The Automotive (& other mechanized vehicles) thread

[Achtane]

Replaced the idler arm and pitman arm in the Grand Marquis and got rid of the terrifying tendency to float all over the road at highway speed.

Do you have to use a puller for the pitman arms on grand marquis? Is it all metal or is there some rubbers on them that cause it to degrade? I never thought about replacing pitman arms unless they're physically damaged.

I took a ride in a janky lifted C10 once that didn't have a modded pitman arm and OH MY GOD the bump steer was just insane.

Yeah, I used a tie rod end puller, the one with 2 jaws. It was a beast to get on and off, but wasn't super difficult otherwise. It did have a little rubber ball joint thingy that was pretty much gone.

[repoman]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUaqqNU_WhE[/youtube]

[Chankgeez]

Awesome!

[repoman]

[lordgalvar]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxM61vOUafI[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxM61vOUafI

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJmgQrBrik0[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJmgQrBrik0

It's just the way you have to say Jegs.

[crochambeau]

So, I pulled my engine the other day to address/investigate a few things. The VW absolutely HATES the heat, so I was hoping to find something like an old mouse nest in the cooling path or some such. No such luck.

I did observe an end play of about 0.020", easy to push/pull by hand (meaning there may be more play). I've driven on this particular engine since 1997 if memory serves, pretty sure it's ready for rest or rebuild.

So I'm digging around in another engine that spent some time under a tarp. I had pulled this one from the fastback because it had some deep noise I did not like, after which it spent a few years under a tarp (which was a mistake in my climate, don't do that if you can help it). Some work ahead of me..



Interesting build-up on the cam bearing. The cam itself is not pitted, so I'm guessing this is *not* a result of poor storage and I was driving around on that. I dunno. The lifters look like shit because I was massaging off surface rust particulates with super greasy hands.



Here's some surface rust on a crank rod. I had "handled" the rest of the rotating assembly pictured here in the same way I did the push rods, figured I needed to grab some photo record of conditions.



Here's a shot of the square indicating main seal failure. I was hoping I could replace a few seals and clean the airflow for cooling and get another summer out of it, but my gut is telling me to just suck it up and rebuild. I'm going to tear down the storage engines I have before cracking the case on the most recent runner though.

[Chankgeez]

How's that goin' there, Curtis?

Also:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kYA5mGWNgo[/youtube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kYA5mGWNgo

[imJonWain]

Fix that poor V-dub!

[crochambeau]

How's that goin' there, Curtis?

Eh, with the onset of wildfire season I felt compelled to dress and re-install the engine I've been running and aim to rebuild one of the cores over winter. That way the house is not left without a running vehicle while someone's out.

Fresh main seal (I did observe some movement in the main bearing, which is not fresh, but it's not drastic), fresh oil cooler seals, and fresh fuel hose. I re-routed the fuel rail a bit to avoid heating the fuel when parked. I also capped the cabin fresh air sends from the cooling intake, thus forcing 100% of the cooling air around the engine. The original design throws a leg of air around the heat exchangers at exhaust for cabin heat, which has a control flap to block - but it also has a branch that just shoots air into the cabin which in my car was not connected... so I had been throwing some cooling away at about the rear wheels.

All in all, the car is happier. The days are numbered for the engine in there, and I'm avoiding driving it a lot; but it's nice to have it largely sorted - even if only temporarily.

[Chankgeez]

Seems a smart move.

Also:

1972 Ford Carousel concept:

[repoman]

[Chankgeez]

Nice, but not as nice as this:



https://www.thedrive.com/news/42500/ult ... ot-answers

[repoman]

It'd be cool to live in one of those.

[Chankgeez]

That'd be pretty crazy.

Here's one for lordgalvar:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVMISav2T8Q

[Chankgeez]

https://www.hagerty.com/media/car-profi ... unctional/