JTbo's project (360GL B200K 1988)

[jtbo]

Can't get my head around this, by the book I have correct belts that I have double checked, alternator can't go any closer as engine block is resisting movement quite strongly, but that is where I can pull them no matter how hard I try.

So, does pulleys grow in size when not used or are belt manufacture books wrong?



Small pic where car is on axle stands, sorry about mess, I keep thinkin I don't have time to put everything on place but then I seem to have time to look stuff around garage....



It may look that they are not straight but they are, lens seems to make funny things here.

Old brake caliper that is stuck:
http://jtbo.pp.fi/images/360/2008/brakes/DSC_0348.JPG

New brake caliper installed that is even more stuck:
http://jtbo.pp.fi/images/360/2008/brakes/DSC_0346.JPG

I was going to leave bit of old parts to brakes, but I guess it would be best to replace everything, those discs don't look too healthy either and I have new parts waiting.

Only trouble is that they might be stuck quite badly and I'm still missing something which I could use for heating as that is probably only reasonable way to get them loose.

Summer holiday is almost over too, after next week there is not much time for car building I'm afraid, so when I go to house at weekend I should try to get it done quite soon or it will can take quite some time until I have next chance.

edit: If you spot from pics that I'm doing something wrong, yell about it I'm not expert by any means and I'm just happy to know if I do something wrong so I can fix it.

Forgot gallery URLs:
http://jtbo.pp.fi/images/album/360/2008/brakes/

http://jtbo.pp.fi/images/album/360/2008/

[Vart]

re: calipers

i found that a foot-pump with some appropriate pipe between it and the brake hose connection can get the piston out for cleaning/inspection. getting it back in is easy enough with a piece of pipe against the back of the piston. be careful if you take this route though as the piston will suddenly free and you need both hands to hold the pipe in place. makes an interesting pinging noise too.

[jtbo]

re: calipers

i found that a foot-pump with some appropriate pipe between it and the brake hose connection can get the piston out for cleaning/inspection. getting it back in is easy enough with a piece of pipe against the back of the piston. be careful if you take this route though as the piston will suddenly free and you need both hands to hold the pipe in place. makes an interesting pinging noise too.

Hmm, that is interesting, I have compressor which has 8bar output pressure, I guess that should then do something too

Also I heard that grease press (gun?) should produce quite impressive pressure and could be used too, only problem is cleaning all grease afterwards.

One thing I might try is to start car and try again, that should give nice boost for brake line pressure and probably cause desired result, this would be easiest once I get radiator on place and fluids back into engine.

To belt problem only solution I find is to get longer belts

[antiekeradio]

using air pressure to pop out the pistons is quite normal.

be careful, though.

start with a cloth between and around the caliper (to prevent brake fluid from splashing all-over the place)

apply airgun and pop out one cilinder (do not even THINK of holding your fingers near the pistons!)

if one pops out, the other will not come futher.


clean the first one + bore in caliper. replace cilinder with a thin smear of ATE brake cilinder assembly paste.
clamp the replaced cilinder down with a wood clamp.

put some more rags in/around the cilinder and pop out the second one.


If you did a good job at cleaning and greasing, you can now take both pistons out.

[jtbo]

In 360 there is only one big piston. It is funny thing that I have brand new complete caliper that is stuck, but with all these tips I'm sure that will get unstuck right when I get back on it

I would think that piston should move only little and after that it could work well, perhaps there is some kind of hydraulic lock like dampers in strut, well it does not even rotate, so perhaps not that, but as part is new it should not be rusted on place or then I'm going to get new part, there is quarantee, imo.

[aukki]

Also I heard that grease press (gun?) should produce quite impressive pressure and could be used too, only problem is cleaning all grease afterwards.

I´m using water in that "gun".

[jtbo]

So, I have now new brake parts installed, brakes seem to actually work to some extend, but need to bleed them completely, there is some weird things going on with them at the moment.

Brake pedal does not rise up always, need to pull it up and then it makes all kind of banging noises, I have kept brake fluid level filled all time so there should not be air in master cylinder, but who knows. It could be linkage too of course that is making noise.

Engine has fluids in it and all it needs now is attaching radiator with bolts, fan shroud, fan, bonnet, bleeding brakes, adjusting carb and installing front grille.
Oh yes and some minor interior bits are missing too, like driver's seat and such.

I'm hoping to drive it out from garage tomorrow as I need to make some arrangements in there.

[jtbo]

I'm probably going to replace master cylinder too whenever I got time for it, car has brakes, but pedal movement is more than it should. All air should be out from system and brake fluid is now actually transparent.

Got car out from garage too, it is still missing idle and taking wire out from idle cutoff solenoid does not make lot of difference so I believe idle circuit is clogged, need to work bit with that.

