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Driving Miss Swan....The Continuing Story

60K views 566 replies 25 participants last post by  drjim 
#1 · (Edited)
WELL....I figured it's about time I start a thread about the car in the section it actually belongs in!

This is a continuation of the thread I started here.


Current "State of the Interior"




I finished getting rid of the "middle" plastic part of the bushing in the shift fork of the transmission today so I can install the "Billy Bushing" from BillyM's ShiftGasm kit, refill the trans, and then drop in the V3 Short Throw Shifter I bought from George at Raptor Racing when he had them on sale.

After spending a couple of hours digging at the plastic with an X-Acto knife, I figured there had to be a better/easier way, so I ended up using a flex shaft adapter in my cordless Dremel tool, and an 80-grit sanding drum, to remove the rest of the plastic part of the bushing.

I bought some adapters for my shop vac at Home Depot that included some small nozzles for hard-to-reach areas, and had that running as close to the sanding drum as I could get it so it would suck out the plastic that was being ground away.

Every few minutes I'd stop and suck all the crud out, and after about half an hour, all the plastic was removed, and I had a nice clean metal surface to bond Billy's bushing to. I test fit the bushing, and while it's not as tight as I expected, I'm sure the JB Weld will hold it in place.

I just finished a solvent flush through the top of the trans, and after that sits a bit to completely dry, I'll read the instructions again, mix up a batch of JB Weld, and glue that sucker in there!


SHINY!





Billy Bushing Been Bonded!





I'm busy most of tomorrow on the Iowa doing some radio stuff, so that will give me well over 24 hours of cure time for the JB Weld. Monday I'll refill the trans, bolt in the V3 shifter, reinstall the boot and my new shift knob, and take her out for a spin.

Tuesday the seats will come out so I can reattach the gas flap/hatch release levers to the floor (they've been floating since I bought the car), and the carpet will come out so I can clean the floor pan and start installing the new carpet.

My wife has volunteered to "steam clean" the seats for me (thanks for all the suggestions!), so we'll go rent a carpet cleaner with the upholstery attachments so she can tackle that project. I'll probably pull the seat backs off so I can tighten up the cargo netting on the back while the seats are out of the car.

And while the interior is mostly out, I'll finally be able to remove the wiring harness for the Sony 10-CD changer that used to live back by the tire changing tools compartment so I can sell the head unit and changer on eBay.

Stay tuned....this should start to get interesting!

- Jim
 
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#2 ·
You might find the cargo netting a bit of a challenge. You'll soon see what I mean. Instead of pulling it apart, I ended up drilling horizontal holes and simply added new elastics.

Does the Sony 10-CD changer have a preamp tape deck head unit with removable face? If so, that is what I've been running. I find it decent enough sound, most convenient and a pretty hardy unit. It might be a bit of a relic these days tho, Doc. Be sure to post pics of the changer connector since that differs between models.
 
#3 ·
I read the cargo net thread numerous times in the past, and it didn't seem too hard.

Time to revisit the thread, I guess...

The "head unit" is a Sony XR-C6100 FM Stereo with a cassette player and "D-Bass". The changer is a Sony CDX-715. There's a red/white paired RCA cable running between them for the right/left audio, and the control cable looks like a two-pin DIN plug with "flat" (not round) pins.

No idea what it's worth these days. It's in good condition, works perfectly, and I have the manuals, so it should bring a few $$ on eBay.

I'm replacing it with an Alpine CDE-134HD radio and KTP-445A 40 Watt per channel amp that plugs in between the car harness and the head unit. Totally "transparent to the user" except that it boosts the audio to 40 Watts RMS per channel.
 
#4 ·
That otta improve sound without rattling the cage. I'd like to upgrade someday, but it's okay for now.

I did it the easy way on the seatbacks, figured I'd end up replacing them soon enough anyway (with two young kids). Knots at ends, hardly noticeable. :whatever:
 
#5 ·
I've got a small powered subwoofer made by "Sound Ordinance" I bought from Crutchfield.

I'll install the cable for it, but I'm not sure if I'll install it when I put the interior back together.

I'm so damn slow anymore that if I have to, I'll drive her to "Supras in Vegas" with just the driver's seat in it!
 
#7 ·
Yeah, it seemed a pretty reasonable way to boost the stock head unit power up to something better. The head unit is rated 18 Watts per channel, so the little booster amp should give me some head room to crank it up a bit while cruising.
 
