blind_in_1_ear
Well-Known Member
remember a long pointless(*oddly points ARE involved tho....) story of my weekend.....
okay, little backstory for perspective....
70 Valiant, 225/904...leaking ATF(*not a lot, but decent amount...) AND my mom's husband coming out for a week or so....he's had plenty of time on engines/cars/planes etc. so i am gonna use his expertise a little for my Valiant.
we don't get too much time for it in the first few days, family time and birthday's, etc.....we talk a little about what i want to do...eventually we get to getting to it....
NAPA run(*boys to NAPA... girls to the MALL*)....buy ramps to drive up on, valve cover gasket, spark plugs/wires/distributor/rotor/points/condenser....marker bulb, gasket sealer, ATF for refilling transmission and assorted BS items.....paint, brake cleaner etc.
so we got lots of things to replace and tune up, as it were....
first act:
set in the parking lot, gorgeous Southern California day....
drive the car up on the ramps(*thinking i am gonna jump the damn things and be worse off....but i digress....)
get under it and begin the draining of the tranny pan(*note:why is it called the oil pan????) got all the bolts off, holding the pan with one hand....
then the 5 yr old asks if i can record whatever it is he's watching...."i kinda got something going here, buddy..."
door slams in anger...sweet.....so arms/hands covered in ATF and locked out....sweeter...well no record then......walk back to the car...notice we aren't very clean, and we JUST STARTED.....ugh.
so get the pan off, gasket scraping, finger nail peeling.....razor working....loving it! get it all cleaned....and then paint it Mopar blue....(*for two reasons....it DOES LOOK better....and if it's leaking we'll know better where...) ...get the gasket on, new bolts for a little extra thread length...looks sweet(*still locked out....phone rang...dunno who it was...meh)
also, untrained eye tells me it looks good in there...all shiny and clean looking.
now we do the wires/plugs/cap, and wait a second we don't have a 5/16ths open end wrench...all others but that one....sweet!!! so no points happening today.....so onto the Valves....crack the cover open, get to see the whole system in motion for first time....looks so fragile! got a tapping in the valve area and we both hear it....some have a little more gap, some look great...(*untrained eye again...) i get in do the "start it, kill it" routine....he's in the oil, telling me things....get it a little quieter.....also painted the cover looks MUCH better...
so now it's past dinner time, wife/mom/kids all hungry and it's WAY past normal din din time.....so we got to button her up for a test ride....to get food....
new day, Sunday....5 yr old birthday party....then out to the car again since my father-in-law brought grandpa Hyserroot's Vanadium Craftsman 5/16ths(*with obligatory story on how he got those tools...yipee!*)
so basic replace points/condenser...and check little leak in tranny area....
leak looks to be from the torque converter area of the system....well that's gonna be fun!!! but oh well, less than it was before Saturday...
click off the distributor cap, and start the gig....get the wires off the points...and as we(*he) pulled off the condenser the little screw fell in the distributor shaft right under the points/condenser area...
looks exchanged....
me:"so?"
him:"i dunno if that'll matter...but i think it will....no biggie, i've done it before....pull the distributor shaft..."
me:"uh, okay????"
so get it out, flip it and screw is quietly lying in wait....finally falls out....so i suggest we put in the points/condenser while it's out so if we drop it and easily flipped/found.....k, condenser is on....points, oh wait...no that's not right not fitting....sweet AGAIN!
off to NAPA @445, closes at 5....
jackass behind counter tells me it's the right part...shows me the computer screen....i show him the little lip why it doesn't fit....he looks at me like i accused HIM of shotty work...so i ask..."anything else fit, or do i have to drill out this little lip??".....counter boy goes into a HUGE book...walks away...(*part number i have is CS851.....for reference...) brings back
CS851P(*note "P")...i look at it and it has no lip...NICE!!!!
note here too: he tells me the CS851P is $3 more.....i ask, why, what's the difference??? they look identical....
answer(*and i am NOT kidding about this one...):
"well that one there is $12, this one is $9."
sweet mother of god, did he really say that????? thanks for the break down of math for me there idjit...
so run back to the car...now it's dinner time again(*do these people need me to eat?!?!?!) and we still have a distributor shaft in my trunk....ugh
get the points/condenser on, shaft in.....and it STARTS!!!!!! little rough but it's running!!!!!!
work a little on the timing(no light, just "ear"), air/fuel mixture....
now it's running TIGHT at speed....little "Harley" sounding when it's idleing....
so there's my weekend at a LONG glance....
blind, sorta more "proud" :thumbup:
sorry for long winded story...but i warned you in the thread title.
okay, little backstory for perspective....
