Service stories

April 9-10, 2000

I had to drive 60 miles to my grandparent's place, because that's my nearest chance to get under the car along with some decent tools. The car worked like a charm for the whole trip, which is a bit uncommon straight after a whole winter long storage...

Finally arrived at the garage and waiting for the folks to come home so I can get the keys. Quite a bit of snow still left.

A while later, over the grease pit. The ugly hulk on the right is supposed to become a Peugeot 205GTI in the unknown future.

Look at what else I have to put up with while competing for access to that grease pit! These funny little bathtubs belong to my uncle; the Triumph TR-4 has been restored completely, while the Jaguar XJS ragtop is waiting for a transplant. It's had an engine fire, and isn't registered in Finland, meaning $$$ before it ever sees the road again.

Here are the new brake hoses which have eagerly awaited installation since last year, as well as my shiny new 5/8" flare nut wrench, $20. Grrrr....

The right side front brake hose soaking in penetrating oil prior to attempted removal. At this point I was still dreaming about doing the job without removing the wheels (I had never done that before, so I feared it to be a big chore, which it wasn't, and the rest of the job was so much easier. I was glad to find rust free wheels under the hubcaps).

And here is the fixture for a rear brake hose, with the holders removed. The aforementioned tool wasn't actually of much use -- the old hoses came loose from the wheel cylinders quite easily and the suprisingly the bleeding screws were a breeze too, but I would've needed a smaller flare nut wrench for the brake line nuts at the other ends of the hoses, which you see here. Even with heat and penetrating oil, only one of them came loose without using vise grips. It'll be time for new nuts (and brake lines) the next time I need to remove these...

Yours Truly installing the rear wheel after successfully replacing the last hose. Yes, I'm using jack stands, and no, the jack isn't about to roll over the edge -- it just looks that way...

After an easy brake bleeding job and a test drive with a nice hard pedal and seemingly great brakes, it was off to the next task, getting rid of the old exhaust and installing the new one... Here you can see the rear part of the old exhaust (note missing resonator) as well as the eternally disgustingly oily rear axle; I'm not looking forward to replacing the pinion shaft seal. It only leaks a quart per summer...

The front part of the old exhaust was pretty easy to remove; it had been loose the previous summer when I tried to fix the Y-pipe by welding the seam. Installing the new parts wasn't too hard, either...

[I mercifully leave out the section where I decided I was short of time and tried to leave the old exhaust downstream the muffler in place until I get the car inspected -- the old pipes were of smaller diameter, meaning that I couldn't get the joint tight at the new muffler, but the U-bolt had already squeezed the muffler enough that the new tube wouldn't go in it, either. After a few hours of sweat, cursing, and liberal use of the ol' angle grinder etc by me and my uncle who couldn't stay away despite the F-1 Grand Prix currently underway on TV, cut back to the scene...]

Here is the front part of the new exhaust. It fit pretty much perfectly, including the intermediate pipe. Here I was glad I didn't try to be cheap with the parts -- the intermediate pipe is in such a tight spot between the floor pan and the frame that I'd suppose anyone trying to bend one from tube this wide (2 1/4") without a model would have big trouble getting a rattle free result.

Here you can see the heat riser valve (on the LEFT manifold, note CML! :-). People may have told you it's fragile, and believe me, they are right. I was merely squeezing the gaskets on the sides of it with exhaust paste in between, and the bloody thing broke in half in my hands at the valve shaft! Lacking means of manufacturing a "dummy" valve from thick steel, I just sealed the cracks with exhaust paste and jammed the valve into open position at the same time. The valve is not important in a summer car anyway. The result seems to be tight enough.

And here is the rear part, along with the resonator. This was the only place where the new exhaust didn't quite fit (without me screwing it up) -- as you can see, it is slightly out of line. I had to fabricate a new hanger to keep the resonator from rattling against the frame or the gas tank.

Now the car is ready for a test drive! It still is nowhere near quiet -- I guess the right manifold end is leaking a bit, and now the noise from the rotten choke heater tube in the intake manifold can be heard as well.

There's a nice low rumble on the back of the car when it's idling -- I guess the new tubes are wider than original, and the resonator might be more "flow-through" as well. In conclusion, now the car sounds like a big V-8 instead of a VW Buggy, and I'm happy. Until I get fed up with the wind noise from the badly deteriorated window weatherstripping...

And all this took only 11 hours straight. Next day, it was off to the inspection...

Whee! 99E+ premium with lead substituting additives for a mere $4.10/gal! An offer I just couldn't refuse...

I'm next. This is sooo exciting (I couldn't legally drive the car anywhere but to and from the garage until it passed)... Anyway, the car passed without an incident. The brakes actually were great -- the Caddy jumped off the dynamometer rolls twice while the inspector was trying to get the readings for the parking brake... The bad part is that the inspection was only good for the last year, so I have to do it again after August. But until then, it's cruising time!

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