The Bulldog.

[Piece-it pete]

There's a knock in the front end and I knew it needed them anyway so I changed the sway bar bushings and links.

Minor job for sure, Energy poly kit from AutoZone, 1 hour job. I ordinarily would hardly mention it but I've never changed just the bushings without other work - What an amazing difference! Not all the knock (I'm thinking LCAs) but much of it, the real improvement is in ride and steering. Small old truck goes clattering down the road bump steering to oblivion? No more! Well still a little but so much better, smooth and stable at the low 70s I do on the highway. Almost like new shocks, no kidding.

One thing, autozones' website showed the bushings to be greaseable, they aren't. So after internet gleaning I sanded and cleaned the sway bar contact points, wrapped the points with Teflon tape, lubed the heck out of them with some leftover Energy grease (I've heard tell it's 'plumbers grease' or marine grease btw) and installed the bushings. If it starts squeaking I'll post.

Anyway run outside and change your bushings right now Best highest value thing I've done in a long time.

Pete

[sly]

I need to inspect the fron driver side of the 88... could be this... could be ball joints... could be body mounts... something is squeaking/groaning... especially on right hand turns.

[Piece-it pete]

Got a few things done, front brakes/bearings/rubber brake lines, the rotors were nice. A Timken bearing was out of spec! Outside bearing ID, wouldn't fit on the spindle.

1991 has a pretty big midyear change and of course I got the clip on hoses, and it takes screwed ones.

One thing, the GM screw on ones have that craptacular stamped 'nut' holding them on, I replaced them with 'real' nuts from the hardware store, 3/4" - 16, $1.60 ea, and antisieze. No further issues I'd expect, when I go to change them again in ten years Overkill for the win?

A knocking I thought might be control arm bushings went away, probably the pass side caliper bushings, yay!

Changed the exhaust manifold too, these cheap stamped and welded ones rot under the oven, it looked fine and definitely leaked. Runs better, and slightly quieter. This darn muffler is just too loud for me.

Pretty happy with a rig, I couldn't get pressure on the top exhaust flange bolt to compress the spring and get it started, so I put it in a vise (aware it could still hurt) compressed it down and tied the sides with thin wire to keep it compressed. It worked!

I did notice that on one side I managed to get one metal washer on the end links in the wrong spot Ran out of day, I'll fix it soon.

Pete

[packman]

I just replaced my stock muffler on the Ranger two months ago. I used an old Monza exhaust tip that I was running on the Cavalier to quiet the Summit turbos a little. It's nice and quiet now. Though, now I can hear the pinging from the 4.0L.


Packman

[sly]

I need to inspect the fron driver side of the 88... could be this... could be ball joints... could be body mounts... something is squeaking/groaning... especially on right hand turns.

my upper control arm bushing wants grease. it's the energy suspension one crying too. screw it. make people get away from my car when they hear it sounding like it's about to fall apart.

[Piece-it pete]

Changed the IAC, intake air and coolant temp sensors, tranny fluid, oil, hoses, belt.

It runs WAAAY better. Yay! It was almost certainly the IAC. The one on there was new, but the spring was a ridiculous fine wire with a few coils and the plug was stamped tin, the Herco I replaced it with had a machined brass or copper plug and a real spring.

The T5 trannies in these trucks use automatic trans fluid. There was gear oil in it. Clean though, at least it was serviced. Still the right fluid is making a world of difference. What I thought was just a rough and raw tranny actually is pretty good. I hope it likes Mercon V Can't wait to tell the Chevy people that

Needed the hoses. Another sign of a no salt car, I reused the hose clamps. Didn't get to the wires/cap/coil but they've certainly been changed so if it has to wait till after winter no harm I think.

Now just front control arms/springs and shocks all around, and u joints and I'll be feeling pleased.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Oh and if I ever need a new cat I'll just look at my forearm. The exhaust pipe was cool enough but apparently the cat holds its' heat longer - I have '9100' burnt into my skin

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Annnd the cat # is still there

New problem(s)! Pissing me off. I need to spend quality time with the Stealth Bomber :grr:

1st, cruising down the turnpike at 71-72 about 45 minutes into an hour trip, running fine, tunes on, suddenly wtf? power loss. Downshift downshift moving right, finally dies, on the berm.

Wait a moment, try to start, cranking cranking but no catchy. Wait a few more, sputters and dies. A few more, sputters to life poorly with little power, I slowly make it up to speed and re-merge.

