AAGGHH!! ALL I WANT FOR XMAS IS A CAR THAT WORKS

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 10:10 pm

What a week, I think/hope it's all sorted now but here's what's happened:

Thursday: It's been coming for a while but the engine in the white wagon finally died, I was running late for work and giving it a serious flogging, got 5 mins away from home and something didn't feel right, so I put the clutch in and give the accelerator a quick stab, it made a nasty rattle, a bang, the cabin filled with smoke, the engine stalled and the dash lit up, hit the starter, and she wouldn't turn, she'd seized, so I coasted along till I found somewhere i could pull over and hitched a lift to work.

Didn't finish work till 8, got picked up headed out the the car, buggered around with it for about half an hour, gave up and called a tilt tray, by the time he showed up and we got home it was about 10pm, had a quick bite to eat then headed to the garage. By the time I had the rubasu and the white wagon in the garage, had the hoist and all my tools setup and was ready to start it was 12:30, by 2:30 I had the engine and box out of the rubasu, had a shower and went to bed.

Friday: Was gunna take the day off and finish the swap but the boss said he needed me at work so arranged for someone to pick me up in the morning BUT forgot to arrange how I was getting home, so by the time I had that sorted and got home it was about 9:30, had dinner and was at it again. This time I had my old man helping me which helped heaps, even just the moral support and company was great.

We were going at it non stop from about 10pm and bar a few minor issues, sloppy shifter linkages and the like, it all went really well, had her back on the road at about 6:15am, had a shower, went to bed.

Saturday: got almost 40 mins sleep and went to work, after work we went out for dinner, on the way home coming up macquarie pass all of a sudden the temp sky rocketed and steam started spewing out of the bonnet.

The top hose had split where one of those stupid wire hose clamps had been and dumped all the water, I was not impressed, just over 12 hours after getting the car back on the road it was looking like I had cooked it.

My brother came to the rescue with 8 litres of water, took the full 5 litres to fill it up and that lasted about 3 minutes, put in the rest and went with a theory of running with out the radiator cap, that got us home with out over heating and I just left it till the next morning.

Sunday: Cut the split section off the hose, put it back on, clamped it, filled it with water let it idle for about 20 mins topping up water when needed, all seemed to be good.

Has been going pretty well ever since but now I think the clutch is starting to slip, it's not a major problem, just another drama to deal with and more time spent on the white wagon that should be spent on the tourer

If you've stuck with this post this long thanks for enduring my rant, if you just skipped to the end I don't blame you

Jordan.

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:11 am

Sounds like an interesting adventure you had.

Glad to hear that your subie is running again, but am a bit suprised you put water in it, and not radiator coolant. 8O

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 6:34 am

Thanks for your concern, I know suby's don't like running with normal water it's just all I had on me at the time, I'll be doing a general service on it later this week and I'll put coolant in then.

Jordan.

wildhorse · Post by **wildhorse** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 7:14 am

Merry Xmas Jordan
Don't know what else to say...lol

jzk25 · Post by **jzk25** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 7:29 am

Put an EJ in it.

(And new radiator hoses

)

redskin · Post by **redskin** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 11:09 am

Wow Jordan, what an interesting couple of days for you, sounds like you kicked someones dog, (gotta watch that), hopefully your problems are behind you, it's too bloody hot to be working on cars. Glad it's sorted, (fingers crossed), here's to trouble free motoring or the Baron rides again.

Pete.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 3:42 pm

wouldn't like to be your boss on the Friday after the 2:30 am finish

those stupid wire hose clamps - one day you may just appreciate their design. I used to share your opinion until I worked out why they sealed better with less clamp force than any other clamp, not that I can explain in words though. I now do my best to use these and nothing else, even pocketing them at the wreckers !!

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 5:42 pm

Thanks for your support guys.

I wasn't to bad after the 2:30am finish, but after the the 6:30 am finish my boss said there was a few points during the day he didn't think I'd make it.

And I'd like to drop an EJ in but I have to finish the other EJ project first.

Jordan.

MUDRAT · Post by **MUDRAT** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 8:57 pm

jono wrote:until I worked out why they sealed better with less clamp force than any other clamp

Same reason a knife cuts a steak better than a bowling ball?

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 9:02 pm

MUDRAT wrote:Same reason a knife cuts a steak better than a bowling ball?

So thats where I was going wrong, next time I'll use a knife

Jordan

wildhorse · Post by **wildhorse** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 9:02 pm

roflmao. thats so true. bowling balls take ages!!

fredsub · Post by **fredsub** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 11:12 pm

thats some heroic effort there Jordan.... I think some motor pit crews should be proud of your work...at times they need to rebuild an engine/car before the next race in the morning....but they usually have acces to all the best tools imaginable

Sounds like you need to use Macquarie Pass every day to work and back....thats a hard slog for an old engine....(for those that don't know - Macquarie Pass is a windy mountain road, from the floor at near sea level up to hmmm....its fairly high, very unforgiving road, but fun to drive when the car is going good, but a nightmare if you have an overheating engine....)

Anyway best of luck, hope the new year brings what you want

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:50 pm

Thanks fred-sub, luckily I work in bowral so it's a fairly flat drive to work but to visit family I have to use the pass, so it's only once every couple of weeks or there abouts.

The top of the pass is around 700m from sea level so it's a fairly serious climb, and large spaces between areas to pull over, there's no shortage of cooked cars on hot days.

Jordan.

MUDRAT · Post by **MUDRAT** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:56 pm

Same up Mount Oesley (sp?) there's always a cooked car going up there in summer. Hey next time I'm up your way we should meet up.

BaronVonChickenPants · Post by **BaronVonChickenPants** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 6:10 pm

Yeah roughly the same height but it's windy, no real chance to build up or maintain a decent speed, LOTS of 2nd gear work with lots of hi revs, it's not pretty.

Jordan.