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The "What Did You Work On Today" thread

3M views 36K replies 388 participants last post by  cerial 
#1 ·
4 hour work day for me at the shop. Used the time to do a valve body swap on a '01 Jetta 1.8t auto .... I successfully installed a transbrake on the car .... that however wasn't my intention.

Its in 2 gears at once in park, all other gears (R/N/D/2/1) are forward gears.... they all seam to be first gear.

I have it torn back down most of the way. Tuesday I'll actually get the VB back out and see whats up.... but part of me wants to take it out for a test drive the way it is just for the fun of it.
 
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#16,821 ·
thx guys!

and yes those are my last two options. i've got an industrial switch ready for use. the ground seems to be in good condition, allready have extra ground wires from bed and body to chassis and to battery. battery connections are good and not corroded. just need to find the right wiring diagram for the brake light switch and turn signal switch, they have something to do with each other :D working on it this weekend
I left out the part about the turn signal switch to avoid overwhelming you. Sounds like you're already at that crossroads. The signal switch and brake light inter-function is still a mystery to me as to how that actually works.
 
#16,823 ·
Good news. I have the sub tacked back in tonight. For some reason the normal factory holes are just not symmetricle on this thing. We clamped a piece of square tubing accross the front frame horns and confirmed the actual center......all down hill from there.:thumbup:

John
Yeah, you're just saying that....no proof...:p

Glad you got it figured out and moving forward again.
 
#16,824 ·
I was always leery of tightening a steel bolt into the soft threads and left them a little loose more often than not.

So now I'm using a stainless stud now instead of bolts.
I can crank it good and tight without fear of stripping the threads in the battery.
Yeah, I am too. I ended up with a stud on the positive terminal on my truck. It has two cables with a spacer between them. It was always coming loose before I installed a stud, but it never completely cut out like this Camaro did. I may have to switch the Camaro over to studs, too, if it happens again.

Dave
 
#16,825 ·
I left out the part about the turn signal switch to avoid overwhelming you. Sounds like you're already at that crossroads. The signal switch and brake light inter-function is still a mystery to me as to how that actually works.
that's why i need the wiring diagram so i can figure out the right color of wire and it's correct function. just to sure where to connect the nex wires. been using google a while now and only can seem to find a 58 diagram. not sure if it's the right one though
 
#16,826 ·
Good news. I have the sub tacked back in tonight. For some reason the normal factory holes are just not symmetricle on this thing. We clamped a piece of square tubing accross the front frame horns and confirmed the actual center......all down hill from there.:thumbup:

John
Give your brain a couple days to cool off. :thumbup:
 
#16,827 ·
I've been pretty busy working on my '90 Buick P/A w/3.8 and have changed the ignition module (5X), crank sensor, and PCM and it still dies after anytime between 5 minutes to 2 hours. The check engine light doesn't even come on while it's running so I can't get any codes to come up. This time I felt of the PCM and it's getting hot while it's running. Have any of you guys ran into a problem like this and found the cause? I've spent around $300 on this and still can't even take it across town or just to go to the store.:confused::confused::confused:
 
#16,828 ·
If you haven't already,,, Try posting your issue in the engine thread, perhaps under the modern engine category.

My news,,,Friend and I went in and just bought this 73 Challenger Rallye 340 4 speed car. Parked for 16 years. We are just starting to dig deep into what we have, we know the original 340 is gone and it has a 70 335HP 383. Big bonus we just discovered the broad cast sheet in the back seat (is that what you call it?), something tells me this is a good thing :D we are both bow-tie blooded Chevy guys, and first Mopar ever for me. We are redoing rear shackles, bushings and spring hangers this week.

Plan is to get it running nice, take care of any issues and sell it. The more I work on it the more I like it, the styling kind of grows on you. Needed a serious interior clean up before anything, sure has an odd Dodge odor to it we cant seem to scrub that out! lol.
 

