Off my rocker

The transmission had to wait a little longer than expected and in fact I took a day's vacation to get it finished. Popped on the linkages and refilled with fluid and started her up. Moved it through the gears to get the fluid circulated and checked and adjusted the level as necessary. Easy Peasy. Let's hope the garage floor appreciates it.

Then on to the much needed valve job. I'd plugged in my vacuum gauge and it was holding at around 17" but was flickering much like scenario #3 on this site. However the description isn't correct (it's not a high powered engine). A valve job on a slant 6 needs the engine fully warmed up and is done while it's running. I popped off the rocker cover to reveal this gunky mess. 

 

However closer inspection showed that #4 intake valve rocker had jumped off the pushrod! No wonder it was sounding a bit tappety and lacked power from a standing start. It was a small miracle that it was idling at all!

 

 

Loosened off the adjuster and reinstalled the pushrod and set about adjusting the valves. 0.010" for intake and 0.020" for exhaust. Feels weird at first putting a wrench on a moving rocker but after a while it becomes pretty easy. Several trips down the rocker shaft checking and adjusting and rechecking each one and it's now much quieter. A new rocker cover gasket and we are back in business and the annoying hesistation from a standing start has all but disappeared. Need to replace the vacuum hoses to the PCV/ carb and the choke pull off but it's running MUCH better.

More leaks

The weather here has been typical for the time of year, hot, sunny and humid in the morning with daily afternoon thunderstorms. Due to this, I've not driven the Dart for weeks. Mrs P had to "press" it into action the other week when her car was in the shop being repaired and she needed something to drop the kids at school with.

The fuel line mod has improved hot starting (according to Mrs P) although I need to get the electric choke adjusted as it hardly does anything  on a cold start at present.

The tranmission has been leaking for a while and where it has sat in the garage for nearly 3 months a large puddle has formed under it. Decided I needed to fix it and spotted that it was leaking from the shift shaft seal. There are 3 options to fix it this

1. get a $45 tool that's designed to pull out the old seal and push in the new one from above with everything still in place. Sounds easy but access above is severely limited.
2. drop the transmission pan, remove the valve body and punch out the seal from below and press a new one with a long bolt and several large washers
3. pay someone else to do it.

I went with option 2 despite never having opened up a gearbox in my life. Ordered a new seal and quality Wix transmission filter and got a new rigid style transmission pan gasket from the Chrysler dealer. Apparently this new part is for a 96 Dodge Ram but it fits a '67 904 transmission just perfectly.

Here's a couple of shots of the valve body with the pan and filter removed.

At this point I was seriously thinking that option 3 may have been the wiser route as it's a really messy job in cramped conditions. Typically most of the "action" was on the driver's side, hidden behind the exhaust pipe, transmission cooler lines and neutral safety switch wire. My wrist/forearm look like they've seen some Demi Lovato action (and not the eating disorder either).

It's nearly all back together, just need to connect up the gear shift and kickdown linkages (the really fiddly part) and refill with fluid but that can wait til the weekend. 

Everything keeps breaking

Nothing to report on the Dart, progress has stalled in fitting the new fuel line. However the Playstation 3 decided to give up the ghost and wouldn't turn on. Well actually it would, beep 3 times and then shut down immediately. This is known as the Yellow Light Of Death or YLOD. Searching t'internet reveals a fix involving new thermal paste (Artic Silver #5) and a heat gun to reflow the solder. Did this and now it's all working again and the kids can watch Netflix again.

The Expedition went to the garage last week for a transmission flush, a new fuel filter and an A/C check (as it's not been blowing that cold recently). Got it back and the air was ICE cold but I was warned that the compressor was showing signs of wear. "It could last 5 years like that mate" was the mechanics opinion, however it lasted just 5 days and now there's no A/C at all. Back to the garage today and am now looking at a $1200 repair bill.

Ups and downs

Vegas was a blast and my mate did really well in the WSOP H.O.R.S.E poker tournament he entered. He made it to the second day and finished in the top 20%, given that there were nearly 900 entrants I'll leave you to do the math as to roughly where he finished. Unfortunately he was 60 or so places short of cashing in.

However I'm poor now and so I've just started my first batch of "Turbo Cider". 3 gallons of supermarket brand apple juice and a sachet of champagne yeast all thrown together in a large plastic bucket and left to ferment. Should be ready to prime in the bottle in a week or 2.

Fuel line madness

Not had a chance to drive the Dart since I fitted the new tank last weekend as Tropical Storm Beryl paid a visit and it rained most of the weekend and into this week. In fact I've not even gotten round to putting any gas in it. However on the plus side I've managed to obtain the parts I need to do the fuel line mod.

Basically with the factory set up the fuel pump is on the passenger side of the engine and the metal fuel line to the carb passes towards the front of the car then turns across the front of the engine block, up and over the exhaust manifold and finally ends at the carb. What tends to happen is that when you turn off the car having driven it for a while, the heat from the engine and exhaust causes the fuel to boil and evaporate. This means that the car can be a b1tch to start when it's hot as there's no fuel where it needs to be.

With this fix you ditch the metal fuel line, fit a 90 deg° fitting (Dorman part number 492-024) to the fuel pump, and using fuel injection hose, come straight up the side of the block, over the rocker cover and direct lyinto the carb, using another fitting (Dorman part number 492-023). Trouble is that part 492-024 is only available in packs of 5 for like $25 + shipping and I only needed one. Someone on Slantsix.org had bought a set and was selling off what he didn't need @ $4 each, I jumped on the chance.

Off to Vegas next week...

Today's lesson

Took the Dart to the local car show last weekend, I didn't "enter" as I couldn't make it for the morning and didn't fancy spending $20 to register, when I can park in the car park for for free. Got down there no problem, but then realised I hadn't got my phone, the battery on the camera was dead and the car smelled of gas. Spent about an hour walking round the cars then left. 20 mins after getting home I noticed a small puddle under the gas tank.

Further investigation was immediate and it turned out it was leaking from the repair I'd effected back in November.  After much messing about with syphons (tip: cheap ones don't work) and electric fuel pumps I managed to drain the tank below the leak. Ordered a new one from RockAuto. CR11B is the one needed and they had one in stock for $170.

New tank arrived Friday and fitted it Monday. Nothing too difficult but the lesson of the day is fix it right first time then you won't have to fix it again.

Texas Style

Spent the latter part of last week (including the weekend) visiting the "outlaws" in Texas as Mrs P's cousin was getting married. We spent some time with her Uncle on his ranch doing man stuff and playing with his "toys" including his semi automatic rifle.

 

Call of Duty?

Peppered that S.O.A.B

Took the dirt bike round the ranch too. It had been sitting unused for a while and wouldn't stay running without plenty of throttle but after a 20 minute or so ride the fresh gas must have cleaned out the carb cos it started running like a top.



I know what you're thinking, me and Steve McQueen
could have been separated at birth

We then stayed at Mrs P's other cousin's lake house (the one not getting married) where we played around with his "toys" comprising a powerboat and jetski.

In between all of this we managed to get to the wedding too.