A new milestone today...600 pages of Monster goodness. ( I’ll bet i’m good for ad dollars,..they should pay me to be here)
There are two things I can do today. I planned one, the other is one of those things I’ve been ignoring that needs fixing.
One can be done in a matter of a few hours, the other opens a can of worms on something that busted my ass the last time i dicked with it.
The “quick fix“ is the water line that leaked. The original line routed out of the engine, into a really obscure, impossible to get to once the engine is installed- bulkhead fitting in the transmission tunnel, then ran inside the car to the heater core, then out through another bulkhead fitting back into the engine.
A necessary evil if i cared about having a warm interior in the cold months.
History with this car has shown that to be UN necessary. The freakin thing is always down from November through..........( insert random mid summer month here).
A 2jz has a hard line the runs under the exhaust manifold that routes the water from the back of the head to the heater core, to the turbos, and returns it to the back of the water pump. The “ mike-mod” routed the water over the river, and through the woods as described above before returning it to the water pump.
Im changing that today. Today, the water is gonna come out of the back of the head, and go straight back into the water pump. that line will stay hooked up with the engine. In other words, I’m eliminating the potential leak at the bulkhead fitting.
Besides,....I freakin hate how this looks.
I gotta go to an AP store and buy some pre-formed hose bent at 90 degrees so that I can get it routed out of that straight up stickin’ hose nipple on the head. I have one already, but it’s really too big ( like 3/4” instead of 5/8”) So,...gotta go to O’reillys.
The other thing requires bodywork, and paint.
The hood that I replaced the original one with was broken where the old Fairmont hoods typically crack. I welded the crack closed, but......neglected to check the hood for fitment afterwards. It was sprung at that point. It wasn’t until after the hood was painted and installed that I discovered that. When you shut it, the drivers’ side of the hood doesn’t line up with the fender line. it stands off.
Trust me,..when you’re standing there,...it looks a lot worse than this.
But fixin it requires that I remove it...cut a relief cut in the underside that I welded the piss out of, and relieve that crown. That will require I push down ( probably stand on) that side of the hood to push it back. And that will probably break the bodywork that’s under the paint...( maybe it will, maybe it won’t) once pushed back to where it’ll meet the fender, I’d have to make a strap to hold the hood at that position, and screw or rivet it on, because I won’t be able to weld it back. THAT will surely fck up the paint or bodywork.
Its a point of obsession for me, and i’d leave it the hell alone if the car was running....but it’s like it says on top...I gotta do something.
www.brotherstrucks.com
, but to 16-year-old me, it was more important that my hood was straight, and it didn't cost an entire Taco Bell paycheck (they were a lot more expensive back then, and I made all of $5.50 an hour at the time).
"Real Old Geezers of Stangnet"