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#16,829 ·
I've been pretty busy working on my '90 Buick P/A w/3.8 and have changed the ignition module (5X), crank sensor, and PCM and it still dies after anytime between 5 minutes to 2 hours. The check engine light doesn't even come on while it's running so I can't get any codes to come up. This time I felt of the PCM and it's getting hot while it's running. Have any of you guys ran into a problem like this and found the cause? I've spent around $300 on this and still can't even take it across town or just to go to the store.:confused::confused::confused:
yes...

throw an amp meter across the fuel pump circuit.. monitor the fuel pump amp draw.. i had one online that helped chase for weeks.. the fuel pump power circuit was shared with the crank and cam sensor circuit..

when i finally got the owner to put one of the harborfreight amp meters into the fuse box and take a ride.. it would start at 7 amps.. by the time he had gone 15 miles.. it was up to 15 amps. at 17 amps the engine would die and set either a cam or crank sensor code.. it was a 94 olds cutlass ciera 3.8 . the fuel pump fuse was in the glove box..

never pointing toward the fuel pump causing a voltage drop.. here i am testing fuel pump amp draw on a 90 S10.
https://youtu.be/vEiZ5QRu9Mw that pump had worn bushings and the armature laminations were actually rubbing on the magnet shells.. the shaft looked like this when i pealed the pump apart. look closely.. you might see the wear marks on the laminations.





with 3.8 motors.. there have also been pink wires under or beside the coil pack that are shorted to ground.

you may want to print this diagram.. or copy it to your phone



you will find a connector under the dashboard like that. its usually above the brake pedal.. it will have more wires than this image as the turn signal and wiper switch connectors are missing from that.

testing the wires with a test light is really easy.. done as somebody slowly turns the ignition key from the locked position thru cranking and back to locked. can you fold back the wires and get a good image of your connector where the wires are.. they should be wired in the same positions as the image above..

the white wire in C1 should have power in the unlock, run, cranking, run and unlock position..

the pink wire in C5 should have power in the Run, Cranking and RUN position..

the orange and the brown wires in C6 and D6 should have power in the RUN position. one may have it in the acc position also.
 
#16,830 ·
If you haven't already,,, Try posting your issue in the engine thread, perhaps under the modern engine category.

My news,,,Friend and I went in and just bought this 73 Challenger Rallye 340 4 speed car. Parked for 16 years. We are just starting to dig deep into what we have, we know the original 340 is gone and it has a 70 335HP 383. Big bonus we just discovered the broad cast sheet in the back seat (is that what you call it?), something tells me this is a good thing :D we are both bow-tie blooded Chevy guys, and first Mopar ever for me. We are redoing rear shackles, bushings and spring hangers this week.

Plan is to get it running nice, take care of any issues and sell it. The more I work on it the more I like it, the styling kind of grows on you. Needed a serious interior clean up before anything, sure has an odd Dodge odor to it we cant seem to scrub that out! lol.
a friend just turned down 60K for a similar slightly earlier big block cuda that was not nearly as nice as that.. i had a 70 challenger with the pistol grip 4 speed like that.. i had my 66 GTO and even with the crazy loud exhaust i almost never got pulled over. (i did get pulled over by 8 lapd motorcycle officers at one time. they did a beautiful parade turn to get me.) . with a lemon yellow 70 challenger.. i could not go more than a few days without getting pulled over. i don't even recall what i got for it.

there are tricks to replacing the front lower control arm bushings if they need to be done.. do ask.

edit.. by the way.. depending on rear end gearing.. that thing might be able to go well over 140 with a 383.. don't try that without oil pickup visual inspection for any sludge blockage.
 
#16,832 ·
that's why i need the wiring diagram so I can figure out the right color of wire and it's correct function. just to sure where to connect the nex wires. been using google a while now and only can seem to find a 58 diagram. not sure if it's the right one though
'58 and '59 are pretty much the same vehicle. I would reference the '58 diagram and see if the colors are the same as yours.
 
#16,833 ·
Well damn it, I had a hard night last night, I have been beat all day long and was about to fall asleep on the couch when I forced myself up and out to the garage to put in my five minutes. I was able to finish off the rest of the wheel opening moulding I started the other night, whoo hooo!

