My new 79...

[garion]

So I'm going through my new 79. I have 2 projects I'm doing at once. The timing belt service and the steering box. To get at the steering box, I have to remove the intake, which means draining the coolant, so I might as well do both at once.

I had all sorts of fun trying to get the crank bolt off. I ended up removing the lower grill, and getting my impact wrench on there with a swivel. It took my wrench a couple minutes of trying, but eventually got it. I spent most of the day on that.

Now I'm start to look at removing the intake. I'm going to attempt to do this with the head still on. As I remove the carb, I notice that its actually only hand tight on the nuts. Seriously. Hand tight. Then I'm looking to see where the nuts/bolts I need to remove the manifold.. I couldn't find one of them, so I stuck phone down there, and snapped a pic... This is what I found:



It missing a bolt!

So between the loose carb, and this missing bolt.... I suspect I'll need to adjust my carb when I put everything back together.

[MrJD]

Its a 79? Id change the carb and manifold for an upgrade.

[garion]

Yep, a 79. Its already got the single plane, and a DFEV.

[So Cal Mark]

it's not exactly missing a bolt, just the head. It appears the rest of the bolt is still in the head

[garion]

Ding ding ding. Mark wins the prize.



Lord spirit of the vice grips, give me strength.

While i'm there, I'll tighten that right stud too.

[narfire]

Hint...if you can, flatten two opposite sides. WAY more/better grip.

[bradartigue]

I see in my crystal ball a head gasket being replaced as well..

[garion]

Why do you think that brad? I'd rather do it now if there's reason to.

So far its good and stuck in there. I tried vicegrips.. Hammered on a 5mm socket and a few other things. Nothing. So I'm leaving it alone for a few days to soak with some pen oil.

Moved onto getting the steering box out. Got the front end on jack stands, and tried pulling the tierod.. Looks like I need to get a separator. Amazon here I come.

Other interesting thing to note. Looks like my ball joints have been replaced.. They are bolted in, instead of rivets. And the brake lines look decent, no cracks. But the bushings are definitely getting there. Looks like when I go to refresh the front suspension, it'll be pretty 'simple'.

[garion]

Actually, the more I think about it, I'll go along with brad's advice. I'm gonna swap the heads from my old spider to this one.

Before I do that though, is putting a 2L head onto a 1.8L ok? I know the timing belts are different, but wasn't sure if the exrta heiight is in the block or the head.. I'd like to keep my 78 in running order to sell it.

[bradartigue]

It looks like your head gasket is seeping oil down your block. I don't think head gaskets are all that hard to do, the hard work is what you're already doing, manifolds, etc. Pull the head and clean the surfaces, replace the gasket, replace the timing belt and tensioner, and haul some ass.

On your other question, 2L block on an 1800 head is fine, the heads interchange, use an 1800 head gasket. Conversely the 2000 block with an 1800 head would use a 2L timing belt. The 1592/1756/1995 heads all interchange across all the blocks, you just use the T-belt for the block because the block heights, not the head heights, changed.

[garion]

Cool.. I did the head gasket on my 78 a year or so ago, so I know what I'm in for. Not much more work than what I've already put it. Just now I'm doubling it by doing 2 cars.

[Dougieb]

Just thought I would add my $.02 to the issue.
I have had to deal with a couple of stuck bolts before also.
I tried the "wax" method recently and it worked like a champ!
Here is a site that describes it and also how to use DIet Coke to help.
Who-da-thunk it!!!!

http://dsportmag.com/browse/tech/stuck-on-you

Interesting stuff.

[garion]

So I'm attempting to pull out that steering box. The first step is to get the tierod off. So I'm stuck on the first step..

Working on the outer tierod end, I bought a pickle fork set, and tried that. Used a regular hammer. Used a sldge. Even hooked up my air hammer. Nothing. no movement. I've moved the wheel back and forth.. Soaked with PB Blaster.. Smacked the arm holding the tierod.. I guess the inner tierod will be even more difficult, because of the limited space.. Nothing is every easy is it?

Since I've ripped the boot, I'll need to replace that, and it looks like I can just the boot.. The tierod it self seem ok, no wiggle anywhere. WIll find out more when I get the #!@#$$% thing off.

[perthling]

For mine I used the separators which have two teeth/prongs on the bottom and a central prong on the top which applies pressure to the spindle of the ball joint by tightening a threaded section. Even then I found I needed to give the whole assembly a good whack with a gimpie when it was under compression to break the sticktion between spindle and collar.

[fiatmike124]

No need to hammer. Just go to HB and buy this. It works great. Sofa King easy.
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-quarte ... 99849.html