DTMAce's Z26 project - DD usage for the time being - 6-8-12

[Money pit Beretta]

That's a great kit! Too bad they don't have a kit for a top end swap. I'll see if I can use the #'s from the things I need. Thanks for the list!

[DTMAce]

OK, I managed to brave the rain and the mosquitoes and put the car's rear end on jackstands. Crawled under there and pulled the gas tank. We had a heck of a time getting to the straps, it appears the bolts are simply f'ed. So cut the straps with tin snips, pulled the hoses and dropped the tank.

After looking at this thing, heck it could be leaking from several different places to be honest the scale rust is so bad on this tank. Most likely spot is on the passenger side where the seat well sits into it. Anyway it is just junk. Here are some pics.



This is the old tank. May not look like it, but it has a lot of rust around the seams and the filler neck, etc. It is fubar.



New tank, right from RockAuto with a fresh thick coat of Rustoleum black. I did wipe this tank down first with several rounds of wax & grease remover to get the oily slime off of it before painting.



Just a shot toward the front from under the bumper



Picture of the hose fitting area, filter, etc.

Once the new tank finishes drying, I will move the pump and stuff into it, then install it. Before I do that however, I have to cut the old bolts out with a cut-off wheel or a torch, and ready some new bolts. Bout' the only thing under the car that bothers me rust-wise right now is the crossmember on the front side of the trunk. It is rather scaly, but other than that it doesn't look to awful bad under there. Few spots in the floor pan but will be fixing them later this year when I pull the carpet. :p

Anyways, will try to have this done sometime later this week/weekend, as my next 2 days are solidly booked, unfortunately.

Till then!

[Asylum]

Looks like that fuel filter has served it's time.

[3X00-Modified]

Yeah, good point... might as well replace it while your in there.

[woody90gtz]

Eek... that cross frame looks pretty skeevy.

[DTMAce]

I have a new filter already, ordered from Rock Auto when I ordered the tank, along with new straps and a new strainer for the pump.

That is the original filter btw. Never been changed.

Actually everything with the fuel system is original. But then I always ran premium till now too so who knows it may have helped keep the system cleaner, even if it didn't do anything else...

Anyways, yeah the crossmember is not the best. But it seems solid yet, not rusted through anywhere or anything, just looks nasty. Fuel lines are in better shape than I originally thought too. Won't have to change all that yet. Yay for small miracles.

[3X00-Modified]

But then I always ran premium till now too so who knows it may have helped keep the system cleaner, even if it didn't do anything else...

I will say it once again... Premium fuel is not "cleaner" than Regular fuel. They are all of the same cleanliness they just have different octane ratings.

:sparta

[DTMAce]

It doesn't matter. I am quite sure that BP and Shell lie to everyone about putting cleaners/oxidents/anti freezing stuff in their premium fuels. So I have been lied to all these years, big deal. What else would explain things staying clean, the engine being pretty clean for the mileage, etc. If I bought gas from some waterhole gas station that would have water or dirt in their gas occasionally that wouldn't be any different than buying gas from a shell with a premium sticker?

Anyways.

Just saying. Premium or not, where I bought the gas probably did matter, and buying the premium which was refilled and sold less meant it probably stayed cleaner in the station tank. lol

[3X00-Modified]

Part of your thought pattern is true... It does matter where you buy gas, BUT taking gas thats not used as much can contain more contaminates... so if it gets refilled often that lessens the chance that the fuel had a chance to absorb water and other contaminates.

Engine cleanliness is also due to proper oil changes, keeping up on leaking gaskets, air filters and such... so if you maintained your motor well which I can see you did, then its those items that kept you clean, think about it the fuel only touches the intake runners of the head... so if your intakes were clean thats because your purge and EGR systems were working and you changed your air filter when needed. IIRC your egr was plugged though? right? That was probably due to oil consumption through the PCV and breather systems though.

I'm not trying to start a ruckus here it just bugs me when big media and advertising brain washes people to think premium fuel will clean your motor and give you more horsepower.

[Asylum]

My car runs 14.0's on 89!! END OF SUBJECT!!

My Quad wants Premium evidently 'cause the dash board says so.

Stop wasting your money.