I found one set of these mouldings on Ebay that had "general dings" over them for a "driver" on sale for $469 so I am thinking I should easily be able to get the money to rebuild my torch regulators so I can get back to work on the truck! I may even end up getting larger tanks for the it too.

Brian
 
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#16,834 ·
Yesterday, John and I cleaned up the last of the grinding and scraping on the bottom of the Chevelle. It is ready for blasting. Been a long time coming and I'm not looking forward to that job either. I took the quarter windows and hardware out, again, to paint the interior too. The mechanisms got full of blast sand from the first round anyway and need a thorough cleaning.
 
#16,835 ·
that's why i need the wiring diagram so i can figure out the right color of wire and it's correct function. just to sure where to connect the nex wires. been using google a while now and only can seem to find a 58 diagram. not sure if it's the right one though
well.. i was just sending a PM.. when my program crashed.. i don't know if it went thru..

i did some additional research..

the shee-mar SM180 might be your turn signal switch..

White wire from the brake light witch.

Yellow is from the turn signal flasher.

Dark blue to the right front turn signal lamp.

Light blue to the left front turn signal lamp.

Violet or purple to the right rear stop turn signal lamp.

Pink to the Left rear stop turn lamp

perhaps this will help..

PS... i almost always have a special circuit tester/test light for working on turn signal circuits... i remove the conventional bulb and use a tubular bulb with terminals on either end.. i usually use a 212-2 dome light bulb.. but you should have various options there with some with pointed caps on the ends.. <==> these usually have enough amp draw to force the turn signal flasher to operate when you probe the connectors..

sorry.. i did not really comprehend exactly what you needed when you posted.. then it came to me.. will the wire colors on the replacement turn signal harness match the truck harness colors that i posted?? i don't know..
 
#16,836 ·
I was finally able to get a little more work done on the truck today. Two coats of SPI black epoxy laid down pretty well. Started off by DA'ing the entire hood, especially the area with the surface rust.





I ended up using an electric DA because my little compressor was having a hard time keeping up, and it was spitting water on the hood. Not a good thing. Took most down to bare metal, and the rest down to the factory primer.



I cleaned the hood with some of my shopline wax and grease remover first, and let that flash off. I went back over it with the SPI waterborne W&G remover. It actually picked up a little more stuff that was left behind by the other. Surprised me.
I mixed up the primer, and while I was waiting for it to induce I changed out my air hose, drained the tank, and got ready to spray. I'm sure my gun settings are not the best, but the primer laid down pretty well.



This is after the first coat, and I had a couple of thin spots. Had to mix up another batch to spray the second coat. No pics after the second coat. The black shows all of the dings along the front of the hood that will have to be filled, but that's another job for another day...

Dave
 
#16,837 ·
I was finally able to get a little more work done on the truck today. Two coats of SPI black epoxy laid down pretty well. Started off by DA'ing the entire hood, especially the area with the surface rust.


I ended up using an electric DA because my little compressor was having a hard time keeping up, and it was spitting water on the hood. Not a good thing. Took most down to bare metal, and the rest down to the factory primer.


I cleaned the hood with some of my shopline wax and grease remover first, and let that flash off. I went back over it with the SPI waterborne W&G remover. It actually picked up a little more stuff that was left behind by the other. Surprised me.
I mixed up the primer, and while I was waiting for it to induce I changed out my air hose, drained the tank, and got ready to spray. I'm sure my gun settings are not the best, but the primer laid down pretty well.


This is after the first coat, and I had a couple of thin spots. Had to mix up another batch to spray the second coat. No pics after the second coat. The black shows all of the dings along the front of the hood that will have to be filled, but that's another job for another day...

Dave
Always nice getting parts wrapped in primer.
Feels like you're getting somewhere.
 
#16,839 ·
I cleaned the hood with some of my shopline wax and grease remover first, and let that flash off. I went back over it with the SPI waterborne W&G remover. It actually picked up a little more stuff that was left behind by the other. Surprised me.

Dave
Normally, water-based degreasers are intended to be used first (prior to sanding is also a good idea), and solvent is used for final cleaning. For best results.
 
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