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Dirt cheap mods: my never ending struggle



Scottydoggs said:
use grey rtv, no gasket.
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Well Scotty, I'm glad I listened to you on this. Throttle body was indeed warped, but not as much as I thought it was! Verified with smoke machine and she's all good now! (and I don't have to pay for a tune!)

Best news of all though, I was still uneasy about the fuel pressure, so I picked up a acdelco one from the junkyard, popped it on, and wala! Fuel pressure around 48psi key on engine off and 57psi with engine running and vacuum removed!! Now my fuel trims are right around zero in park both ltft and stft! I go slightly positive (+2% on acceleration and -.75% on deceleration!!)

I think the coolest thing about this is that I found out some new stuff. So running a 10psi fuel pressure increase will boost your fuel trims by about -10%ltft, and that an overbored engine doesn't need a tune if run stock, and that a overbored engine doesn't affect fuel trims when run stock! Kind of cool stuff!

Anyways, now on to my pesky coolant leak.... :th_shakinghead1:
 
Scottydoggs said:
NICE. But id still tune it. but thats just me.
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I completely agree with you Scotty! But I'd like to have my own tuner and actual mods before I worry about it.

Right now, I need to address the coolant leak.

Also found out that my long start is due to leaking fuel pump check valve.... fml
 
Finally closed down the swimming pool hopefully for good! Had more rust under the paint then I was expecting. Sanded the whole thing smooth and painted with rustoleum (sorry, this was the only color I had lol). Leak was a dual one from spoiler and from poorly repaired damage that resulted in the seam sealer cracking. That and the taillight grommets were leaking. Hopefully I can have my trunk back with no mold. I'll have to grab some trunk carpet and cover to compete the fix. It'll be nice having a spare tire in there again!

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well, I never thought I'd be so excited about this, but for the first time in a month since changing my lower intake manifold gaskets, porting the coolant passage, and fixing the throttle body coolant blockoff that I haven't had to add 4oz or so of coolant every time I go to start it up in the morning!

Sucker didn't show a truly visible leak even with uv dye and passed the coolant pressure test! Turns out, it would only leak when it was really hot, and it weeped out the side cover under the throttle body and didn't drip, but traveled down to the exhaust manifold on the corner and burned off, but wasn't a big enough leak to smell like burning coolant really. I tried replacing the gasket, resurfacing both surfaces and checking with a machinist's straight edge, and still nothing!!!

Tried one last hurrah before replacing the entire lower intake manifold and had some rtv lying around, so I took the felpro paper gasket out, cleaned, and put the rtv on. Followed the instructions to the letter, and bam! First time not having to add coolant! Probably missed a few bubbles, but I'll be monitoring things for a few days. It'll be weird not to have to pop the hood every morning though...
 


Well, finally decided to check out the pump wine... someone had used transmission fluid instead of power steering fluid, so I had lots of fun changing that out... anyone else come across this?
 
wstefan20 said:
Well, finally decided to check out the pump wine... someone had used transmission fluid instead of power steering fluid, so I had lots of fun changing that out... anyone else come across this?
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Nothing wrong with that. I put a Saginaw (Chev) p/s pump in my Bronco and ran DEXIII for years.
 
Bronco Boy said:
Nothing wrong with that. I put a Saginaw (Chev) p/s pump in my Bronco and ran DEXIII for years.
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Hm. Probably just had some air in they system, plus it was probably time for a flush anyhow. It probably is safe to use, but I'd rather trust the sealing compounds of valvoline's synthetic power steering fluid personally. Probably just preference :)
 
Oh, I forgot to post this too... so after wasting way too much time running and passing compression tests, leak down tests, vacuum tests, etc. just to figure out that I don't have a head gasket issue, I finally found my oil leak....

It appears to be coming from the crankshaft front seal that I ironically just replaced when I rebuilt my engine. I chocked up the loss at first to the rings seating, but I'm at over 6000 miles since the rebuild, so I started to worry. Strange thing is that I didn't have a leak on my driveway so of course I jumped to the conclusion that I was burning it. :th_laugh-lol3:

So after I passed the tests with flying colors, I started to actually look for a problem. Found it pretty quickly. Oil has been leaking from behind the harmonic balancer and down into the engine mount "cradle". It only comes out of the cradle when I take turns while driving so that's why I'm not seeing a leak on my garage floor but noticing oil loss.

I've heard that the Felpro seal that I used is garbage and that I need to replace with the oem seal. And yes, the harmonic dampener is brand new along with the bolt and everything is torqued to spec. Any input on what I should buy is greatly appreciated! :)
 


that seal can chip and break when the balancer goes in, mine did. i think it was super old gasket kit i got.

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if you popped a new balancer on and used the old seal, its shaft may not be 100% the same as the old one and the old seal will no longer seal.
 
Scottydoggs said:
if you popped a new balancer on and used the old seal, its shaft may not be 100% the same as the old one and the old seal will no longer seal.
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Yeah. I swapped the balancer 3000 miles after installing a brand new felpro, so I'm a bit shocked. I'll have to see what it looks like when I remove it and post.
 


i got pretty good at it, was down to 15 minutes and its off, only cause i took it off 4 times, and had a air gun, used that on the puller too, just make sure the threads are coated in some anti seize stuff.
 
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