well, last week I got the motor back into the '78 project car and got her fired up on Mon. After working on her all week I figured on Fri she was ready to take to the DMV and get her registered and tagged.
Well, that was a no-go. I'm HOPING by this Fri maybe she will be ready.
I've been fighting all weekend and all this week so far on two persistent leaks that have had me pulling my hair out.
first one was one of the tranny fluid cooler lines that run up to the radiator. I thought it was the rubber hose that connects the hardline to the radiator fitting and it's is NOT an easy line to get access to where it goes into the radiator fitting. It sits above and directly in line with the lower radiator coolant hose so each time I had to fool with it I'd have to drain the radiator, undo the lower hose, than it still was very limited space to work in.
Thought it was the clamp not tinght enough so I tightened it and let it sit for a while. the leak seemed to have stopped so I rehooked the lower rad hose up and refilled the system and took the car for a test drive.
Leak was back! *#$^%@
drained the coolant and removed the lower rad hose AGAIN. There was more room to move the hose further up the fitting so I did that and let it sit overnight. No leak so I rehooked up the lower hose and refillied the coolant and went for a test drive.
Leak was back! ^&*@#$%*@$^%!!!!!! ad
Drained coolant and removed lower rad hose a 3rd time!
replaced the hose and DOUBLE clamped both ends. I figured "HA! got you now sucker! Just you try to leak on me."
Reconnected lower rad hose and refilled coolant again....... (spending a fortune on coolant! )
After test drive............... Leak was back. ad ad
Now, I HAD looked at the fitting best I could but I honest didn't think it was from that but rather the hose but after all this I KNOW it couldn't be the hose anymore so with no other option it had to be the fitting so today I got the fun job of removing the radiator out of the car yet again and took it to radiator repair shop and they are pressure testing it to check the fitting where it goes into the radiator and will make any needed repairs on it.
The second persistent leak was from the passenger side valve cover. At first it was just a very small occaisional single drip of oil. After a couple of drips I figured I'd check the tightness of the bolts on that cover. found they were pretty loose - much more than they should have been so I tightened them down to spec torque.
After that it was a very bad, pretty constant drip of oil. after each night there would be a big puddle of oil under the car. WTF??!!
Had no choice but had to pull the valve cover off today - not the simplest thing to do on that side of the motor on a late model C3 with all the emission crap, fuel line, AC support bracket, EGR valve, etc all in the way....
Well, got the cover off and find that in that corner where I knew the leak was the gasket was completely split! ad
I've never used the FelPro rubber gaskets before and after this i'll never use them again. They cosy almost 3 times as much as the basic cork ones and they aren't worth sh*t. The other side cover already gave me problems because of these gaskets and already had replaced that one so this is the clincher and both sides now have regular cork gaskets.
Oh yeah........... it's been a real fun week :eyerole
Well, that was a no-go. I'm HOPING by this Fri maybe she will be ready.
I've been fighting all weekend and all this week so far on two persistent leaks that have had me pulling my hair out.
first one was one of the tranny fluid cooler lines that run up to the radiator. I thought it was the rubber hose that connects the hardline to the radiator fitting and it's is NOT an easy line to get access to where it goes into the radiator fitting. It sits above and directly in line with the lower radiator coolant hose so each time I had to fool with it I'd have to drain the radiator, undo the lower hose, than it still was very limited space to work in.
Thought it was the clamp not tinght enough so I tightened it and let it sit for a while. the leak seemed to have stopped so I rehooked the lower rad hose up and refilled the system and took the car for a test drive.
Leak was back! *#$^%@
drained the coolant and removed the lower rad hose AGAIN. There was more room to move the hose further up the fitting so I did that and let it sit overnight. No leak so I rehooked up the lower hose and refillied the coolant and went for a test drive.
Leak was back! ^&*@#$%*@$^%!!!!!! ad
Drained coolant and removed lower rad hose a 3rd time!
replaced the hose and DOUBLE clamped both ends. I figured "HA! got you now sucker! Just you try to leak on me."
Reconnected lower rad hose and refilled coolant again....... (spending a fortune on coolant! )
After test drive............... Leak was back. ad ad
Now, I HAD looked at the fitting best I could but I honest didn't think it was from that but rather the hose but after all this I KNOW it couldn't be the hose anymore so with no other option it had to be the fitting so today I got the fun job of removing the radiator out of the car yet again and took it to radiator repair shop and they are pressure testing it to check the fitting where it goes into the radiator and will make any needed repairs on it.
The second persistent leak was from the passenger side valve cover. At first it was just a very small occaisional single drip of oil. After a couple of drips I figured I'd check the tightness of the bolts on that cover. found they were pretty loose - much more than they should have been so I tightened them down to spec torque.
After that it was a very bad, pretty constant drip of oil. after each night there would be a big puddle of oil under the car. WTF??!!
Had no choice but had to pull the valve cover off today - not the simplest thing to do on that side of the motor on a late model C3 with all the emission crap, fuel line, AC support bracket, EGR valve, etc all in the way....
Well, got the cover off and find that in that corner where I knew the leak was the gasket was completely split! ad
I've never used the FelPro rubber gaskets before and after this i'll never use them again. They cosy almost 3 times as much as the basic cork ones and they aren't worth sh*t. The other side cover already gave me problems because of these gaskets and already had replaced that one so this is the clincher and both sides now have regular cork gaskets.
Oh yeah........... it's been a real fun week :eyerole