ProwlerGT's 3000GT Revival Thread - Start Up

[Linebckr49]

yup, i'm goin to the NG, but not taking my car. i failed emissions a week ago and i'm just assuming i'll have to dump money into it. plus i don't have her running in top shape. fidanza cam gears have NOT arrived yet, etc, etc. but i'm driving a friend's Spyder SL to the NG (car belongs to DuTTch--he has several 3S cars and wants to bring 2 of them to the NG).

but yes, i am also moving to New Orleans around August 22nd. i'm bringing my car and all of my tools. we'll definitely have to hook up and get greasy! and you'll have to get me acquainted with the Big Easy . i'll be living on D'Hemecourt just north of 10.

[tabasco122]

negative on the NG07, i wanted to go but i have freshman orientation for college in lafayette for those days, i would love to go otherwise...

[Konfyoused]

News?? Updates?? we wanna hear that its runnin man!

[ProwlerGT]

Status:
Same. Brake booster needs replacement, probable throttle body replacement, vac test to be done, reset of base idle, a/c system overhaul, fluid stuff and minor wiring issues later on, and finally perhaps one day the ignition switch (I turn the key and absolutely nothing happens about 30% of the time; no clicks, no nothing. Seems as though the car isn't "feeling" that the key is turned. Believe its the ignition switch itself unless someone tells me otherwise.)

Sidetrack:
Today I went into the garage despite the 105 heat index and since there was a breeze blowing with the doors open it actually was not that bad working in there and for once the humidity was low enough not to smother either.

The sidetrack is that my air compressor for running my air tools went friggin KA-PUT. I have maybe used this thing like 20 - 25 times in a little over 2 years and it still looks NEW in fact and now all I get is a HUMMMMM when I turn it on. I remember one night I tried turning it on and it was VERY humid out so I was wondering if that had anything to do with breaking it. I looked online a bit and saw to check the electrical contacts etc. Well I took the damn switch apart (which was a bad idea due to TIME; sprins popping out etc...) and cleaned off what I thought was oil on the contacts. Finally got the crap all back together and it still doesn't work (worse so now cause I'm not sure that I have the switch calibrated in the right positioning; if that makes sense). The remaining work I have to do can be done without the air compressor, but it sure would've been nice to have and here I've blown away about 3 hours trying to fix it. Does ANYONE have a clue about these air compressors? It is an electric 6 gallon 125 psi air compressor from Target: Durabuilt DB1552 model. I could not find JACK about it on the web. I'm gonna probably look into having it repaired, but I'm also fiddling with the idea of just getting a new one now which I DO NOT have the money for.

[Linebckr49]

so no progress on replacing the brake booster, huh? you could easily rebuild the throttle body. i would think the only tricky thing in a TB rebuild is counting the number of coils on the spring.

hey Rolland. i'm here in NO. arrived today. got all moved in. but i only broght a tiny red toolbox of tools with me. the majority of my tools and tool chest are back in Dallas. i'll get them over here eventually. but i'm free until monday morning, so if you wanna get crackin on your car, gimme a call.

andrew

[ProwlerGT]

Status:
Brake booster removed and its sitting till I work on it later to install the new/used one. EDIT: Removing brake booster's from our cars is MURDER on your back especially if you are a "fluffy" fella who isn't used to doing a contortion act. lol With most of the cushion worn out on my seat there was little to pad the left side of the seat poking into my back the whole time I was down there unbolting the booster.
*TIP: To alleviate fully evacuating the master cylinder and lines of all brake fluid I simply removed the master cylinder without taking the fluid cap off the reservoir. The vaccum inside kept 99.9% of the fluid in it. I put 4 pieces of masking tape over the 2 lines and 2 holes on the MC to prevent any lil seepage. I have to rebleed the system in either case, but it seemed easier to deal with the system in this manner rather than having brake fluid bled out completely first.

What is left to take her for a spin?
Vac Leak test
Resolve the unstable IDLE/KILLING issue

What is left to DO in general?