#8 ·
Dang it guys!! Now with this talk of amps and Alpines I've been looking at stereo stuff again Pioneer mini discs and add on players AGAIN>>>even though I have an extra Pioneer DEH-P4000 (in the box) and a Pioneer add on CD Player CDS-P45 also (NIB) in the garage...

I'm just going to go on Rinkya and drop the $$ I dont want to spend on another Stereo setup...
 
#9 ·
WELL.....I haven't been sticking to my "Do ONE Thing Per Day Philosophy" very well.

Wednesday is my "Iowa Day", and Thursday and most of today were spent helping my wife get ready for her vacation trip. Thursday I had to make sure our "Roadmate" GPS was updated, which took a lot longer than expected because Magellan doesn't use the "Content Manager" program any more to update the unit. They do it all with a web-based interface, and that was why the previous program didn't work.

Then I had to set up her tablet and phone to use the little portable WiFi hotspot I have, as the hotel she's staying at wanted something insane like $25/day for WiFi access!

ANYWAY.....I got the transmission fill plug out, put the drain plug back in, and filled the trans with 2.5 quarts of Red Line MT90. Put the fill plug back in, and while I was down there I sprayed a bunch of crud with some Gunk Foamy Gel degreaser. I'll pressure wash it after I get the V3 shifter installed and the boot back on.

I also trimmed the recommended 1-1/2" hole in the lower boot so I could slide it off the old shifter, and then slid the boot(s) on to the V3 shifter.

Saturday I'm tied up with a VIP brunch, and a behind-the-scenes tour of the Communications Center and Transmitter Room on the Iowa, so I won't get home until about 5:30. I'll get the V3 shifter and boot(s) installed and bolted back down to the floor pan after I get home, and if it's still light out, I'll jack the car back up and power wash the areas I sprayed the degreaser on.

Sunday I'll take her out for a spin and see how the V3 shifter and "BillyM Bushing" feel compared to the old worn-out shifter and worn-out bushings.

OH....I also adjusted the free play on the clutch. The push rod was apparently never adjusted properly (or at all) after the new clutch master cylinder was installed. The trans was "snagging" a bit on shifts and going into gear from a stop, so hopefully the adjustment took care of that issue.

- Jim
 
#10 ·
Update Time!

Trans is refilled, clutch pedal free-play adjusted, and V3 Short Shifter installed!

Still haven't taken her for a drive, as I've been helping the wife do a little 'renovation' in the house. She painted the dining area and living room in our process of starting to get the house ready for sale as we're planning on moving to Colorado about this time next year.

And I've been sorting through all the parts I've bought over the last couple of years so I can start rebuilding the front suspension this week. The top strut mounts are shot, with big cracks in the rubber, and they look bulged out, like the struts are just waiting to bust through.

Thanks to Dave in Seattle and his great "One Man DIY" that he posted, I'll be tearing into the front starting on Monday.

New strut mounts, new strut inserts, and new springs are on the top of the list, but since I'll be that deep into the front end, I'll also install the new Energy Suspension sway bar links and cushions, and the Energy Suspension bushings for the tension rods/track control rods. I'm not going to use the T3 solid replacements I bought because after thinking about how all the parts move in relation to one another, I just don't see how they can work over the entire range of suspension travel without binding. This isn't a race car, or even an occasional track day/autocross car, so any "improvement" they might give me isn't worth the other issues I can see.

And since I have new cross-drilled front rotors and new pads, I'll swap those out, too.

Heck, I might even get ambitious enough to install the braided hoses and Russel "Speed Bleeders" I bought from George at Raptor! I don't know when/if the brake system has ever been flushed, and this would be an excellent time to do it.

I have a couple of quarts of new, sealed DOT4 brake fluid, so no worry about running out of fluid when I flush and bleed the system.

I'll post some pix as I do the work.

- Jim
 
#11 ·
Love me some speed bleeders. Only weird thing is that sometimes i have a hard time doing the initial bleeding with a mighty vac tool with those installed, so i leave the stock bleeders on until i get to fresh fluid with a mighty vac, then switch to speed bleeders and give it a few pumps to finish the job. Call me crazy, but i don't like the thought of pumping an old master cylinder 100 times to get to fresh fluid all around, seems like it was never designed for that amount of pumping in such a short time.
 
#12 ·
Thanks for the tip!

I'll leave the stockers in there until my Mighty Vac pulls fresh fluid through.

Any other suggestions? I have DOT3 fluid, but I was thinking of maybe going to DOT4.
 
