continue for more reindeer pictures. click here for the alligator
continue for more reindeer pictures. click here for the alligator
This is the HVAC blower motor and fan from a GMC. I'd always heard the fan called a squirrel cage. Now I know why. I've also heard it called a hamster wheel, but I never found evidence of a hamster... though I did find a mouse once.
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I guess they found a problem and that's why it was for sale.
We made it run inside the crate. That was awesome.
Comments are under pictures. The right sides of the pictures got cut off but if you click on them they should come up in a pop-up (disable that blocker for now).
HUGE intake manifold! There's an EPA sticker which mentions a national security emissions exemption. I'll try to get a pic of that later. done. click here for sticker pic
We ran 24V to the injector pump (help me out here Lewis) and 12V to the starter. 4 batteries in all.
...about the starter. The military crate needed slight modifications to accommodate it.
more after jump
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This is a couple weeks later. One of the cylinders had low compression so we put it on a stand and started tinkering.
This is bad. The rod bearings are toast and what you see in the above picture is the crankshaft with about 0.125" of metal missing from one of the rod journals. This is bad (bears repeating)
But the rest looks almost new. This is good. There are lots of good parts here. Lewis is keeping me posted of the progress.
I had to change the thermostat in Althea AGAIN. Above you see two thermostats... one ~18 month old thermostat made in China, and one new one next to it made in Japan. Can you guess which is which? They are both for the same car. Weird huh?
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question248.htm
I did not choose to put a cheapo unit in my car last time so much as my car ran hot and the cheap one was available within the hour. This time when Althea ran hot I waited a day for delivery, waited 5 days to install, and paid three times as much. I expect it to last 10yrs this time. Totally worth it.
A more important event took place today but is completely unrelated to cars. My friends Lewis and Russell came over and fixed the rotten part of my roof facia. They are awesome and have probably bought me another 3yrs before I need to replace my roof.
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more pics after jump
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The best way to view more "Recritterations" si to visit my Flickr photos page by copying the address below. You should know what to do with it after that.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23026128@N06/
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AKA "air vent cut off diaphragm"
This little guy keeps a valve closed when vacuum is supplied or held to it (engine running). When the engine is shut off the valve opens and fuel vapors are directed into a charcoal canister, rather than vented into the atmosphere.
When the diaphragm is perforated like mine is, and engine vacuum declines (when you hit the go pedal) the valve opens and creates a huge air leak. So no go with the go pedal.
I found the description of how this system operates (when working properly) in the emissions section of my service manual
and figured it out from there.
Unfortunately I cannot find a new diaphragm. Honda has discontinued this part, it's not in the rebuild kit for the carb, and I can't find it in the aftermarket anywhere.
So my choices are to either paste up the rubber with some sort of bonding agent and hope it works, or eliminate this part of the emissions system (all emissions systems must be in place and APPEAR to work)
So for now I'm using a less perforated diaphragm scrounged from another carb and MrHanky drives a whole lot better.
]]>BUT it wont pass NC state inspection.
Vehicles in NC under 35yrs old, but built before 1996 must pass a safety inspection including a visual inspection of emission equipment. All emission equipment must be installed and appear to work.
I installed a WEBER carburetor on my 1982 Civic. It has one electrical wire for the choke (optional), one ported vacuum line for the distributor, and one manifold vacuum line for the power brakes (optional).
Damn if I cant get through an inspection. Actually, I can, but I need this car to be user friendly.
So I had to put this monstrosity back on it:
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So above you see one carburetor with two electric solenoid boxes (several solenoids in each), a vapor canister, and about 22 vacuum lines with metal tubes... seems like about 40 rubber lines in all, each with specific purposes.
Gotta love the 80's
So now Mr Hankey passes inspection. YAYYY! But he still has the original problem of losing power, which is why I put the simplistic WEBER carb on in the first place.
I guess I'll have to actually diagnose that now. Wonderbrain power- ACTIVATE!
soooo many vacuum lines and solenoids and thermal valves and check valves and.... bypass valves, fuel cut valves, air cut valves,,, my head is hurting already.
more photos (click on below picture)
click for bigger
I made this tonight after work. It was actually a fairly uneventful day. This piece is not directed towards another person. It's been in my head awhile, and tonight it came out.
-scott
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It's not just GM
I see this kind of thing all the time, but it is (or was) usually Canada, Brazil or Mexico... which could be considered in America (north, south or central)
If your 17 digit VIN number starts with a one, your vehicle was assembled in The United States of America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_Identification_Number
after cut/paste and read the above site, know my 1990 Civic VIN starts with a 4 but the sticker on the original radiator brace read MFG BY HONDA OF CANADA
if someone has a more accurate list of VIN MFG codes please let me know.
(edit: oops. I was wrong... my VIN starts with a 2 - Canada it is)
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I wanted to put a yellow smiley face on my old '77 dodge van, but i never got around to it.
For those interested, that jack o'lantern is painted on the rear differential cover which is affectionately known as the rear pumpkin cover by some automotive enthusiasts. The mole on his left cheek is a rubber plug for checking/filling the fluid level. That's a big mole. He should have that checked.
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My friend Lew keeps bees. Today is his birthday party. I don't know how to make a bee, so I made this for him instead. He plays drums too.
Hot as in it has heat now. Above is a picture of the interior of Elizabeth's 1990 Honda Accord with the dashboard and heater unit removed.
I'm told this car has never had good heat, even when it was new.. so it was kind of a leap of faith, in myself, to tackle this job. It acted like it needed a heater core. There is no way to prove it in this scenerio except to replace it. I tried to flush it. I spent a bunch of time to prove every other thing to be working correctly. I reached the end of my internal diagnostic flow chart, as well as several of Honda's charts, before I decided to spend a weekend replacing the heater core in this car.
After I got the heater core and heater unit in I put some new foam around the vents and some new sealer on some parts where the dash fits. You know how sometimes when you tun on the vents in an old car and little bits of foam dust comes out? I replaced that foam with new foam. Yayy!
So at this point Elizabeth came over to help. I asked her to come over to help me get the dash out, but I got it out myself earlier than expected. There's no way I was putting it back in by myself when there was help available.
She saw the car as in the above picture and asked "Is it supposed to look like that?" I said "No. It's supposed to have a dashboard in it." She was just in time to help put it back in.
So here it is now, with heat.
Using process of elimination and gut experience only feels good once one is vindicated. Then it feels Great!
]]> oops- forgot to add the indicative red squiggly heat lines coming from the vents.
Elizabeth is very happy. She called the original owner (a friend) after our test drive to tell him her trusty black steed is hot (on the inside).
The cup holder works now too. I filed down the lock pin which was sandwiched between old sagging plastic pieces. The little "PUSH" tag works now. Push in, push out, it works like that.
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