Time away from the car/work/etc.

This posting can now be found on my non-car blog. Sorry for the inconvenience...

Kinks in the plan

So, a few weeks ago, I decided to park the car and pretty much put all my suspension work on hold until the new year. I figured I would not have much time before then, with all the holiday season ongoings and all.

However, I did decide to replace the ignition cables. The old ones were cracked and weird looking. So, I went ahead and replaced them. Really simple stuff, although figuring out how to route them through the engine compartment took me a while - I wanted to get them just right!

Afterwards, I turned on the engine, and let the car warm up for about five minutes. Everything idled well, so I shut down the car, and went to bed.

A couple of days later, I was doing laundry in the garage, and I noticed a puddle of water on the floor. My first though was that the garage roof had sprung a leak. After looking around for a few minutes, it hit me - this could be coming from the car.

Sure enough, it was engine coolant. D'oh!

So, I looked around the engine compartment for a bit, and I figured it seems like there is an issue with the water pump. I also noticed the car was missing the swivel nut on the alternator bracket that is used to adjust the belt tension. Very weird. So, the belt was loose, and the pump (or something in the vicinity) was leaking...

I've also noticed that many bolts tend to be a bit loose - I can easily add torque to many of them. Which leads me to think two things:
a) The water pump is bad
b) the water pump was not torqued correctly, and water/coolant is leaking through the seams.

How annoying!

Since then, I've been buying bolts to replace the missing ones, and have been doing a bit of research on how to proceed. The most mentioned course involves removing the radiator, fan, and pump, in order to ensure the pump is A-OK. I suspect I might buy a replacement pump anyways. I am also considering getting an electric fan, since all parts will be disassembled and all.

And all these repairs will have to wait until after the new year...

And theeeen, I can work on the suspension...
Or on whatever breaks next...

Work continues: steering linkage, part 2

So, last Saturday I left the car up in stands, with the steering linkage all disassembled, while I waited for the newly-painted steering rods to really dry up. I also wanted to buy new left-hand threaded lock nuts, since the old ones were really beat up. I figured I'd wait until the next weekend to reinstall things and wrap things up for now.

Well, I could not wait.

On Monday, I went to a few local stores in search of the rare left-hand 14mmx1.50 nut. I finally found three at High Strength Bolt Co., in Kent. This was the last pieces I needed, so I was ready to re-install stuff.

Monday night I reassembled the steering links and ball joints, and set them to their original length (which I captured when I was disassembling things last week.) I then crawled under the car, to get everything back together.

Re-installing incurred three main things:
1. Get the ball joints back into the steering knuckles and other locations.
2. Pound them a few times with a rubber mallet, and thread the upper castellated nuts to secure the rods to the suspension.
3. Secure the nuts with wire pins to make sure the nuts don't spin off.

Steps one and two were easy enough - just get things in place, pound, then thread the nuts. Torqueing them correctly required using a few extension bars with my torque wrench, as you must access the nuts from the top of the engine bay. All this was completed in about an hour.

Threading the lock pins in place, though, was another story. First, the castellated nuts had to align with the securing holes on the ball joint stud themselves. This was tricky, since some of the ball joint studs are hard to see from under the car (especially the inner tie rods.) On top of that, the pins I bought were a bit too large, and they would not fit properly. Aargh! After trying for about an hour, I decided to give up, and try again the next day.

So, the next day, I bought thinner pins at the local hardware store. Then under the car, and after about ninety minutes, all the pins were installed and locked in place. Finally. I must say, I see the need for castellated nuts, but I really hate dealing with them.

I then reinstalled the wheels, and took the car for a ride. The steering feels a bit less unresponsive - like there is a bit less play on the steering wheel. This maybe all a placebo effect going on, though. The suspension still creaks and feels weak. But I think there is a bit of an improvement.

Next up will be dealing with the front suspension. I still don't know if I will tackle this myself, or send it to the shop and let them do this. I also need to decide what to do about springs and dampers. I'll have to keep looking around for recommended rates and the such.

Then it's onwards to the rear suspension. I am really thinking I do not want to tackle the rear end at all. It seems dealing with the large and heavy differential requires tons of room, and tons of help. Hmm...

So maybe I'll do the front myself, then go to the shop for the rear end work.

I think I'll be waiting until after Xmas for this, though, as I have a few trips coming up, and very little time to work on the car. Oh well.

Work continues: steering linkage, part 1

I finally started working on the steering linkage of the Alfa. The idea was to replace just a few things in the front end, and then decide whether I want to tackle the whole job or not. One side of me wants to do all the work, since I find working on cars to be fun - I like the challenge (both mental and physical,) trying to figure things out, and engrossing myself in a task so much that I end up losing track of time (or the real world, for that matter.) And with a bit of luck, you end up with a better working vehicle.

