Your well on your way, all you lack is finishing up...

 

After a LOT of degreasing, cleaning with mineral spirits and Simple Green, and then wire brushing, the fan got a dose of POR Metal Prep and a couple of coats of their gloss black Topcoat. I found the POR Topcoat too glossy to match anything else under the hood, so this seemed like a good use for it. The fan looks very slippery now, even though I didn't go to any lengths to make the paint super smooth.
I didn't do anything to the fan clutch beyond cleaning and degreasing, and it cleaned up pretty well with a lot of brushing and then spraying with brake cleaner. Those fins were holding a multitude of dirty sins. The lighting in the photo makes it look like the stamped original part numbers got cleaned away, but they are all still there, and actually easier to read than before. You just can't see them well from this angle. I did replace the rusty fan-to-clutch bolts and lock washers with new ones.

The clutch flange and shaft had a lot of surface rust but no pitting, so I coated them with Loctite rust converter which left them a nice 'old steel' color and rust-free.





Interestingly enough, the FSM says that if the fan clutch will be stored for more than 5 days it should be stored face down to prevent the damping fluid from leaking out (presumable around the shaft seal on the back side). This one may be stored for 5 weeks before I put it back on, so I placed it face down on some newsprint. After a couple of days like that I had a small wet spot on the spring coil, so it's now stored standing up until it's ready to be reinstalled.

 

I think I have a long way to go before I'm finished. Every time I touch something to make it look or work better, whatever's next to it looks worse. MAW, MAW, MAW...

 

You might want to be careful, I've seen these little projects move into a full frame off...

 

Like this air cleaner housing...



As much as I subscribe to the idea that "It's only original once" and hesitate to attack something like this, ultimately there's no way I could leave it this way...

So I spent about two hours just on the cover, removing the old decal, a lot of dirt and rust, and prepping it for new paint. After all the washing, brushing, and scraping, I coated it with Loctite Extend. Once that was dry, I hand sanded to smooth everything and sprayed it with 2 coats of POR 15 gloss Topcoat. Once that's dry I'll sand it out and spray it with something to match the original gloss. I think I have something that will work well.

But now it's Christmas morning, so I'll just wish the CO crew a Merry Christmas, and hope that Santa has brought everybody exactly the new tools and parts they were hoping for!!

John

 

Very true Eric, and I think you've been known to encourage things like that. This did, after all, start out with a quick A/C system recharge... Hopefully Santa Claus has left me a new anti-MAW helmet.

 

Only the logical ones... I've been lucky, I've escaped the affliction myself.

 

A quick question. Did you have your balancer rebuilt or did you source one new

 

Copper:
I considered getting the old one rebuilt or even just sleeving the hub and reusing it, but ultimately decided on a new Dayco balancer from Rock Auto. After shipping, it appeared that rebuilding the old one would be almost double the cost of the new one.

 

Do you still have the part number ????? my balancer needs a rebuild but m rotating assembly was already balanced to it so im gonna have to match the balancer wheight. I want it as close as possible so hopefully i dont have to drill into it to shave wheight

 

The part number for the Dayco is PB1147N. From Rock Auto, it was just over $60 delivered, but I think I remember noticing that the price went up right after I ordered mine.

 

still cheaper than a rebuild.

 

Remember that ugly air cleaner housing? Actually, I never thought it looked all that bad until other things around it were getting refreshed and replaced... and I was reluctant to do anything about it since it was all original and had never been messed around with. But it was just bugging the heck out of me.
It took what seemed like forever to get all of the old decal off of the cover, and I was a little sad to see it go... What was left of it, at least.

But now the thing looked incredibly ugly.

 

It's looking a little more proud now.



I have a new decal for it, but I want to let the paint cure for at least a couple of days before messing with it.

I used DupliColor Engine Enamel I picked up locally -- I think every auto parts store carries it. This is the gloss sheen, which I decided was as close to the original sheen as I could find without custom mixing paint and spraying it with my HVLP rig. It's not as glossy as most gloss paints, and actually not far off from the original gloss level.

I think I now have about 10 cans of different brands and sheen levels of black paint. Out of all of them, this was the closest match.

