Assorted ramblings and bolt-ons with Daniel and George

[Keiths1976]

How did u make out with the oil filter housing ac compressor

[Duke George V]

How did u make out with the oil filter housing ac compressor

After getting the headers, I got an adapter off of a Skylark. Turns out that it would not solve the problem, even by turning it 180 degrees. I need to try and find the Malibu adapter the engine came with, or get one from the yard. Hopefully my initial assessment (that it would put the filter in interference with the subframe) was incorrect. For the time being, I do not have air conditioning. This is unfortunate, since summer has arrived in Las Vegas.

[Duke George V]

Those of you who have been following this build may recall a dilemma I've been facing for some time: air conditioning. I am currently attempting to survive another Las Vegas summer without it. Here's why.

The original AC compressor is incompatible with the LX9. The mounting points are all wrong. I found a compressor that mounts correctly, specified for a 94-98 V6 N-body, and has the ports for the refrigerant hoses in the correct location to bolt the stock hoses on. However, the oil filter interferes with the hoses. I went to the yard (when I found those headers) and got a filter adapter off of a Skylark, in the interest of moving the filter out of the way of the hoses. That ended up putting the filter even more in the way.

Then I found this: https://www.amazon.com/Transdapt-135.../dp/B000N8GTJ0

It's a remote filter adapter. Just put it wherever I want! I imagine I will need two of them, some fittings and oil cooler hose in the right size, to make it work. Anyone wanna brainstorm with me about where to locate it?

[Keiths1976]

Honestly Daniel is put in in the passenger fender well near the bumper under the evap canister and keep it simple and short hoses or close to the horn there is a good support near there

[Duke George V]

Hi. George broke down today, in the most George way possible: the smallest part ground the entire operation to a complete halt. It had to be dragged back home by my other car.



Here we see George in his natural habitat: occupying the parking spot of shame in the street.

Here we see the problem.


To the untrained eye, there might not be anything amiss. The missing part: the 7x trigger wheel that used to be bolted to the crank pulley, which is necessary for the engine to run. It fell off today.

It's probably going to be a little while before I can get another one. So tomorrow I'm going to have to put on my big boy underoos and do some work on the yellow sedan to make it worthy of my daily commute.

This shit always seems to happen right after I fill the tank with gas too.

[Keiths1976]

Think mike can get u another my friend ?

[mthew_m]

Yeah, that crank position sensor behind the harmonic balancer is an absolute pain, we had to do it in the parts car. Well, actually, we didn't - it was actually the other crank position sensor hanging off the back of the block that took about 3 minutes to change, but, oh well. At least they're both fresh!

But, this is on the LX9, correct? I'm assuming it's a similar pain in the rear, though.

[Duke George V]

The crank trigger is necessary to run the LX9 on the Century's stock computer. The LX9 uses a different trigger attached to a crank journal, so I would need to use the LX9 wiring and PCM otherwise. The external trigger uses the L82's stock 7x sensor, which, as you say, used to be in the block on the firewall side, but it's there on the left in that photo. Milzy's kit came with a mounting bracket for the sensor.

Mike is a bit flaky about sending parts out in a timely fashion. It took multiple phone calls over the course of a few weeks for him to send everything out to me. So I got a hold of a Canadian fellow through Facebook who has made a few. Lower price, better reliability (the hub is fully welded).

Fun fact: the engine will run perfectly fine without the 24x sensor (the one behind the balancer). I managed to bend the reluctor on the balancer when either pulling or installing it during the swap, but it still ran well. I believe it controls the "sequential" portion of the fuel injection. Without it, the computer runs in batch fire mode, like the old gen 2 MFI engines.

[mthew_m]

Fun fact: the engine will run perfectly fine without the 24x sensor (the one behind the balancer). I managed to bend the reluctor on the balancer when either pulling or installing it during the swap, but it still ran well. I believe it controls the "sequential" portion of the fuel injection. Without it, the computer runs in batch fire mode, like the old gen 2 MFI engines.

Hey, that's good to know! Would have saved us a ton of time getting the parts car running (we only found out about the existence of the 7x sensor on the firewall block after replacing 24x sensor on the crank. )

How's the oil filter relocator holding up? We'll almost certainly be doing something similar on the 3100 in the racecar - not to move it (probably), but just a sandwich plate to add a cooler in.

[Duke George V]

I have not purchased the relocator yet. That will need to happen in the near future though, since, as I said above, it's needed so I can get the air conditioning running again in this car.

[Duke George V]

Regarding the 7x crank trigger: The ring broke off the hub. It was held on by a couple of tack welds. The replacement I have lined up will be fully welded all the way around the hub. Milzy is on backorder, so I ended up getting it from a dude in Canada that runs the Mod Everything Youtube channel. It should be in the mail on Monday.


Now I would like everyone to give a big warm welcome to the newest member of my shitbox fleet:


Those of you with a keen eye will note that this is NOT an A-body. It is, in face, a J-body! 2004 Cavalier. My uncle gave it to me. It has problems, chief among them an overheating issue that occurs within a few minutes of starting up. He had the head gasket redone about a year ago, so I hope it's not that. There's oil in the coolant, so it probably is that.

Here is a pile of suspension parts I'm going to throw at both the sedan and the wagon.


