kishy's 1985 Country Squire

[kishy]

It lives! But far from being able to walk away from the hospital haha.

Gotta keep an eye on it in case it starts feeling antsy. It could up and run away before the doctor's finished.

The trans has me feeling kinda hopeful, it engages gears quickly and firmly. And CFI, so the chances that the TV linkage was ever unhooked while driving are very slim. Of course, I still don't know if it has OD...or third...or second lol.

Because even a beater wagon is better than no wagon. Although I have seen much worse, I'm not even sure I would consider this one a beater by my standards.

"Beater" doesn't really mean the same thing, this side of the border. A 2005 Sunfire in showroom condition is a beater here. A 1985 station wagon in "distressed" condition is completely foreign. But that probably has something to do with inspections, and the fact that a car which looks awful typically has mechanical condition to match. It amuses me when I see what some people try to pass off as "cars" in Detroit.

[DerekTheGreat]

You could do what I did to my Fury before it was ready for the road: Put the rear end on jackstands and listen for it when it shifts, if it does. Full trans flush & filter change should be commencing soon on it though. Helped Ashley's Mark VII loads.

[gadget73]

Can't say I've seen a car have the squirts out of the tailpipe before. Friend bought a 71 Rustang years ago that produced clouds of multiple colors when he first got it running though. Similar deal, $100 "get this thing out of my yard" car. that car was a shitheap but it ran and got him around for several years.

[kishy]

Some jackwagon RTV'd the distributor in the block. That thing was not fun to get out.

I put the crank at TDC, popped the distributor out, cleaned off the crap, popped it back in pointing at #1, tightened it down. Pulled all the wires off the cap and put them back on in the right order.

Fired it up, sounded like a tractor. Checked base timing, 10ATDC. Whoops.

The tractor sound goes away around 20BTDC manually turning the distributor around. Setting it between 10-15BTDC the tractor effect is reduced but still there. I left it there, then checked with SPOUT connected. It briefly sounds that way then as soon as the computer pulls timing out to 30-something BTDC, it goes quiet and sounds normal.

I'm starting to suspect the timing did jump (or, the timing set was replaced mis-aligned...). But, the rubber on the balancer is a little questionable looking so it's about equally possible the balancer slipped a bit (say, 20 degrees) and that's why it runs so well, so close to spec, but not so well at spec. Thoughts?

As far as I can tell the next step to make any progress on that front is to pull the timing cover and have a look-see, so I dunno. I have the gasket sets and a timing set on hand, it's not that. Just a lot of sucky work.

That being said: everything is easier with the bumper removed and the extreme whole-body pain that follows a timing set replacement might not be such a big deal since the bumper isn't there.



Meanwhile, the Sylvania AquaVisions soldier on:

[gadget73]

Does TDC using the wire in the plug hole method jive with TDC on the balancer?

If you want a more accurate way of doing it, you'd need a positive stop. Basically its a bolt that threads into the spark plug hole with an extended tit on it. It can be made from an old plug and some threaded rod if you're feeling a bit creative. You rotate the engine clockwise until it hits, mark it, rotate the engine CCW until it hits, mark it, TDC is exactly between those two marks. If you make the tit adjustable in length you can get the marks close enough together to determine that pretty accurately.

[kishy]

Does TDC using the wire in the plug hole method jive with TDC on the balancer?

If you want a more accurate way of doing it, you'd need a positive stop. Basically its a bolt that threads into the spark plug hole with an extended tit on it. It can be made from an old plug and some threaded rod if you're feeling a bit creative. You rotate the engine clockwise until it hits, mark it, rotate the engine CCW until it hits, mark it, TDC is exactly between those two marks. If you make the tit adjustable in length you can get the marks close enough together to determine that pretty accurately.

It jives "closely". That's why I'm thinking the most it could be off is perhaps 20 degrees, due to the accuracy margin of the method I used. Watch the video I posted again, listen to the exhaust sound. Beginning when it starts, for the first 30 seconds-ish, it sounds like what I'm referring to. After that, it smooths out and goes away. That is the difference between 10BTDC and 20BTDC that I referred to. What it sounds like to me (an untrained ear...) is that combustion is happening when valves are partially open.

Also the inside of the air cleaner is stained in an interesting way. I suspect this engine has backfired through the throttle body at times.

I'll see if I can come up with a better way to verify TDC, if that means getting one of those piston stop bolts, so be it.

[gadget73]

Someone probably does make them but if you've got old spark plugs, a tap set and some allthread or a fully threaded bolt you can knock one together yourself without much fuss. Just remember to turn the engine nice and slow. You don't want to slam the piston into the stop bolt. Make sure its nicely deburred for the same reason.

[DerekTheGreat]

Aquavisions.. LoL. They'll last up until you take a corner and that cool water makes contact with a hot bulb...

[knucklehead0202]

Love the swamp water in the headlight. Nice touch.

[87gtVIC]

You can take the grille off and tuck your knees in closer yet!

[kishy]

Oil pressure results are in:

New conventional 10W30
At first start, in park 55PSI
5 minutes, still on high idle in park, 45PSI
10 minutes, mid idle in park, thermostat housing at 189 degrees per infrared thermometer, 35PSI
30 minutes, low idle in park, thermostat housing at 192 degrees, bouncing between 20-30PSI
30 minutes, low idle in gear against wheel chocks, bouncing between 10-20PSI
The 30 minute measurements at the lowest idle point where with the engine idling very low, threatening to stall.

There is no (discernable) knocking. I'm going to move on to the timing set since those oil pressure numbers tell me it's a healthy enough engine to be worth a shot, even if it is a lopo boat anchor.

ATF on the dipstick is as black as night. Will do a full drain including the TC, filter change, drain plug retrofit and refill it, and see what happens when the car has brakes and can hit the road.

[gadget73]

if its making oil pressure at low idle, you're fine. Thats pretty much what my engine makes and its got less than 30k on it.

[Tiggie]

Sounds about right for a used but usable 302. We'll call it a win. My 82 had a bit less than that but was a happy engine as long as you didn't ask it to idle with A/C on for extended periods.

[kishy]

if its making oil pressure at low idle, you're fine. Thats pretty much what my engine makes and its got less than 30k on it.

Sounds about right for a used but usable 302. We'll call it a win. My 82 had a bit less than that but was a happy engine as long as you didn't ask it to idle with A/C on for extended periods.

Oh yeah, no doubt. I was aiming to figure out if I should try to get a replacement engine but I don't think that's wise here (other than upgrading, but there's no budget for that).

Timing set is such a pain to do because of that $%&#ing water pump catastrophe, but it'll be done in the next few weeks. If one day after work I get a sudden burst of energy I'll just go rip it apart. Smog pump is absent as is the front/top A/C bracket so it's only about half as much crap to take off at least.

Although there isn't a lot of slack between the crank turning and the distributor rotor turning, I do suspect it may have jumped or been replaced poorly because of how it sounds at 10BTDC. It sounds like combustion is happening with open valves. Not such a great thing.

[gadget73]

well, if it jumped you'd likely know because it wouldn't run. The ones I've seen and heard of that did legitimately jump wouldn't run and had bent valves. Cranking it just spun the engine with almost no load on the starter at all. The fact that this runs more or less normal makes me think you're probably fine.