I now have 5th gear (OD) !!!
For some reason I have been unable to shift into 5th gear. I thought maybe my linkage as not correct, but I tried again last night, and it goes smoothly into 5th ! When I first drove it, I could not get 1 -2 to work, so I started in 3rd. I guess they oil just needed to get warmed up and flow everywhere. I'll be doing a gear lube change now. It will also help my mpg to have OD. :-)
Quote: "My brother did a quick front end alignment Friday just before the trip. He plays that rack like a master violinists. I had 1.86 degrees of toe out. Not too bad for only having a tape measure to do the alignment after I put the new manual rack & pinion in. Now I have exactly 0.00 toe. He thinks its worth 4 mpg. Feels like it driving it. Very smooth and stable on rough roads."
For the vehicle, what is the spec for toe out, or should that be toe-in?
Quote: "My brother did a quick front end alignment Friday just before the trip. He plays that rack like a master violinists. I had 1.86 degrees of toe out. Not too bad for only having a tape measure to do the alignment after I put the new manual rack & pinion in. Now I have exactly 0.00 toe. He thinks its worth 4 mpg. Feels like it driving it. Very smooth and stable on rough roads."
For the vehicle, what is the spec for toe out, or should that be toe-in?
The rack he uses is a new Hunter HawkEye that does 4 wheels with simple reflectors on the wheels. The center of the spec for this car is 0.00 toe, so that's what he did.
http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/alignmentsystems/index.htm
Thursday I came into a parking lot rather hot and the alternator bracket scraped the ramp. I've driving into this store front lot many other times, but at normal speed. The noise was heart wrenching and the squeal of the belt after startup showed me I bent it. Here's what it was...
I have intended to built a bracket to protect the alternator from road rash, but making the mounting brackets to the "K" frame and radiator support has not inspired me yet... so I modified the alternator tightening bracket - made it shorter.
I started to upgrade my 14" wheels in the front to 15" as I have a nice set of aluminum 15" rims from a Grand Caravan. Also, the improved brakes will be nice. I bought new rotors, shoes, calipers and wheel hubs / bearings.
It appeared as though the bracket the calipers bolts to (and this bracket bolts to the steering knuckle) has a different spacing, so I tried to get the bracket too. No dice from Autozone, but Murray's Auto could get new calipers with the bracket for $7 more each side ($25 ea.) They ordered them for me so probably Wednesday I'll get them, so I went on to change my FF trans fluid. I had to make a tool to get the plugs out. At first I TIG welded the end of a nut to a bolt, but this broke. Next, I made it smaller and welded both sides of the nut to the bolt. I also used my propane torch to heat the aluminum case around the plug. Per
http://www.brokevw.com/020oil.html advice, I opened the filler plug first with the tool.
Then I drained it. Man, that old fluid must have been original. It looked like chocolate milk, only much thicker.
I flushed it with about a pint of Mobil-1 synthetic 75w-90 gear lube and then filled it up. It took about 1.4 quarts. The rubber hose helped get it into the trans.
Now my shifting is now much much better. 1st gear is almost normal now when cold.
On my drive home last night, I smelled a whiff of coolant, so I turned on the heater. Got heat, so got coolant. A couple minutes later, checked again, no heat, no coolant !! NOT AGAIN !! So I put in the clutch and the engine stalled. I noticed on my last over-heat the injectors don't work well over heated. I let it cool off again on I-696. Then I started adding water slowly to the radiator. I noticed there was no steam. I added 3L of water - should have been enough to push the coolant back into the head. Nothing. I looked under the car and saw it pouring from the drivers side of the water pump. Man, the only hose I did not replace under there with new was the by-pass hose. It was readily available over the counter and looked good.
After it was cool, I used the GP and the car started right up. Great News. Should mean I did not damage anything this time... I ordered the $11 hose and I'll have it today.
That figures, the only hose you didn't change goes out. Did Mr Murphy have your number or what?
That figures, the only hose you didn't change goes out. Did Mr Murphy have your number or what?
Yeah, my Ukrainian wife says its my fault for being a cheap-skate. Looking back, I should have checked to learn it was only $11 - less than the cost of the coolant I lost, and replaced it.
Thank you Mr Murphy !
theres this tape that is sold at home depot that supposedly holds up to 100 psi and hot temps... i bought some and put it in the trunk. its about $10 or so. with that at least you could limp home and then change the hose.
Quote: "My brother did a quick front end alignment Friday just before the trip. He plays that rack like a master violinists. I had 1.86 degrees of toe out. Not too bad for only having a tape measure to do the alignment after I put the new manual rack & pinion in. Now I have exactly 0.00 toe. He thinks its worth 4 mpg. Feels like it driving it. Very smooth and stable on rough roads."