#13 ·
I bought a vacuum bleeder many years ago and initially had lots of problems using it. I happened to find a post somewhere on the vast internet way back then that mentioned using Dow Corning compound 111 grease on the bleeder threads to keep air from being sucked back into the system around them and that it wouldn't contaminate the brake fluid. Conveniently, i just happened to have some in my vast collection of stuff from many years of fixing everything in the universe. It definitely helps as does not using any higher vacuum pressure than necessary.
But I've NEVER been able to successfully bleed all the air out of the rear lines without letting the car sit for a few hours / overnight with the rear end raised higher than the front. My theory is that the vacuum bleeder doesn't have enough capacity or power to pull either enough fluid at one time through or enough power to pull all of the bubbles up and over the highest part of the brake lines heading to the rear calipers. It seems as if sitting with the rear elevated allows the bubbles to migrate most of the way towards the rear over some amount of time and then be successfully pulled the rest of the way out. But I could be totally wrong about this and this particular difficulty could be for some other reason. I do know that the solution I finally came up with does indeed work while nothing else I tried did. This may not be a problem with manual bleeding with an assistant or with a power bleeder. But neither was an option for me back then because power bleeders were way to expensive for mere mortals and the crazy traveling schedule I used to have with work meant that anything that needed to be done on the Supra had to be completed between me getting home Saturday afternoon and leaving again by Tuesday morning at the very latest.
I'm just about to install all new SS lines but I only have speed bleeders for the rear right now. I've done the 5 lug conversion and am running the Q45 calipers in the front. I know that their bleeders aren't the same size as our stockers are but not what size they are so some research will have to be done to find that information. If anybody already knows, please advise me.
Gamble's post makes me wonder if his particular difficulty might have been (mostly) with the rears and like my problem, solved by raising the rear for awhile. I don't know enough about how the speed bleeders work to even speculate. If anyone has any ideas about these issues, please enlighten all of us.
 
#16 ·
I'm pretty sure I've got a tube of that stuff in my collection of things.

I think it was called "Stopcock Grease", and was used with laboratory glassware. MUCH thicker than silicone dielectric grease.

What's you guys opinion on brake fluid? I've read pros and cons of DOT4 vs DOT3. Pretty much the same, but DOT4 is refined a bit more, with some additives to repel water.

DOT5 is silicone, and I don't want to go there, and DOT5.1 is glycol like the other stuff, but has an even higher 'wet' boiling point.
 
#14 ·
Speed bleeders are just a check valve with a little ball and spring forming the valve essentially, unless their pics online are fabrications of course...


My theory is that the mighty vac tool just doesn't have the oomph to move the ball to let fluid flow through. I've never had issues with mighty vac tools(name brand or the cheap harbor freight knocks offs) working on regular old brake systems except with speed bleeders. I have been known to use a legit AC vacuum pump or just a spare vacuum port on an engine to bleed the hell out of dirty old systems though I have not tried those tricks with speed bleeders. Pumping mighty vacs by hand on long bed pickups forever until you get fresh fluid is not my idea of fun, and aquarium tubing to run from the fluid container they give you with the mighty vac to the truck's engine is about 3 bucks.
 
#17 ·
Best way to bleed brakes buy one of these (assuming you have a decent compressor) and skip the speed bleeders;

http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/brakes/brake-fluid-bleeder-92924.html

Best tool ever for bleeding brakes. Just hook it up to your bleeder lock the handle on the tool down and let it go. You just need to be careful because it will suck the reservoir down in a jiffy. I don't really trust the baby bottle thing to not leak they provide so I just poor straight into the reservoir as it work directly.
 
#19 ·
I hadn't even seen that one, thanks for the heads up. Looks to work similar to the suction feed media blasters where blowing air out creates a vacuum. Says it needs 90psi to work, not sure i'd recommend that setup with a little pancake compressor, but i do like how huge the fluid catch reservoir is. Here is a 10 minute vide on it if you are super bored :p
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDSyZNDOjnY
 
#20 ·
NOT so good,IMO.
The vacuum it creates can cause trouble.
The system is designed for pressure. NOT vacuum. Sure the fluid gets sucked out.
When the vacuum is removed,the fluid(and air) gets pulled back into the lines.
Ray and I are old school and we have done this a few times,without mixed results.
Be safe and pressurize the system.
One person brake bleeding can be done safely without consequence.
Speed bleeders are great!
If you use 2 person bleeding,you may have BAD results.
Do not let the pedal go to the floor on an old master cylinder!
Use a pedal depressor and do it manually.
Also,use GRAVITY.
Open all 4 bleeder screws and let it bleed itself.
As long as the brake pedal
is in the UP position,fluid will dribble out of the bleeders.The compensation ports are OPEN inside the master cylinder bore.

