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2012 - Going on a diet
And I was on my way home. Halfway to the Nova Scotian border I stopped at a (sad) empty truck stop restaurant for supper where had a chat with the owner and waitress while eating my reheated turkey and topped up the gas tank. Godzilla was also famished. She ate supper, a fresh rabbit, on the remaining stretch to Bathurst.
On my way back I started thinking about how she had passed a trial by fire. I had been far from pushing her to the limits but that was because of due dilligence with her old 20 year old hardware. Still, I decided it was time for me to give her some track-flavored TLC as she had earned it. Also it was a way to proving to myself I could actually do the work.
So I came back home in one piece, parked her in the garage and went to bed.
I took a couple days off to continue some writing, as I had now moved back at my parents (semi-permanently) after being gone for 7 years so that I could complete my thesis without hemorrhaging rent money. I had some time to gather the intel for my game plan and mustered up some courage to work on her. On the menu:
-Carbon canister delete
-AC delete
-Full brake system restoration
-New coilovers
I had given her a good rince since the track but she still hadn't been washed yet. I put her again in the garage and prepped her for surgery. At my parents, I tend to get more focused in the evening at it just becomes beautiful outside and mosquitos aren't such assholes. So usually I wait until sunset to start big projects. The neighbours must love me (all 4 of them).
So first off, the carbon canister. During the previous year it had been obvious that wathever gas tank evaporation system had clogged because each time I would gas the tank would depressurize loudly. That's a big no-no since the gas vapour is actually the flammable part of gasoline. Some threads popped up on GTRC (and I also found the same on google) pointing towards the carbon canister, the charcoal filter that absorbs the tank's gasoline vapours, getting old and clogging the system, trapping vapours in the tank. Since it was an eyesore and I could use the hand room in the engine bay I opted for a full delete.
It was in my skill bracket. The vacuum diagram in the TSM made the affected circuit easy to spot, even moreso with the colour coding of the lines (I love the engineering in this car, I can't say it enough).
But, since I wanted to delete the AC, I could hit two birds with one stone. So I started tearing the front end of the car apart. To put it bluntly, at this point I just cut the canister vaccum lines chucked the canister out.
If you notice the time lapse in the background I'm sorry for being a lazy SOB that just spent his time drinking and listening to music. Ok, I was writing too, I admit.
So as you can see, the first part was straightforward. I should also note the system had vented itself somehow in winter 2010 so if the cops are looking move along. You should be careful though, even if the system was empty, the air quality changed quick after I had broken the seal. My dad (longtime smoker) couldn't detect it but I immediately told him to get out and let the system vent more.
Taking your time does have its perks; by looking long and hard I figured out that the AC evaporator could be easily slipped out from under the rad support without even touching the rad. The hard part though, was the AC coolant hose that you can see in the top right corner of the evaporator. I'm not quite sure how they slid it in in one piece at the factory but it got out in two.
From there it was time to attack the pump itself.
Tossing the PS pump aside took a lot longer than I had anticipated as, as a rookie, didn't know that the pivot bolt had to be loosened for the assembly to become free to rotate. Anyway, from having the PS pump this position I had free access to the AC pump (under).
It had actually been a good call in a sense; as the AC idle pulley is the tensionner, I noticed pretty quickly that it wasn't spinning freely anymore. It felt like trying to turn a square peg in a triangle bore. Next was a case of uncoupling the coolant hoses and disconnecting the pump power.
Finally. I love an efficient enginebay. Now it was just a case of coaxing the remaining hoses out and plugging the holes in the firewall. To plug the holes I cut the coolant hoses and removed the fasteners. I used some salvaged rubber and sandwiched them with the fasteners. Quick and clean.
O hai turbo. No pump in the way.
So now I had to plug the vaccum lines that were left open. One was a signal vaccum and the other was plenum vaccum. So both needed to be sealed properly. To do so I again salvages some old scrap, the canister's hoses. Just as a testiment to how old some of these hoses become, the turbo side of the line, the one closest to the block, had turned to soft slag. Completely lost it's resilience. I discarded that end and cut a piece of the still proper ends to make plugs.
Finally, the tank vapour line had to be dealt with. I'm not too sure how others do so (strangely they don't talk about it on threads I've read on the subject) but I found that the original dump line was perfect; it would dump the vapours in the rail safely away from heat before being expelled. The job looks ugly because I used sealant to make sure contact was proper at the coaxial pipe connection.
From there, reassembly. But first, she needed the first thorough clean, part by part.
It really had made a difference. If my mother's scale is correct I took a good 50lbs out of the engine bay.
