyway, following up on those part numbers, I'm not going to find any donors in the junkyard, it's all old stuff.

A pair of air bags is surprisingly cheap...the whole kit is under $90. It's not the $20 I hoped to pay for a pair of springs today, but it's a heck of a lot better for my purposes.

For slightly less effort and $20 less I could put on air shock absorbers, but then I have less configurability (can't choose from tons of regular shock absorber options, or of course the load assist ones that I already have with mini coil springs on them that barely make a difference), and the smaller chamber requires WAY higher pressure.

Actually I'm not sure which would be preferable for me; less volume and more pressure (better for my 250psi 12v pump) or less pressure and more volume (better for every other air source). However, I suspect the larger volume still won't take too long for the little pump; it's not like a whole tire.

5 to 35 psi:
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20 to 150 psi:
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Cow,
My onliest experience with Amish airshocks was on Pappy Rope's 1974 Potniac Grand Safari wagon. There was a Schrader fitting to the side of the rear license plate that controlled the inflation of the two rear airshocks. This was an OEM system and I'm stinkin' that the owner's manuel said they could be left uninflated until needed and then inflated up to 90 (?) Psi.

After 4 or so years they started to lose pressure....leak air.
They held air long enough for a cross-county trip to the recycling center, but Prolly not long enough for a cross-country trip. Didn't go on many long trips with the shocks inflated, and didn't own the wagon long enough to get to investigating whether the leak was at the shock(s) or in the airlines.

I had a cupola minimalist vans with self-leveling rear suspensions. They were the anus belonging to a domesticated feline. When the van was loaded, a valve in shock was closed and the ride motion worked an internal pump that pressurized the shock until it reached normal ride height. When the van was unloaded, and rose above normal ride height, the valve in the shock opened and released the pressure. These shocks were Mebbe 5 or 6 inches in diameter.
Last edited by Rope-Pusher on Mon Feb 20, 2017 9:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by theholycow »

My 1987 Deville had OEM auto-leveling system. It wasn't working, so I did a little plumbing, putting Schrader valves in the trunk. I added some fix-a-flat and then went to the gas station to use their pump to really get that rear end up in the air. As I exited the gas station, going down the exit hump, the shocks popped, splatting fix-a-flat goop and dropping the rear.

I think I may have posted that story before...
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Reminds me of the time I was fueling my vehicle and I saw a guy walking up to the air hose with his bicycle. It was a gas station that was formerly a full-service garage, and they still had the big compressor for running lifts and pneumatic tools. He put the chuck up against his flat bike tire's Schrader valve and in about 10 seconds there was a loud pop as he blew the tire off the rim/exploded the inner tube. Sadly, he walked the bike back in the direction he came from. Talk about your premature ejaculation there.
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by bk7794 »

A lot of people remove the air suspension from crown vics and such. Would be a good luxury to have when it works...but would hate to diag/repair it when it doesn't.
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Cow, Have you ever read about the life and times of the Buick V-6?

https://ateupwithmotor.com/model-histor ... 6-history/
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by theholycow »

Rope-Pusher wrote:Cow, Have you ever read about the life and times of the Buick V-6?

https://ateupwithmotor.com/model-histor ... 6-history/
I haven't read that particular version before, and it has a lot more detail in one place than I've seen. I definitely did not know about the V8 being sold to Rover, and I'm amazed that it continued right through the 2004 Land Rover Defender.

I did know about the Jeep Dauntless 225. That was the donor for my 53lb monster flywheel, the only flywheel I know of with the right bolt pattern. All other engines with that crankshaft bolt pattern were only ever offered with slush.
the article wrote:The V6 was renamed “3800” following an extensive 1988 makeover that finally added a counter-rotating balance shaft.
Everything I have previously read indicated that it wasn't merely an extensive makeover but rather a new engine designed from the ground-up using everything that was learned with its predecessor.
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by Rope-Pusher »

theholycow wrote:
Rope-Pusher wrote:Cow, Have you ever read about the life and times of the Buick V-6?

https://ateupwithmotor.com/model-histor ... 6-history/
I haven't read that particular version before, and it has a lot more detail in one place than I've seen. I definitely did not know about the V8 being sold to Rover, and I'm amazed that it continued right through the 2004 Land Rover Defender.

