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 Back in a Formula Again 
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Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 8:59 pm
Posts: 303
Location: Barrie
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Post Back in a Formula Again
Well, just introduced myself & my car in the New Forum Users section. Gonna be working on this car for quite awhile so thought I may as well start a project thread to document her progress!

As she came home!
ImageWP_20140724_001 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Took almost 2 days to vacuum all the dog hair out of this thing! Was absolutely horrible filthy inside.
After giving the inside a good cleaning out, I gave the outside a quick once over. Stripes had to go....was not digging those at all!

ImageWP_20140830_001 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Much better looking in my opinion!


Last edited by auto_god on Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:06 am, edited 4 times in total.



Tue Sep 09, 2014 2:54 pm
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Location: Barrie
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
My focus then turned to resolving the running issues that were the reason I got the car dirt cheap. A set of ignition wires, a pcm, & a fuel pump later & she's running like a champ again!

Not entirely unexpectedly, the rear brake line broke while I was attempting to remove it in order to drop the rear end down to facilitate replacing the fuel pump. Naturally every drop of fluid ran out at that point. Now given that the car hasn't really moved since 2009, all the brakes are pretty much seized solid, so being in a situation where I was going to have to bleed the brakes now anyway after fabbing up a new brake line, I decided I may as well deal with the rear brakes now & just have to bleed the system once.

The rear PBR calipers needed some attention!

ImageWP_20140908_002 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

After checking RockAuto & finding these things were upwards of $100 per side with the core charge, I elected to order 2 rebuild kits & tackle the problem myself. After a few hours at my sandblast cabinet, honing the bores out so everything operates smoothly once again, & a little paint, things are all well again in the rear brake department.....need to be bled still, but ran out of motivation for that today! Surprisingly enough, the pads and rotors were virtually new on the car, so I'll evaluate how I like the existing parts once the car is on the road as to whether they get upgraded.

ImageWP_20140908_001 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr


Last edited by auto_god on Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:08 am, edited 3 times in total.



Tue Sep 09, 2014 2:57 pm
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Location: Barrie
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
One of the other issues that has been aggravating me since I brought the car home is overspray! The previous owner had the car painted about 10 years ago he tells me.....apparently masking off stuff wasn't a huge priority to the person/shop that did the job!!! Overspray is EVERYWHERE!!

ImageWP_20140902_001 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

ImageWP_20140803_002 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

During my days off/evenings that I'm not in the mood to get into anything major, I've been dealing with this. Slow going, but definitely an improvement!

ImageWP_20140803_001 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

ImageWP_20140908_005 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr


Last edited by auto_god on Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:11 am, edited 2 times in total.



Tue Sep 09, 2014 3:07 pm
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
When I first brought the car home, the battery was beyond dead, so I picked up a new one & popped it in. At this point I noticed the orange wire was not connected to anything! The previous owner had also put a replacement cable end on the positive terminal & wrapped it in red tape (I assumed to mark the cable as being positive!). After checking my wiring diagrams I determined that the orange wire was for the rad fans! Clearly that needed to be hooked back up (& also explained why the fans weren't functioning!) With this in mind I peeled back the wad of red tape (to investigate how I was going to re-attach my fan wire) to find that the tape was what was actually holding the starter & alternator wires in the terminal!!! Alright then, that needs to be resolved ASAP!!

An hour or so of re-wiring has made those connections much more permanent!

ImageWP_20140902_002 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr


Last edited by auto_god on Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:11 am, edited 2 times in total.



Tue Sep 09, 2014 3:23 pm
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
looks good so far.

You coming to the show on Saturday?

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Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:44 pm
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
So last weekend was spent tackling the front brakes. As was the case with the rear brakes, the pads & rotors were essentially new. I assumed (incorrectly I might add) that the pull to the left the car was exhibiting during braking to be the result of a seized caliper, & proceeded to remove the calipers and rebuild them just as I had the rears.

ImageWP_20141005_002 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

ImageWP_20141006_001 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

After the calipers were re-installed I went to bleed the RF.......rock hard brake pedal, & no fluid came out of the bleeder screw whatsoever! WTF??? Removing the flex line from the caliper netted the same result. The brake line was blocked somewhere between the brand new master I had put on several weeks ago & the caliper. Damn! Working back from the caliper, I undid the flex hose at the hard line & got fluid coming out at that point, so evidently the flex hose was blocked somehow. Relieved that I didn't have to fab up a new hardline down under the engine, I went & picked up a new flex hose & popped it on.....all is working as it should once again.

Being the curious person I am though, I decided to cut up the old hose to see what happened to it to cause it to block all brake pressure. A few cuts later & I determined the blockage was happening at the sleeve crimped on the middle of the hose so I cut it apart there to see what happened.

Imageth_Flexhose by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

Turns out that over the last 24 years enough rust had built up in between the sleeve & the hose that it completely pinched the hose off! In 26 years of working on cars, I've never seen that happen before....always something new to learn!!! :D


Last edited by auto_god on Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:22 am, edited 2 times in total.