[DTMAce]

Naw, no ruckus. True I was pretty good about maintaining the engine. Always changed oil and filter every 3-4k (synthetic always stayed pretty clean, even after 4k to be honest) always used the extended filter, changed the air filter every 10-20k or when it looked bad. I have not invested in a K&N yet, but will for the next one.

Engine uses NO oil, doesn't burn it, or leak it. I fixed my slight oil consumption when I did the LIMG apparently.

The EGR plugged up a while back. Probably happened around 160-170k. That was when the EGR codes started being thrown, but at that time I didn't know what the cause was. Car ran fine, just would throw the code usually when lifting off the gas to slow down or brake. Since I cleaned it when I did the LIMG, not a single code from that. I got 1 solitary code about 3 weeks ago, but I have a feeling it was either a tranny slip or the gas tank acting like the cap was not on (due to the leaks in the tank).

Yeah, tranny will be another project down the road. Its original.... Will slip out of O/D occasionally, and sometimes shifts hard into second. Frankly I am surprised it has lasted this long. lol I am not easy on it after all. :p Just hope it can handle a small road trip to Ohio this next week ok. It should, I have been babying it as it is.

Probably will just buy a J/Y one, rebuild it and have it ready. Simple.

Asylum, I haven't been buying it anymore since coming to this site.... I even stated that earlier.

[Money pit Beretta]

That rust back there is not as bad as mine was. I'll have to redo mine again this year, I didn't clean the area enough before it painted it(after treating the rust). Hey guys, my girlfriends Z24 has holes in that area, so don't feel too bad when you see a little rust back there. Good to see you back to work Ace!

[DTMAce]

Well, gas tank is done and installed as of the 3rd. Works fine, no problems that I can find. Went fairly smooth, was even able to salvage the original strap bolts and stuff. New straps though of course.

Started work on the radiator swap yesterday. Actually was going along quite well until I hit a snag going back together. The radiator that I got from PsycoCack has the wrong size transmission line cooler fittings! ARG! Not sure how THAT happened, but I am stuck with it, since I have to have this running for tomorrow!

Anyways, Dad (as usual) came up with a fairly simple idea to fix it, was just a matter of working with smaller lines, some solder and some smaller fittings to fit the radiator line connections. Just finished leak testing those today, so now I can put the rest of it back together. *sigh Just hope it works good.

Everything else about the radiator is correct, just the tranny fittings are wrong. Makes me think this was for a 4 cyl engine or something maybe, I have no idea. Pissed me off at the time, but I think it will be alright for now, till I can make a better fix of it later. Will put up some pics later this evening if I get some time. Back to work!

As for rust, well any rust can lead to more rust. LOL

No, it isn't bad, but it will be one day. I hope that maybe sometime I can get under there and do some repair before it gets worse, but then again, I would rather do that kind of work with a younger car. *shrug We will see.

[DTMAce]

Well it is night and I did finally get most of the stuff finished that were critical.

Gas tank, radiator, oil change, tranny and coolant topped off, tire pressure check, fixed the turn/hazards finally with the resistor install. Works perfect btw. Now I no longer get ABS light after turning ON my lights. Now it just comes on when I turn on the hazards. So must have other lights that need a resistor installed, will have to look into it. Probably the front side markers, if I had to guess. Also installed my new air horn, damn that thing is loud. But not overly cheesy either. At least it doesn't sound like a sick heifer any more.

Installed new dryer, but was running out of time to borrow a vacuum, so I attempted to fill the A/C system, however that was simply NOT going to work. Obviously still moisture in the system, it was trying to freeze the pump. So will have to just do it the hard way when I get back, but at least I know it should work once I get that sorted. Just will have to suffer the heat the next few days, no biggie. At least I know the car won't be blowing coolant... Well not from the radiator anyway! lol

Never got time to work on the interior at ALL. Simply ran out of it this weekend, had way too much going on, so pushing back the new wheel and fixing the mirror till later. Going to take the mirror kit with me, may try to fix it while I am down in Ohio.

See you all in a few days!

[6r8ph1X]

any ideas to why the abs light comes on when the hazards are turned on? i get that too on my retta, wierd, i was thinking maybe my halos are tied into my cornermarkers, idk