 

My next goal was to put the power steering brackets, pump, and reconditioned pulley back onto the engine. But before I put things back together, I wanted to freshen up the PS brackets, so they had to come out.

When I moved the PS pump out of the way to work on the front of the engine, I had left it connected but set it aside nudged into a space between the battery and alternator, and held it from moving or falling with some coated wire. However, when I did that, it put enough stress on the PS return hose that it started leaking at the steering box end. Clearly that hose, or at least the pinch clamps, were failing, so replacement of those items was added to the to-do list.

Since they were right there in front of me, MAW remove, clean and freshen up the alternator brackets...

 

Of course, those brackets were hiding a lot of ugliness.



I'm still not certain where all of that oil and crud came from. Some of it may have been power steering fluid at one time. The back part of the valve cover has stayed reasonably clean. I've had a suspicion that the valve cover was leaking, and retorqued it last year when I changed the plugs and didn't notice any new oil around the edges.

This took a good little while to clean up, and I wish I could do a better job of it, but it's a a real chore to clean without steam, degreaser, and a water hose... but it's a big improvement, at least.



Of course, now the valve cover is just a few minutes from being removed, and I do have a new set of valve cover gaskets, so you know what that means. MAW's are piling up.

 

I know just enough about suspensions to get myself into trouble, so here's a question for you steering and suspension gurus. In those pictures above, you can see a steering linkage joint with a big rubber cushion or seal. It's right off the end of the Pitman arm, and if I'm not totally stupid, it should be the end of the driver's side tie rod. The rubber is practically new, but it looks to me like the joint is not pulled together as much as it should be, but I can't say I know what it should look like. The steering on this car is not very tight at all. I thought I'd check the steering box preload, but before I do, I'm wondering if this is an probable issue. Any opinions?

 

The part that connects to the pitman arm is the center/drag link. It has a tapered end similar to the tie rod ends. The other side of the link attaches to the idler arm on the passenger side.

 

Thanks, Eric.
The only reference I found for this is from one of the parts manuals. In this illustration, the center/drag link is what they're calling the "Relay Rod", correct? The red arrow should be pointing at the joint I'm referring to in the photographs.
I'll have to crawl under the car to see if I can move it around, but does it look loose in the photograph, or is it supposed to be like that? Looking at the parts manual drawing, unless there's a lot of wear, it would appear impossible for there to be much (if any) play in the joint, but how do I know if it's correctly tightened, and would there be any obvious symptoms if it wasn't?

 

The red arrow is pointing to the inner tie rod end. Those ends twist to keep the tie rods from binding are self aligning. The 2 ends on the drag link rotate only within the pitman and idler arm. If there is side to side play in the drag link ends or in and out play in the tie rods they are bad. There should not be any play in the tapered joint parts. All rotation is in the socket areas within the forged portion of the parts.

 

Got it. Thanks Eric. When I looked at the joint from directly above I could see light between the rubber and the joint itself, which doesn't seem right. I'll check things out.

 

So I took off the driver's side valve cover, which was so stuck it had to be pried off the head. I was not expecting this, and was not happy about what I saw:



The sludge is everywhere. I have a couple of reasons to believe that the heads and even the valve covers have never been pulled before, so this is likely 46 years and 90,000 miles worth of crud. The gasket was hard as rock and brittle as glass, and stuck like crazy to both the cover and the head.

The sludge is soft but very sticky, and black as coal. It can be scraped off quite easily from smooth surfaces like the inside of the valve cover.



I spent the better part of 2 hours removing the old gasket (mostly in little bits and pieces) and cleaning what I could out of the head, but there is just a ton of crud coating everything. My guess is that this sludge is carbon mixed with oil. The oil return passage was only just barely open, but after some probing, I think I got it pretty much clear. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the engine was running very well without any issues before I started tearing things apart.

Removing this sludge from the valve cover is straightforward, and I'll get it cleaned up. Removing it from the valve train is another story, and I don't know what to do about that. Pulling the heads is not a good option right now. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

I'm sure the veteran engine builders here have seen much worse. But it's pretty well freaking me out right now.

