I don't know what made me do it, but I got kind of bored (ok, so I guess I did know what made me do it) and started picking at some cracked areas of paint with a flat screwdriver and found this:
I guess the car must have been in an accident and slid under something?
anyhoo, that's about all that happened last week. I got kind of sick late in the week, and am still fighting off a decent head cold so progress wasn't as great as I had hoped it would be.
Always good times though 
Well, I gave the soda blaster the good 'ol college try (that's still a saying, isn't it?) 
Sorry for the bad last shot there. The whole thing only took me about 10-minutes to make and I was getting kind of anxious to basque in all that would be my soda-blasting victory.
Unfortunately after about one quart of soda, I only got this far:
I played with hose lengths and feeding techniques a bit but I never really got the results I was hoping for, so eventually I gave up and taped over my rubber seals and just went at all those hard-to-reach areas with my wire whip.
I think that back window area there probably took me about 10-minutes to whip out (pun intended ). It wasn't without it's drawbacks though, as you can see the wire wheel wore a few grooves in the metal.
I spent one second hand sanding a small area just to test with some 150 grit and it looked like everything will smooth out pretty well.
Good times
Hmm... I wonder if this had something to do with the poor soda performance. 
Nope! Even at 100psi, the soda still wouldn't take the paint off sufficiently. Ah well, that's about as far as I feel like pushing that one. If I continue it'll have to be with a better blaster
So Progress!
I was feeling kind of burned out from messing with paint and body work so I decided to play with that engine harness I had laying in wait. In doing so I learned a few things:
1) I lost a few parts along the way. Specifically a terminal block that sits just outboard of the two pictured below
Which is hopefully where all those wires go to because
2) Some of my tape markers fell off in storage, some due to sheer amount of time between uses, and some while installing the wires
But 3) I only have one wire (the battery wire) going to my starter right now. That doesnt seem right... But maybe it's still attached to that terminal board I lost. egad, this is piling up quick
and last and possibly least:
4) Remember when I was much younger and so much newer to Alfa's that I thought the auxillary injector was an Idle Air Temp probe? (IAT)
Oh to be so young and naive again 
Good times.
I noticed after I was done tinkering with the engine harness that I was accidentally leaving grease marks on the car from leaning on the fenders... I don't think this juggling back and forth between body work and mechanicals is going to do 
I still didn't feel like playing with the paint stuff, so I went at the back wheel lug with my angle grinder.
Only to have the new lug I bought from Centerline International not work at all
Still in the tinkering mood I decided it was time to start in on that rats nest of a chassis wire harness I spent all of last winter working on
Eating an elephant. One wire at a time.
Of course, things break one wire at a time too
Good times
Oh, and a few from our saturdate:
That last one is a 2nd gen RX-7 pillow a friend gave me but for the life of me I cant remember why! (I'm a sucker for the FCs)
Good times
Ohhhh I see tech flex loom, I Love that stuff.
Good work picking away. The extra injector is classic too.
java230 wrote: Ohhhh I see tech flex loom, I Love that stuff. Good work picking away. The extra injector is classic too.
But man, could you imagine my surprise when I found my IAT probe had a fuel line going to it
Good times
And if your CTS is bad, that cold start injector will try pumping LOTS of fuel for really cold start.
So, remove CTS add turbo?
Still in a "putting things back together" mood I tried to clean up the stock coolant overflow tank.
Unfortunately it seemed that no amount of scrubbing was going to get either the tank, or it's cover to an acceptable level of "clean".
In doing some research for a replacement I found that these tanks are a common failure item and are prone to "bursting". I didn't need much of an excuse to go looking for an aluminum replacement, so when I found some "cracks" (Notice I had to put that in quotes) I decided to pull the trigger.
Unfortunately aluminum GTV6 coolant tanks are hens teeth these days, and the best I could find were some stock replacements on fleabay. I did some looking around until I found an aluminum replacement for a '99 Miata on Jegs that seemed to match the profile of the stock photo I found for the GTV6's aluminum replacement.
I can tell right away that there are a few bungs I'll need to add, and of course there are the mounting tabs, but it gives me an excuse to play with a TIG so I don't think I'll mind (I've never welded aluminum before!)