Want to take a break? Turn a quart bottle upside down on the master cylinder reservoir and it will feed fluid as needed.
Mity Vac can bleed fluid faster. Silicone grease on the bleeder valve threads helps a lot.
Speed bleeders are much faster.
Clutch masters and slaves the same way.
DOT 3 or 4 is fine.
NO DOT 5,IMO.
 
#21 ·
I've had them all and the one I posted works awesome. It's basically a hand vacuum bleeder on steroids. I can bleed all 4 brakes in <10 minutes. It even works great on my Corolla clutch where the line goes UP from the cylinder and its a bugger to bleed. The worst bleeder to use is the ones that apply pressure to the reservoir like the Motive one. I threw that POS away. Anytime the seal is broken at the reservoir it blows brake fluid everywhere.
 
#23 ·
@Dave in Seattle - The picture gamble posted of the speed bleeder valve tells me it's basically a spring-loaded. one-way check valve. As long as the pressure or vacuum applied to it are below what it takes to overcome the spring tension and get the ball off the seat, it's closed, and the system is sealed. So, if you're pulling a vacuum at the speed bleeder, it will take a certain amount of vacuum to move the ball off the seat and start sucking fluid out. Once the vacuum falls below that amount, the spring forces the ball back on it's seat, sealing the system, and no air can get into it.

If you were using regular bleeder nipples, I can see how air could get into the system. As the vacuum falls, if you don't immediately close the bleeder nipple, air can get in once the fluid flow stops.
 
#24 ·
Spent the day rounding up all parts I've been collecting that I'll need "at hand" to work on the front end.

I now have an area where the new KYB strut inserts are, along with the new top strut mounts, the Dobinson front springs, the Raptor Racing braided brake hoses, the new rotors and pads, and the Energy Suspension sway bar end links and tension rod bushings.

I'm forgoing doing the front lower control arm bushings at this time.

And I have another box with the shocks, springs, and some misc parts in it for the rear.

And all my tools have been rounded up, and put back in their correct tool boxes.

I'll be starting on this on Saturday, only a freaking WEEK or so late......
 
#25 ·
Still sorting out all the parts I know I have so I can start The Great Front Suspension Rebuild.

Since I have to pull the struts and remove the springs to replace the top strut mounts, I figure it's a good time to put my new Raptor Raciing lowering springs in.

Now I just have to find them.....
 
#26 ·
The suspension will be much easier to work on when you get the lowering springs in. With OEM springs you have to be careful because everything is under tension at all times so you need a spring compressor to get work started(you can rent one, you'll see what i mean when you start getting things apart), but with the lowered ones when you get the car in the air the springs are short enough that they are no longer compressed so you can just unbolt things and do what you need to do.
 
#27 ·
I already own two spring compressors, so that's no problem.

These are the springs George says lowers the car about 3/4", so I don't know how much easier it will be to reinstall everything.

*IF* I can get the front done this week, I'd like to install my new KYB rear shocks, and possibly the matching lowering springs.
 
#28 ·
Rear is way easier than the front honestly, once you've got the fronts done and have a little workshop momentum you'll be like ehhhh why not haha. Jack under the control arm, disconnect the shock and sway bar in the rear, and then drop the jack and you shouldn't have to compress the spring that much even to get it out, and the new lower springs should go in a bit easier with no compression needed(i don't think i had to compress to install dropped springs)
 
#29 ·
You will fine. Use my tips and it will go much smoother,Jim.
Your body will be very tired afterwards.
I took SIX hours to do just the struts and upper mounts,solo.
Your efforts may take a lot longer. Maybe a week end.
Crawling on the ground is really hard to do for a long time.
I took my Naproxin B-4 I started and I was still sore ,the next day.

Gamble is younger and stronger than both us combined.

Just think smarter and don't work harder to do a job that you will be pleased as punch,when you are finished!
The results will give you a big grin.
As the ride height will be changed with the lowering springs,the alignment will be WAY OFF.
Do my string alignment trick before you even*think* about a test drive.

I used the same springs and I didn't worry about that issue.
Your lowering will change the camber and toe a lot.
Go around the block and get it back to your garage and set the front tires on newspaper for some slip. Then, do the string thing. You will see. Stock specs for toe in is fine,but the camber will be WAY negative. You will see,Jim. Just set the toe in.
 
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