Grocery Getter Tinkering

[Carves]

Geeeez .... this carves bloke, dont seem to do much "tinkering" ..





Well actually ... yes he does ... but he's too lazy to take sequential photos in the middle of his "pissant", boring, common to all, maintenance jobs ..


... and besides ... I dont want to steal any limelight, from everyone elses great projects ..


Anyways ... some random piccies from the last, day or two,

... and nope ... "Gitt-er-done in a rush" ... isnt part of my vocabulary ..


Soooo ... I got this far and thought ...

Ohhh shyte ... XJTalk piccies ..

... good excuse to go back to the house ..... for the camera,

... and a coffee and cake ..





... and then continued on to make a pile of stuff I wanted,




... and a pile I didnt.




Why ??? ... coz its been a while since Ive bothered with the cooling system and theres some other bits I wanted to check.


Had to get rid of a bunch of hitchikers.
Notice theres none between the oil cooler and the aircon condenser. ??

I wonder if thats coz I ignored the internet "experts" ... and deliberately left a decent space between 'em.





First look at the, 2yr service life coolant ...... thats been in for about 5yrs.






So far so good ... no different to what it looked like, up at the rad cap.

Dust and bugs that fell in ... make it look worse than what it was.





Got a cupful of slightly murky stuff out - when I tipped the rad on its ends, and flushed it both ways.

Got two cups of coffee out of the heater core tho ... Obviously the flow pressure isnt enough to keep it as clear as the rest of the system.

... hardly surprising when one looks at the pissy little hole in the t'stat housing, for the heater hose.

Everything else looked like this.











Hmmmm ... next time ... This thing is definitely getting replaced, with a hose extension and brass fitting at the pump.




Waterpump I'll trust to be OK till the next inspection.

U.S. made fanclutch is shot ... spewed out the lube several months after instal ... but since its faulty in a mostly locked position ... It works great, all the time ..

No more scale in the engine than last time ... might try one of those witches brew cleaners, next time I have it apart. ?

Found the steering box after much degreasing ... all connections and actions good ... not wobbling on the mounts ... no cracks in the body ... and since the car still goes round corners ... I'll presume its servicable.




Nov 2011 ??? .... forgot about that .. ... it better last till the end of this winter ..




... and with all the aircon junk out ... tis one less thing to move - to get at the blower motor ... on a RHD.




I'll even get a clear shot at the exhaust flange gasket that needs a new gasket this coming weekend ..


Getting it back together was eezypeezy.

Raided the spares, boxes. I wonder if RockAuto would consider me as a supplier ??




Cleaned things up and refitted the old, 2009 fitted, Motorad t'stat,
... not my usual practice ... but I'm proving a point to the ... Only Stant is good enough, brigade .. ..




Goo on the gasket again ... I'm wondering if thats a good idea on these felpro gaskets actually,
... as the old one was fairly shredded ... Not something I've had happen with homemade gaskets. ?




All snug and secure ...




Wonder which "engineer" drongo, thought this was a good idea ..

Half my hand is still impaled on the aircon from pushing the hose back on ..





Gave the oil cooler and the rad a gentle clean, with a soapy brush to get bugs and road grime off.

... coz a clean heat exchanger is a ... happy ?? ... nahh ... shiny ?? ... nahhh,



ohh yeah ...... a functioning ... heat exchanger ..



On to that that annoying clutchfan instal.

Now Ive heard somewhere ... that some tool brand called snap on, or something ... are the only tools to own ??

mehhh ... 40yr old, aussie made, Stanley screwdriver is as good as, a posh brand prybar ... and nothing wrong with taiwan spanners ..




Ooops ..




Thats better .....




Then - so I could get the airbox back in ... It was time to blank off the aircon compressor using my spare assortment of xj parts.










dammitt ... obviously went to the dump with a bunch of other "not needed" xj bits ..

I think I just failed RockAutos suppliers criteria standards ..


sighhh ... back to the originals.




ahhh welll ... one step closer to an on board air system ..




Rest of it went back together as it should ... sooooo,


... time to see if theres any leaks ..


Now lets see ....

Arse up, or down, in the southern hemisphere .. I keep forgetting .. ..

Mehhh ... dont matter a damn anyway ... air pockets will get pushed through to the overflow tank. Thats why you need to top up the reservoir the next day.




... it was up for a bit extra draining ... not filling ..


My catspiss 10/90 premix ... or if you prefer ... Overpriced distilled water with a hint of green.

65grams per liter,

... Anybody know what qty is in U.S. 50/50 ?? ... doesnt seem to be displayed, on U.S. bottles ??







It goes in here ...



... and comes out here.




Probably best if I get the temp sensor back in there ..




.... bit extra green stuff in the overflow tank,

... reconnect battery, and


... vroom, vroom.


... more vroom, vroom,


... just a bit more, vroom, vroom .... and ....






Ahhhhhh ... thats my girl ..







... and just in case any americans blunder into this thread accidently ... Heres imperial temps instead of the metric numbers ..







I think I just achieved the longest, drawn out, coolant change ... in history ..