1. Rack & Pinion remove/replace (new tie rod ends too)
2. Alignment
3. Throttle body remove/replace (perhaps twice if new TB doesn't fix cause then I'll be putting the old one back on; FIAV issue/theory)
4. Seafoaming of everything you can and exchanging/flushing all fluids with drive/run time in between when the Seafoam is in
5. A/C System overhaul or just new A/C clutch? Decisions decisions
6. Possible ignition switch replacement; how to do that? Need new key or what?
7. Shift Stick (lever) bushings
8. Strut tower covers install (may need to obtain nuts for these); this is to cover the top of the Ksport struts and the grease I put on the ball
9. Heat shield install on hood
10. Aesthetics - Replace rear driver brake lens, repair rear bumper crack and repaint, repaint rear hatch surface area below rear windshield, obtain non-cheesy seat covers and stick cushions underneath them

Does anyone have experience with A/C's?
See here: http://www.3si.org/forum/showthread....88#post4489388

Rantings:
Andrew - Thanks! I sent you two LONG PMs. lol - FYI - I have amassed a pretty decent armory of tools and right now I believe I have all I need. More below.

No one should take this the wrong way so I hope you can understand where I'm coming from when I say this, but getting my car back on the road for a nice 1st test drive with the new suspension and brakes already in (in and not driven for over 8 months now) is something that means a lot to me and that I must complete on my own. More than anything else I like company while I work on the car and the occasional assistance, but when it comes to torquing down bolts and putting things all back together exactly the way they were my mind is too anal to let anyone else do it because after all it is the primary reason I do stuff on my own to begin with (because so many mechanics have messed my car up in the past) saving money being a close 2nd. I don't insinuate you or anyone that offers help would do shotty work at all, but that simply "I know me." and I'd be double quality inspecting work with my own eyes, hands, and wrenches so I can trust it and get that warm/fuzzy feeling. I wish it wasn't the case and I probably do need more exercises working in a team with someone, but fer now I think there is some strange significance here that I'm about to get the car on the road in the next few days.

At the 2 year anniversary of Katrina in 5 days (August 29th) that will mark 2 years that I've been working on my car off and on to get it road worthy again with it all starting the week after Katrina hit when I had nothing else to do, but bake in the heat everyday while we waited a week for electricity to come back. Limping so my baby did get me through the Katrina evac and back, but I knew maintenance was long overdue. There is something strange and "neat" about me coming to this moment right now where in the next day or so I will be able to take her out for a spin coinciding with the Katrina anniversary exactly 2 years ago when I put her in storage status. Hell I'd love it if I could take my car to one of the anniversary locations as they will be having them in at least 3 places that i know of cause that'll be kinda nostalgic in a weird sense for me seeing as the last time I really "drove it" was on the way home after Katrina passed.

[Linebckr49]

got your PMs. went bar hopping tonight in new orleans. met up with some tulane grad students that one of my room mate's knows. went to The Boot, Mrs. Mae's, and Bruno's.

i can definitely help you with replacing the rack. i have no reservations about crawling under a jacked up car. i guess i trust the jack stands a little too much, though, LOL. tie rod ends are easily replaced. just make sure to mark on the threaded rod where the current ones are BEFORE you remove them. this will prevent the need for a front-end alignment. however, since you are planning on an alignment anyways for the K-sports, this is not that big of a deal. rather, marking the tie rod positions just makes the alignment go quicker and gets you your car back sooner .

everything on your list should go smoothly. only things that might be a headache are the ignition switch and a/c system. what in the A/C system do you need to replace? i would leave that for last b/c you just want to get your car on the road. you can always just not run the A/C, though we are in the South and often see temps in the 90s. but still, A/C working or not working won't keep your car from running.

i can see your point of view on being anal about torquing nuts and bolts to spec, but i don't see why you would decline the help of another? as long as the helper concedes to pay as close attention to things as you do, everything should be fine. i guess you may just not want to double check his work, but still, its all about trust. as far as torque specs go, everything has a torque spec, but honestly and personally, only the critical parts really matter. i.e. the torque spec of a head bolt or tensioner pulley bolt is much more important than the torque spec of the bolt that holds the alternator bracket to the block. granted, its a no-brainer not to leave the bolt loose, but most people can exercise good judgment on how tight to secure a non-critical bolt.

in the end its all symantecs, but most people can recognize what is an important part that should be torqued to spec. of course, if your torque wrench is a cheap-o, then any 'torque-spec' argument you make is moot as the torque wrench's accuracy is then called into question.

anywho. i understand where you're coming from and would love to provide company and encouragment while you work on the car. i'll help where i can and when you want it, but i won't push anything on you...perhaps nothing more than a beer .

