The Acclaim Cometh
29 March 2006
Hood reinstalled
Well, I plunged into the world of working under a hood again this evening. My friend Richard came across the street for a few minutes and helped me hang it back on there; first time since the engine got swapped in several months ago.
I still have lots of work to do, as I mentioned, but a little bit here...a little bit there.... ¶ Wednesday, March 29, 2006 0 comments
I still have lots of work to do, as I mentioned, but a little bit here...a little bit there.... ¶ Wednesday, March 29, 2006 0 comments
26 March 2006
Repaired: brake lamps
Tonight I tackled figuring out why the brake lights stopped working. Well, as it turns out, it was because I had removed the wiring for them!
I had labeled two plugs (besides the 50-way connector) between the engine harness and the internal harness A and B. Well, "A" looked like it was just cruise control, so I removed it. Unfortunately, it was also the brake lamps as well.
Fortunately, I've hung on to every piece of wire and electrical component I've removed, so I was able to piece things back together again relatively easily.
This is how I envision a lot of the rest of the electrical/mechanical work going. I'm going to pick something off the list, work it until it's repaired, and then move on to the next thing. I need to flesh out the list a little more. It occurred to me tonight it's missing some things, like repairing the wiper linkage, that I didn't put down in the last blog entry. What I really need to do is sit down and put together a checklist. Maybe I'll get that done in the next few days.
I also sealed the steering column back up, putting the clamshell pieces that fit over and under the column and around the ignition lock. It's nice having all the steering-column related issues resolved! The steering wheel was replaced a month or so ago, so it's all ready to go now.
I'm finding evidence that this car was originally a 1991 model, instead of a 1992. The dashboard frame pieces all appear to be stamped with dates of manufacture that are sometime in November or December 1990. Also, I've found a tag under the carpet indicating that the supplier had prepared it for a 1991 model. It will be interesting to find out if removing a fender reveals a VIN number for a 1991 model. ¶ Sunday, March 26, 2006 0 comments
I had labeled two plugs (besides the 50-way connector) between the engine harness and the internal harness A and B. Well, "A" looked like it was just cruise control, so I removed it. Unfortunately, it was also the brake lamps as well.
Fortunately, I've hung on to every piece of wire and electrical component I've removed, so I was able to piece things back together again relatively easily.
This is how I envision a lot of the rest of the electrical/mechanical work going. I'm going to pick something off the list, work it until it's repaired, and then move on to the next thing. I need to flesh out the list a little more. It occurred to me tonight it's missing some things, like repairing the wiper linkage, that I didn't put down in the last blog entry. What I really need to do is sit down and put together a checklist. Maybe I'll get that done in the next few days.
I also sealed the steering column back up, putting the clamshell pieces that fit over and under the column and around the ignition lock. It's nice having all the steering-column related issues resolved! The steering wheel was replaced a month or so ago, so it's all ready to go now.
I'm finding evidence that this car was originally a 1991 model, instead of a 1992. The dashboard frame pieces all appear to be stamped with dates of manufacture that are sometime in November or December 1990. Also, I've found a tag under the carpet indicating that the supplier had prepared it for a 1991 model. It will be interesting to find out if removing a fender reveals a VIN number for a 1991 model. ¶ Sunday, March 26, 2006 0 comments
22 March 2006
It's ALIVE
After a million, bazillion little details, I finally had a decent run of the transplanted engine last night! I ran it long enough for it to get warmed up, and verified that the cooling fan operates when I disconnect the sensor on the front of the cylinder head.
It ran pretty crappy at first, lots of oil smoke from all the stuff I put into the cylinders to keep it from seizing again, but once the lifters all pumped up, it settled down into a nice idle, about as smooth as you can expect from a 2.2L turbo, anyway!
I did not hear any turbocharger whistle when I revved it, however I'm not sure that it's set up to do that when it's running in Neutral.
Naturally, all the paint burned off the turbocharger and exhaust manifold while it was running, causing a bit of smoke and making me shut it down and restart it a few times just to make sure I wasn't about to have an actual fire. The engine restarted easily each time after I shut it down, so I think I've got a good one!
There's still a lot of stuff that needs to be sorted out. I have to:
It ran pretty crappy at first, lots of oil smoke from all the stuff I put into the cylinders to keep it from seizing again, but once the lifters all pumped up, it settled down into a nice idle, about as smooth as you can expect from a 2.2L turbo, anyway!
I did not hear any turbocharger whistle when I revved it, however I'm not sure that it's set up to do that when it's running in Neutral.
Naturally, all the paint burned off the turbocharger and exhaust manifold while it was running, causing a bit of smoke and making me shut it down and restart it a few times just to make sure I wasn't about to have an actual fire. The engine restarted easily each time after I shut it down, so I think I've got a good one!
There's still a lot of stuff that needs to be sorted out. I have to:
- Resolve the issue I'm having with the gear selector not moving into Park from Reverse
- Try to figure out what happened to the heater control valve, and make sure there is vacuum going into the car to operate the blend doors. The heater control valve is called for in the vacuum diagram I have for the New Yorker, but I don't remember removing one from the car in the first place. It does look like there was a vacuum line teed off of the brake booster for one, however, so it might have been MIA from the very start.
- Get the transmission filled up once the gear selector issue is resolved.
- Figure out what to do about axle shafts. The ones that the guy who sold me the powertrain gave me have been damaged by a torch, like several other things that came with the engine. I can get used ones for $17.60 apiece from Parts Galore; I'm leaning toward that solution right now.
- Get replacement bushings for the anti-sway bar and reinstall it once the axle shafts are back in place.
- Get the hood reinstalled
- Put the under-dash area of the interior back together
- Figure out what became of the brake lamp wiring. Can't seem to find the plug under the dash that the pedal switch assembly attaches to. I might end up tracing the circuit from the fuse box to see where it went to.
- Put the steering column cover back together. The replacement ignition switch/tumbler assembly works perfectly, lucky score finding one at the salvage yard with the key in it. Now I'll have to have copies of the key made.
- Get the door lock tumblers changed out for the replacements I have. Since the car is now operable, theft becomes a concern.
- Install the radio I have for the car.
- Move on to the bodywork portion of the project. At a minimum, get the underbody damage aft of the front wheels repaired, fix the driver's front fender, fix the rust over the passenger rear wheel lip, various and sundry dent removal, find a solution for the rust in the bottom of the front door seams, fix the rusty quarter panel extensions aft of the rear wheels, and repaint. I'm really not too keen on taking the engine back out to change the color of the engine compartment, so I may just repaint it white. But we'll see.