I did know about the Jeep Dauntless 225. That was the donor for my 53lb monster flywheel, the only flywheel I know of with the right bolt pattern. All other engines with that crankshaft bolt pattern were only ever offered with slush.
the article wrote:The V6 was renamed “3800” following an extensive 1988 makeover that finally added a counter-rotating balance shaft.
Everything I have previously read indicated that it wasn't merely an extensive makeover but rather a new engine designed from the ground-up using everything that was learned with its predecessor.
Maybe the nut that holds the steering wheel wasn't changed?
Yes, seems tummy they even shifted the bores so they aligned to the crankshaft instead of being intentionally off-set. I imagine there wasn't much they DIDN'T know about that engine family by then, so they prolly had a long honey-dew list of what they wanted to change.

I think it is interesting that the 215 Aluminum V8 was prolly thought of as a failure at first, based on sales, or lack there-of, but at least they got to sell the tooling and cut their losses, right? I bet nobody thought it would go on for such a long time.

So then Buick replaces the aliminum 215 V-8 with a cast-iron V-6 and after a few model years stop production of those and sell off that tooling to Kaiser for Jeep engines, but when Kaiser sold Jeep to American Motors, the V-6 production was halted until eventually Buick bought the tooling back from AMC. Again, what was prolly considered a loser of an engine design turned into a winner, a much bigger winner than the Aluminum V-8 if you go by production volumes.

Bring Out Your Dead: Isn't there a company manufacturing light aircraft engines based on the Chevy Corvair aluminum air-cooled boxer-6's?

Speaking of not being appreciated until long after you're gone, I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather, not praying and cussing like the passengers in his car.
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by theholycow »

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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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:
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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.

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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.
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Re: Project Christine slo Hackensteinberg

Post by theholycow »

theholycow wrote:I went to Advance Auto, doubtful that they could help with the pilot bushing. I pulled up and the dude outside taking a break asked what year my GTI is. I told him it's a 2008 Rabbit and we had that discussion for a few minutes then I went inside.

Inside a man about Rope-Pusher's age, who apparently made less wise career choices, wasn't enthusiastic about helping me. At first I thought he wouldn't help at all, but he went and got a bushing for me. The bushings are packaged but they have specifications on the back. Oddly, they specify ID as the crankshaft ID and OD as the input shaft OD, rather than specifying ID and OD of the bushing, but whatever.

The second bushing he brought out seems correct for me. Attention googlers:
If this works, the right pilot bushing for a non-world-class GM T-5 behind a Buick V6 (3.8, 231, 4.1, 252) is a Clutch-In! 14650, UPC 037495146500.
The package says:
OD: .594"
ID: 1.094"
Depth: .746"
Looking back at this old post...later when I tried to fit it I posted that I had to hammer the everliving hell out of it, then after that I found that the input shaft didn't fit inside it after squeezing it in like that so I had to turn the inside diameter. Then, a couple years ago when the clutch disc and input shaft bearing self-destructed and the pilot bushing had been worn almost completely away, from experience I knew I needed to turn the outside diameter of that bushing until it pounded in with reasonable force.

Well I just did some more googling and it turns out there IS a pilot bushing with an undersized outside diameter for automatic -> manual conversions in late 50s/early 60s Chevy 4.6L (283ci) applications. I just ordered one for under $5 shipped. It should work perfectly for my 4.1 (as well as its mother the 3.8 and its sibling the 3.8 turbo). It's the Dorman 690034, 14651, or 6900341. I saw one post saying it was originally the PB656P (as compared to the normal sized PB656, with the trailing P indicating "Powerglide", the slushbox that was behind that engine in that car) but that part number yielded no results anywhere.

Specifications for the Dorman 690-034/14651/690-034.1: Inside Dia: 0.593"; Outside Dia.: 1.060"; Length: .751"
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