New guy

[LateFan]

Sometimes...yes. ET12 wheels, and the tire is hooking the lip on compression sometimes. We got the Eastwood fender roller, but before we do that we're going back to the stock drop hats / spring seats to raise the front a half inch. The back looks a bit high, but when it's loaded down it's OK clearance so he doesn't want it lower.


From our pals at Blunttech. New rubber spring isolators as well.

Also a new used ABS electronic module to see if that gets the ABS working correctly. Tom's in CT.


And a new muffler yesterday. 5 years (really?), rotted out.
Seems like they put the can way forward, with a long tailpipe. Oh well, wear part. Sounds good.

[Vincenze]

So...this finally happened....

Don't the front tires touch the fenders when you drive?

[jeffnhiscars]

Props for rebuilding that pump. It's one of the only parts I've never taken apart...and hope I never do :)

[moatilliatta]

Good stuff! Looks fresh!

[LateFan]

Page Two.....

This is the tiny c clip on the pump shaft. I reused it. I had to fiddle with plier tips to get something that tight to work. Not bad, it's just tiny and very slippery. I gave it a good squeeze with a needle nose to make sure it was snug in the groove.


Shaft back in place with c clip. Note large o-ring in place and lubed. Cover goes back on top of pump vane assembly using those alignment pins. You'll see how the oil passages line up.


Place two medium o-rings in back half of case, plus plastic shaft and spring the way they came apart. Everything lubed with ATF. Note small oil passage, o-ring, and and case alignment.


Back together with mounting brackets. I didn't find a torque for the case bolts, so Good n Tight is what I used. They're 13mm. I numbered the bolts as well, so they'd go back in the right holes in the right direction for the nuts.

[LateFan]

Rebuilding a Vickers power steering pump.

If you take yours apart, you may find that you have one of the few pumps that aren't a ZF. They look very similar on the outside. I found a rebuild kit at my local parts store and was quite pleased with myself. But not one seal or o-ring in the kit fit anywhere. Wrote to Blunttech and none of their suppliers could get a Vickers kit. So I went to my local industrial supply shops and ordered a shaft seal and all the o-rings (they're metric of course, but if you dig through a good suppliers boxes, you'll find rings that are very close) Don't measure the old o-rings - they are smashed and stretched and hard. Measure the actual machined grooves they sit in for diameter and thickness.

Here are the guts.
Mark your halves carefully and where the brackets sit on the case. Note that ATF eats paint, and therefore it eats permanent marker as well. I lucked out and enough of the marks, and the pictures, saved me. Shaft is on the left, pump vane assembly in the main body next, cover below that, back half of the case to the right, then the plastic "plunger" and spring that come out of the center hole on the case back.


Go get the correct diameter and thickness of o-rings. Your shaft seal will likely have some tiny numbers molded in - these are the inner and outer diameters, and the thickness. And maybe some letter defining the seal lip profile. Mine was an NAK brand and looked pretty good for 30 years old. I just ordered the size, and when I picked up the new one it was also an NAK....still around.


The pump vanes are cool. They ride in and out of the precision slots as this hub turns and move fluid at high pressure. I would recommend NOT taking these out, or dropping it. I assume they've all seated into their original slots, and the plates may or may not be symmetrical, so I wouldn't mess with it. I rinsed all the parts and passages in clean ATF.


There is a tiny o-ring in the body here between halves. Tricky size to measure. Fit all new rings. Note big ring around central pump body. The ring I ordered was a hair tight and didn't want to sit flat in that squarish cut groove. I stretched it just a hair by hand, and with some ATF it stuck pretty well. Be careful putting the halves together again. Align your marks - or look for this oil passage at one corner only.



New shaft seal. I wiped everything really clean with brake clean, tapped it in dry, then put some assembly grease on the seal opening. I carefully tapped it flush with a socket that fit, and maybe a hair down past flush as there's a chamfer / bevel you can see here at the top of the bore.

[LateFan]

Don't put one of these in your high pressure fuel lines.......

[LateFan]

Quick trip to near Seattle, 900 mi round trip. Drove straight as an arrow he says. We found two bad fuel leaks and fixed them the other day - one was a completely split plastic T over by the cold start valve (above the exhaust, YIKE). Replaced with a brass one. The other was my half-assed T to hold a fuel pressure gauge for testing - I had plugged it with a bolt and a clamp... So this trip, one leg he got 27mpg. Think those leaks might have helped? Haha, no wonder it was bad!

One little drip on the steering pump, but not dripping on the ground - maybe that's all the fluid we soaked parts in before squeezing it back together, just vibrating out...?

[moatilliatta]

Yah, got to slow down on rough surfaces, no rallying :p ...

I was a kid once...

Did you do a slight roll of the fender?


Rust converter / Rust etcher/ Rust encapsulater would work well.

[LateFan]

Thanks! It has generic NAPA shocks on it now. Not entirely sure if it's the shock bottoming. He's hitting the wheel arch in the front, and sometimes the floor and tank on dirt roads (EEK). The front is pretty low with H&R sports and E90 drop hats (for a street car). The ET12 wheels have the sidewalls out close to the fender arch. Just received an Eastwood fender roller to try that.

It was my mistake to not check the floor clearance on those IE rear mounts while we lifted it up into place. Once it was back together I didn't have the heart to pull the subframe a third time! We asked a muffler shop that does many kinds of work. Two guys managed to get up in there with a sawzall and cut the front points off. $50. We like that shop. We should spray some undercoating or rust converter where it was hitting the floor?

[moatilliatta]

Bottoming out the shockor the car onto the ground?

On the bilstein sports you can cut the bump stop, but I’m on the fence that still is a bandaid, and I’m not sure if a shorter strut is an option with the factory spring perch. I’d go that route if possible.

Old soft damper will let that car bouce down making it bottom out also not controlling the spring.

I know the IE serrated adjuster have clearance issues on cars that have the raised subframe bushings. I had to hammer the chassis and notch the corner of the tap. Found this while bolting it up, but with rubber bushings and tight tolerance that maybe tough with the constant give in the rubber.

Enjoying the build / adventure!
Zach

[LateFan]

Had our favorite muffler shop get up into the rear subframe and cut the leading corners off the IE pick-up tabs so they don't rattle against the floor! Finally! Installed rear shock reinforcement plates. Rebuilding the Vickers power steering pump, flushing system. Rebuilt drivers door lock so the power locks work and you keep your original key. Skid plate going on. May replace the fuel level sender, but that's an expensive piece. We may put the stock front strut drop hats back in instead of the E90's and gain a half inch in the front. On real roads, it's hitting the ground a lot. We're rolling the front fender lips to get a bit more clearance when turning.

[etagolnik]

haha well, thought id try.

[LateFan]

^^ Thanks Jeff, that's a good clue.

Do you still have that ES/IS front airdam you removed from the car? I am looking to buy one.

Nope, sold long ago.

[etagolnik]

Do you still have that ES/IS front airdam you removed from the car? I am looking to buy one.