For the vehicle, what is the spec for toe out, or should that be toe-in?
The rack he uses is a new Hunter HawkEye that does 4 wheels with simple reflectors on the wheels. The center of the spec for this car is 0.00 toe, so that's what he did.
http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/alignmentsystems/index.htm
We had one of those racks with the reflector type heads at a shop I worked at once, I think it was an OTC though. The neat thing about them is that the heads never need to be re-calibrated when they get dropped and they all get dropped eventualy. The thing I never really understood about alignments was why all cars don't all have the same or at least close toe settings to keep it tracking straight and not wearing the tires. You would think "What's good for the goose would be good for the gander". On that note what the hell is a Gander anyway
On that note what the hell is a Gander anyway
LOL ! Here in Michigan what ever they are, they have a mountain...
The thing I never really understood about alignments was why all cars don't all have the same or at least close toe settings to keep it tracking straight and not wearing the tires. You would think "What's good for the goose would be good for the gander". On that note what the hell is a Gander anyway
My understanding:
Depending on the vehicle you usually start with a bit of toe in. Once you're cruising along at highway speeds friction, etc is pushing the wheels back, taking up all the slack in the suspension. This will cause some toe-out, depending on the specific suspension design of the vehicle.
So the toe in would be different for different cars, since they're going to have different front end designs and different amounts of expected toe out once they're at speed...
You could take that further to suggest that a car with more worn-out components might want a bit more toe-in than normal... Or if you change say rubber parts out with polyurethane you might impact what the "best" toe setting would be for your car...
The thing I never really understood about alignments was why all cars don't all have the same or at least close toe settings to keep it tracking straight and not wearing the tires. You would think "What's good for the goose would be good for the gander". On that note what the hell is a Gander anyway
My understanding:
Depending on the vehicle you usually start with a bit of toe in. Once you're cruising along at highway speeds friction, etc is pushing the wheels back, taking up all the slack in the suspension. This will cause some toe-out, depending on the specific suspension design of the vehicle.
So the toe in would be different for different cars, since they're going to have different front end designs and different amounts of expected toe out once they're at speed...
You could take that further to suggest that a car with more worn-out components might want a bit more toe-in than normal... Or if you change say rubber parts out with polyurethane you might impact what the "best" toe setting would be for your car...
You've hit the nail on the head - the geometry of the system dictates everything about behavior... There is one aspect that has a profound affect - Caster & Camber. If you imagine the nearly vertical axis the front tire rotates about when you turn left & right, that point is angled to the center of the wheel's foot print on the road. If it is exactly centered in this foot print (usual) then there is zero pressure on the tie-rod ends while you drive steady state down the road. Now, if you put wheels on it with a different offset (the distance from the mounting surface of the hub and the center of the tire's foot print) then your pressure on the tie-rods will certainly not be neutral.
Now, back to my diesel conversion. I R&R the blown hose. It was much cheaper and easy to get than I thought - $11 for a Gates made in USA - the failed hose was made in France in the last millennium.
I filled it with $18 worth of anti-freeze and started the engine. It started just a little rough but idled OK.... but there is a major problem - combustion gases in the coolant again !! It blew most of the coolant out the radiator cap.
Off with the head again... new HG & bolts tonight. I am not worried about the head cracking this time as it did not get nearly as hot as last time - last time it would not idle.
A couple more sets of head bolts and you'll have already paid for the studs without having them... 
Sorry for your troubles. I'm sure you'll get it sorted.
You know how right you are? If I was not trying to get to Oshkosh this week in the diesel, I would have ordered them and waited for them... all this to save $11 on a hose that looked good ;-)
We (my 13 yr old son is learning to wrench on diesels!!) got the head off last night and cleaned the deck and the head. I was just about to put it back together as it looked good, when I was teaching my son how to use a straight-edge and feeler gauge... Crap, the #1 - #2 junction was out of flat by 0.005" !!!! Funny, that's where the last HG failed with I over heated it then. Must be a bit more heat for these 2 jugs. I took photos, but the USB stick would not be read on the WinDoz machine today (saved with a Mac last night).
So, this afternoon I'll be setting up the flat glass / sand paper fixture again to polish it back to flat, again. If it goes quickly, I think I'll remove my BOV and weld an aluminum plate over the hole.
Hey arb how long does it take you to pull the head? You must be getting good at it lol? I assume the job is easier in the van?
Curious what type of abrasive and grit you use for lapping and how long it takes to flatten out 0.005"? Do you use a new piece of glass every time? How fast does the glass wear? Have you checked the flatness of a used piece of glass?