After doing some thinking I have decided to scrap the cheap ebay headers and get a name brand. A couple of reasons, one being I really do not like how close the cheapies are to the HVAC even after the bashing I gave it. Second I am hoping I can still find a set with the A.I.R. plumbing on them. Third I do not like the loss of flow on the bashed in tube, if I wanted poor flow I could have just used the stock exhaust manifolds. I am just trying to get this right the first time.
I wouldn't worry about flow, it won't effect it enough to notice.
I'm sure someone will be along shortly to link you to the engine masters episode, if not, I'll do it when i get home.
Ok if flow is not a problem being less than 1/8" away from the plastic AC box is. Call me spoiled but I want to retain the AC system. Whether it is 90 deg with 90% humidity or as the wife keeps talking, it is the 100+ temps of the southwest I want AC for those times. Also I think it is worth it to get the smog plumbing back.
Stressful at work only 1 week left before vacation and everyone want their projects done before I go. I did not get anything done on the 'bird but did clean up the DD to get it ready for sale after I get back. On Sunday I watched the IRL race. I was suprised by all the rookies in the race. It also looks like IRL got the car set up to provide some real racing. After the race I managed to get some ambition up and worked on getting the trans in. It is in place and I have te 4 lower screws in. Trying to line up all the stuff for the upper 2 is not going well.
Hi folks. Back from vacation. The drive home was a pain, but other than that it was a good vacation. Anyway to the subject. I tried to finish mounting the trans, as you might remember I left the 2 top bolts out. Got the drivers side in ok but the passenger side screwed me. I was having trouble lining up both the tans dip stick and the wiring harness mount, with the dip stick giving me the most trouble. I ended up pulling the grommet/seal out with the dip stick and cannot get the dip stick out far enough to ge the seal off to re-install everything. So I need to pull the trans back out (I REALLY HATE going backwards) get the dip stick out, put in a new seal, preposition the one top screw in both the dip stick and the trans and cut the end out of the wiring harness out so I can slip it over the screw. probably a whole weekend to fix because in the process I spilled a lot of fluid on the floor and really need to bolt up the rear cross member and move the car to clean it up before crawling under to do all of that. On top of that I need to go car shopping for a DD as I just sold mine and I am driving my Jeep Liberty which gets bad gas mileage. With a lack of proper potential vehicles near me I need Saturday to go far a field to find what I want.(coupe, auto trans, no more than 120000 mi and under $4k). In other news I pulled the trigger on the different headers and exhaust($900.00 worth). The exhaust and converter will be here this week, still waiting on an estimate of how long for the headers.(hopefully not to long a wait.)
Ok no progress on the 'bird. I did find a DD. 06 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT. Going to be expensive on gas as it takes premium and around here that is $1.00 more than regular. I also hat to put tires on it right away as the PO like to find the curb with the tires and rubbed the sidewall on the right side really bad. I had to run out one Thanksgiving weekend to change a tire on my stepdaughters Explorer because of the same thing. Any way the Eclipse is a lot more fun to drive than the Sunfire was. I am expecting the Headers tomorrow and better weather next weekend (I had highs only in the 30's here all weekend) so I should get at least 1 day in if not 2. Well I will see how it goes as no plan works once the enemy is engaged.
Finally a warm weekend. I bolted up the rear trans mount, tied the drive shaft to the torque arm and put the front wheel on moved the car back and cleaned up the trans fluid. Then I pushed the 'bird back in and got it back up on jack stands. I proceeded to pul the trans out got the dip stick re-oriented with a new grommet and have the trans back in with the bottom 4 screws in and the 1 in position holding the dip stick in place. I also cut the end out of the wiring harness bracket so I can just slip it over the screw, the next time I get working on it. I have the new headers, cat and exhaust. I am not looking forward to sanding the paint off the headers and re-coating them with a high heat paint but unless I want them to rust out quickly(something the manufacture does not cover in the lifetime warranty) it needs to be done. I will probably use VHT flame-proof paint and bake it on in the car. Since it is now warm out and I don't need to spend a lot of time getting ready to brave the elements, I will probably spend more time out in the garage during the week after work(at at least til the wife start to complain about the amount of time I am spending on my "girlfriend")
I've recently become a bit intrigued by these cars after reading about how low their Cd is.
Do you have any pics of the car itself to freshen our memories? The photos from the earlier posts are dead.
Good work so far and good luck with the work to come!
damen
I will see if I can upload some of the earlier pics. Is there any in particular your looking for or just a general over view of the car?
