Project: Ol' Sparky 620

[EDM620]

Mmmmmm Beer. Looks like you collect coasters?

[Negative Ghostrider]

1 hour ago, EDM620 said:

Mmmmmm Beer. Looks like you collect coasters?

Used to collect a lot but I have definitely slowed down. We like wood surfaces in our house so we just believe in using coasters in general. Also my wife works for a brewery so yeah, we have plenty of beer. 

[EDM620]

Ah, I used to collect coasters as well, have many from a tour in Germany a few decades ago, plus other more "local" (western Canada & US) that are more recent.

[Negative Ghostrider]

Entry 22 - Dowel and out in Seattle

 

Was all geared up to get the engine put back together but I quickly discovered that one of the head alignment dowels is missing from the block. That probably contributed to the failure of the gasket in the first place. And of course no local dealers have the part and it will take a few days to order in because of the holiday. Screwed over by a $1 part. Just my luck. 

 

I swapped out the leaking hot water cock for the retrofit unit I got from Joe Yocom. It fit perfectly and works like a dream. Hardest part was was getting the old unit out because the hoses had fused to the fittings pretty well. Those bolts are kind of hard to get at as well. 

 

I guess I forgot to post photos of the fuel tank on here. I put them up on IG (206_620). Performance Radiator in Tacoma did a good job of patching up the pinholes. They cleaned it, brazed the whole effected area and gave it a paint job. I hit the inside with some Ospho to convert the little bit of rust left on the inside. As long as I keep some gas in the tank it should be fine for many years. I got all the soft fuel lines and the filler hose replaced today and put a new crush washer on the drain plug. Tested the float with the multimeter and it seems to be working to spec so I put it back in the tank and sealed it up. It should be ready to go back on the truck once I can get a hand from Rob. 

 

I was hoping to get the new alternator wired up but I need to go back and look at some old posts about swapping to an internally regulated unit. Things are complicated by the fact that one of the previous owner's rattle canned the engine compartment including the voltage regulator and all the wires. I need to figure out where the "E" lead goes to as well so I can upgrade the power cables. I don't want to have to cut open the looms though. The new alt also has multiple "E" posts on it. Not as straightforward as I was expecting. 

 

Lastly, I got the hood sanded down and primered. So it's still not running but at least I got a lot of other stuff done. 

 

Edited September 6, 2020 by Negative Ghostrider

[banzai510(hainz)]

Go by the wires the hook up to the regulator on that connector.i seen after market regulators the wire colors were there but off

[hobospyder]

I could probably come up with an extra head dowel if you felt like driving north. I'm sure there's a bunch in the shop since I have blocks and heads laying around. 

 

Just need to go out there and do some looking around

[Negative Ghostrider]

Just now, hobospyder said:

I could probably come up with an extra head dowel if you felt like driving north. I'm sure there's a bunch in the shop since I have blocks and heads laying around. 

 

Just need to go out there and do some looking around

That would be awesome. I am off this week. It could save me a couple of days. PM me and we can figure it out. Thanks! 

[hobospyder]

7 minutes ago, Negative Ghostrider said:

That would be awesome. I am off this week. It could save me a couple of days. PM me and we can figure it out. Thanks! 

Pm sent

[EDM620]

13 hours ago, Negative Ghostrider said:

Screwed over by a $1 part.

It's amazing how many times a discontinued/NLA part can render something obsolete. Thankfully now with 3D printing we can re-make some parts

[Negative Ghostrider]

Entry 23 - The update that drove Jim Carrey mad in that movie. 

 

Made a trip up north and got the head indexing dowels that I needed from Hobospyder. Thanks man. Now I can get the engine back together. 

 

Got the spare driver's side fender that's been sitting in my garage for months sanded down, primed and installed. So nice not having to look at that munched fender. One step closer to a uniform color, too. The bolt that holds it at the base of the frame by the door apparently sheared off when the accident happened. There's no head left but there is still something in the hole. I'll have to drill it out I guess. 

I had to take the wipers and cowl off to put on the fender so now I can get that prepped and painted as well. You can't really tell in the photo but I also put the new grill on. 

[hobospyder]

glad to help

[Negative Ghostrider]

Entry 24 - 2 dozen things accomplished, 2 dozen (or more) to go. 

 

I got the cowl painted and put back on, along with the wipers. Put the turn signal assembly back in the driver's front fender. I also test placed the refurbished front emblem. Looks pretty good if you ask me. 

 

Wheeled all of the rust in the footwells and hit them with rust converter. Should be ready to start putting down the sound deadening tomorrow. Also got the front cover back on the heater/air filter. It's staying put but I'm missing the clips. 

 

Test fit the center console. Need to trim it a bit to set the height. The armrest comes in tomorrow. Then I can mock up placement and work on trim pieces. 

[Negative Ghostrider]

Entry 25 - All quiet(er) on the western front

 

Braved the smoke to get some stuff done today. Got the first layer of sound deadening material in the front and on the back bulkhead. 80 mil Noico butyl. I haven't pulled the seats to get it under there as well, nor have I started in the doors. The bulkhead will get a second layer of 150 mil Noico Red foam, as will the roof. This should help with internal sound reflections as well as heat rejection. 