70 Valiant, 225/904...leaking ATF(*not a lot, but decent amount...) AND my mom's husband coming out for a week or so....he's had plenty of time on engines/cars/planes etc. so i am gonna use his expertise a little for my Valiant.
we don't get too much time for it in the first few days, family time and birthday's, etc.....we talk a little about what i want to do...eventually we get to getting to it....
NAPA run(*boys to NAPA... girls to the MALL*)....buy ramps to drive up on, valve cover gasket, spark plugs/wires/distributor/rotor/points/condenser....marker bulb, gasket sealer, ATF for refilling transmission and assorted BS items.....paint, brake cleaner etc.
so we got lots of things to replace and tune up, as it were....
first act:
set in the parking lot, gorgeous Southern California day....
drive the car up on the ramps(*thinking i am gonna jump the damn things and be worse off....but i digress....)
get under it and begin the draining of the tranny pan(*note:why is it called the oil pan????) got all the bolts off, holding the pan with one hand....
then the 5 yr old asks if i can record whatever it is he's watching...."i kinda got something going here, buddy..."
door slams in anger...sweet.....so arms/hands covered in ATF and locked out....sweeter...well no record then......walk back to the car...notice we aren't very clean, and we JUST STARTED.....ugh.
so get the pan off, gasket scraping, finger nail peeling.....razor working....loving it! get it all cleaned....and then paint it Mopar blue....(*for two reasons....it DOES LOOK better....and if it's leaking we'll know better where...) ...get the gasket on, new bolts for a little extra thread length...looks sweet(*still locked out....phone rang...dunno who it was...meh)
also, untrained eye tells me it looks good in there...all shiny and clean looking.
now we do the wires/plugs/cap, and wait a second we don't have a 5/16ths open end wrench...all others but that one....sweet!!! so no points happening today.....so onto the Valves....crack the cover open, get to see the whole system in motion for first time....looks so fragile! got a tapping in the valve area and we both hear it....some have a little more gap, some look great...(*untrained eye again...) i get in do the "start it, kill it" routine....he's in the oil, telling me things....get it a little quieter.....also painted the cover looks MUCH better...
so now it's past dinner time, wife/mom/kids all hungry and it's WAY past normal din din time.....so we got to button her up for a test ride....to get food....
new day, Sunday....5 yr old birthday party....then out to the car again since my father-in-law brought grandpa Hyserroot's Vanadium Craftsman 5/16ths(*with obligatory story on how he got those tools...yipee!*)
so basic replace points/condenser...and check little leak in tranny area....
leak looks to be from the torque converter area of the system....well that's gonna be fun!!! but oh well, less than it was before Saturday...
click off the distributor cap, and start the gig....get the wires off the points...and as we(*he) pulled off the condenser the little screw fell in the distributor shaft right under the points/condenser area...
looks exchanged....
me:"so?"
him:"i dunno if that'll matter...but i think it will....no biggie, i've done it before....pull the distributor shaft..."
me:"uh, okay????"
so get it out, flip it and screw is quietly lying in wait....finally falls out....so i suggest we put in the points/condenser while it's out so if we drop it and easily flipped/found.....k, condenser is on....points, oh wait...no that's not right not fitting....sweet AGAIN!
off to NAPA @445, closes at 5....
jackass behind counter tells me it's the right part...shows me the computer screen....i show him the little lip why it doesn't fit....he looks at me like i accused HIM of shotty work...so i ask..."anything else fit, or do i have to drill out this little lip??".....counter boy goes into a HUGE book...walks away...(*part number i have is CS851.....for reference...) brings back
CS851P(*note "P")...i look at it and it has no lip...NICE!!!!
note here too: he tells me the CS851P is $3 more.....i ask, why, what's the difference??? they look identical....
answer(*and i am NOT kidding about this one...):
"well that one there is $12, this one is $9."
sweet mother of god, did he really say that????? thanks for the break down of math for me there idjit...
so run back to the car...now it's dinner time again(*do these people need me to eat?!?!?!) and we still have a distributor shaft in my trunk....ugh
get the points/condenser on, shaft in.....and it STARTS!!!!!! little rough but it's running!!!!!!
work a little on the timing(no light, just "ear"), air/fuel mixture....
now it's running TIGHT at speed....little "Harley" sounding when it's idleing....
so there's my weekend at a LONG glance....
blind, sorta more "proud" :thumbup:
sorry for long winded story...but i warned you in the thread title.
