RyanB's Baja - popping/backfire under load

[RyanB]

Spent a ton of time this weekend on working on this baby. I got all the water lines worked out. Sadly, I must have hit one of the lines internally as I ended up with a leak in the radiator. HoweveR I started the car and ran it for a good 30 minutes. Running really rich because I do not yet have the O2 sensor. Still waiting on Mark to finish up the flange for me so I can finish the exhaust.

I had an interesting surprise though when I filled the car with water. The guy who had the engine before me apparently removed the intake manifold and the gasket campe appart. Well he must have cleaned it off the manifold but not the head. He put the manifold back on. Well this left big gaps and when I put the water in it came pouring out between the head/manifold. Uhg!

I'll take some pics tonight or tomorrow. I am taking the radiator in today for repair. Hope to pick up a weld in bung for the O2 sensor somewhere today as well, going to pick up a couple so I can toss one in the exhaust I have now and one on the Exhaust flange I get from Mark. Hoping that by Tuesday night I'll have it all back together and purring. I have a "Cruise to the beach" coming up in 2 weeks I want to drive this to!

[ntsqd]

Threaded body O2 sensors are the same thread as the 18mm sparkplugs. In a pinch I've used those "Sparkplug Anti-Foul adapters" and cut them down. I *think* the thread pitch is 1.5

[RyanB]

Picked up an extra long throttle cable today as well as a new fuel gauge and sending unit. I have the mechanical one in my 66 and while I think it's kewl and all the cable periodically gets stuck in weird places so I never REALLY know how much gas was in there. I also picked up a weld in bung.

Now for the sad part. The radiator shop wouldn't touch my Radiator. So, I need to pull some fins off and see if I can repair it with solder I guess. Uhg.

[Skidmark]

Is it an aluminum radiator?

[RyanB]

It looks like that may be the case? Looks aluminum to me. I wasnt able to solder it. The solder just runs off. I then crimped the whole shut and it wouldnt even seep into crack. More and more frustrating. Spent 3 hours last night settings up a way to pressure test it and the solder and all for naught.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Soldering a brass tube radiator; you don't use the normal house hold solder, more like silver solder. I don't remember just what the mix is but it is not something you would apply with a soldering gun or soldering iron or propane torch (I think it can be done with a propane torch but the job you may get probably won’t be the best. They may use benzene for a heat source but I am not sure as it has been at least 40 plus years since I was around a radiator shop. I had a friend who worked in one for a while so I got to watch radiators being rodded, rebuilt, tanks fixed or replace, and tubes fixed several times [his boss was a nice guy and let me hang around some]. The out gassing, especially from the acid flux is something that you don’t want to be around long though).

An AL radiator, I have not been around them much but they do take a different heat level to fix. If you are playing with one, make sure it has side tanks (cross-flow I think) as I think I remember they do a better job of cooling. I have a radiator off a Ferrio (for a V-6 engine) that is side tanked that I still plan on using; I think I paid 75 “Globnicks” for it from a auto junk yard. It is OK except for the normal (for the time) whacked out GM mounting system. For the bottom mount (they use a channel mounting system) I cut a length of 1/8 wall, 1 X 1 square tubing into two pieces probably an inch and a half long (If you want, I can take pictures as I think I still have them) and after cutting and fitting, welded the two pieces into a solid mount (you should hear the noise they make if you drop one and they bounce off the concrete) that, with a rubber cover on it, will fit into the channel. The upper radiator mount is also a channel and I was planning on making a clamp similar to what GM was using but stronger to support all the Bouncing around that is going to happen.

CS; Chicago Specialty, Wheeling IL, Denver CO, Tyler TX, and Sun valley CA, makes a (boxed) 12 pack of 6 X 6 sheets of packing material (p/n 7641); rubber, cork and fiber, that; after making patterns, you should be able to cut into rubber covers and bond to the new mounts. This set of squares is for making custom washers and gaskets and any good Plumbing stores should carry it. Lowes, as I remember, did not carry them and I haven’t tried Home Despot yet to see if they do.

As far as any radiator you get, a competent radiator shop should be able to come up with the mounts you can use (not sure about AL though) and can remove the mounts and replace them with better ones; the same for moving the bungs for the hoses off the upper and lower tanks. Doing it yourself can get too expensive and if you total the radiator out by the mounts failing or the moved bungs leaking, you will be into the cooling system a lot more than you would have been if you had them done correctly the first time.

I hope this helps.

Lee

Edited one time to change copper to brass. Oops. Edited one time in total. Lee

[RyanB]

Thanks for the info Lee. Since I had already done a bunch of custom work to make the radiator fit, I dragged the bad one down to my local VW parts place and they matched it up. I now have a new radiator which has a better mount system and a much better (imho) fin cooling area. It set me back 75bones. So that's probably about what a repair would have cost had they done it.

So, over the next few days, the plans are now:

Finish throttle system: I have to create a couple custom mounts and make it work.
Install Radiator: Should be no brainer, I've already done all the work previously. Cooling system is finished.
Install Exhaust: Still wiating to hear from Mark on a new Flange. I picked up a wel in bung and will just make what I have work for now till I get the permanent part.
Guages: I picked up a new fuel sender and fuel gauge. Money is tight so I couldn't go with the white face gauges. I still need to come up with a Tach, Oil Pressure and Water temp that are electronic. I have a final opening and not sure what I should be in it. Boost gauge?

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Ryan B wrote; "I have a final opening and not sure what I should be in it. Boost gauge?"


A cash disposal unit?

[RyanB]

OK... So I've completed the cooling system, Throttle cable & got my O2 sensor in.

It is still running 'extremely' rich. Almost a constant wisp of black smoke as it runs and when I blip the throttle a ton of smoke. If I blip it hard it stumble and misses.\

Bad O2 sensor? Bad Regulator on the fuel rail? Idea's?

[ntsqd]

Can you pull codes? That is where I would start.

[david58]

Can you pull codes? That is where I would start.

That is the only place to start. Unless you just want to throw parts at it. Does it have a diagnostic connector, and a check engine light? Codes can be read with a test light, or a analog voltmeter if you don't have access to a code scanner.

[Big Dave]

It sounds like the computer thinks its under full boost all the time. Is there a MAP sensor in the intake tract after the turbo that could be bad or not connected?

Diesel truck guys sometimes wire in a switch in the MAP circuit to ground it out at will. This makes the comupter "see" full boost and fuels accordingly, which on a diesel makes tons of black smoke and looks cool

[RyanB]

Hmmm. Right now I cannot pull codes. That connector is long gone. I found a site a few years ago that showed what connections to make to the computer to output the codes, but I haven't been able to find it again.

[RyanB]

Apparently, I should do more search's on myself...

http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic ... 9&t=117639

I'll get this LED setup again and read some codes.

[Skidmark]

I had a custom radiator built for my car... the radiator shop I went to told me once an aluminum radiator cracks it is pretty much a throw away. The brass and copper radiators can be repaired very successfully. Just what I have heard, but through my work I know once you have an aluminum crack in a vibration situation, it is very difficult to stop from re-cracking.