Nearing the end of March and the Pagoda is a toothless wonder. At this point, I'll have to rename the project "Lispy".
I had to remove the grill as it was misaligned and had completely the wrong hardware holding it in place. I also want to treat the small rust bubbling from the grill mounting points as well. At the moment, the car's looking like a happy go lucky 97 year old redneck from middle Alabama with a Mountain Dew addiction.
After grill removal, I found some frayed wiring that was pinched between the grill shell and the chassis. I'll have to remove the engine harness from the bay and trace back where this is going. There weren't any blown fuses so I doubt this was grounding itself. Being the chassis has a mile thick worth of undercoat/paint on it, it's a bit of a blessing as this could have caused problems elsewhere.
You can also see a bit of the bubbled rust that I was picking away at. All that will be treated and painted so it won't return to cause havoc on the car.
You can also see a bit of the bubbled rust that I was picking away at. All that will be treated and painted so it won't return to cause havoc on the car.
The intake/exhaust heat shield was cut in order for the retrofit AC compressor to fit. The way I do things, if you have to start modifying parts like this to make something work, it's just not worth doing. Granted, this isn't something that will cause catastrophic failures or the like.
I started the thermostat housing removal so I could get to the chain tensioner. Two 12mm nuts on some studs are all that need to be removed to get the complete housing off. Four 10mm hex head bolts remove the thermostat cover. It was so caked on that I had to use a small hammer to tap it free. If you're going to do this, be very careful. It's easy to crack anything thermostat related with these cast aluminum parts.
With some fighting, the thermostat is free. Judging by the seal and corrosion, this hasn't been removed in ages.
I couldn't get the thermostat free of the top, so I put the actual thermostat in a vice and tightened her down enough to bend it free to break the seal's grip. I didn't want to score the housing cover with anything to cause a leak down the road so this was the easiest method for me.
After those two 12mm nuts holding on the whole housing, this should just slide right off. The paper gasket welded itself to the head, so that will all be taken care of when the head goes off to the machine shop for servicing. In the mean time, I'll be cleaning off any dirt and grime from this part and have it sit in my tumblr with some polishing media for a day or so. Should come out clean inside and out.
Other side. It seems like that fitting off the side for the coolant pipe to the cold start system on the injection pump was modified slightly for use with the AC compressor bracket. Luckily, it doesn't seem to be a permanent modification and can be reverted back to original with ease.
A picture of the kinked heater hose. This was caused by the AC compressor fitment.
I wonder how well this AC system actually worked. This is one of the low pressure side hoses that was pinched between the intake manifold and the frame rail on the passenger side. Doesn't seem like it was a very good conversion.
The Bavarian Brethren have invaded this engine bay. One of two BMW hose clamps I've seen in this engine bay, thought it was worthwhile to note. Guess it works, right?
AC drier hanging out near the windshield wiper motor on the passenger side. It was attached with some duct hanging metal strip and sheet metal screwed in place. My hats off to the quality work on this retrofit.
Engine bay space reclamation and cleanliness project commencing well.
Cold start valve power and ground connections. I'll have this removed and cleaned up shortly. I'm going to go over all the wiring and make sure the connections are clean and have good contacts.
Relay on the passenger side fender well with associated connector. IIRC, this relay should be bare metal? I'll take a nice wire brush to get all this terrible undercoat/paint off of it.
That looks like a quality ground point, doesn't it?
Lower connection to the CSV (Cold Start Valve) removed. It's a 19mm fitting at the valve.
Oh, surprise surprise. Somebody cut it with a pipe cutter and fitted a hose over it to complete the connection!
At least they made an attempt to make it a clean connection? I really dislike when people start modifying parts to make it work. It'll be way cheaper in the long run to just get it done and over with. Much less of a hassle in diagnosing engine troubles as well.
A few 14mm nuts and the intake manifold is now removed. Pull out and you can lift it straight off. The intake and exhaust manifolds share the same studs, sans two outermost studs which are strictly exhaust manifold.
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