Franz, Chapter 2

[BBoudy1215]

Yeah im gonna do that on the second side. it looks nice doing it on the inside but soooo much work.
On another note, I was working on replacing the clutch cable and of course nothing goes smoothing when working on franz. i put my wrench on one of the bolts to remove the pedal cluster and of course the bolt broke. tried using an extractor set on the bolt and guess what?? that broke too! Working on franz is just wonderful! (hint of sarcasm). so now i got a broken bolt with a broken extractor in it. any ideas on getting that sucker out of there?

[bajaherbie]

sound like the kind of luck i have been having lately....

[BBoudy1215]

Progress!

[Lotrat]

Don't break that nub off. Soak it in PB Blaster for awhile and then use some heat. It'll let go.

[BBoudy1215]

used heat. worked like a charm.
now that i have it all back together i have a new probblem (which cause the clutch cable to fall off in the first place). when the clutch pedal returns to engaged position, it doesnt stop. Is the floor suppose to stop the clutch from coming back too far?

[BBoudy1215]

i see npw. so there is a piece of sheet metal that limits the travel. that has rusted up and broken off. the bolt holding that is rusted up bad and not moving and im out of torch. awesome!

[winifredevw]

That has got to be the quickest "easey-out" fix... EVER!

[BBoudy1215]

oh yeah. it must.
so now that i have set the world record for longest amount of time spent fixing a clutch cable (which is still in progress), I need to make a new stop out of metal I dont have using energy and motivation that has long since escaped me. out of everything i wanted to do today, i changed the oil and sorted thru all the junk i have. condensed it down to a rubbermaid container and some stuff left in the car. not sure when time is going to allow me to work on him again but im sure itll be lots more fun. time for sleep

[winifredevw]

used heat. worked like a charm.

I thought that meant you removed the "easy-out".

[fusername]

EMPI alternator kits can burn in a special hell. I need to modify the stand that came w/ the kit for it to fit, there are zero instructions to alert me to all the shimming i must do to stop the things from hitting the stuff, fortunately these are things I already knew. I know about the fuel pump thing, but they don't even think to mention that to me either. does anyone have a picture of the fuel pump and alt playing nice together? looks like i am going electric.

[fusername]

oh and you have to turn down the back of the pully so iit doesnt hit the alt body. and when i say turn down, yall know i mean freehanding it on a 14 inch chop saw

[BBoudy1215]

I just wrote a nice long detailed post about franz and instead of posting when i hit submit, it asked me to log in again. fail.... ill retype that in the morning i suppose.

but the main purpose of my post i will post again:
today it was 13 degrees out and Franz did not seem to like that at all. i started him up and let him idle for awhile and he poop off. then i turned him on again (setting the idle position on high using the the little gear thing that has escaped my tired mind) and left him on for 10 minutes. when i hit throttle then let it go back to idle, he shut off. i am running 10-40 oil in him. i was gonna change him 5-30 to see if that made a difference. does any have any other ideas on that? also, after letting him warm up for a good 15 mintues, he was still impossible to drive. it seems to me that the transmission had not warmed up and therefore, the gears werent spinning freely. i put 80-90 fluid in this summer. would that have anything to do with it? or was is simply that cold that he needed more time to warm up. should i put a space heater on the transmission/engine for an hour of so before starting him up? any one have an idea of whats going on?

[BBoudy1215]

yay! i hit back a few times on the browser and got my post back:

Here's an update on Franz over the last 4-5 months. towards the end of summer, Franz developed a with his charging system. one night i was driving home and something finally went. fuser ran a diagnostic and found that the generator was no good. so after charging the battery everynight for a month, we finally got Franz a shiny new alternator (95 amps =]). Apparently it was not an easy install though... Franz also had a problem starting with a key so for a quick fix fuser installed a direct connect between the battery and starter. It was likely that since the wiring is old, enough resistance had built up so that the proper voltage was not being supplied to the starter. To fix this, I placed a relay between the key and the starter. now, when the key is turned, the power from the key triggers the relay, allowing the proper voltage to travel through new wire, to the starter. Thank you fuser for that idea. I also lost my reverse lights which i fixed by replacing the connectors that go to the reverse switch. and with a twist of the driver's side light, I got my reverse lights back. My headlights also had an issue. the passenger side light was more effective lighting up highways signs than the road, but i was able to tweak it back into place so that it lights up the road pretty much like it should. the ground on the driver's side came off as well so that isn't as bright as it should be unless you put the terminal back on the light. Looks like a light upgrade is coming up next on my to-do list. time to get some HID's so i can take Franzy on some midnight runs through the woods. probably wont have the money until summer to do it tho. fuser also switch over the exhaust to ones with heat exchanges. those puppies work so well i have to drive around with the window cracked. i still need to figure out exactly how to hook up the plastic pieces up to the defroster. it looks like they are supposed to snap into place but i couldnt find anything in the Haynes manual about how to do it (not surprised there...) so i figured rather than break it, id just let them sit in place until i find out how they are supposed to go. i still need to go to a junkyard to get a new fender for the driver's side (got 215's on there now and the fenders rub up against the tire when theres more than one person in the car during cornering). Now that the wiring for the charging and ignition have been replaced, Franz is as reliable as i could ask for. since franz didnt wanna move anywhere today cuz it was too cold, i decided id work on him for a bit out in the 13 degree weather. Did i also mention it was very windy too? i spent about 15 minutes outside and it was all i could bare. the new belt for the alternator has broken in a bit so i had to take a shim out so that the belt had proper tension. I still cant believe how taking out one shim makes all the difference. the shims are only about 1/32 of an inch thick but removing one is enough to go from a strong wobble to perfect tension.
There was something else that i was gonna say but i forgot.... maybe itll come back to me in the morning.

List of parts needed
-Front beam (starting to rust through. gonna need one by the end of summer)
-brake pads (gonna need for spring)
-Fender (gonna need before bigger tires are put on)

List of parts wanted
-(2) 235-245 tires for the rear (i have 15" rims)
-HID conversion kit
-adjustable lift spindles for the front
-new glove box (which ill probably coat in fiberglass so it dont get wet and soggy and break again)

Have for sale
-set of pop out windows (hardware half included)

[BBoudy1215]

I'm gonna need to buy a new passenger side tie rod (bent the old one and dented the rim when my back end slid out in the snow and my front end found the curb...) for Franzy boy. any suggestions on brands or anything?

[Big Dave]

Just get the ones at the best price. They will be either Brazilian or Chinese. Not much difference IMO.
They will come with two new joints.