Working on junk

[tRidiot]

Im going to guess your truck is a gm product? They are bad about breaking the flap and yes the whole dash usually does have to come out. Which sucks.

My Tahoe has problems with one of the blend door actuators - well, two if you count the rear AC. I've pulled those damn things out a few times. What a PITA. I've gotten a bit better at it now... in the back, I just pull it apart twice a year and swap it from hot to cold and back.

 

[NightShade]

Dodge Dakota. But all the newer vehicles have pretty much went to the door style. Honestly with the valve in line the need to fix the blend door went out the window.

Running a 180 thermostat in my truck already and carry a garden sprayer around just in case to help cool off if needed, mainly for the AC on really hot days if I have to sit for a little bit. Have thought about getting a pump for doing something similar and spray a mist in front. But switching the refrigerant is supposed to help a ton and I have also contemplated rebuilding the system and adding a second condenser to help subcool the refrigerant more than what it can get through the one.

 

[beastep]

Switching the refrigerant to what?

 

[beastep]

My Tahoe has problems with one of the blend door actuators - well, two if you count the rear AC. I've pulled those damn things out a few times. What a PITA. I've gotten a bit better at it now... in the back, I just pull it apart twice a year and swap it from hot to cold and back.

Ive known a few guys thats had to take their gm dashes out to fix the flap that breaks around the actuator.

 

[Tanis143]

Yeah anymore and I take my car in for service and repairs. Give me something before ECM's, the dealer hiding everything, etc and I'll work on it all day long. My first three cars (81 Plymouth Horizon, 84 Olds Cutlass 4 door and 89 Dodge Shadow) I did all the work with the exception of some head work I had done on my Shadow. I saw the writing on the wall with my mom's 91 Chevy S10 Blazer, had to disconnect the timing adjust relay to set the timing. Was it in the engine bay? Of course not, it was on the panel wall on the passenger side just under the dash. That same blazer got me stuck out in Ft. Towson one Christmas when the spark advance module went kaput. It would run til it warmed up, then it would die. Had to have it towed by my uncle from Ft. Towson to Moore. Come to find out it was a $15 part that took me 10 minutes to swap....After that year I stopped doing anything except oil changes and now that I have a new vehicle the dealer does everything.

 

[dennishoddy]

Y when the spark advance module went kaput. It would run til it warmed up, then it would die. Had to have it towed by my uncle from Ft. Towson to Moore. Come to find out it was a $15 part that took me 10 minutes to swap....After that year I stopped doing anything except oil changes and now that I have a new vehicle the dealer does everything.

Common issue back then with heat sensitive electronic components.
Two fixes, First one was on the road when it started failing. Limp in to a place, buy a bag of ice and put on the module.
The permanent fix was to put the module on the fender well and put some 1/4" spacers under it to allow air flow.
Later models had no issue.

 

[swampratt]

First car 66 mustang wrecked and paid $75 spent 275 to make it beautiful and road worthy year was 1984.
second car was $75 and 4 door 1973 mercury comet.
Both had inline 6 ford engines.. fool proof for sure.
3rd car 1947 dodge truck with 425HP 396 from was warmed over to 625 HP dual carter AFB carbs and single point distributor.
4th car 1967 chrysler newport custom paid $75 and these 75 dollar cars i drove home.
5th car was 1972 Nova $65 bucks and scored a 6th car 72 skylark for 175 and pulled the engine and trans and stuck it into the Nova.

Only because i could not build transmissions at the time and I had pulled the 396 from the truck and stuck it into the Nova and the TH 400 did not work.

Skylark engine turned out to be a sleeper as the guy i got it from said he was going to stick the engine in his truck but the trans slipped too much.
Yea 3500 stall and it would not idle less than 1200rpm or it would die.
In the Nova I stuck slicks on the back and launched it at 3500 Wheels up I shifted it at 7200 rpm with the 2 barrel carb..NO S**T

I pulled the carter AFB off the Chrysler and got an adapter plate and stuck it onto the buick powered nova and it went 7600rpm and no sigh of nosing over..I got scared and shifted.

Fun stuff for sure and this is why I like old stuff.
Heck the 67 Newport had a 14" tire on left front and right rear and the other 2 tires were 15" and it had 3 different brands of spark plugs in it and the 4 barrel only worked on the primaries.
It ran great.
Stopped ok especially since the rear brake line was cut and crimped off and the disc brakes on the front one side was cut and crimped off. so only 1 disc stopped it and that was driver side front.

It still stopped better than a 1991 escort i had.

You just had to correct steering at the same time applying the brake.
It got 18 MPG that 383 in the giant Newport 4 door.
I delivered Pizza in it when i worked for Godfathers Pizza in Moore.

Wish i still had some of those cars.
I was driving and swapping engines before I was able to legally drive.

 

[MacFromOK]

Wish i still had some of those cars.

Hehe, no kiddin'...

Bought a '66 Mustang for $75 because the oil light stayed on. Pulled the pan and the oil pump was locked up with a broken piece of nylon valve seal wedged in it (lol, remember those?).

The oil pump drive shaft was twisted until it looked like a drill bit, and had finally shortened until it stopped making connection between the distributor and oil pump.

Spent less than $10 to fix it (new shaft and a pan gasket). Then traded it for a clunker 650 Triumph, which I eventually sold for $225 (IIRC?), mainly for the engine.

Also... bought a '52 Ford stepside (did they make anything else then?) for $60, that someone had put a '63 (lol, I think?) 223ci engine and 3spd transmission in. However, the clutch worked the opposite direction of the later model throwout bearing fork, so they were apparently stumped and never finished it.

I mounted a pulley on a crossmember and ran a cable from the clutch pedal to the clutch fork to to reverse the travel and fabricated shift rods for it (everything worked perfectly). Put rings & bearings in it, installed a 12V alternator, worked on the brakes, lights and other stuff... then sold it for $150.

And let the guy pay it out over a few months.

 

[Catt57]

I need to replace some of the stuff on my truck so that the heat blows down to the floor when that is selected and replace the mix door as well. For now I just put a valve in the line that runs to the heater core and shut it off when it's warm. Used to be that the heater core had a valve that would open and close depending on if you want heat or not. Now they just open a plastic door and they warp which makes the AC pretty much worthless unless you are doing 70 on the highway. From what I saw the whole dash has to come out to get to it so I don't care enough to deal with it. I prefer closing the coolant line off anyway since r134a sucks.

And with my wife's health issues not having ac is a major pain. Her body does not regulate her temp correctly and she doesn't sweat when she gets hot so the heat can literally kill her.

My mom has lived with that her entire life. She is physically unable to sweat. She keeps washcloths and bottles of water in the car. She will wet a washcloth and put it on the back of her neck to keep cool when she has to. And a wet ball-cap can also do wonders.

 

[DanB]

This thread is making me want to sell the 98 Cherokee I just bought for an old full size Cherokee. I miss my CJ 7 for this very reason but need something a little more life friendly.