I'm a poor-sha guy now

[2mAn]

Almost done...

I took the coolant reservoir out earlier in the process to give myself some more room, buuuuuut didn't reinstall it in the order I took it out. Obviously with the intake manifold in, I had a LOT less room to get it in. I used my Dad-Muscle to get it in. There was only one small casualty: the fuel (return?) line. NBD right?... I tried for a minute and decided I'm better off checking all of the other work off the list and I could come back around. Buttoned up everything else, torqued up the engine mounts, installed the skidplate, installed the wheels, duckTAIL, etc. Coolant is in, with the vent opened up. Leaving town tonight for the weekend, but thinking I need to get the car to someone to make sure its properly bled, give it a once over and deal with that fuel line.



Really trying to avoid getting someone else involved but the car technically does need to get teched by a shop before PEC-LA will let me play on their playground

[2mAn]

Damsel in distress for sure... tonight is my do or die night.

If I dont end the night by dumping coolant into the reservoir I will have to to reschedule my PEC-LA trip back one month... for the lovely cost of another $100... Really hoping I dont have to stress about that.

Plot twist: I actually just wanted Kevan to come pick up some parts to weld, but we'll reveal that after he's helped me with that

[MrBurgundy]

Next time, tell him "no" so he can learn how to solder some lil wires HAR HAR HAR

[Chilezen]

I got mentioned in post number 69. Nice.

I received a message a few days ago from a damsel in distress, "Help me! Help me! Some wires need to be soldered!" So I said, how about at the end of the month? And the damsel said, "No, it's killing me! It can't wait!" So I trekked through the forest, over the hills and around the idiots on LA roads to help the damsel. He has rejoiced.

I swear, Simon only calls me for the hardest jobs. What a guy!

[2mAn]

It's true. Though that MR2 was pretty good in the twisties too.

LMK when you plan to drive Laguna. I'd love to join.

MR2 was wonderful... They are one of the few cars that I want to buy another one.

Back to this one...Progress!

Chilezen was able to make a housecall for me while I was out of town and deal with this little issue that I didnt want to haha







More trash... crusty wires joining the AOS and deleted coolant lines

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Excuse me Sir!... Im definitely in the 30s now.

That said, of the last 5 cars I've owned and multiple canyon runs Ive down with Sh3rpak!ng this last one we did was the first time he has been shocked to see me keeping up with him.

Thats all I will say. Hopefully I can get it to Buttonwillow as I want to see what it will run there. Im not too interested in Big Willow and those are the only 2 tracks I have times at

It's true. Though that MR2 was pretty good in the twisties too.

LMK when you plan to drive Laguna. I'd love to join.

[2mAn]

Getting closer...


and to give you a sense of where that vacuum line was hiding...

[roguetoaster]

If the material permits it/may return to the needed size, expand the vacuum line progressively with whatever tools you have, lube it, and then quickly slip it in to place. You can test it out on a similar sized accessible vac port first to see if it might work. You can also lightly lube the vac nipple to increase your chance of slipping off an bashing your hand on something.

[2mAn]

Feels good finishing up a big-ish job.. Where is this forgotten vacuum line?

Yea, not done yet! The soldering of the wires will be fun...

The vacuum line is for the rear crossover pipe, so its under that IPD plenum, and a little behind it. I can hold the vacuum line in between 2 fingers and get it to touch the nipple its supposed to sit on but I cant get enough force on it to actually slide on. I have to get creative again with tools... I have one idea Im going to try but open to others

[MrBurgundy]

Feels good finishing up a big-ish job.. Where is this forgotten vacuum line?

[2mAn]

One week later update.

I went through all the stages of grief this weekend. Started by denial that I was going to have to drain the coolant to get this other end of the AOS Crossover pipe out. Once I saw that the wires that I also needed to replace were behind this, it was obvious I was going to have to drain the coolant and remove this hose.

Here you can barely make out the brown wire that was part of the other issue I have to deal with...


Lots of access to work...
/sarcasm


A small dose of acceptance as taking the hose off and draining the coolant revealed easy access to the wires and, though minute, access to the bolt that holds the AOS hose and breather to the block. Pic below shows the "repair" that someone did a long time ago ... and the other 2 wires that will need a repair also. I'm removing all of these brittle wires and doing it right.


That out of the way gave me motivation to get the new metal pipe from @Porschetech3 installed prior to the long Saturday ahead. However, I now moved on to anger as I fought and fought with the pipe to get it in the OEM location. Bargaining happened, but proved fruitless as anger returned. Turns out the pipe is installed in a totally different way than the OEM one its replacing... depression as I now have to fight it to get it back out. That was how I was going to start Saturday, my one "full" day that I would get to work on the car without much interruption.

Saturday begins with the update from Skip that I was doing it all wrong. When I finally got started anger returned and luckily the only destruction was a few scratches on the pipes finish and one clamp that came off and was going back on. 'fixed'


This is where the pipe is supposed to run FYI, all the way against the 'front' of the engine bay


With the pipe finally in the right place, I started making actual progress. That means no pics. I got the AOS installed and hooked up, with relative ease. Getting the intake manifold back on was a fun challenge of trail and error. It took several attempts to get the bitch-bolt back on, I dropped it a few times and had to go on fishing expeditions to get the bolt back from the depths of the abyss. I also had to remove the intake a few times because of the routing of the AOS hoses and things that were supposed to go over the top of the intake, not underneath. Eventually the intake manifold was on, rear intake pipe was on and I was spent. A full day, but the finish line is in sight. I made a list to organize my thoughts and try to make sure I use the limited remaining time wisely.

Last night I had a small window to go out and the goal was to get the IPD Plenum installed and it actually wasn't too bad. Not easy, but also not as much fighting or cursing as I was prepared for. However, after it was all buttoned up I realized that the throttle cable was supposed to go over the top (recurring theme, amirite?). I wasn't about to pull the parts off, so I had to get creative. The solution was a LOT of zip ties with a socket on the end. Think of it as a fishing line with the socket as the bait.


The idea was to use the line of zipties to go over the top of the pipes and pull the cable back, up and over. Without the right tools for this, my improvised fishing line, coupled with an extended magnet did the job.


I was very proud of myself and happy... until I realized I also forgot to hook up a vacuum line... I've got about 16 days, but no free weekends to meet the 9/28 deadline.

Fingers crossed

[roguetoaster]

That engine bay doesn't look pleasant to work in.
Must be worth the effort for such a car!

Now just imagine if it was designed by Ford "Maintenance Access is Irrelevant" Motor Company to fit within the same space.

[2mAn]

That engine bay doesn't look pleasant to work in.
Must be worth the effort for such a car!

Yea the OG design isn't that back actually, except that the diaphragm that gets clogged is part of the AOS Unit. This aftermarket unit makes the diaphragm serviceable, in an easily accessible area and make it a "10 minute job, with a $10 part" my phrase, not theirs. This will be a pain... I could've dropped the motor/ trans and the job itself would be easy, other than the dropping the motor part lol

[Panici]

That engine bay doesn't look pleasant to work in.
Must be worth the effort for such a car!

[2mAn]

Finally had time and went out and got the stubby (actually bought a set of them from HF... $10 lol)


Going in blind, but I've had to do this once or twice before


Close-up


And the trash that came out... a few coolant lines and a toasted AOS


Coolant lines capped.


Just need to reinstall now... one of these days! Wife is taking the kiddo for the day this Saturday so I hope to have most of this wrapped up. Fingers crossed because after this the next few weekends are booked with out of town events. I still have the ground-wire repair left as well so I have to make the most of this Saturday