Clutch was bit difficult, could not find anything else than off and on positions from it, but it is not really different from before .

Had not much time to work with it again, but slowly it is progressing

[jtbo]

Good day at the garage, got carb out from car as I did not have very good idle, found reason why car always had been behaving bad and straightened carb base for good finally.

It purrrs now with steady idle and when I push accelerator it responds, no more coughing Of course need to test on road too, but that I can't do at the moment as there is no valid MOT.

Now to reason why car was running odd way and why I never before had found that out.



Do you think this could have anything to do with bad running?

At idle, almost all air should come from trough that connector. Reason why car has been running at all has been that carb base has been warped and compensating lack of air/fuel mixture by using idle rpm adjustment screw.

Now car actually switches off when I turn key and not after few seconds

Still would need new choke cable as current one is gone bad, then some carb gaskets, like one between top plate and carb body.

Grip seem to be bit of an issue, I find it difficult to not spin wheels. Surface is small stone and grass, so that might be a reason.

[jtbo]

Problems with leaking crankcase seal are still around, even I have replaced it now several times, it always does leak.

Also car lost idle, even I had carb working perfectly it did stop doing so after I replaced crankcase seal. I have checked timing marks quite few times and those are perfect, mostly I suspect that it did work earlier because of cam timing was tooth off.

I did some testing, I advanced cam by 1 tooth and retarded it by 1 tooth, when retarded it actually did idle quite well, but of course engine did not respond so well and I think it is not very good for engine in long run so I did set it back to correct mark.

Still I could not make car idle, it runs but only with choke or throttle. Also removing wire from idle solenoid has no effect to idle whatsoever.
It is almost like idle circuit of carb has been blocked, even air passes from idle mixture screw hole, from idle jet and all other places where it should just perfectly when I tested to blow air to those various places.

You should know that carb is fully overhauled with all new gaskets and such, all surfaces are mated and great care has been made that carb should be perfect match to specs.

So what I did next was act of desperation, I did remove all parts except throttle butterflies and installed those to another carb body I had lying around, I took top plate and floats from spare part carb too, but rest everything is from earlier carb. Now it idles as good as car can with worn carb that has warped base plate and some loose on throttle butterfly shaft.

I don't know how on earth it could be? But I think that I leave it like that, Lambda says 0.51-0.56V at idle so it should pass MOT now, only brakes need some work (still soft pedal even bleed million times) and that crankcase seal and it should be trip to MOT station.

[jtbo]

I did drove car back home from garage today, damn it is really sweet to drive when pushing a bit, also 'accidently' pushed bit too much throttle at intersection now there is two black stripes across road

Must be bad tires, it needed only 2000rpm gentle launch to make massive wheelspin.

I need to make some temporarily shelter for a car so that it will make it trough winter season.

[jtbo]

I was looking some other engine project one day, there I did saw that there is some kind of cover plate around cranksaft area in B200 block, perhaps that has seal of it's own that is leaking?

Maybe that is what were meant by housing I did read from one reply here

Brakes in car are now at least near perfect, just would need little time to actually make small arrangements in garage and actually take front of car apart once again to check this issue out. Luckily it is not big job to remove hood and radiator as those are just resting on their place.

While I'm on it, I must check carb float level too as well as choke adjustment.

Must go to see local stealership if there would be front wing for my car as there is big dent on offside wing (driver's side in UK).

[jtbo]

Hmph, our stealership is not too good, NA for about everything I ask.

Well, today I visited to garage as I needed to get one Pontiac part part out from top of A.I.R tube, it had splines and it has been in exhaust, so needed some force for job, while I was there just got idea to check coolant of 360 as I suddenly did remember that it may or may not have enough coolant/water mix, expansion tank was full of ice All water hoses had ice inside them, however just barely ice, more like snow kind of ice, but still.

So I decided to drain coolant system and let small heater to heat garage so that there would be +1C or so, need to see tomorrow if all of ice has melted and then I put some strong mixture of coolant into system. I did not see any major leaks so probably it has not caused too much of damage.

I must start to make space to garage so that I can remove engine at some point to cure oil leaks and as I pull it out it is same to do some proper work for it, rings, bearings?, also it has quite bad piston slap, maybe new pistons at .010" oversize ?

[foggyjames]

Try Volvo's coolant. It's sort of thick and gloopy...kinda nice, somehow. Perhaps it's one useful thing they can sell us?

cheers

James

[jtbo]

I need to drive ~100km to closest Volvo stealership

Oh, it is still slowly emptying, it is bit hard to get that +1C into garage as my garage is no insulation at all, it is not meant to be warm