 

The storage armrest came in. The quality is about what you would expect for $25 but the dimensions are perfect. I will be covering it and the center bins in the same suede as I'm using for the rest of the interior. Should be good enough when it's finished. I'll have to figure out some brackets to get it mounted to the tunnel. The rounded shape is problematic. 

[Negative Ghostrider]

Episode 26 - From feeling stud-ly to stupid, and needing a little space(er). Buckle up while I admit to a lot of newbie nonsense and bonehead near-catastrophes. 

 

Yesterday I dove into reassembling the engine, finally. I got the head back on and the timing gear in, after some hassles. The cam sprocket in OSK timing kit I ordered didn't have timing notches on the back. After much deliberating and help from the good folks here I decided to re-use the old one, since it was in good shape.

 

I had the front cover on and off like 4 times. Dry fit, gasket fit, "wait, do I seal both sides?" *internet* "Yes, I seal both sides.", remove, seal the other side, replace, "Oh wait, the book said to add sealant in the top and bottom corners, too", remove add sealant, replace, figure out bolts, "Oh, I forgot to replace the crank seal", remove, replace crank seal, reinstall, tighten. I got it right, eventually. 

 

Today I picked up where I left off and began putting the accessories on. That part was pretty straightforward. Except none of my 3 books had any information on the oval cover above the water pump. It had a strange, extra thick silver gasket. No idea if it needed to be sealed or what the torque specs are. I just ran them down to the same specs that the similar sized bolts called for, for now. 

 

Oh, that reminds me, both of my torque wrenches are way out of spec. Time to upgrade from the harbor freight units. Good thing I have a digital adapter that was brand new. I used it to reference my click wrenches and discovered the massive discrepancies. At least I did that before I started torquing things. 

 

So anyhow, I had to skip putting on the oil pan because when it came off it took 2 of us and a 60v industrial impact wrench to get the crossmember under it off and back on. Guess that will wait for the weekend. It will be easier to get the gas tank back in with extra hands as well. 

 

I put in new studs for the manifolds, since most of the old ones came out of the block during disassembly. There were no torque specs in any of my books for installing new studs so again I turned to the forums for advice, and got it. Thanks, guys. 

 

However, I put the studs in without realizing that there were 2 different sizes of spaces between the threads. So I got the exhaust manifold on and went to put in the shared spacers for the intake/exhaust and realized that I had a mix of long and short studs. I corrected the issue and started running torquing down the bolts. Well, I accidentally started using the specs for the long pipe instead of the manifold, which is like 3x higher. I thankfully noticed that things seemed too tight and the torque wasn't building normally and backed off before I stripped the threads in the block. Crisis was averted. Thankfully I had extra new studs and I switched the stretched ones out. Getting the hard to reach shared nuts torqued was a pain and took forever. I hope I didn't damage the gasket when I over tightened the exhaust manifold the first time. I don't want to have to do that again. 

 

I had to skip installing the fuel pump because I discovered that I didn't have (and apparently never had) the insulating spacer. So that is on order but won't be here for a few days. Tomorrow I will get the distributor in and all the hoses hooked up, and hopefully the radiator, fan, and alternator in.

Edited September 18, 2020 by Negative Ghostrider

[Negative Ghostrider]

Entry 27 - So close! 

 

Heavy rain kept me from working on the gas tank so continued on the engine. I got all the hoses and wires back in their respective places. It's starting to look like an engine again. The wire for the coolant temp probe was breaking at the connector so I soldered a new one on, tested and heat wrapped and heat shrink sleeved it. 

 

After some fiddling around I think I have fitment figured out for the 60A alternator upgrade. I flipped the upper bracket and that seemed to do it. The alt pulley is about 1/8" further forward than the crank and fan pulleys. I am going to send it for now but if I see uneven belt wear I will shave the lower bracket get everything in perfect alignment. I got larger cables but the lug connectors on them are too big so I need to find some correct sized ones and a slightly longer v belt. 

 

 

Hopefully tomorrow I get the alternator finished, and the fan and radiator back in. It's supposed to rain some more so the gas tank will likely have to wait a while.

[Negative Ghostrider]

Entry 26 - Let there be light... And other stuff. 

 

Decided to put in the LEDs. Polished up the trim rings while I was at it. I got the amber halos working with the turn signals but I'm not sure about how to get the white halo mode working as the running lights. There are 2 leads from the light assembly and I figured out they shine amber with normal polarity and white on reverse. I'm thinking if I do a shared lead from the 2 switched positives on the harness I can get them to switch. 

I still need to get a longer belt for the alternator but I made some jumpers for the harness to bypass the voltage regulator, rather than cutting up the regulator, just in case I ever need to go back to stock. 

 

My wheels showed up yesterday afternoon and I had just enough time to run them to my man Nick at Les Schwab to get the tires thrown on. Fitment is perfectly flush with a nice square shoulder, which is what I wanted. It will look a lot better after the 3" drop. Just waiting to get the gas tank back on before I slam it. 225/50 on 15x8 -6. 

