SPL311 17277

[notoptoy]

+1 to the above! Congratulations on the progress.

[Ralph]

The carb balancing tutorial is now printed and will probably be laminated for longevity & durability ... I'll go through the steps in the next day or so & report back.

[Ralph]

OK ... it’s been more than a day or two, but I've been waiting on some parts plus out of town for 3 weeks. Finally got back into the little (HA ... Ha .... HA) project ... here is the progress from our few hours yesterday ...
Got the car idling at about the correct sounding range but found a coolant leak under the rear intake manifold area ... drat! There may have been a problem with the coolant level on the initial fire-up ... hope not.
Tach was registering incorrectly, but I am pretty sure it is the original 1600 tach that goes to 70 (7000 rpm). The speedo goes to 120 mph ... but since it is a 5 speed & 2000 I need to switch them both(hopefully one of the spares in the boxes that came with the car will work) Replaced choke cables, (Thanks to the tech wiki!) got the heater fan going with proper 3-speed 68 switch, tried the light switches we have, but none seem to want to work ... we can get the lights working on their own, by jumping them ... but it seems the switches we have are all non-functional (you have to hold your mouth in just the right position for the contacts to do their thing). We bled the brakes, adjusted the rears...bled the master and the pedal feels pretty firm now. I need new brake shoes to pass our inspection, but at least the car can roll and stop. The car came with three sets of rims & my 14-year old son wants to install one of the non-stock sets. The tires are new on stock rims, so I'll take a non-stock rim & a tire to a shop and get advice on if the tire will fit the rim ... and the rim in the car. Not a bad day ... a few steps forward, but that leak has us worried we may be multiple steps back.

[S Allen]

Well-progress with issues is better than no progress at all. Sounds like you are making good headway. Keep it up and you will have a solid driver sooner than later. Father/son projects are a good thing.

S

[Gregs672000]

The calibration of the speedo is in the transmission, not the speedo itself, as is based on what final drive (rear end) gears you have. I would assume it still has the 3.89 instead of the 2000s original 3.7. Discuss with vendors what speedo drive gear would be appropriate to get closer to an "accurate" speedo reading (not that accurate in the first place!). Many have done that 4 to 5 speed swap, so it should be fairly well known.

[Ralph]

OK ... I will wait until the car is driveable before worrying about the speedo calibration too much. I may have lucked out and the PO already installed the correct gear.

Any hints on the tach, or is my plan to search for one from a 2000 best?

[Gregs672000]

Dont need to swap out the tach, it is driven by the distributor and remains a proper indication of engine RPM, not related to the transmission gears. If the tach needs repair, I know only of Tacoma Speedo in, well, Tacoma WA! They have done my speedo for sure, not sure if I had the tach done there as well in the past 30yrs of ownership.

[Ralph]

OK ... good to know. I have 2 other tachs that look good ... a third which is kind of rusty & ugly looking....hopefully between the 3 I can get one that works and looks OK. Any way to do a bench - test on them? Anything I need to know prior to installing that could go badly wrong & bust it?

[Ralph]

Saturday was spent pulling off parts to get to the coolant leak at the intake manifold. Inspected the intake area on the head & intake saw no cracks in the metal ... the gasket looked OK, but I wanted to look on the other side of it as well ... so pulled the exhaust manifold. The gasket was fused to the metal in the exhaust area...so I have a new gasket on order. My mechanic friend strongly suggested I check the head where the manifolds bolt on and manifolds for "true flat". I'll need to borrow his straight-edge. (He is deep into a BMW clutch swap ... so can't swing by). I'll do that today, I hope.
I gave Ross a shout to get some advice on what else to check while those manifold parts are off. Since the providence and service history of the engine is "refreshed" (not a lot of detail there) he got me to drain the rest of the coolant out of the block & inspect it ... so, good news ... coolant flowed freely and looked like it was brand new....no rust or other flotsam. Next he had me sand off the first layer of paint on the frost plugs .... they look to be shiny & new under there. Hopefully evidence of a good quality "refresh".
I finished scraping off the old gasket. The evidence of the leak at the coolant port is in the photos. It looks like this has been a problem before based on the extra gooey stuff the engine refresher (or last person to install a gasket) put around both coolant port areas. (I know there is a gasket sealant product out there with a a real name, but I can't remember it now).
Any suggestions on preventing future leaks would be good to hear
I also got one half of one seat belt installed ...

[Daryl Smith]

A sealant that I've recently used and works well is 'the Right Stuff'. Not cheap, but worked well for me when nothing else did...
I used it on the oil pan and t-stat housing without a gasket. I have been told that it is replacing gaskets in several OEM applications....

[Ralph]

Hey Daryl:
Thanks for the suggestion ... anyone use Right Stuff on the intake & exhaust manifolds? with success?

[Ralph]

Finished off the weekend with a few little items ... made sure the head and manifolds are flat with the straight-edge and feeler, installed the last tonneau cover/soft top twistie, painted the rear drums and dust covers, replaced the rear brake shoes, adjusted rear brakes. Held up the wheels my son wants to install to see how they will look. No steps back ... a good finish.

[Ralph]

New manifold gasket installed with a dollop of Just Right at the coolant ports . Fired up at about 11 PM ... I am sure to the delight of my neighbor ... Only for a minute, honest . I'll check tomorrow for leaks. It still idles at about 2000 so we probably have more carb adjusting to do.
OH! Look at that! I knew the rpm's. It seems the tach decided to cooperate and do its job. Kind of nice when things seem to fix themselves for no apparent reason instead of bust for no reason.
Happy with the progress...and the Canadian silver medal in the men's 100 m.

[Ralph]

Let it warm up and run for 15 or 20 minutes this morning. No coolant leaks. But. Three oil leaks. One at the oil pressure gauge ... Made quick work of that one by tightening the line connection to the gauge . One other is just a slow weeping from the valve cover gasket...the last is at the tach cable - dizzy connection. I'll work on those later this week.....I was going through the shift pattern ... And the shift stick pulled right out. No nut on the thing. Think I can find one that fits in all the spares I have? Nope. Oh and while I have the consol semi apart, I' ll patch the hole hidden by the carpet.

[Gregs672000]

The leak at the tach cable to dizzy connection is common. There are parts in a kit to repair this, but you may want to check some recent posts regarding issues and adjustments that some have required.

There are also large washers that sandwich the rubber that surrounds the stick shift that you will want/need.