Rick James

cool thread..nice work Bennie, great shots..ya put the steering wheel on the wrong side but.. now we all want a rotisserie

Took mine apart also josh and have the same amount of play, appears normal but you need someone other than me verifying..it's my first go at it also. Regarding the need for grease, I didn't use anything since this thing will be bathed in oil for it's life... Getting the sprocket off without the vise must have been a trick...I put my pump in a vise, like ivan suggested, with the "inside" sprocket between two 3/4" scraps of of wood. It was pine, the sprocket ate into it splitting the wood...found some maple laying around, a serious hardwood, and had success. How did you do it? the biggest pain in the rump roast, I found, was keeping the mickey mouse o-ring in place while re-installing the pump...was very reluctant to use any gasket sealer to hold it in place being worried about scraps of sealer later clogging up any ports....98% sure it ended up where it was supposed by slipping a flat blade against it, feeler gauge blade, to keep it in place while turning the bolts...it was still a pain in the rump roast. How does anyone else do it?? a touch of sealer? string trick?

here's what i got, story sorry i didn't snap shots of the far end...will look again tomorrow.. lmk the last pic is prob power steering..a long day, I could be wrong

a live person prob doesn't read those things.. and..this is serious business

I'll take a look for the hoses tomorrow, Sat. Story _aw...are you going to jump on Subruise bracket?. you have dibs..it's your thread. I may want to stick with my bolt idea...but having the alternator tighter and lower is less of a jury rig...and no doubt slightly more structural...

traced it...the hole does continue into the pan..any oil congregating near the first hole we took pics of would have to slip back into the pan.. Both pics looking up from under the engine...oil pan removed

Is it just hoses you're looking for?...not the compressor? 6 star..how much of an increase in gas mileage?..or is it negligible...loving all the extra space

many thanks ivan...a mouthful of good info in case anyone missed it...right after "gone"

Storydude, thanks for clearing that up.. if for whatever reason _aw changes his mind on removal, you can have my parts...you in buffalo ny??...i'm thinking no cause it doesn't get that hot there does it? moonman, it must have been your post I remember reading some time ago re; the toggle switch..great ingenuity loving the clear explanations...I need these and have no shame.. or at least am losing any shame.. many thanks to all

wanna make sure we're clear on the location of the hole... it's on the block casting not the removable pump... I poked around and the walls of the hole's tunnel seem fairly smooth...also the face of the hole isn't as rough as I'd originally thought... joshjosh (the original poster) and i have the same hole...anyone else?? edit...can't seem to rotate the pic

def wanna open up space and a little more gas mileage wouldn't hurt.. but why is there a "clutch" fan?? is it sucking air toward the rear of the engine or blowing at the radiator? _aw did you do take the compressor out yet?? [edited] I just did ...in the pic the white vertical is rolled up paper towel...the bolt holes appear to line up good enough to replace paper towel with a long bolt and sleeve as a spacer... can use same belts and pretty sure it would be structurally sound.. edit..did I say condenser?? I did mean compressor, right? and I could be wrong about using the same size belt due the compressor adding height....or not..I dunno, yet

you know, it prob doesn't make sense to remove any fan (unless yur adding like kanury's did?)...there's gotta be some cooling benefit, right? ..think there's a thread (searched, couldn't find) where someone rigged the electric fan with a toggle switch operated from the inside of the car, so they can put it on whenever they wanted..

Put a wiper arm on

Can we get a consensus on this? Admittedly, it's a rough looking hole, maybe a bad casting.... many thanks..will do

my understanding is that it's the cylinder that these pics focus on.. .well the one with the rust and the wire going to it

.. been thinking about doing the same operation, _aw can live without AC and other than supporting the alternator, for now, that compressor is dead weight.. ..there's an extra fan attached to the main radiator,,is that AC related? If so, shall it be removed or does it help cool the main engine coolant system also? and I guess the radiator in front of the main radiator is for AC...can that go? thanks _aw

Haven't noticed air bubbles...you seeing these on the dipstick? .. my own tick of death isn't deafening (yet) just a sound that shouldn't be there....interestingly, if I let the oil level stay low, the tick is not so often. There's a ton of suby experts here..am guessing the "tick of death" subject has been beat to death...maybe if you said "unusual hole re: my oil pump". I'm very interested in the reason for the hole...please post what you find out. thanks RJ

Like on Josh's, it kind of a rough hole, not the cleanest looking work..rough enough to bring attention to itself...

