Tag Archives: Cars

C4 Vette Valve Cover Gasket Replacement Part I

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When I advertised this project I blogged that I didn’t understand why GM, given how hot the 1984 C4 ran, would use cork as the material for the valve cover gasket and how I wouldn’t replace them with cork. So I called a popular Vette parts supply house and ordered Ultra-Seal.  I did check locally. ok fine, I checked one place, the Checker Auto down the street, where, through some extremely ineffective communication (the guy didn’t know what he was talking about or what they had in stock), the employee said, “All we have is cork.”;  to which I said, “No, thanks.”; to which he said, “I can order something else.” to which I said, “So can I.”   (There… that bit of typing is for you grammar-sensitive types.)

I also tossed a query on the forum for the Vette group I belong to, and a couple said they do still use cork, and a  couple highly suggested Fel-Pro.  Funny, they said they got them from Checkers.

Yesterday, I received the Ultra-seal (made by Mr. Gasket) I ordered from the Vette parts place. The Ultra-seal…was cork!!!!!! So much for the description on the web.  So I got on the phone to the Checkers down the street and I got an employee that actually knew what they had in stock.  They had every type: rubber, rubber with metal, liquid, metal, and cork.

So when I got there, I picked up the set of the Fel-Pro and Mr. Gasket’s rubber gaskets.  I hear my inner critic say “Hey, average car guy!!!  Yeah…I’m talkin to you, Mr. Average budget!!! What do ya think ya doin’?!!”

Here’s the deal.  I’ve never taken the valve covers off the Vette before, I’m not sure about the clearance, or the angle of the plane the valve cover sit..yadda..yadda.  Plus, I kept the receipt so I can return them…and I will!!!!  Promise!!!

So the Ultra-Seal looks like this:

CORK…BAD!!!!

Sorry about the pic ..didn’t open them because they have to go back.

The Mr. Gasket I purchased from Checkers was metal covered with thick rubber:

Mr.Gasket Rubber and Thick Metal

They are very similar in thickness and shape as the Ultra Seal.

The Fel-Pro are the ones I’m going to put on the car.  They are metal covered with thin rubber and the holes are re-enforced with metal washers and are grooved.

Fel_Pro grooved and will hold better during installation.

So that will be next up.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Wrenchin’ Tip – Hose Installation 3/31/2010

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Often if you get the right size radiator or heater hose it will be a tight fit(eerrrkkk….don’t tighten the clamp first!!!!….just kidding…eeerrrkk) getting it over metal fittings.  You can buy them bigger but you are asking for leaks!!!!   Here are a couple of tips.  One I’ve used and the other I haven’t tried yet.

1.  I live in Arizona, and it’s hot here and normally if you are going to have problems it will be from over  heating in the summer time.  I’ll take the hose and leave it on the concrete driveway for a while in the hot sun.   That often softens it up enough to slip on.

2.  This one I have not tried.  If you have clear wire-pulling  compound, you can rub a light amount around the inside of the hoses and it will slide right on.  Here is a link where you can find some.  http://www.twacomm.com/catalog/dept_id_608.htm

Thanks for reading.

Don’t forget our project car contest.  $100.00 online shopping gift card to your favorite auto parts web site.

Tim

Next Project Corvette C4 Valve Cover Gaskets and Paint

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So if UPS has its act together I should be getting a set of valve cover gasket and engine paint to repaint the Valve covers and installing them all on Saturday and part of Sunday if necessary.

I could have got the gaskets locally, but only in cork.  What I’ll never understand is the thought behind using cork in cars where the average engine coolant temperature is over 200 degrees.   Yeah..really.

The spec book on the 1984 C4 Crossfire engine has the thermostat requirement at 195 (degrees).  That means the engine has to reach nearly 200 degrees before the thermostat opens and allows the coolant to flow.  What more the Crossfire engine is came equiped with an electronic fan for the radiator and the is factory set to come on when the temp reaches 223 degrees. 

Now that’s pretty hot for an engine.  Rarely does my corvette digital temp gage find it’s self under 200 degree during while operating, it normally round 210.

So knowing that,  Chevy still put cork valve cover gaskets on the car.  If you’ve ever worked with those, you know that if the engine runs hot, they will eventually “cook” on and dry out and leak.  So I went with…. errrkk…. cut/paste “Ultra-Seal material provides a positive seal through controlled swelling of the gasket once exposed to hot engine oil. The polymers used in Ultra-20 also ensure gaskets will not harden and fall apart like others can. Gaskets are coated with an easy release material which helps prevent tearing when the valve covers are removed.”…end errrk and cut/paste.

