Automotive Air Conditioning Information Forum (Archives)

Provided by www.ACkits.com

We've updated our forums!
Click here to visit the new forum

Archive Home

Search Auto AC Forum Archives

another episode with the HEI

mhamilton on Fri December 05, 2008 3:40 PM User is offlineView users profile

Year: 80
Make:
Model: Malibu

Kind of funny what happened this time. It had been working great sine I got those good springs from Mr. Bill. This last week I noticed the car was a dog on the highway, couldn't make it up the hills, terrible acceleration.

So, today I pulled out the timing light, wanted to see if the advance was sticking or what. I put it on, and was shocked to find no advance. Popped the cover, and I find that one of the weights jumped up over the other, binding it closed. Cleaned the dust off, put it back together, still advancing within spec. Go figure... with no advance, it didn't change off-the-line performance (what little there is) or mpg...

NickD on Sun December 07, 2008 8:58 AM User is offline

Memory tells me, only the springs hold those weights, but with only one brain cell left, can't count on it. The hooks on the eyes of the springs have to be tight so it takes both thumb nails to secure them in place, a small pair of needle nose pliers makes them that way. Yours is the first I ever heard of the springs coming loose.

I had a bad day yesterday, besides the car, and clearing the driveway, am suppose to be helping my wife decorate the house for Christmas, she volunteered to invite all of her co-workers here for a Christmas party. Son got us one of those two foot high all glass thermometers with floats on the inside that rise with temperature. For some reason, she put that on an end table in front where when I bent over, my butt his it loading the carpet with some kind of alcohol, had to clean up that mess. Glass bulbs were left on our tree form last year, I didn't see those, so more glass on the floor. While my wife always dreamed of having a real tree that we had the first year, she found she didn't like picking up millions of needles off the floor, so back to the artificial ones. I can get any kind of tree here for free with my chain saw, 300 bucks in Venezuela.

Then I dropped an 8 mm socket in my daughters car, can't find the darn thing, I had that socket for 50 years! Maybe I will find it. Also lost my wedding ring, should have taken it off first. Least I have all my fingers.

mhamilton on Sun December 07, 2008 9:59 AM User is offlineView users profile

I know how that goes... don't have a tree yet, and really don't care if we get one. Seems like just yesterday I had to drag all that stuff back up the attic, now supposed to bring it back down. Years ago would go all-out with decorations and lights outside... no more. Too cold to be up on a ladder hanging lights.

Oh yeah, I've done that before with the small sockets. Wanted to adjust my wipers, ended up dropping a 7mm down between the fender and firewall. A 2 minute adjustment turned into an hour removing the inner fender.

On the HEI, the springs didn't come loose, just the weight jumped up over the other weight, jamming it in place. Will see how it does. Could have happened on that trip west, with all those 3000 rpm hill pulls. The vibrations from 2nd gear could have easily rattled that out of place.

Speaking of which, I went to some ATRA trans shops for estimates on the 200. One guy I spoke with for half an hour, he's been in the business since before the 200 came out, said $850 and he'll make it like new. Another shop in Raleigh said starting at $800, but easily over $1000 depending on which hard parts have to go. But both have 1 year warranties. Haha, the one guy asked me if I was a mechanic... told him, no, I've just been working on this car for the last 10 years



NickD on Mon December 08, 2008 6:55 PM User is offline

Wife saw my son's Christmas tree decorated by my daughter-in-law, a lamp on every branch. He got those LED multi-colored lamps, C-6, they are very bright and only pull 10 ma off the line. We shopped for those, only found one box of Sylvania 100 LED lamps, but plenty of the single color. On sale for 11 bucks a box of 100, or about 11 cents each. So yesterday, wife and I spent the day pulling LED lamps out and plugging them in. They had sockets, not sure why, but we did that 500 times, talk about sore fingers. LED's fit in a plastic holder with the leads bend upward, learned quickly we had to spread those leads outwards to make good contact and really press in hard. But it's done, and hopefully the last time we will buy lights.

With our trip to Venezuela, wife let me off the hook this year for decorating the outside. Already had an icy rain topped with five inches of snow, and it's close to zero outside. That would be a job to use those roof hooks covered with ice.