Josh's hole is not on the unit that gets removed (correct me if I'm wrong, Josh) but on the block casting (this verbiage may be incorrect). I went out to the garage to take a pic of my own hole....I can't show that ......but here's a pic of that matches Josh's from my 93 Loyale.. If this is a problem, thanks for bringing it some attention josh....I've been getting the tick also but just assumed, based on reading that the pumps rarely go bad, that I need the pump seals changed, new filter and new oil. SO is this hole really a defect?????!! thanks again josh

cam seals and oil pump look good. Do the cam seal have a designated life span? I'll prob change them.. Re: oil pump, the engine was doing intermittent ticking, usually upon starting but would disappear somewhere down the road...hoping that changing the seals, filter and new oil will correct this....I read the pumps themselves rarely go bad?? Side note: It seems every two weeks I was putting in nearly a quart of oil ...because of this I slacked on doing a real oil change...prob not smart.. still strong engine finally getting attention. Thanks MF When I mentioned lower valve covers, I meant the seams at bottom of the valve cover itself...the cam towers which after wiping look as dry as the head at the block....maybe it's just cause I wiped em dry..heh. I'm glad you vote the grommets and the valve covers...the grommet and seals with the grommets do look like a replacement is needed. That said maybe I'll do the cam towers .. RE: you MF....I watch your vids, they help a lot...I feel like the person listening to public radio forever and never contributing financial support..oh wait.. I am that person.. Many thanks to you for doing those...I can send some PBRs? NPR wasn't on board with that method..

A part of me thinks like you Gloyal that it should get done whether they look tight or not..another part of me thinks if they haven't been compromised leave it alone. I'm not getting a visual of "wet" gaskets from the cylinder heads. Haven't pulled the trigger on going deeper so am killing time cleaning the engine.. Is there any cleaner I can just spray on and hose off, literally... wire brush and rag and wd40 is getting old. In defense of GD, I believe he thought I would willingly fuss with the pistons and rings ...thanks for clearing up the motorcycle vs Suby piston thing..

My thinking re: exposing the pistons when removing the cylinder heads is fuzzy right? I just remember doing a ring job on a motorcycle many years ago and don't want to be dealing with any rings while re-installing the cylinder heads... I won't have to..right?? that said, the gaskets "seem" to be tight and dry around the heads after wiping them.. thanks for keep humoring me..and I know yur right, ds, if I don't take care of things now while the engine is out..

I dunno...a two year old would have had no problem turning the ratchet to get the10mm bolts off which are holding the valve covers on...is this unusual? As far as the rubber seals of the valve covers?? ..Looks good to me, a little wet, but flexible and no breaks, don't see how theses thing goes bad....but it's the only obvious place where oil might be leaking?? Should the bolts just be cranked tighter??

Thanks I was just coming back in to say "somebody stop me" Trust me, I don't wanna rebuild but reasoned in my brain if I have to take cylinder heads off to install new gaskets in I'm exposing the pistons and dealing with rings...don't wanna do this. I've just wiped clean the cylinder heads to the block, pretty sure I've got the verbiage right but I could be wrong... Anyway, the two (four altogether)gaskets closest to the block than the valve covers, (Cylinder head and head gasket??) after having been wiped clean look tighter than a cat's rump roast. There's enough gasket sealer exposed and some head gasket that looks dry, not oozing anything. The only gasket area that looks oily is the lower valve covers..everything looked oily before wiping but these appear "wet". Is it possible that all the oil spread on the engine is coming from the lower valve covers?? There's plenty of oil under and around the powers steering unit...everywhere on the front an top front has a nice old thick coating of oil....the oil pan as well, covered kinda thick. The oil pump itself, looks tight and dry... I'm thinking of just doing the valve gaskets??, & the cam seals ..Though they look good, & the main front seal??.. though that looks good... Should I just leave well enough alone at 161,000 miles. Even my timing belts looked good and am certain they have at least 120,000 miles.. ..but don't wanna stray from the oil subject

yeah, guess I'm only kidding myself into thinking someone's going to say no need to get carried away... any recommendations on complete gasket sets are welcome thanks RJ edit..and a link to dealing with the cylinder heads, piston rings etc...not that I won't be searching but about to get greasy thanks again