More of the valve train:

 

Believe it or not that is not bad at all. The VC gaskets will stick to the head and covers if they have been on there awhile, its normal and nothing to be concerned about. You should clean the inside of the covers and around the top of the heads carefully while trying to keep the little bit of crud from falling into the engine. Wipe with mineral spirits on a rag and scape with a flat tip screwdriver. You can ad a qt of transmission fluid to the oil and drive it for about 2 hours and then change the oil and filter. This should help remove the rest from inside the engine. Change the oil every 1000 miles for awhile and you should have a clean engine.

Make sure you change the PCV valve as part of this project.

 

Don't take the intake off then! THAT will REALLY freak you out!

My advice is leave it, and forget about it, it's normal, and will not shorten the life of the engine in most cases. Your only 'true' option is a rebuild.

Problem is, if you try to clean it up, you can actually make matters worse.

Don't ever run the engine 'cleaner' stuff unless you want to wipe a cam.

About the only thing that is safe to use is Marvel Mystery Oil, with every oil change, and change your oil a little more frequently.

Nice work by the way!

.

 

Beat me to the punch! ATF works, it's high detergent properties do about the same thing as Marvel Mystery Oil, but MMO has better lubricating properties.

Nothing you pour in there is ever going to get it all out, the stuff crystalizes, and hardens, even soaking it for days or weeks won't help. If some of the chunks loosen up, you can clog the pump pickup, for one.

Good advice to change the PVC, that's an item that would improve general performance.

.

 

I was really hoping somebody would say that...

I put a new PCV valve and cover grommet on shortly after I got the car. I pulled the PCV and bagged it when I removed the valve cover, and it was still clean as a whistle.

Is ATF as effective as the Marvel Mystery Oil? I would love to reduce the sludge deposits, but I also don't want to do anything drastic enough to dislodge big chunks of it and have it clogging the oil pump or oil passages.

FWIW, I started using Amsoil ZRod 10W-30 with the last oil change, but only managed about 150 miles on that oil before this work started, and the oil is still very clean. My plan has been to do another oil and filter change when I finish all of this in case I accidentally dropped any little bits of gasket or other junk into the oil pan while replacing the timing set (I'm pretty sure I didn't, but it just seems like good insurance.)

 

As was stated the transmission fluid is a high detergent lubricant and is not a great lubricant for the engine. It will clean and loosen up some of that minor sludge and it will be captured by the oil filter. It is not recommended for long time use. I would forego the Amsoil for a while and use a good dino oil, like Valvoline VR1 racing 10w30 for a few oil changes.

 

Thanks! I'm hoping to avoid removing anything beyond the valve covers, so an oil additive cleaner is pretty appealing. I know what you mean about making things worse by cleaning. Some of the sludge at the ends of the valve cover is crumbly like oreo cookies. Most of the rest of it, and all of it stuck to the head and on the valve train is just grease-like, so I'll try to wipe out as much of that as possible. I really don't want to damage the cam or lifters at this point.

I'll try either ATF or MMO in the oil before I change it. What about using Seafoam? Bad idea? I've used it pretty regularly as a fuel additive, but never in a crankcase, although the makers promote it for use both ways.

 

I've never tried seafoam in the crank case. You don't have a major sludge issue just an engine that is old and probably in the last few years had longer than normal oil change intervals. Seriously, its not that bad and I would not dwell on it much. Just clean it out and make sure the oil returns are not blocked.

 

Thanks guys. I'll rest better tonight, and just continue cleaning up.

 

I had better luck replacing all the oil with ATF than using Seafoam. I had two Olds 350's start using oil out of the blue. Only product that fixed it was straight ATF in the crankcase for a few miles. Pretty sure the diesel oil I used caused the rings to stick.

 

Looks good....congrats

 

Well guys, after several setbacks and life getting in the way, I'm near the end of this long, dark MAW tunnel I drove myself into. Today should be A/C system charge day. I'll update this thread soon (hopefully this evening)...

 

Back at the end of December, I ended up having to put this project on the back burner and work on it as I was able. I did manage to get some things done, but I never managed to report in here at C.O.