The painting shouldn’t be a problem, it’s just to spruce them, but I’ll need to prepare them.  They are textured magnesium and can take a lot of heat but they do stain easily.  I’ll show close-ups of the before and after. 

Actually you can see some of it here.

errrkkk….Normally my engine isn’t this awful looking.  But it’s been a wetter than normal winter and I haven’t kept up with it like I should.  Plus I haven’t been too worried about, know that I had to do these gaskets and hopefully, soon, I’ll be putting on the newly designed Crossfire intake.

Hey..don’t forget the Project Car Contest $100 online gift car to an auto parts house.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

70 Mustang Dash Gage Removal Bulb replaced 3/24/2010

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Well after the bout of bad video uploads I decided to stick with photos for the rest of this project.

This blog entry (I like the sound of that…’blog entry’) I’ll show some pic of the area behind the dash and the removal of the gage panel and bulb replacement.

As I suspected and as to be expected, the dash and gages have been out of this car before.  No big deal, it 40 years!!!  Clearing you can tell that because the screws are not matching that hold the gages in.

Right side of the gage cluster had philips screw with washer.

After the dash pad was removed there were really only 2 screw left that held the panel/cluster in place – seen above and below.

The Left side was not a philips

After these were removed the gage panel/cluster (ok….I’m just going to call it a gage panel…if you like cluster…read as “cluster”).  The only thing holding it in were two connections to the wiring harness.  Those just clip together..sorry….I had those on video… and pull off easily.

Part of the wiring harness

As you can see other than just being dusty, all the wiring was in good shape.  I had expected some issue due to age, but nope..not a one. (That’s not a complaint…no way…I hate electrical work…..I had a bad experience 🙁             )

This pic is of the panel on the right side of the and there is a LOT of space behind there.  A cd changer should slide back there as well as adding a dvd player to the plastic panel.  No I don’t believe I would, actually add one…..hmmmm…..I guess if someone donated an item I might consider putting it in…..or not.

The right side panel...lots of empty space.

 

Look at that room...for a donated dvd player....:)

So I did blew that out to get rid of some of the dust and wiped it down with citrus cleaner.

As I removed the two screws from the panel I thought it would pull right out but nope..the cover for the steering column had to be removed first.  Simple enough.

Cover for the steering column

Then……( insert…dooms day music)…a piece fell out!!!!! See below

queue the dooms day music...the loose piece.

Ok..not really a big deal.  It was just a clip that held the to pieces of the  steering column cover together.  It screwed back in slide of the two ends.

Now I didn’t take the gage panel out of the car didn’t really need to since the wiring was all fine. I pulled it out enough to allow my had to go behind and pull out the bulbs.

The position of one bulb.

Here is what the bulb and socket look like, together and apart.

Bulb and Socket

Bulb removed from socket

They come out of the housing by a simple twist. The socket has two copper conductors (you can see them in the pic above…one on each side) that come into contact with the electrical ribbon and provide the power to the bulb.  Most of the bulbs were still functional, very dusty..but I replaced them all. 

Ok that’s about if this “blog entry”  (come on..you like it too!!!…say it with me “blog entry”….I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!!….BLOG ENTRY!!)

I’ve actually placed it all back together today and I’ll post more tomorrow.  But you want to see it before that, I’m driving it to work tomorrow…it not that long of a drive to Tucson…come down…I’ll spring for lunch…..            🙂

Thanks for reading.

70 Mustang Dash Removal Videos

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Sorry for the technical issues with the videos. It seems that WordPress has issues with longer videos, so I’ll have to keep them a bit shorter.

These next links will take you to the videos, but you’ll have to click the back button to get back to the blog.

This first video is when my son and I discovered that there was an additional bracket under the lower trim pieces.

http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm296/timsweet2200/?action=view&current=MVI_6869.flv

This next video is view of the partial removal.

http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm296/timsweet2200/?action=view&current=MVI_6876.flv

This last is the rest of the removal.  I tossed a little humor in there about feed my son Ryan only if we worked for the meal.  Not sure he thought that was too humorous..but I’m his Dad..he has to deal with me.  🙂

http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm296/timsweet2200/?action=view&current=MVI_6877.flv

Again, sorry these take you out of the site, I will work on this for the next video uploads.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Reminder:  PROJECT CAR CONTEST..GET YOU PROJECTS IN!!!!