Cost to me was about $136 on that so far (as opposed to the $300+ I saw the last aluminum GTV6 tank sell for
To date, the engine bay looks something like this:
(exhaust manifolds on, most of the wires hooked up, lots of other little things like timing chain covers etc that went in as well)
Good times
Now for your next installment of "Case of the missing terminal block":
(see it missing there, kind of top left-ish?)
So, I was missing a terminal block. Now there's probably not a single person on here that would exactly call me "organized" but man was it bugging me. I really made it a point to box everything up and label everything the whole time I was taking this beast apart. Now I was wasting MORE time looking for stuff I was SURE I had. I probably dug through all my boxes and car about 5 times before I decided to call Peter Morris and have him send a new one my way $25).
While waiting on the USPS I, of course, worked on other areas of the car where I discovered that I was missing the ignition coil resistor too.
One missing part is a missing part, two missing parts is a missing part container.
So I dig some more.
And, on the day the part arrived from Peter, I found it! On the passenger seat is a small tool bag of things I use "sometimes" (ie: flat head pry-driver, scribe, etc) and there they both were. Right where I left them, I guess
Ah well, I've spent more on worse
Good times
I'm kind of going back and forth on two things, maybe you guys can help (both are kind of superficial)
I'm considering filling in the hole for the car's antenna and not reinstalling the car stereo etc.
I'm considering removing the car's inertia switch. (The inertia switch would shut off the fuel pump in the event of an accident)
I get the feeling I'll leave them both as they are, but I go back and forth on them a lot it seems.
(antenna hole for reference, and a picture from our Sun-date just because)
Good times
Hungary Bill wrote: Oh, and a few from our saturdate:
The fact that he has his own set of work overalls is simply awesome!
Don't feel the antenna hole. I regret the lack of antenna on every car I've ever shave that way.
Where is the inertia switch? Ford put the theirs exactly where my feet hit in single cab rangers....
If it's not known to go bad or easy to trip, I don't think it should cause a problem.
XLR99: Thanks! You can blame his grandma (my mother in law) for that one. I have NO idea where she found them but the youngest is going to need a pair soon.
Duster: Yeah, that's the kicker. Once I fill the antenna hole, there's really no going back.
Java: the inertia switch is in the engine bay. If you look near the engine bay ID tags you can see the black mount for it (it's round). The reasons for deletion are
apparently it can become a high resistance spot in the fuel pump circuitry and cause a reduction in fuel pump life
apparently pot holes and the such are prone to tripping this thing and will cut your fuel pump off.
it's another unknown link in system to troubleshoot should the car not start one day
what if I'm in a car chase from a Mad-Max post apocalyptic type of scenario, and I need to ram a vehicle or run a motorcycle off road to save my life and the life of my Australian Cattle dog from sun-fried/deranged people trying to steal my last tank of petrol?
Reasons to keep it are:
).That's about it... I wasn't sure how may vehicles even used inertia switches, or if this was a "unique to Alfa" thing. I'm betting if the ranger got one, then many other cars do as well. As annoying as having to get out a multimeter every time the car coughed or stuttered would be, the idea of having an accident that pinned the throttle open sending me careening toward a bus full of nuns on the highway, returning from a humanitarian aid trip to war torn Syria, where we all die a slow horrible fiery death while the narrator from "The Twilight Zone" closes the scene with a segment on the importance of the inertia switch... well, that'd be worse.
Somebody drank their coffee today!
I think I'll take your advice and put it in the "leave it alone for now" bin, and if it causes too many problems I'll remove it later and just do my best to stay away from Mad Max baddies and buses full of nuns.
Good times
That was a big one for me, I've gone from "oh my god, what is that melted box thingie under my dash and can anyone help me find a new one" to stuff I can get across the parts counter
Truth be told, I could take or leave the K&N oil filter (I prefer Wix) but I was so excited to get this stuff and it was all they had in stock
Also, did you know Slovakia had JB weld?
I had to pull the radiator back out to install the fans and noticed the JB weld repair there. I've got my eye on aluminum replacements, but if it's not leaking (and I dont think it was) then I'm probably not going to worry about it. One thing the 4-Runner taught me is that it's a lot more fun to have a rolling project than it is to have a stationary one. That and no matter how much elbow grease I use, it's still a 30-year old car. Things like that are going to be there.