Today was car working day on my daughters 98 ZX2, alternator is bad, was that a bare to get out, the bolt in the the tensioner pulley was stripped out, sure didn't want to remove that, but I found an 8-1.25 mm bolt, grade 8 in my junk box that was a quarter in longer and checked the depth of the hole to make sure it would take it. That found new virgin threads and is in solid and tight, then I could relieve the tension to remove the alternator after removing the reservoir so I could find it. One easy bolt on top, two nasty ones blocked by AC hoses in the bottom, mounted engine midway between the engine and the firewall with no place to move. One of the worse alternators I had ever removed. Not worth rebuidling, rotor is shot, so ordered a new one. That will be my daughters Christmas present this year, but still saving her about 900 bucks.

Have a feeling that Ford just does not care about their mechanics, tensioner was also mean to get at, with a little for an inch of clearance.

2005Equinox on Tue December 09, 2008 1:46 AM User is offline

Wouldnt it be better just to swap the 200 out and use a 350?

-------------------------
2008 Chevrolet Impala LS
1981 Pontiac Bonneville


2007 Sears Craftsman Lawn Tractor


1985 Chevrolet Caprice


1986 John Deere 165 lawn tractor

mhamilton on Tue December 09, 2008 9:36 AM User is offlineView users profile

The th350 would be a drop-in replacement, but the 200 is lighter and has lower 1 & 2 gear ratios. Better for use with the 2.4 axle ratio. I'll get something eventually... but for now will put up with harsh 1-2 shifts and using L1 when cold.

Oh, you went with those LED lights? I don't like those, personally; the color is too harsh. I've never even really been a fan of the miniature lights, I like my old C9 lights (not on the tree, use C7 for that). Though you can definitely watch the meter spin when you put a few dozen strings of those up. Still have nothing up this year. Maybe on the 23rd I'll shop for a tree... do someone a favor by taking one of the left overs.

Wow, that's a nightmare of an alternator replacement. Sounds as bad as the Northstar starter replacement (under the intake manifold). I thought I had it bad when I had to fix the Cub's regulator, had to reach two screws without seeing them.

NickD on Tue December 09, 2008 10:26 AM User is offline

Love affair with cars. When living in Round Lake, IL, my one neighbor, married, childless, and a conductor for the Milwaukee Road railroad purchased a 1933 Buick new. Would walk a mile and a half to the train station and back everyday, so his baby would never get dirty. But only used in on Sunday for church and grocery shopping. This went on for 22 years. On a Sunday afternoon, would help him clean it in his garage using pots of water.

His wife was after him to buy a new car, my other neighbor, a car dealer, found him an almost perfect 1950 Plymouth. Top value for his Buick was 50 bucks, just got my license and was setting pins averaging $2.50 an hour, after 20 hours, had enough to buy his Buick, car was like brand new. I can see why his wife didn't like it, wasn't nearly as careful and drove it in the snow. Heater was worthless, and no defrosts, needed to carry a rag with me. I didn't keep that car very long, another neighbor car's broke down and she needed transportation, so sold it to her for 50 bucks. That made my neighbor that sold me the car really happy, said I was a good boy, and said he was afraid I would rod his baby. But that wasn't the reason I got rid of it, ha, froze my butt off driving that thing, then the rags for the windshield.

Used the 50 bucks to by a really clean 48 Plymouth coupe from my Chrysler Plymouth dealer neighbor, but with a rod knock. He taught me how to sand the crankshaft round to install a new rod bearing. Got impatient by hand turning the crankshaft and got a stupid idea of hitting the starter, darn thing started when I just touched the button and threw that lose rod right through the block. That was dumb. Never did that again, but least learn now to disable the ignition system first. He really laughed at me, but found me a 1954 Dodge truck engine with only eight thousand miles on it and brought it home and helped me to install it, but it was back to the bowling ally to make another 65 bucks to pay for it.

Don't recall the displacement of those engines, but the Dodge engine was much larger giving that coupe a lot more pickup, was very pleased with that. But traded that off for a 49 Plymouth convertible. Just reminds me of the days when I had great neighbors, and cars were dirt cheap, but the love affair my one neighbor had with his Buick.

