Progress Thread Therapy Car-- Freshening Up the Lower Intake

A few more.

Soooooo. I got under the car tonight to check for cylinder notching. This is what it looks like. Doesn't look notched to me.

General karthief said:

Just to let you know, when doing the sunroof, those plastic pieces that the stainless things slide into at the front, take them out and make sure they are not cracked and reseal them, I used silicon, on the little screws too, if they are cracked they leak, the gasket from the factory dries up and will leak too.

Click to expand...

Mine were not cracked but they had been wrapped in duck tape and were rusted into the plastic sleeves. I had to dig the rusted metal out. I bought new replacement. I can't remember if I sealed the screws.

I'm not gonna like finding out that aspect of the car is false isn't fun. The only saving grace is that I didnt give a lot for the car. No premium because of it being all done up. I actually low balled and he called back a few weeks later and excepted my price.

The silver lining to the whole thing is that now I know more about what I'm working with. Also, when I get ready for to make changes I can do what I want and I'll know that the work is quality.

In defense of the seller. I ran into some other issues early on and he did offer to take the car back.

Lol! At least there is that. No plan on stopping just need to adjust direction a little bit. It has long tube headers on it now. Would less cubes benefit from shortie headers?

When I first got the car running I would drive it around the neighborhood with the kido just for fun. I had the driver and passenger seat installed but no other interior. The little guy loved it. Did it every day when he got home from daycare. Called it hot rod rides.

Then one day after getting the rest of the interior in I drove it around the neighborhood and parked it. Came out the next day tried to start it and nothing. Fuel pump came on speraticly but would not fire up. I started freaking out. Checked the fuel injectors, seemed OK. No spark. Then no fuel pump. Changed the fuel pump relay, nothing. Scoured the forum wasn't sure what to do. I finally read somewhere that capacitors on the ECM could fail and cause very similar symptoms and issues. I pulled the ECM and sure enough three completely rotten capacitors. I found a great video on YouTube detailing how to chang these out. I've posted the link on the forum already but I'll find it and post it here as well.

I went to a local shop and bought three of each of the offending capacitors. They are super cheap. I also bought a solder sucker. Also not much. I replaced the capacitors. Reinstalled the ECM..... Nothing. Super disappointing. I messaged the guy on YouTube. He will fix your board for you for a fee. He said that when the capacitors go they can cause a voltage spike that will then fri the board. I guess I drew the short straw.

I dont know if anyone has looked for a new 5 speed ECM lately but 6 months ago they were impossible to find. I actually was able to send my unit to Cardone and for $200 they rebuilt it. When I got it back I was super worried that it still wouldn't run. I installed it and BAM! It fired right up! Been running fine since then. Sorry I dont have pics of the rotten capacitors.

View: https://youtu.be/-O7FUoQzTB4

I did not buy a fancy solder sucker like this guy has. Mode cost about $20 and is a spring loaded plunger. Let me know if the link does not work.

Other things that have been done to the car to date are: front and rear window trim was sanded and sprayed with trim black


I didnt buy new map pockets and I didnt want to buy deletes either so I took the doors apart and removed the pockets from the factory card then reinstalled them. The entire door card was cleaned up and sprayed

Also, replaced the armrest. Cleaned and sprayed scuff plates. New window belts. New roof rails, all new door seals. I removed the side mirrors and sprayed them as well.

I cleaned and wet sanded these 4 or 5 times. Every time I painted them the paint would fish eye like I hadn't properly cleaned them. I even primed them. They are on the list to replace at some point possibly anyway so I'm not worried about it. New power window motors. New inner and outer door belt weather striping. I replaced the outer door molding but I dont like the fit. It has a large gap close to the rearview mirror. The old ones looked bad but were tight. Unfortunately i threw away the originals before realizing I probably should keep them.

The door handle bezels have been replaced. New speakers in all 6 spots. I went ahead and replaced all the wiring while the interior was out. New center arm rest pad. I took that entire thing apart to cleans and spray it. It was not easy to put back together. The hatch supports are new. I replaced the hatch weather stripping. Also bought front seat belt sleeves. I haven't installed them yet. I think that's about it for the interior. I'm sure there is more but I can't think of them.

Under the hood I got the 6AL sorted out and it has been mounted on the inner finder well by the intake. You can see it in other pics I've posted. Replaced all the hoses, water.and power steering. New radiator bushings. Rebuilt the power steering pump. New alternator
New water pump. Just picked up a factory crank pully from a local shop. My alternator had melted the plug and was burnt looking. New SN95 rack and pinion. I also picked up a MM steering shaft.

SVE bump steer kit. The car is lowered.
The last time I drove the car it was awful. Keep in mind this was before replacing or upgrading anything on the suspension or steering. I have yet to get all this stuff removed and replaced..That was also the first long drive I had taken in it. About 100 miles or so. It just kinda mushed around in the corners. Steering was sloppy. It just wasn't right. That's when I decided to go through the steering and suspension from front to back. I might regret it but I went with the energy suspension polyurethane kit. I also put offset rack bushings on it. I plan on upgrading to coil overs in the future so I went with an OE front strut. I bought Moog ball joints. I have all the bearings for the front spindles. I went ahead and bought new rotors and pads. When I took the water pump off and replaced it with a new one the timing chain cover started leaking. With everything else off I ended up dropping the k member and replacing the oil pan gasket, timing chain cover gasket, and front main. Last night i got the k member up, rack reinstalled, drivers side spring installed, spindle on, and sway bar end link on. Hopefully tonight I can get the strut installed.

New struts installed and a new harmonic balancer along with a OEM crank pulley.

It's been a long time since I took the hubs off the front spindles and I'm a little foggy about everything needed to put it back together. I tried looked for a diagram but didnt come up with what I think I need. I have a seal and inner/outer bearing, nut, nut retainer, washer, and dust cap. For each side. Other than the splash guard and hub am I missing anything?