A 40th Gets Some TLC.
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True Car Nut
Joined: May 2005
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From: _Phoenix, AZ_ _WCBF '05, '06, '07 Survivor_ ____NEBF '07 Remnant___
A 40th Gets Some TLC.
Yesterday, Rudy came over so he could begin giving his 40th SSEi the luvin' it deserves. After seeing his work ethic (he dove right in with no problems) and his attention to detail, I can honestly tell the club we have found a GREAT new member and are lucky that he ended up with this 40th. He is one new 40th owner that will do our club proud. He is definitely addicted to his Bonne and BC.
We started with a Mobile 1 oil change (the existing filter was on so damn tight, we almost gave up, but I finallly got it to break free
)
Then we went to flush out the dex-cool (which was beginning to gel). It wasn't too bad, except that when I initially opened the radiator drain-****, we had no flow. After some prodding with an awl, I finally got it to a trickle. After it drained, we added some chemical flush and after the procedure was done, the second draining went great since the drain was now flowing better than old faithful.
During the coolant draining, Rudy changed the SC oil. (Yes, he was properly baptised as a SCed owner upon sniffing the worst odor known to the 3800 community
).
We then rigged up his driver side exhaust (split rubber hanger) until he can get a replacement rubber.
We also tried the "swap the horn and A/C relay" trick to see if his A/C clutch would engage, but I guess it just was't his lucky day. No clutch engage, so, still no A/C.
Finally, we gave the engine bay it'* first ever cleaning. We still have some scrubbibg left, but I was impressed with Rudy'* abilities and determination with a detail brush. I was worried that I might scare him off when I brought out the "little" brushes to begin getting all the crud off of the engine, bu he just took a brush and started going at it. In fact, he was removing grease and oil deposits in places only he and I would know about, so I think he is OK.
Rudy also conditioned the leather of the entire interior while I was buttoniing things up under the hood. He also discovered that he has tilting headrests. I swear it took both of my hands to rotate them....obviously the previous owner of the car either never knew he had rotating headrests or never bothered to rotate them because they where the tightests headrests I have ever experienced.
We have some more work to do yet, but this is one 40th that is being brought back up to the high level of attention that it deserves.
Next up is endlinks and replacing the busted tailpipe hanger, phase two of engine bay detailing, then a good general washing and photoshoot with my teal '97.
BEFORE (UGH)
AFTER
GENERAL PICS
We started with a Mobile 1 oil change (the existing filter was on so damn tight, we almost gave up, but I finallly got it to break free
)Then we went to flush out the dex-cool (which was beginning to gel). It wasn't too bad, except that when I initially opened the radiator drain-****, we had no flow. After some prodding with an awl, I finally got it to a trickle. After it drained, we added some chemical flush and after the procedure was done, the second draining went great since the drain was now flowing better than old faithful.
During the coolant draining, Rudy changed the SC oil. (Yes, he was properly baptised as a SCed owner upon sniffing the worst odor known to the 3800 community
).We then rigged up his driver side exhaust (split rubber hanger) until he can get a replacement rubber.
We also tried the "swap the horn and A/C relay" trick to see if his A/C clutch would engage, but I guess it just was't his lucky day. No clutch engage, so, still no A/C.
Finally, we gave the engine bay it'* first ever cleaning. We still have some scrubbibg left, but I was impressed with Rudy'* abilities and determination with a detail brush. I was worried that I might scare him off when I brought out the "little" brushes to begin getting all the crud off of the engine, bu he just took a brush and started going at it. In fact, he was removing grease and oil deposits in places only he and I would know about, so I think he is OK.
Rudy also conditioned the leather of the entire interior while I was buttoniing things up under the hood. He also discovered that he has tilting headrests. I swear it took both of my hands to rotate them....obviously the previous owner of the car either never knew he had rotating headrests or never bothered to rotate them because they where the tightests headrests I have ever experienced.
We have some more work to do yet, but this is one 40th that is being brought back up to the high level of attention that it deserves.
Next up is endlinks and replacing the busted tailpipe hanger, phase two of engine bay detailing, then a good general washing and photoshoot with my teal '97.
BEFORE (UGH)
AFTER
GENERAL PICS
:?:
Thread Starter
Senior Member
True Car Nut
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 3,448
Likes: 7
From: _Phoenix, AZ_ _WCBF '05, '06, '07 Survivor_ ____NEBF '07 Remnant___
Originally Posted by petraman
Damn, that'* a good cleaning job there! That engine bay is SPOTLESS 
. We had a good base to start with. This has obviously been a Southern car all of it'* life. Absolutely no rust on the under carriage or anywhere else for that matter. Just lots of dust, dirt, and some usual engine grime in the bay.As far as the pulley....yeah, it'* still the 3.8 stocker, but she runs very strong.
For $2300 and 90K miles, he may have gotton the deal of the century.
