Farrar's car blog

[stevedmc]

I seriously wanna try the cigar thing.

It sounds like a really good idea, as long as you don't mind smoking.

I wonder if we could convince Scotty to buy a Delorean. It would be awesome having two "Bills" on DMCTalk.

[Farrar]

It sounds like a really good idea, as long as you don't mind smoking.

I used to smoke a pipe. I still have two pipes at home, but I haven't done anything with them in a while. They're probably no good anyway, but they do look pretty.

I bought a 99¢ cigar yesterday afternoon, so I am all set to do the test. I will remove the carburetor and seal the top of the intake manifold with duct tape, then cap off one of the manifold vacuum ports and stick a long hose on the other. After that I will be ready to do the test. All I need to do is find the time to do it, which is difficult this time of year.

I really do wish I could drive the car right now; when I walked out of the apartment this morning to go to work it was 68°F with low humidity -- perfect window-open driving weather, no need for air conditioning.

Farrar

[stevedmc]

Bill would be proud. You better fix that car soon. Our little shin dig is this Saturday.

If it makes you feel any better I am currently without AC as well. I messed up my crankshaft pulley pretty bad when I was taking off the nut that holds it. Fortunately the part that runs the water pump and alternator is fine but the AC section is whop sided like the tire on my bike.

[Farrar]

You better fix that car soon. Our little shin dig is this Saturday.

Oh, man, I forgot all about that!

Well, if I do have a vacuum leak around the intake manifold there is little I can do about it -- I put fresh O-rings under the manifold and tightened down the intake manifold's bolts as tight as I dare (the heads started rounding off). And don't forget, my oil leak is back so every time I drive the car it collects oil in the engine valley.

I have a gig Friday night (see video) but it should be over with by 10pm, which means I may be able to get a decent amount of sleep before Saturday morning's shin-dig.



Farrar

[stevedmc]

And don't forget, my oil leak is back so every time I drive the car it collects oil in the engine valley.

We can easily fix your oil leak if is due to a bad valve cover gasket.

Part # VS26090 is available from Autozone. They may have to special order it but if you go in the store today they should be able to have it for you by Friday. I ordered my set from Rock Auto and it was about $12.

It shouldn't take more than an hour to do the work and it would make a nice tech session repair.

[Farrar]

We can easily fix your oil leak if is due to a bad valve cover gasket.

No, it's the timing cover gasket -- too low to be the valve cover gaskets.

I have all three gaskets but haven't installed them yet.

Farrar

[stevedmc]

Shoot, it looks like I was wrong. A quick search of Autozone.com indicated it is no longer available. You could get the gaskets from Rock Auto though. They ship pretty dang quick.

Edit: I posted this too soon. Disregard what I said.


The timing cover gasket is a piece of cake once you get the crankshaft pulley off. We could do that for you Saturday as long as the nut easily comes off.

[Farrar]

The timing cover gasket is a piece of cake once you get the crankshaft pulley off.

In your case, yes... because you don't have a big muffler in the way like I do! On my car, I doubt I could get a wrench in there with sufficient torque to get the nut off. I was hoping I wouldn't have to get the timing cover off until I switched to dual exhaust...

Farrar

[stevedmc]

In your case, yes... because you don't have a big muffler in the way like I do! On my car, I doubt I could get a wrench in there with sufficient torque to get the nut off. I was hoping I wouldn't have to get the timing cover off until I switched to dual exhaust...

Farrar

Oh crap. I forgot about that. Well you better upgrade to Spec .01 by Saturday.

[Farrar]

Oh crap. I forgot about that. Well you better upgrade to Spec .01 by Saturday.

I am still not sure what I am going to do about my exhaust -- Houston's headers flow better so I would like to keep them, but they are beginning to rust, besides I am not sure they could be used for two mufflers because of their length. I will have to make some careful measurements the next time I have the car in the air. That work is a very long way off -- first vacuum leak, then air conditioning.

Farrar