70 Mustang Dash Replacement – Removal

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So the process was fairly straight forward.  Only thing not obvious was the removal of two trim pieces that hid the front bracket.     

Philips screw..wow how ugly was that old dash???

Top screw removal

There were 3 philips screws along the dash next to the windshield.  A nice long screw driver worked nicely.  The holes in the dash cover for the screw were pretty deteriorated, but it was good do know that the dash was really metal covered with the padded vinyl so the screw would hold forever.     

passenger side screws – remove and done!

There were 4 more screw on the passenger’s side.  Now if this were a Mach I it would have a clock located there, but instead there is just a plastic panel.  You could actually place a LCD monitor there for  DVD player.   The panel is below:     

passenger’s Side Panel

The next set of two screws that needed to come up were located above the radio.   These were a bit awkward to remove. But they weren’t philips screws..that pieced together with what we found after taking the dash pad out led to a conclusion of…well I’ll hold off mentioning that until I give you the other piece.      

Arrows show the position of the two screws

After removing these two “non-philips” screws (flat) the dash pad would lean forward and you’d think it would pop right off …but nope!!!  The next photos show why.     

Dash Pad leaning forward.

Additional Trim piece that needed to be removed.

One screw and off it came.

Caption is wrong here the side screw was removed but there was still one below.     

Bottom screw had to just be loosened and the pieces sliped off

One this pieces of trim was removed you can see the screw/bolt that need to be removed.     

Not a great pic..but you get the idea.

One on each side and the dash pad was ready to go.  Check out the videos.  If the videos don’t work..let me know.     

I enlisted the help of my son Ryan.  He was over for dinner and he lent me hand, so I could film as well.    

This first video shows us discovering the front brace hidden under the trim piece.     

  

Here is the backside of dash pad.     

The paper tag on the bottom of the dash pad.

Reading that you can see the date of 1972 on the tag. Since the Mustang is a 1970, the date doesn’t make sense. Adding that the screws near the radio that don’t match (straight vs. philip for the rest) I wondering if the dash wasn’t replaced.  The original owners didn’t mention it, but there was no real reason too.  This could mean that the dash was replaced with what appears to be NOS (new old stock) (from 1972)..that’s a possibility.  I’ll do some more research just to find out.     

The last few pics are of the other markings.     

The two eights – one upper in maker and the one in the glue.

Parts code perhaps 3 24 (d) 2

Sorry..that one’s upside down. 🙂     

The original Ford speaker.     

Speaker with part number.

So what’s next?  I’ll check out the wiring and pull the gages if I need to for repair (although all the gages are working fine). Oh..yeah..do a bulb replacement.     

More to come     

Thanks for reading.     

Tim

Project Car Of the Week and Month

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I’ve been think about doing this but the rules seem a bit tough to come up with.  But I’ll give this a try.

I’m looking for some project car posts from the readers. Your projects.  Anything from a huge wreck of car project to something smaller (bigger then an oil change).  It has to be your car and you are doing “some” of the work on it. That the only hard and fast rule.

I’ll need a couple photos and some brief details.   You can post them up here or find me on Facebook and post the them up or email them to me (timsweet@cox.net).  I’ll post them here and then on my website (www.tucsoncarevents.com) for everyone to look at.

If I get enough entries I’m pick a car of the week the week and then out of the we’ll vote on the car of the month (if I don’t get votes posted up I’ll have one of my regular readers pick it.  The winner the car of the month gets a $100.00 online gift card as an auto parts dealer (Summit Racing or even on tailored to your car).  Simple as that.

So let’s get started. Remember anything from a total wreck to just a transmission swap, body work, paint, interior upgrade, hood swap.  That all works.  Sorry Pdawg giving Burt a bath and vac isn’t going to cut it (but he could use one!!!…just kidding).  It doesn’t have to be done and I don’t need a before and after, just what you are working on.

I’ll this run until I get at least for to choose from, then we’ll vote.

Note:  If you noticed my site is not commercial, there are no ads, no click through links, no pop ups.  It’s just me type to hear myself type and a few of you reading it.  I like it that way.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Project update 70 Mustang

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Dallas Mustang has just shipped my new dash-board for the Mustang.  Be here next week, should start the replacement shortly there after.

Tim

Muscle Car Peeves

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Ok, I’ve been wanting to do this for a while.  I have a couple of muscle cars and cars that aren’t but get “dressed up” like muscle car peeves.

So here are three right off the bat.