 

Tomorrow, weather permitting, get the belt on the pulleys, get the radiator back in and the fuel tank on. From there I'm at a standstill until I get the fuel pump insulator and help with the oil pan. 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Negative Ghostrider

[Negative Ghostrider]

Entry 27 - 98%.

 

The engine is as together as its going to get for now. Nothing left but the fuel pump insulator and the oil pan. The pan is probably going to have to wait 2 weeks before I can get help. Ugh. 

 

Got the fuel tank back in. That was no fun. Thank goodness I don't have giant hands. Some of those hoses were a serious pain to get clamped.

 

Also did the new window seals. It will be nice to not have water in the floorboards after rain. They were eBay ones from Thailand so fitment was only so-so and I had to reposition every bracket and trim the rubbers but they're better than the nothing that I had in there before. 

 

I messed around with the wiring for the headlights but couldn't find a solution for getting the white halos to work. Oh well. 

 

Things are pretty tight around the new alternator, not gonna lie. Only about an inch to the lower radiator hose at the bend, about 1/32 of an inch from the top of the alternator body to where the hose meets the block, and less than an inch from the head of bolt in the alt fan to the fan shroud. It all fits though. I needed a 3" longer belt. If I went longer I could get more clearance at the top but things would get dangerously close between the alt blades and the bend in the lower hose. 

[banzai510(hainz)]

get a 5mm shorter belt if possible

I always have extra belt in 5 mm increments on hand just for these reason between the l16 size and L20 size plus or minus 5mm more or less

 

last 2 numbers on belt are size  40 45 50 55 60

 

 

I run a turn buckle adjustment rod so I went back to the stock alternator. I went with the NEW Rock auto version Pwer select I think it is I get about 2.5 yrs out of them than the standard 8-9 months daily driving(12k mikes a year)

Edited September 21, 2020 by banzai510(hainz)

[Negative Ghostrider]

2 hours ago, banzai510(hainz) said:

get a 5mm shorter belt if possible

I always have extra belt in 5 mm increments on hand just for these reason between the l16 size and L20 size plus or minus 5mm more or less

 

last 2 numbers on belt are size  40 45 50 55 60

 

 

I run a turn buckle adjustment rod so I went back to the stock alternator. I went with the NEW Rock auto version Pwer select I think it is I get about 2.5 yrs out of them than the standard 8-9 months daily driving(12k mikes a year)

 

Good to know. I kept the stock one and the slightly longer 240sx one that was supposed to work but didn't. I am going to pick up some spares for sure in case the slight pulley offset thing I mentioned before becomes an issue and I end up needing a belt on short notice. 

[Lockleaf]

If reversing the direction of power through the leds is what causes the other color to activate, then you will need to wire it up to reverse polarity (like using a DPDT switch)  But if you do that then you will have to choose between turn signal or driving light by switching back and forth on the fly.  Getting polarity to reverse in response to headlight or turn signal switch (like many modern LED running lights) can be done but its going to get really complex really fast.  Or be an electronics project.

 

Easier might be to see if you can split those two circuits apart inside the housing so you can power them totally independently.

[EDM620]

8 hours ago, Negative Ghostrider said:

the slight pulley offset thing I mentioned before becomes an issue

In my experience the problem you are going to have is the belt jumping off the pulley, as it is going to continually try to walk up the side of the pulley groove. Preferable to make that correction now before you're stranded on the side of the road missing the belt...

[Negative Ghostrider]

10 hours ago, Lockleaf said:

If reversing the direction of power through the leds is what causes the other color to activate, then you will need to wire it up to reverse polarity (like using a DPDT switch)  But if you do that then you will have to choose between turn signal or driving light by switching back and forth on the fly.  Getting polarity to reverse in response to headlight or turn signal switch (like many modern LED running lights) can be done but its going to get really complex really fast.  Or be an electronics project.

 

Easier might be to see if you can split those two circuits apart inside the housing so you can power them totally independently.

I got a couple of 5 pin relays to see if I could work around the issue. When I get things wired so the white halos work as running lights and the ambers blink when I use the turn signals the signals only work if the lights are on. If I rewire them so the ambers blink when the headlights are off the white halos don't come on when I turn on the lights. Not sure what's going on. I'll have to mess with them some more tomorrow. Someone on Facebook said that the red and green flying leads for the halos share a ground with the rest of the light so maybe I don't need to use the ground from the front signal. Maybe I've been over thinking it. The lights came with zero documentation. 

[Negative Ghostrider]

4 hours ago, EDM620 said:

In my experience the problem you are going to have is the belt jumping off the pulley, as it is going to continually try to walk up the side of the pulley groove. Preferable to make that correction now before you're stranded on the side of the road missing the belt...

 

OK. Good call. Looks like I have a little time on my hands before it runs again so I don't have much excuse to not do it right. You're right, I don't want to have to deal with it on the side of the road at night in the rain or something. 

[hobospyder]

Drove to Eugene and back with a belt that wasn't on quite straight because the alternator wasn't lined up. Matter of fact I think its still off today, would have to go look

[hobospyder]

and if i had known about the need for a fuel pump insulator/spacer thingie I probably have a spare or 2