Then seems to straighten out. Pulling away from the toll booth it suddenly cuts out in 1st till I back off the throttle, then again briefly in 2nd. The cutting out in 1st has happened twice before:

...
But under hard acceleration she suddenly cuts out briefly. Any ideas?

Hasn't suddenly cut out again, I'm thinking short. I'll worry about it if it happens again.

I think related.

New fuel filter btw. I had an old timer tell me the wire to the coil may be bad, and another guy tell me fuel pump. Any ideas?

PLUS, throwout bearing going. Bloody hell.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Driving down the freeway yesterday, suddenly - no clutch! And no pedal. Started moving right and wala! - it starts working again. Pedal seems lower though.

Throwout bearing? I dunno. But time for the clutch job. I'm considering:

Spicer 'life' ujoints
Anchor motor mounts and tranny mount
Raybestos slave cylinder & hose
Exedy clutch kit and clutch master
ATP JX110 greaseable pivot ball stud
Timken input seal
SKF output seal
National rear engine seal & pinion seal

Anyone know how hard the pinion seal is? I'm considering skipping it.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Parts starting to trickle in (need money!!).

Got the slave and master as well as some seals. It's official, I'm a slave owner

Pete

[gadget73]

juice clutches really suck when they fail. Makes a mess too, besides being really inconvenient. If the juice ends up all over the clutch, you can't even drive it without the clutch until you can fix it. I lost a clutch cable on the VW and drove it for a week till I had time and money to replace it. You get real good at learning the shift points to get it through the gears without grinding. Downshifts are a bit more tricky, but it can be done. Not good on the starter with a lot of stop and go though. The only way around that is to shut the engine off, jam it in first, and start it up if you aren't heading downhill.

[Piece-it pete]

Lol I knew a guy who drove a bug for a while with a pair of vicegrips attached to the end of his broken clutch cable.

No fluid loss, I think it's an internal slave seal failure. But as I've got to check the cat (I suspect some blockage) & change the ujoints anyway I might as well go whole hog, do the clutch kit, seals, replace the chirping pivot ball stud, aforementioned clutch master/slave/hose etc. If I learned anything from the 85 TC and you guys it's REPLACE IT ALL on an old car. If anyone has any other suggestions while I've got the tranny out I'm all ears.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Sat for weeks then fired right up on demand all winter regardless of temp. Still no new clutch etc but it's getting warmer!

In the meantime,

Turns out that the EGRs on these are a known problem. Apparently GM still holds a patent on them, so the aftermarkets are too soft springed, then in their infinite wisdom GM started sourcing them from the same Chinese suppliers. Long and short is no one makes the 'correct' one anymore. Also there is a different one for a stick and an auto.

......

the intewebz FTW! A guy in Loooeeeseana sent me an EGR he pulled of a junked one. It runs way, way better. Cool people rock.

It also means buying a new one, even Delco, is a waste of money.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Still more parts in! Clutch line, last of the seals, the tranny mount, plus a felpro valve cover gasket. All I need now is the pivot stud, the clutch, universals, and exhaust clamps.

Got the inline fuse for the coming upgraded stereo. It occasionally starts to cut out and once it does it gets worse and worse till I can't turn it up to audible levels. And it's cassette, no cd. I've got the Excelon head unit and Antony amp from the old 85 TC, all I need is the correct length rcas, some speaker wire and component style 4 x 6 speakers (the magnet on a regular 4 x 6 won't clear inside the dash on the drivers side). So I'll reuse the existing speaks and get the rest installed. Amp under the pass seat.

I had a choice of inline fuses for the new main power to the amp. The kind I used on the MGM:



And this:



One thing I didn't like about the former was it's not very watertight, and this goes under the hood near the battery. So I tried the latter. Problem is, there's no real way to attach it down to anything, and it's pretty hard to open. So I guess it'll hang between the battery and the fender well tiedown point. Also the former could take 4 ga and the latter is 8, but the MGM will get a small sub sooner or later (later) and the truck never will, nowhere to put it. So heck on it.

Pete

[Piece-it pete]

Everything on order but the exhaust clamps.

So I'll be wrenching for Easter

After doing further research I decided to do the input shaft bearing as well. It appears easy (T5) but I've found some references to 'preload' on it and have no idea what that is. I see a YT vid on it that I'll watch tonight.

And, got the last bits for the new stereo!

Pete