Sun Oct 12, 2014 7:48 am
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
Nice job. Keep the updates pics coming. Love the 91-92 formulas.

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Sun Oct 12, 2014 4:29 pm
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
Oh there will be lots of pics & updates.....lots of work to do still!

Spent a couple hours with my polisher & compound. Car had all sorts of scuffs & marks all over the place.....I'd say about 95% of them all came out!

ImageWP_20140928_001 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr


Last edited by auto_god on Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:23 am, edited 2 times in total.



Sun Oct 12, 2014 5:32 pm
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
Nice, looks like a clean car.

Jay


Mon Oct 13, 2014 7:28 am
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
jay_rich wrote:
Nice, looks like a clean car.

Jay


That was the big attraction for me to this car when I bought it....a nice rust free car that required no body work! I hate doing body work! LOL! About the worst thing I'll likely do body wise will be to pull the front bumper cover off & repaint that (paint is cracked in several spots....looks like parking wasn't the previous owners strong suit), but that is pretty minor.

A crap load of little mechanical issues, but I have no problem dealing with those.


Mon Oct 13, 2014 7:46 am
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
Sure does look like a nice clean car. Smart money buying a solid shell to start with

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Mon Oct 13, 2014 9:57 am
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
Quote:
After the calipers were re-installed I went to bleed the RF.......rock hard brake pedal, & no fluid came out of the bleeder screw whatsoever! WTF??? Removing the flex line from the caliper netted the same result. The brake line was blocked somewhere between the brand new master I had put on several weeks ago & the caliper. Damn! Working back from the caliper, I undid the flex hose at the hard line & got fluid coming out at that point, so evidently the flex hose was blocked somehow. Relieved that I didn't have to fab up a new hardline down under the engine, I went & picked up a new flex hose & popped it on.....all is working as it should once again.

Being the curious person I am though, I decided to cut up the old hose to see what happened to it to cause it to block all brake pressure. A few cuts later & I determined the blockage was happening at the sleeve crimped on the middle of the hose so I cut it apart there to see what happened.

Turns out that over the last 24 years enough rust had built up in between the sleeve & the hose that it completely pinched the hose off! In 26 years of working on cars, I've never seen that happen before....always something new to learn!!! :D


Great looking car and nice work so far!

I had the same issue on my 78 TA even with fresh calipers and pads on both sides the car would dart to the right when applying brakes. Replaced both flex hoses and lines on the front and all was good.
My son who is mechanic later told me that it is common for the brake hoses with clamps on the hose to corrode and restrict flow in the same way yours did.

BTW I see you are using a low garage lift - How does it work for you? Where did you get it?

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Mon Oct 13, 2014 1:57 pm
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
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BTW I see you are using a low garage lift - How does it work for you? Where did you get it?


My hoist is an absolute God send....can't imagine not having it. Its a BendPak hoist. It came from the shop I work at. It was essentially new when I bought it from the shop....it got removed to have a full size 2 post hoist put in instead. Might have been used a couple dozen times before it was removed. We'll just say I got an EXTREMELY attractive deal on it!!


Last edited by auto_god on Mon Oct 13, 2014 3:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.



Mon Oct 13, 2014 3:12 pm
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
Just after buying my car, I put it on the hoist & gave it a quick go over to see what it was going to need to safety. Found it needed a new center link, so that was put in a week or 2 afterwards. Since then the alignment was absolutely out in left field, so after spending an evening freeing up both toe adjusters, I spent an hour or so doing a redneck alignment on the car to at least get it in the ballpark till I can get an actual alignment done on it.

Its actually surprising how close you can get the alignment if you take your time & take your measurements carefully.

ImageWP_20141013_001 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr


Last edited by auto_god on Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:24 am, edited 2 times in total.



Mon Oct 13, 2014 3:18 pm
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Post Re: Back in a Formula Again
Had a Fedex box waiting on my front step when I got home today!

ImageWP_20141016_004 by Shane Hewitt, on Flickr

The exhaust system that is on the car currently looks like something that was cobbled together at the local muffler shop (and poorly done at that too). The bends are all crush bent, not bent correctly (the over the axle pipe is bent in such a way that it melted through my parking brake cable), and the pipes look like they've been on there for quite some time (holes rusted through in a few spots). It does however have a nice shiny Magnaflow muffler though!! Due to the holes, it was going to need replacement to certify next spring, so I elected to just replace the whole system. To be honest, I really wasn't a fan of the sound of the Magnaflow either. It didn't sound bad, but it wasn't a "oooh....listen to that" sound either. Hoping this new system sounds better.....I guess I'll be the first to know! Lol!

Looks like I have something I can do tomorrow morning now!


Last edited by auto_god on Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:24 am, edited 3 times in total.



Thu Oct 16, 2014 5:12 pm
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