[ProwlerGT]

I LOVE YOU MAN !

It wasn't a torque argument. Its about "me" and my perfectionist self and always preferring to do things myself rather than let someone else do it or getting help doing it because I work better alone. I like working with others once I've learned their work ethic and besides all that I'm pretty slow and lax when it comes to getting this stuff done. I might be reorganizing the garage for 30 minutes to an hour before the actual work begins with dilly dallying in between. I've learned being a lil overweight it is best to take working on the car slow cause its too physically painful to try and go as fast as I'd really like to. lol

A/C - Yes indeed - last place. I bought a DVD from Autozone today that tells you how to do it all and I've read up on it. From feedback I've been seeing from others its a good chance my compressor it no good anymore and trying to just replace the clutch on it may be futile. In any case I know that in its life of over 100k miles it has NEVER been serviced so the dryer in it is likely crap not to mention the system could probably use a flush. The main issue I have though is actually what to do with the R134a refrigerant. I read that even though its safe for the environment in normal use that it is still supposed to be disposed of and contained properly and I really don't want to be in the vicinity of it if I'd try and go discharging it into the atmosphere. I may opt to have a shop or someone drain the system and then I'll do the rest.

Rack - I may take you up on this. It isn't like working under the car on the side of it... cause in that position you can get out fast if something where to go wrong (creaky crack noise and a slight quick lowering or something) but doing the rack means you are full on underneath the bottom center of the car with barely any clearance between your nose and the vehicle. I have already summarized and made my own procedure list of what needs to be done for the Rack so we shall see. For the first test runs and possibly a few in town trips I'll be leaving the old outer tie rod ends on for now. Their rubber tops are OFF of them and I have coated a thick layer of grease over the balljoints on them in the meantime. I don't plan on doing much driving before having those replaced.

Status:
See this link and my FURY within (lol): http://www.3si.org/forum/showthread....57#post4491057

[ProwlerGT]

Booster is back on. I almost had convinced myself my old booster was still good in the process of doing this, but I remembered the popping sound that was there with the old one and it is not there with the new/used one however I am raged that I cannot get the brake pedal set to spec height with the new/used booster as I outlined in MADDENING detail in the thread I linked to above.

Went to start up the car and the battery is dead.

Charging battery while I sleep the day.

Need to rebleed the lines and see how she feels then onto the vac leak issue (FIAV) if that is what it is. Remembering now that I had the throttle body cleaned out before by a shop and I have heard its recommended that NOT be done because it messes up the FIAV.

Snooooooooze.

[ProwlerGT]

Well I am a bit discouraged. The new/used booster is back on the car and the popping feeling I thought that was gone is still there. It is so hard to describe, but its like a moderate THUD sound and feeling through my foot when I get close to pushing the brake pedal all the way down. I know from having driven it this way for a long time the brakes will still work, but I also know that I shouldn't be feeling/hearing this THUD/POP noise.

I have COMPLETELY replaced the entire braking system with the exception of the proportioning valve which is in a really crappy spot however it does not make sense to me that this would be causing a THUD feeling/sound. After having replaced everything else that you'd normally do I can only now look at the big bushing for the brake pedal arm itself and/or any of the rest of the brake pedal assembly under the dash.

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY THOUGHTS HERE? If I'm worried about the thud for no reason if it IS in fact the brake pedal arm pivot bushing it'll just make a THUD feeling/sound and I'm sure it'll never just COME OFF, but seems like I should replace that now too. I'm at a loss here though because the damn service manual is exhausted for what I'm trying to eliminate. I see nothing in there about it and I'm still thinking that the brake pedal height is incorrect in the service manual for FWD NA ATX cars cause 7.0" is not an attainable pedal height for my setup.