Ok here are some of the early pics:
OK some progress. I finally got the trans bolted up properly. Before I did that I got all the blasted grounds the attach to the back of the heads gathered up and attached to a large wire I intend to run right to the battery to insure a good ground. So after bolting up the trans, torque arm and drive shaft I took on the passenger side header. Pulled out the wires, wire loom and plugs and pulled the right header. Now is where the fun starts tried to get the Hedmann header in and it would not fit. The #6 primary tube again, it was hitting the heater return line and after checking distances I would have to either dimple the header or the structural part of the unibody to make them fit. Thinking time again.(please excuse all the smoke) I decided I would rather spend some more time banging away on $150.00 headers with no warranty than the $500.00 set that would void the warranty. So to the hardware store to get a new handle for the yard sale ball peen that broke the last time I wailed on the cheap headers. Got the hammer fixed and beat and squashed the old header in to submission to get around 1/4" clearance I was looking for. Reassemble headers, plugs wire loom and wires. So I need to do an AIR pump delete and re program the computer so it won't turn on the valve to direct air to the manifolds(mentioned somewhere on thirdgen.orgs DIY programming forum) and will also do a cat delete also so I do not burn the car down with a red hot cat. Ok that hurdle is done just need to modify the craigslist Y pipe to fit the headers an fab up a pipe to replace the cat, should not be a major problem as I have been repairing exhaust for over 4 decades and I get to work with virgin material. So having time I decided to tackle the accessories on the front of the engine. Start with the left side power steering and alternator. Notice there is very little room for the fuel lines to run, so I attack the fuel lines. Find out the 3/8" supply line I can't get a tight enough turn to route the same as the return line. Remember I am using the old lines for the TBI set up and trying to carefully re bend. Long story short the 3/8" line ends up snaking by the belt(first try had the line needing to be disconnected to install the belt) and through the mount for the alternator and power steering and will need a union as I can't snake it in place in 1 piece. So that is where I am now.
Dude that ground from the back of the passenger head sucks to get to
These cars don't mind big hammers, that's for sure
Ok I almost have the fuel line sorted out just need to attach the ends to the bracket I made.
I will get a couple of rubber lined clamps to attach the lines to the bracket.
Next I repaired the lower fan mount as I broke it one of the times I was climbing in and out of the engine compartment when fitting the engine and trans.
I had plans to get more work done but as with all of us life gets in the way. Getting the lawn mowed and clearing some trees and doing Maintenance on the other vehicles. I will try to get more work done but we'll see what happens.
Something I forgot mention since I am not going to run the AIR pump I either need to come up with a dummy pulley or see if a shorter belt will work. I thought of a third option when looking at the pump. I will disassemble it remove the vanes(i think it is just a centrifugal vane pump) and put it back together to use as a dummy.
cool project. keep banging away at it. the world needs more 3rd gen Fbody.
Located some galvanized sheet metal and made some line hold downs for the fuel lines. Then I had an idea I should leak test the lines, so I hot wired the pump and found that one of the compression fittings leaks. I will need to get another 3/8" ferrule/compression sleeve and try again. Hopefully it was just a bad ferrule.
I have the fuel leak cured, I replaced the ferrule and it cured it. I also got to installing the rest of the accessories and found a belt routing that looks like it will work with just leaving out tha AIR pump entirely. I just need to make a spacer to fill the gap where the top bolt goes through the AIR pump and screws in to the head. I also installed the radiator and fan.
I been fighting a head cold all week and did not get much done despite best intensions. I did look over my belt solution and decided I do not have enough engagement of the belt around the crank pulley, so I will be gutting the AIR pump and using the stock belt routing.
You could convert to 1987 accessories but that would be a ton of work. And you'd need a different alternator.
zordak said:I had plans to get more work done but as with all of us life gets in the way. Getting the lawn mowed and clearing some trees and doing Maintenance on the other vehicles. I will try to get more work done but we'll see what happens.
Story of my life. LOL
I'd consider swapping those rivets for some steel ones. Those aluminum ones won't last long in a high vibration environment.
The rivets are steel just the sheet metal is aluminum. I took the AIR pump apart and it uses a offset pin to move the vanes in and out, neat design but will require a special tool to take apart. So change of plans again I will make an idler and just use the pulley. pics when I get it done. Again life is getting in the way I needed to swap the tires on my little lawn tractor( the side of the tires are cracked almost all the way around). I got the fronts done easily enough, but i couldn't get the rears off. One piece with a keyed hole on a keyed shaft, tight fit and rust. need to drill a couple of holes and use a puller to get them off.
I got some work done today. I was able to make this:
I got it installed and hooked up the trans cooler lines and radiator hoses. I crawled under and started to look at the exhaust. It is going to be a slow careful process to get the Y pipe to work.
I have did some more little things when I had time this weekend. The cooling system has been buttoned up and started to fill with antifreeze. I move the charcoal canister to the right side and found a new position for the cruise control so I could mount the battery on the left side. This makes more room for the air cleaner and intake piping. I need to make a couple of risers for the cruise control but that shouldn't be a problem.
I moved the charcoal canister over another couple inches to make more room for the air filter. I have run a hard line and extended the wiring for it, so that is done. I have started to re-work the wiring in the engine compartment. Just one or two at a time after work. The coil is done and I have located the plug for the MAT sensor and found out I needed to raid the other wiring harness. The MAT sensor is under the upper plenum and GM used a pig tail so you can hook it up easily but the plug on each end is different and the plug on the TBI hooks straight into the sensor, so I need to change it.
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