The wooden crate at the back is a JEGS 80617 spring compressor. I will now be able to assemble my own struts! The red box is an oil filter relocator. The oil filter is in the way of the refrigerant hoses in the wagon, so once I slap that on, I should be able to have AC in the wagon again. Summer is on its way in Vegas, so that will be nice.

Gotta make room for the Cavalier though. It's a bit of a mess in the garage...




Cleaning in progress.






This is where most of the junk is going:


I will be pushing the Cavalier in, then getting started on the interior. My uncle owned it for something like seven years and I don't think he once cleaned it. Probably gonna end up throwing the whole interior away and getting (hopefully) decent stuff from the junkyard. Some Z24 seats would be cool.

[CorvairGeek]

Let us know how the strut compressor works.

[Duke George V]

Seven years into this car, and I arrive largely back where I started. An engine, two transmissions, three sets of suspension and front brakes, and a partridge in a pear tree.



Today's travails encompass a misfire so bad, the PCM doesn't even notice it. It's been getting worse over the course of the week, culminating in stalling at idle, hard bucking under acceleration, and random coughs when cruising. I've been through the fuel system a couple times, so I'm sure it's not that. If, say, the fuel filter were clogged, it would just make shit for power, not shit itself at random.

I picked up a multimeter to test the ignition coils. GM waste spark coils are known for being pretty durable, to the point that even L67 guys usually don't think twice about sending them on high HP builds. You can get some from MSD, but I can't justify $54 each just because they're red. The resistance range for GM coils is 5k to 8k ohms. All three were right around 6k. I then pulled the module and had it tested. It tested fine.

So I'm scratching my head in the Autozone parking lot. Coils ohm'd out fine, module tested fine, the 7x trigger wire wasn't dragging on the axle like last time, fueling was fine. Time to actually check spark, the hard way. I pulled the plug wire off the post of the 1-4 coil while it was running, and there was hardly any spark at all. Limped it home, slammed on another coil from the pile I have laying on the garage floor, and all is well. Saved me the trouble of pulling the intake to test the injectors.

George be doin' me like this though. Just coming up with ways to cause me anxiety. I'm going to have to replace the driver's side axle AGAIN because the outer boot split AGAIN. STILL don't have air conditioning, turn signals are non-op. I'm really starting to consider getting a roller skate with AC to commute with. As much as I love this car, it's really getting to me these days. Anyone wanna loan me ten grand?

[Duke George V]

Lots of nonsense has been occurring. Cliff's notes:

?Bought a truck for $500, working AC, bad knock. Drove it for three days, it popped. Probably broke the crank; starter spins freely.
?Wagon making a noise from the transmission. Two of three torque converter bolts have fucked off. Remaining bolt was on its way out the door, and has wallowed the hole in the flexplate. Need to replace the flexplate.
?Yellow sedan needs driver's side axle replaced. Clamp on inner boot gone, grease flung everywhere. Due to ruined transmission mounts.

I'm in triage mode here. I will be spending next weekend under the sedan.

It's me, I am the previous owner.

[Duke George V]

All right. So.

It's been a patchy few weeks recently. Summer has arrived in Las Vegas yet again, and with it, the ignition troubles I experienced last summer with the yellow sedan. 40-45 minutes of perfectly normal driving, stall, no/terrible restart. Takes three hours for it to return to normal. I've changed the coils and ignition module to no avail, which just leaves the crank position sensor. This being a batch fire engine, there is only one crank sensor with no redundancy, so when the CKP fails, the party is over right now. The Buick CKP is behind the balancer on an adjustable bracket which I will not fuck with, so I'm going to have to hire someone to do it for me.

There's also the failing starter to consider. And the ruined transmission mounts, which have broken the clamp off the inner CV boot on the driver's side axle. This car is a pile of miserable deferred maintenance.

And the wagon. After the adventure a couple months ago of having to order a new external crank trigger from a dude in Canada, it started making some unusual noises from the transmission. It wasn't internal, that much was for sure.


Here we have one (1) torque converter bolt. This car uses three (3) of them to secure the converter to the flexplate. I found this one in the driveway. Those with a keen eye will note the absolutely munged threads. Past Daniel was an entire clown and did not put thread locker on these bolts when installing the rebuilt transmission last time. So now the holes in the flexplate are wallowed out. Which means I will have to replace the flexplate. Which means the drivetrain has to come out. Again.

At least I have a kitty to comfort me.


So I should probably address at least SOMETHING on the yellow sedan, right? The transmission is a sloppy bitch, so let's service it. Need some shade to do that though. Garage is brimming with automotive garbage.



And also non-automotive stockpiling. I accept no shame for this. I have five (5) women in this house.


Tight quarters.


Cavalier needed to move out of the way. The key I had made at the dealer (computer cut based on VIN) did not open the passenger door, but did open the trunk. So I used the jack to slide the rear over enough to open the driver's door.

Much better.



Shady.



Car sat for a while. I don't know.


Twenty goddamn bolts later... I was a smart fellow though, and bought a Dorman trans pan with a drain plug. No mess this time! The magnet was fairly hairy, but the fluid wasn't orange like last time. Refilled with 4 quarts of fluid and 4 bottles of Lucas. The Lucas doesn't seem to have helped the awful 1-2 shift. >