On the other hand, this is the front suspension of the car, which can be pretty complicated stuff. Taking it to a shop will ensure that the work will be done right, and fairly quickly (1-2 days max.) Just drop off the car, come back the next day, and everything is A-OK. There is a lot of benefit in this - just drive the car and have fun.

I am still undecided as to what I will do. But in the meanwhile, I figured replacing all the steering ball joints should be straightforward enough.

So, last Wednesday night I jacked up the front end of the car, placed it on stands (ratchet-type jack stands), and went to work. I had borrowed a gear puller from my friend TJ (the puller on the left,) and was able to pull three of the six ball joints required. This puller worked well, but it was a very tight fit for the inner tie rods (four of them). I spent two and a half hours trying to figure things out! At this pace, I would be done sometime around Xmas.

So, I stopped for the night (11:30pm) and decided to look for the puller on the right (called a "ball joint lifter" - not a puller.) A few folks in the Alfa Bulletin Boards (www.alfabb.com) have recommended this type, and a few stores had them online. But I wanted it now, so I ended up going to Napa Auto Parts, and wouldn't you know it, they had it in stock. It only cost $12 with tax, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

So, Saturday morning, I got under the car at about 9am or so. Within 30 minutes all three remaining ball joints had been pulled off. Wee! I must say, having the right tool for a job saves a lot of time and effort. I highly recommend obtaining this kind of lifter for this kind of job, as it made the whole ball joint pulling (lifting?) experience a very simple one.

So, finally, the steering linkage was all out. I left the steering box and idler box in place, as I think servicing these are a bit beyond the immediate scope of things. I suspect the steering box could use a bit of maintenance, but for now, I'll just play with one thing at a time.

Before disassembling anything else, I measured the distance between ball joints, so that I can reset the length when I reassemble the whole thing. I'll have to align the car regardless, but hopefully the front alignment will be within a reasonable ballpark in the interim (what's a bit extra tire wear?)

The next problem was disconnecting the tie rods from the main rods themselves. At first I thought the locking nuts where part of the middle rods themselves. After much pounding at wrenches and the such, I realized the nuts and the rods were separate parts. Duh! They are locking nuts, after all. So I started pounding in different directions, and within 10 minutes, everything was disconnected.

The joints themselves were to be thrown out, but the middle rods themselves will be reused. They were all grimy with grease, undercoating, paint, and rust. So I figured I'd clean them up and paint them.

I started by cleaning the rods with brake cleaner and a stiff wire brush. After about 1o minutes of scraping away, the things were fairly clean. Brake cleaner is nasty stuff, but it does clean everything in sight. I then sanded the rods with medium grit sandpaper, and re-sprayed with even more brake cleaner.

Afterwards, I rinsed everything with hand clener (Fast Orange) and plenty of water.

The results are shown on this picture. One of the rods was pretty much striped down to bare metal. The other two were down to the original paint (?) with some spots of bare metal. All signs of grease and undercoating was gone, as well as most of the rust.



I then painted the rods with a few light coats of Rust-Oleum Semi Gloss paint. The things look pretty nice now - not bad for the first time I've ever spray painted anything in my life. The whole paint work (prep, and painting itself) took about 45 minutes.

I would have done a few things differently:
a) I would have used a finer grit sandpaper, as the finished surface looks a bit rough, and not shiny smooth.
b) I would have used a full-gloss paint. I am realizing I want the suspension to be glossy and shiny.

Before re-installing all this back onto the car, I want to replace the lock nuts used to lock the rods and the ball joint links together. I abused the crap out of them when I was removing them earlier, so I figured it would be better to replace them. The lock nuts are sized 14mm x 1.50 thread pitch (for those keeping score at home,) but I need both right-handed and left-handed thread nuts. I did find the RH type at the hardware store down the street, but they did not stock the LH kind. I will be looking for the LH nuts during the week.

Once I find them, then I can re-install the tie rods to the main rods, then install stuff back onto the car. Hopefully the car will be back on its feet next weekend. We'll see how that goes.

Repairs and updates begin - master brake cylinder

So, the first thing I did when I purchased the car a few weeks ago was drive it straight to the local Alfa shop, Group 2 Motorsports. They are up in the Magnolia district of Seattle. They are very knowledgeable, and very friendly. It is truly a joy to stop by there and chat with the shop's owner, Joe, and the rest of the gang (Keith, Chris, et. al.)

I figured I'd show up, show off the car, and make an appointment to have the car inspected. However, within five minutes, Keith was test driving the car, placing it on a lift, and looking all over. Within half an hour he pointed out things to fix on the car.



The first thing was the brake master cylinder. The thing was leaking, and so the brakes felt mushy and not very strong. They were OK to drive home, but Keith recommended not to drive the car much until the thing was fixed.



So, I made an appointment, and the following week, I replaced the old master cylinder with a new set. The brakes don't leak anymore, and the car stops. One thing down, a few hundred little things to go.

Suspension work - description and thoughts.

