Finally!

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Andy

Who is an official, and who would be willing to sign an agreed value form?

Try Dave Redbourne ?

[Andy]

Woohoo! My first drive on the road, of course the first place to hit up would be the petrol station!

Cashier thought I would've spent more than the £65 to fill it up. Got a nod from a guy filling up his TVR too.

I swear when you get ownership of one of these, with it comes a shopping basket on Rock Auto! Need to give the ignition system a once over as it has a misfire in top gear when bumbling along, under load it's fine. Dizzy cap, rotor arm, leads and plugs all in the basket. Depending on when I get a chance to look at it and decide what is what.

Either way, so very happy right now! Worried I might end up using it more than I should be, but still early days!

[Fieldy]

Quoting: Andy

Worried I might end up using it more than I should be, but still early days!

Quoting: Fieldy

*Start Hypnosis* You will drive it work, you will enjoy it, you will not worry for one day about fuel, remember, fuel will be more expensive tomorrow, enjoy it while it's at it's cheapest *Wake Up*

Still maintain what I said above.

One day you won't own this vehicle, enjoy it while you do.

[Andy]

Brought the car into work today as the garage over the way owes me a favour and is changing over my spark plugs and leads, hopefully to cure the when warm and only idling misfire I'm getting.

Had the dizzy arm and cap replaced by Robin at Autopontiac, although it was knackered it still hasn't cured this. I'm hoping the plugs will, but in fairness they haven't been changed in 10 years that we've owned it, so I'm guessing they're due anyway.

[Andy]

Right guys, some advice please

Got the plugs changed yesterday, I asked them to keep the old ones as a wanted to have a look and see what was going on. Good news is its complete cleared the miss fire it had, it now pulls like a train and has some what made me have to think twice before stepping on the gas without thinking!

However, the plugs. One was an original one, as I I think it's been in there since new, completely corroded exteriorer, gap about a mile wide. The mechanic said that's pretty much the hardest one to get at so can see why it wasn't changed. That didn't bother me, what did was another one which was properly carbonised and had oil all the way up the threads.

According to my book this could mean either one of two things. Valve stem seal gone or piston rings gone.

Now I've always wanted an excuse to get mucky and an engine rebuild would be awesome, but also very daunting.

So, what would you guys do? Carry on driving? Hook the motor out or try and repair in the car?

[Motorama]

Drive it till it knocks, rattles or dies then rebuild it. Too many cars get taken off the road for work and never go back on again, life, marriage, kids, redundancy etc all take over. Enjoy the car for while, whilst you still can

[Cunning Plan]

Unless it is un-driveable or you really want a restoration project, just use it.

Alternatively, you could buy another engine and rebuild that whilst yours is on the road, then swap them at your lesure safe in the knowledge that you will have one of the two engines working at any one time. You could even build a higher-spec, more powerful engine

That's the plan with my bus anyway, two engines, one stock-ish, the other a fast-street stroker.

[Andy]

Yeah I'm gonna go with Andy of this, although I just got blasted the same by Dave!

He said that engine should put up with any abuse I give it as long as I make sure it has oil in it.

The second engine option is tempting, but I'm clueless on where to start looking for one short of getting a knackered old car and taking it from that. Plus it would have to be intergrated into the current ecu, stuff like that starts to scare the shit out of me. However it's a thought...

On a plus note, a local car refurb guy quoted me £100 to respray the rear deck lid, all I need to do is supply a paint code. Apart from saying its GM teal I need to get searching.

[FUBAR]

Quoting: Andy

what did was another one which was properly carbonised and had oil all the way up the threads.

My IROC does the same thing on 2 cylinders, it will be the valve stem seals.
So far I have just stuck with pulling the 2 i know foul up twice a year, giving them a good clean up, check the gaps then put them back in.  I do this as its going away for winter & about 1/2 way through "driving season"

had no problems so far, one day I will do the seals properly.
if you're driving the car all year round you'll need to do this every 4 months.

[Roadkill]

Valve stem seals can be done in the car, with heads on the block . . . It ain't easy but is simple enough as long as you're careful.

Rings ?  I wouldn't worry about them.  It's possible but don't fret.  Do the stem seals, I'm sure that'll help . . . and it's a cheapie job, on the driveway one sunday.

EDIT -

If you wanna do an engine rebuild - that's great.

Just get a cheapie 305ci on ebay and do that - NOT the one in your car . . . .

Believe me, It'll take 1000 times longer to do, cost 100 times more than expected, be 10 times harder and involved than anticipated and will test your patience more than you can imagine.

That's a nasty combination when your pride and joy is the one in bits.

[Jamieg285]

I'd recommend the 2nd engine option too, although you do need good self control.  

It's too easy to just upgrade this bit and that bit, and you end up with a massive shopping list.

Take your time, keep an eye out for a used engine and build it up slowly. When ready, all you need to do is remove the old one and put the new one in it's place.  

Then the cycle repeats as you rebuild the original... a bit better than the first one

[Andy]

This sounds like a winner of an idea, can already hear my credit card crying. Ill keep my eyes peeled and see what is floating about on eBay.

It would be nice to know which one it was but the guy doing them only kept them, not noted which hole they came out of. When I went to pick it up he didn't look so pleased about it.

Ryan, ill have to ask you how you go about pulling them? HRC told me they're a bitch from the top, not much easier from underneath.

Ill get a photo up of the plugs when I get home. I guess it must've been running on 6 at some point, can't believe the original plug in there would've been putting out much of a spark, nor the carbonised one either.