Do you know of anyone else that has a love affair with with an over twenty year old vehicle? LOL.

Yeah, the C-6's are amazingly bright, didn't have to, but I put a dimmer in an extension cord that my wife found to tone it down a bit. With the LED's, can dim them all the way down unlike CFL's. But heard dimable CFL are on the market now if you can afford to buy one.

Was unlucky with the alternator, a brush wire broke sending the spring into the slip rings grinding them to nothing, just said the heck with it, called a rebuilder friend for a replacement, should have it tomorrow. What I really need is a four car garage, I had to kick out our Cavalier. Typically, whenever I buy a snowmobile, or in this case, a new blower, it doesn't snow. But not this time, three major snow storms in three days, was out a 6:00 AM this morning blowing snow and dusting off the Cavalier, snow started with an icy rain, so it was coated pretty thick under that snow. New blower is nice, made mincemeat out of that huge pile the city put there for my Christmas present. Dang, while typing this, plow came by again, oh well, back out in the cold.

Is it against the law to shoot a snow plow operator?

2005Equinox on Wed December 10, 2008 1:36 AM User is offline

I have to do that in the morning too Nick. Got 2 snowblowers a big 9 horse Yardman that makes mincemeat out of about and snow there is. Then the new Toro single stage 5.5 horse with the R-Tek engine. Works well when I cant justify using the Yardman or on the back where the Yardman is a little big. My new Impala sits outside so Moms car and my 2 old cars can sit in. It can take it far better than leaving one of the old ones outside like somebody suggested I do. I wouldnt suggest shooting the snowplow driver. Such is life when they come by after you are done. Happens to me all the time.

-------------------------
2008 Chevrolet Impala LS
1981 Pontiac Bonneville


2007 Sears Craftsman Lawn Tractor


1985 Chevrolet Caprice


1986 John Deere 165 lawn tractor

NickD on Wed December 10, 2008 10:37 AM User is offline

Ha, it's not snow removal, but snow moving, from the road and 200 feet of ditch into my driveway. Taking a bit to get used to this much larger thrower, unlike by 325 John Deere, can pick that up with one hand and turn it, but this thing weights 230 pounds and doesn't even have a lifting handle on it.

I hooked up my power meter to our very bright Christmas tree with 540 LED lamps on it, full load is only 34 watts, but with the watchful eye of my wife, she likes 24 watts, still plenty bright, lights up the entire room and using the same power as three of those old 7.5 watt bulbs. This is a major improvement, and according to Sylvania, lamps should last 200,000 hours.

Hoping that alternator comes in today so I can get my garage stall back, had to scrape the ice off the windshield and run the engine for 15 minutes this morning before leaving. A bit apprehensive on the installation of that alternator, took me five minutes of fooling around when it was loose to find the right combination to squeeze it out of that small space. Going down is hopeless, steering rack, stabilizer bar, suspension, no way. AC, power steering lines, the firewall, and the intake manifold are in the way from the top side. My carpal tunnel is still acting up, doc said wearing that night splint should get rid of it, but I am a stubborn SOB when it comes to getting things done, see what happens. One my hand is down in that hole, can't get the other hand down with it to position it, maybe I will tie a rope to it.

HECAT on Wed December 10, 2008 4:18 PM User is offline

Quote
Originally posted by: NickD
maybe I will tie a rope to it.

R & D on a new installation tool design idea?

-------------------------


HECAT: www.hecatinc.com You support the Forum when you consider www.ackits.com for your a/c parts.

FLUSHING TECHNICAL PAPER vs2.pdf 

NickD on Wed December 10, 2008 9:22 PM User is offline

I got it back together, checked out the complete electrical system, thank goodness, a transient only blew out a fuse in the radio, but had to pull the radio to change it, an Alpine, time to take a long hot shower so I turn pink again, blue is not my favorite body color, and go to bed.

Back to Off Topic Chat

We've updated our forums!
Click here to visit the new forum

Archive Home

Copyright © 2016 Arizona Mobile Air Inc.