So, my friend Brett asked me about the kind of suspension work I'll be doing/paying someone to do over the next few months. As I typed a response to him, I thought: "I bet this would be a good post on the blog." So, I went ahead and added this.

As bought, the car came with a very tired suspension. Most bushings and ball joints around the front suspension are shot. Most suspension parts are covered in undercoating, oversprayed paint, and dirt. So basically, I'll end up replacing bushings and ball joints all over the place, and cleaning up parts as much as practical.

As far as the current work goes, the steering linkage has 6 tie rod ends that need replacement. Fairly simple stuff, except that separating the tie rods from the various knuckes in the suspension and steering mechanism can be a pain in the ass, since there is not much room for maneuvering. I borrowed a ball-joint puller from TJ, and it works OK, but again, space is limited. I am trying to find a tie rod lifter, which is smaller and would fit better under the car.

The suspension work seems very involved, but given enough time, it's very doable. I can take out suspension parts one or two at a time, without tearing the whole thing apart at once (take out lower a-arm parts, replace, reinstall, move on to upper arm and repeat.) There is that "minor" issue of dealing with a compressed spring, but I just use twine to keep it compressed. (not!)

I'll have to replace the dampers, too. But that's really easy to do on this car, so I can leave that for last. I'm still undecided b/w Bilsteins, Koni Classic, or Koni Sport. Both types of Konis are adjustable, but I am not sure what kind of spring rates they like. A lot of folks like Bilsteins, but a lot of folks like the Konis, too. Most of the discussion out there seems to go like this:

Question:
"What kind of damper would you recommend?"
Responses:
- "I like my (brand A of damper)"
- "Well, good for you, but my (other brand of damper) is better"
- "Oh yeah? Well, my (brand A) is better."
- "Well, obviously you don't know what you are talking about."
- "Well, I can adjust mine."
- "Oh yea? You would not know how to adjust a damper if it was stuck to your arm."

And so on. Sounds familiar? Lots of subjective zealotry, and no numbers to back things up (as in: what spring rates for each damper type, etc.)

Ditto with springs. "Buy brand A", or "I like brand B", but no one talks lbs-in or anything like that.

(It's even worse with the Miata community, since there are even more options -- Tein, Ohlins, KYB, JIC, Koni, Bilstein, yada yada -- although you do find some folks post good technical info. )

I tend to like Konis (I am a Koni zealot, admittedly), mostly because my dad likes them, and I am familiar with them. I like the idea of being able to adjust things, though.

Oh, and yes, after all this is done, I'll have to move on to the rear end...

Trying out posting a picture

So, I figured, I'd post a picture. Let's see if it works.

Yep, it seems to work OK. It's kinda weird, since Blogger asks you agree to their terms of service before you are allowed to upload the photo. I went ahead and agreed without reading the terms. I wonder what I just agreed to.

Anyways, the car is right there.

I think it's pretty.

A bit about myself

So, I suspect I will be posting a few notes about my latest car project, an Alfa Romeo 2000 GTV. The car's model year is 1975, although it: a) was built in october 1974, and b) it was sold in Canada (not in the US.)

This creates a bit of an identity crisis, since there were not 1975 GTVs sold in the US. So every time I look for parts, I have to think " '74 ". Kinda confusing. '

The car itself is in generally good shape. The paint looks OK, with only a bit of rust. The interiors are OK - worn out a bit, but normal for a 34 year old car. The motor seems to run well; however, the transmission needs a bit of work in 1st and 2nd gears (they tend to grind.)

The immediate work focus will be on suspension parts. The suspension is mostly shot: very soft dampers, and most bushings are blown (or at least, very worn.) Driving the car is an exercise in predicting where the car will go, and hope for the best. It's not too bad, but Alfas are meant to turn well.

I mean, the other day, I stopped rather suddenly for a yellow/red light, and the front sump cover was grinding against the pavement. Folks saw sparks and all. Not really an ideal situation for the car (or for me.)

This is something that needs to be addressed soon.

So, the plan is the following:

1. Replace all the ball joints in the steering rack.
2. Replace all joints/bushings in the front suspension
3. Ditto for the rear end.
4. Get new shocks.

I am still not sure what to do about springs. The springs on the car are not stock but I am not really sure how they compare with other offerings. I might have to address this at some point, but for now, I'll leave them as they are.

Hopefully, as I do this, I'll be able to figure out how to post pictures and the such over here. Maybe this will help folks pursuing similar adventures. Who knows. If anything, it will be a good place for me to rant and voice my thoughts. I suspect this will be very therapeutic.

First Post

So, I've decided to try this whole blogging thing once again. I had a blog once, detailing my autocross adventures and the such, but the site at which it was hosted went away, and I gave up.

For some reason, blogging seems like a quaint, old-fashioned thing to do; the rotary-dial phone of the internet. Oh well. Here goes nothing.