OOH! And another box dites the bust!
Good times
As for the "cracks" in your coolant tank: I've got a car with hairline cracks in the reservoir that look just like that. Doesn't look like much but it oozes coolant over time when it gets pressurized. So I'd say your decision to replace it is justified!
ha! Awesome, because I was going to have to play my superficial card on the washer tank too
I don't think this thing is going to be "like new" again with any amount of scrubbing, and I swear there are beads in the plastic like someone was melting it to make repairs (sorry, there's no laugh emoticon so I had to use three smileys)
I have an idea for a replacement (a "universal" unit) but it's not really on the priority list at the moment.
In keeping with my ADD, I decided I had enough with the top of the engine bay and moved my sights to the bottom where I installed the downpipes that run from the exhaust manifolds to the mid-section:
Those will have to suffice for "open headers" when it comes time to turn the key. The exhaust manifolds point right back at the engine block so there's no real chance I'll be able to do a true "open header run" when all is said and done. I hope the car gods will understand
Those downpipes, mid-section, and the slightly used aft section were a bit of a hit to the budget. At almost $1000 this is probably the most expensive stock exhaust I can think of! (next nearest aftermarket option was $1500, and I seem to recall there being a bit of discussion on AlfaBB about how people weren't REALLY happy with the headers on that one...)
As it sits, the "Euro-downpipes" are the desirable "stock option" when it comes to these cars so I'm happy (for now). I do plan on flangeing (is that a word?) those pipes that connect to the mid section though. The stock way is to weld the downpipes to the mid.
Here's what all that's replacing:
|
Squashed flat, booger welded, random mufflered... bleh
Good times
The expansion tank arrived!
Mrs. Hungary: (reads invoice) "You don't own a '99 Miata..."
Me: 
Mrs. Hungary: "oh god... (rolls eyes, puts part back in box)
I need to move those tabs and I figure their old locations might serve as a good spot to locate the two extra bungs I needed. I'll consult the professional advice of my "hero-who-lives-in-the-next-town" and see what he thinks (no really, the guy really is my hero! His shop is bigger than his house. For real. No, I'm not just calling him that because I need to use his TIG. Why are you rolling your eyes like that?). If not, I have a bit of thick scrap aluminum we can weld on for potential bung tapping areas.
Good times
Here's the passenger side of the engine bay all put together
Would you look at that pretty stock air box? I still may play with the pod filter and that aluminum housing I made for it all those pages ago, but I figure this is a good place to start.
I also spent $100 on oil 
The engine oil came pretty highly recommended by the other Alfisti, and I'm hoping I got the right gear oil... In my research online it was the recommended oil from the Alfa guys, AND the Porsche guys use it in their G50 non-LS transaxles, but when the fluids arrived at my door there was an LS designation on the bottles.
The description says "good for both LS and non-LS configurations" so I'm guessing I'll be ok. Could be I'm just overthinking things a bit.
Good times.
oopsies
That expansion tank I bought is actually a "filler" tank, and will not facilitate a vented radiator cap. If I run the current tank with its cap, then it'll probably be a burst coolant hose that'll be providing the system venting in the Alfa
I made a thread about it. Wanna read it? goes something like this:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/educate-me-radiator-caps/124173/page1/#post2183187
If you notice in the above picture you can see how there's a vented radiator cap front and center in the Miata, and this tank is just for filling and its cap is sealed tight. Ah well, whatcha gonna do?
short story long, I ordered a weld on filler cap like this one:
When it gets here I'll have to cut off the current filler neck and replace it with this one
Good times
Sweet, it's nice to have the hero guy in the next town. I have one of those near me, but I haven't even tried to con him into bailing me out of my stupidity yet.
Also, this exchange makes me laugh because it happens so regularly in my house, sometimes with additional sentence enhancers :
The expansion tank arrived!
Mrs. Hungary: (reads invoice) "You don't own a '99 Miata..."
Me:
Mrs. Hungary: "oh god... (rolls eyes, puts part back in box)
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