So anyway, the driver's side valve train and cover got thoroughly cleaned. The oil returns in the head were full of sludge, but they're clear now. I don't know how oil was getting back down to the pan. The valve cover got painted and a new Felpro rubber gasket installed. I used Permatex rubber gasket sealer, which worked really well. Sticky enough to hold the gaskets in place without a long wait for it to dry. The PCV valve and grommet were already new, so I cleaned them up a little and re-used them.

While I had the alternator and power steering pump out of the way, I went ahead and cleaned up the steering gear box and replaced the leaking power steering return hose (I think the old one is still installed in this photo). The hose itself looked ok, and was just leaking at the steering box end. I replaced the hose anyway, and after a lot of searching, I finally found some fuel injection style clamps large enough to fit. I really like that style of clamp -- very low-profile, but unfortunately, the choice of sizes and opening range is very limited. That hose is now leak-free and should remain so for a very long time. The alternator and power steering pump brackets got cleaned, repainted, and reinstalled.

 

The alternator and power steering pump got cleaned up and reinstalled. I didn't do much to the alternator beyond routing the flopping manifold sensor wires through a piece of wire loom. I did clean the PS pump and pulley and repainted the pulley, and somehow managed to lose the pulley nut. I'm still kicking myself over that. It's the only part I lost through this whole ordeal, and I still haven't found it. I haven't yet sifted through the contents of the shop vac, and may decide not to, although it bugs me to no end not knowing where it went. Normally after disassembling things I would immediately thread it back onto the pump shaft so it didn't get lost, but... 2 weeks to get a replacement nut and then I was finished with those accessories and it was on to the passenger side.

 

The old Four Seasons A6 compressor was about to get the heave-ho...



As were a whole lot of other things in this photo.

 

I couldn't find anything wrong with the evaporator, and just didn't want to mess with it or with the POA valve. My plan was to remove all of the other air conditioning components and then get the new stuff in and connected right away so that the system (or what was to be left of it) was open for as short a time as possible. I wasn't ready to do that yet, but to that end, I removed the compressor from the brackets but left it connected to the hoses and wired it up out of the way. I cleaned and de-rusted all the compressor brackets, then painted them with the same Dupli-Color Semigloss Black Engine Enamel I used on all the brackets. The refurbished compressor front and rear brackets got bolted onto the new compressor, ready for installation. They fit without any issues at all.

 

Now that I had the passenger side valve cover accessible, I pulled it off. Surprisingly, it was all pretty clean inside. A little sludge here and there, but nothing like the other side. My guess is that the car was run with a clogged PCV valve for a long time and that allowed carbon to build up on the driver's side. But the passenger's side only has the breather filter that connects to the air cleaner, so it stayed cleaner. The front oil return passage was still almost plugged shut, so I got things all cleaned up, old gasket scraped off, and the cover cleaned. I had one little dent in the front corner of the cover, so a little makeshift body work with steel-filled epoxy filled that in nicely. Of course, you can't see it once the A/C brackets are bolted back on, but at least I know it looks perfect...



That made the chipped and flaking paint on the end of the head look like hell, but I wasn't about to attempt brushing gold paint onto it and risk making it look even worse, so I left it alone.

Then it was time to rip out the rest of the A/C components, replace the TXV, and start installing new stuff. The TXV turned out to be the trickiest part of the A/C work.

 

This is the old TXV and its rat's nest of capillary tubing. I mean really, could this have been done any more sloppily?



The hose nut was no problem, but no matter what I tried, I could not break loose the flare nut from the bottom end of the TXV. I was beginning to really worry about damaging that soft aluminum tube from the evaporator, so I soaked the nut in Liquid Wrench for a couple of days. That has almost always worked for me, but in the end, I still had to apply some heat with a propane torch before I could convince it to let go. Turns out that some meathead had used some kind of pipe dope all over the threads. But I got it off with no damage to the evaporator tubing and was able to clean everything up. The new TXV is already installed in the previous photo. Not perfect, but much neater. The O-rings, like every O-ring I found (and replaced) in the A/C system, were completely worn out... more like 'I'-rings than 'O'-rings.