1.  Don’t put Yanko strips on your 2003 Dodge Neon.  It doesn’t look right, and you aren’t fooling anyone.

2.  I have nothing against body kits added to a car.  I, personally, wouldn’t do it to the two I have, but I’ve seen some pretty nice jobs done on Corvettes, especially.  I’ve even seen a lot of imports that look good with body kits.  But here’s my peeve, don’t put them on the car if you aren’t going to paint them the right way.  Save up the cash and get it all done at once.  And one more note on body kits, why would you want to take your Honda Accord and make it look like a 1946 pickup truck?  (OK, I’ve never seen one, but you know what I mean).

3.  I recently saw a 1970-something Camaro, mounted on the frame of a raised Chevy pickup…almost monster truck size.  Why people…WHY???!!!

Okay, there are a couple of mine muscle car want-ta-be peeves.

Post up some of yours. Come on, I know you’ve got them!!!!!

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Wrenchin’ Tips – Intro and Wiring 03/05/10

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This is a new thread that I’ll post from time to time, similar to the Auto Factoid.  Wrench’in Tips will some help hint, short cuts and even some alternative ways to help finish the job. 

The key here is that these are coming from a guy with average skills and knowledge so to you ‘hardend’ professional they may seem lame or you’ll have a ‘well….duh, OMG, like everyone knows that!!!’  In which case…KEEP IT TO YOURSELF!!!! <GRIN>  Kidding of course, always let me know what you think.

So here is the first one.

I hate electricity, not the benefits of being able to use it, it’s super when it stays where it’s suppose to and goes where it’s suppose too.  What I hate is when it stops being or doing what is should.  I absolutely hate working on electrical problem anywhere, homes, appliances and cars. 

I can say that I once had a bad experience and that would be true, but the other problem I have (besides the physics of it all) is that I’m color blind.  Anyone who has looked at a wiring harness in a car will know what I’m talking about.  The are all kinds of colors, but unless they are only black and white – like the extension cord and light I made back in  4-H, 1.5 billion years ago, I’m stuck.

Now older cars like my ’70 Mustang aren’t too bad, they pretty much conform to black, white and one or two other color, but the ’84 C4 it has wires everywhere….hey…I’m not kidding EVERY WHERE!!!   There are no less that 10 pairs of wires you have to remove just to take the door panel off.  In the 84 Vette, the adjustable windshield wipers are on the drives door and if I remember correctly it has at least 6 wires.  Then the are the wires for the door lock  4 there and there are the wires for the electric window that might be 4 more.  Add to that the wires for the door courtesy light and the speaker and amp wires (the awesome BOSE stereo system  had  5 speakers with individual amps). errrk….here’s a factoid the 1984 Corvette and Cadillac were the first cars to have a custom BOSE stereo system.  The story goes that GM asked if they would put BOSE radios (back then just AM/FM and Cassette) in the cars and  label them Delco.  BOSE wasn’t crazy about the idea so instead offered to design a system for the cars….end of errkk.

So one of the first problems I had with the Corvette was the electric window stopped working on the driver’s side.  So I assumed that I would have to replace the motor. So I get home early from work one day and I decided that I’d knock this out real quick.  I began by taking the panel off and found all the pairs of wires and I sure I used a four-letter word didn’t start with a D or S. I noticed that a couple of the wires were a bit worse for wear and need some attention, I also noticed that the wires were short and you had to balance the door panel on something to be able to disconnect a couple components. Being the genius that I am, I figure that if I made the wires a bit longer I would haven’t to disconnect  the components every time I need to remove the panel, I’d only remove the screws and the door panel would rest on a towel or something on the floor.

NOTE: Don’t worry, not every one of my tips will be attached to a  long story….umm…I don’t think.

Of course the wires I needed to repair and additionally make longer weren’t your basic black and white, I’m not sure but I think one was sea-foam green and one was  burnt sienna (I don’t really know…but I remember that burnt sienna was a crayon color when I was a kid- before Microsoft Paint.

 Oh…so here is what I did. 

I took about 1/2″ strips of  white duck tape and a marker and folded one each side of the wire that I was going to splice to repair and lengthen.  I labeled the first  wire A and A and the second B and B (pretty sure you could have figured out the pattern).  Then I cut and spliced them with wire connectors. 

It worked out great and I left them labeled when  put the door back together.

Oh..just so you can have some closure, I did all that work and the problem wasn’t with electric window motor, was really just the switch on the middle console…4 screws and pop in the new $15.00 switch.  It’s that the way it always goes?  Seems like it.

Have a great weekend..spending mine doing taxes.

Thanks for reading.

Tim