Next up, the brakes.
And I was on my way home. Halfway to the Nova Scotian border I stopped at a (sad) empty truck stop restaurant for supper where had a chat with the owner and waitress while eating my reheated turkey and topped up the gas tank. Godzilla was also famished. She ate supper, a fresh rabbit, on the remaining stretch to Bathurst.
On my way back I started thinking about how she had passed a trial by fire. I had been far from pushing her to the limits but that was because of due dilligence with her old 20 year old hardware. Still, I decided it was time for me to give her some track-flavored TLC as she had earned it. Also it was a way to proving to myself I could actually do the work.
So I came back home in one piece, parked her in the garage and went to bed.
I took a couple days off to continue some writing, as I had now moved back at my parents (semi-permanently) after being gone for 7 years so that I could complete my thesis without hemorrhaging rent money. I had some time to gather the intel for my game plan and mustered up some courage to work on her. On the menu:
-Carbon canister delete
-AC delete
-Full brake system restoration
-New coilovers
I had given her a good rince since the track but she still hadn't been washed yet. I put her again in the garage and prepped her for surgery. At my parents, I tend to get more focused in the evening at it just becomes beautiful outside and mosquitos aren't such assholes. So usually I wait until sunset to start big projects. The neighbours must love me (all 4 of them).
So first off, the carbon canister. During the previous year it had been obvious that wathever gas tank evaporation system had clogged because each time I would gas the tank would depressurize loudly. That's a big no-no since the gas vapour is actually the flammable part of gasoline. Some threads popped up on GTRC (and I also found the same on google) pointing towards the carbon canister, the charcoal filter that absorbs the tank's gasoline vapours, getting old and clogging the system, trapping vapours in the tank. Since it was an eyesore and I could use the hand room in the engine bay I opted for a full delete.
It was in my skill bracket. The vacuum diagram in the TSM made the affected circuit easy to spot, even moreso with the colour coding of the lines (I love the engineering in this car, I can't say it enough).
But, since I wanted to delete the AC, I could hit two birds with one stone. So I started tearing the front end of the car apart. To put it bluntly, at this point I just cut the canister vaccum lines chucked the canister out.
If you notice the time lapse in the background I'm sorry for being a lazy SOB that just spent his time drinking and listening to music. Ok, I was writing too, I admit.
So as you can see, the first part was straightforward. I should also note the system had vented itself somehow in winter 2010 so if the cops are looking move along. You should be careful though, even if the system was empty, the air quality changed quick after I had broken the seal. My dad (longtime smoker) couldn't detect it but I immediately told him to get out and let the system vent more.
Taking your time does have its perks; by looking long and hard I figured out that the AC evaporator could be easily slipped out from under the rad support without even touching the rad. The hard part though, was the AC coolant hose that you can see in the top right corner of the evaporator. I'm not quite sure how they slid it in in one piece at the factory but it got out in two.
From there it was time to attack the pump itself.
Tossing the PS pump aside took a lot longer than I had anticipated as, as a rookie, didn't know that the pivot bolt had to be loosened for the assembly to become free to rotate. Anyway, from having the PS pump this position I had free access to the AC pump (under).
It had actually been a good call in a sense; as the AC idle pulley is the tensionner, I noticed pretty quickly that it wasn't spinning freely anymore. It felt like trying to turn a square peg in a triangle bore. Next was a case of uncoupling the coolant hoses and disconnecting the pump power.
Finally. I love an efficient enginebay. Now it was just a case of coaxing the remaining hoses out and plugging the holes in the firewall. To plug the holes I cut the coolant hoses and removed the fasteners. I used some salvaged rubber and sandwiched them with the fasteners. Quick and clean.
O hai turbo. No pump in the way.
So now I had to plug the vaccum lines that were left open. One was a signal vaccum and the other was plenum vaccum. So both needed to be sealed properly. To do so I again salvages some old scrap, the canister's hoses. Just as a testiment to how old some of these hoses become, the turbo side of the line, the one closest to the block, had turned to soft slag. Completely lost it's resilience. I discarded that end and cut a piece of the still proper ends to make plugs.
Finally, the tank vapour line had to be dealt with. I'm not too sure how others do so (strangely they don't talk about it on threads I've read on the subject) but I found that the original dump line was perfect; it would dump the vapours in the rail safely away from heat before being expelled. The job looks ugly because I used sealant to make sure contact was proper at the coaxial pipe connection.
From there, reassembly. But first, she needed the first thorough clean, part by part.
It really had made a difference. If my mother's scale is correct I took a good 50lbs out of the engine bay.
Next up, the brakes.
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