[Roadkill]

Pulling the plugs uses a combination of tools . . . . I use(d) a cut-down plug-socket with a hex on the end and a ratchet spanner for some of the tight ones.

Although the engine bay on mine is considerably clearer than yours my headers are massive so I made a new socket using a short 5/8" socket then ground two flats on it.

You can get special plug tools, too which do the same but after trying one I found my home-made jobbie gave me more clearance.

It's not a hard job . . . just time consuming.

Once you've done it once you tend to remember the specific tricks and tools for each one.

It's like an initiation.  

If you decide to do the stem seals do all of them - there's no point half-arsing that.  

[Andy]

Having read a how to guide on doing it in the car with the heads on, I fear there is far too much risk of fudging that up!

I'm going to see how it goes for the next couple of months. I don't intend on 'putting it away' for winter but will only take it out if its dry. I haven't and still don't want to experience this issue that have with roundabouts!

Dave has shown me what the dangers are as we're both sure it has a shift kit fitted and it has a tendency to chirp from 1-2 on the change.

I have added a new search on evilBay, which could be pretty interesting!

[Jamieg285]

If you're worried about doing it with the heads in place, your 2nd engine plan comes in again.  

Get the complete spare engine, strip and repair the heads on that, then simply swap them over.  All the time consuming, fiddly work can be done without taking the car off the road, and it's a quick job to swap them.

[Andy]

Yeah, that's what I'm looking at doing now. My new search on eBay is Chevy v8 305 350.

It's definitely the better way to go. If it happens and when it comes to it ill call upon the local hot Rodders club, they're all far too keen to help out with stuff like this!

[Roadkill]

Stick with the 305 for now.

Unless you want to do a power build, that is.

A 350 will cost around double and the difference only worthwhile if you're going to be tweeking it.

Also the 350's ran for a longer period of time so you could end up buying non-compatible parts if you're not careful.

The 305's are much more specific (as GM gets) so it's a cheaper, safer, n00b bet.

Look on Rods n Sods . . . engines turn up there almost everyday !!

[Roadkill]

Is yours a TBI model ?

What's the full specs ?

I'll try and advise . . . .

[Andy]

1991 TBI, complete standard, only thing in a mechanical way that the car has had is a gearbox refurb about 20k ago.

Everyone always says TPI>TBI and I can see why, but there is quite charm that the TBI has.

I guess if I did go ahead and do this I'd be looking at a few tweaks. I'd want to desmog it first! I will have to take the insurers advice though.

[Roadkill]

I like carbs.  

TBI's act a lot like carbs but the choices are limited with regards to manifolds etc . . . .

I'm guessing it's an Auto ?

[Andy]

Yep, the refurb is where we reckon the shift kit was fitted. This is all going by my Dads knowledge. He fitted a shift kit in his Mustang when he ran Super Street and he says it changes exactly the same. Whether Fubar can agree that it shifts pretty hard or not I don't know. Easily capable of chirping from 1st to 2nd though.

I was reading up on the TBIs didn't realise they weren't carbs, I thought the whole TBI was dressed up way of say carb verses their TPI system. Although having seen the cost of getting the injectors replaced if they ever go, I'm glad mine only has two!

On Thirdgen.org there was some chatter about changing manifolds over. Also a lot of hate for the stock setup (inlet and outlet) and the way they're both very restrictive in their design and performance.

To be honest just now after coming back from a 40 minute drive, right now I wouldn't change a thing. So far its cost me £50 for a rotor arm and dizzy cap, fully fitted (now I know how I won't need to have someone do it) and £22 for plugs, £50 for leads. She runs like a charmer. My only issue is this odd surging it does when the A/C side of the heater is turned on. Makes no sense, except I know the A/C is out of gas.

[Roadkill]

Both the TBI and Carb manifolds were pretty old hat and crap compared to the TPI.  

Hood clearance is an issue .... some numpty put a Torker II on my old 305.  Utter rubbish until you hit 5K .... which was rarely.

[Andy]

Got to have my first proper drive since having the plugs done. Absolutely love it. Sounds, pulls, does everything so so much better. In fact I got caught out in the rain yesterday... oops.

BUT, as ever, one problem fixed, theres always something else. Took my friend Penny out for a spin for some drinks, as you do. Dropped her off, on the way home I noticed the 'INFLA REST' light flashing just after I turned the heater off. Was a bit like, wtf? Carried on driving, it stopped flashing. Then I thought, 'hmm, my headlights seem a bit dim' then the cd front started turning on and off and I was like shiiit. Battery voltage. Just above 8v.

I was only a mile from home, and did a few cheeky bits with no lights on, but I thought I best not push it. Luckily got it home. Absolutely no response to the throttle, the batter meter made no movements, nor did the lights. I've put this down to the alternator being shagged in some form or another. This is the only time I've actually driven with the lights on, so I assume its them that has caused the battery drain.

So tomorrow I'm looking at hooking that off and getting it tested at work. Should be another fun job.

Any pitfalls with removing the serpetine? I have AC which I've read makes it harder?

[Roadkill]

Serp should be easy.

From memory there's the tensioner that takes a direct 3/8" square drive . . . take the tension and slip the belt off.

It helps to have two people when you put it back on but it's do-able with one.

[Andy]

Cool stuff, it looks like I best check the wiring first. There's a fusable link inbetween the DC out and battery connection.

Would be quite awkward to go to the efforts of changing the alternator to find its a fuse gone...