NSR...old car refresh

[randyo]

acetone and transmission fluid  mixture, I'm told works better than Kroil as a penetrating oil

[Iahawk]

thanks, Randy...I have both ingredients on hand. I think I'll continue with the soaking and seeing if it will budge. If that fails I may try driving it to get it nice and hot.

(Randy - the other day I was looking at the member list, you can sort by date of sign up..you and I joined 1 day apart in 2015)

[Stig / Major Tom]

I borrowed the tools from a friendly local gas station to change the plugs on my 67 Mustang convertible. The car ran fine. I just got it in my head to do a little PM on my new acquisition....even though I didn't own tool one.
Car was 8 yrs old. 7 were no problem, but one plug would not come out.
I split the borrowed socket !
I paid the station for his pro line tool....and, at their advice, left well enough alone.
That Champion plug is probably still in there.

I just paid to have the plugs changed on my 19yr old Silvertomatoe. No way jose' I was going to attempt them.
And put new Iridiums in my daughters Xcion - easy peasy. Toyota dealer wanted $167. The 4 NGK's were $28, and the install took me 30 mins.
Stig

[Iahawk]

I just paid to have the plugs changed on my 19yr old Silvertomatoe. No way jose' I was going to attempt them.
And put new Iridiums in my daughters Xcion - easy peasy. Toyota dealer wanted $167. The 4 NGK's were $28, and the install took me 30 mins.
Stig

I agree..certain engines I'd pay to have it done but a little Japanese 4 cyl? Gotta give it a shot!

And SUCCESS! The overnight soak in PB Blaster and this morning's few hour soak with ATF and acetone (thanks, Randyo) did the trick. Progressively tightening and loosening the plug over a few hours must have broken the threads loose and gotten a little juice down there. New plugs in, all buttoned back up...and the car started!

I had visions of the plug breaking or the threads pulling out of the head....now on to the next job, intake gasket, throttle body clean and a few more o rings (Toyota sure liked to use o rings for all the various parts that plug into this motor). I can count 5 o rings and I'm probably missing one.

What could possibly go wrong? 

[randyo]

 good deal !  I was envisioning a heli-coil

[Iahawk]

removed intake manifold to install new gasket, cleaned throttle body (pretty gunked up), replaced vvt solenoid o ring, cam position sensor o ring and dipstick tube o ring and found 1 more I need to replace (the oil screen o ring that feeds the vvt solenoid)..too many damn o rings!

Plan for today is to thoroughly clean the intake manifold of old oil and crud and then reassemble.

That just leaves the serpentine belt and belt tensioner to replace. That will wait a bit as to replace the tensioner a motor mount has to be unbolted and the motor jacked up an inch or two so the tensioner bolt can be removed. Not difficult but I think I've done enough work on the car this week.

[Iahawk]

What could possibly go wrong? 

famous last words... I got everything cleaned and replaced and buttoned it back up. Started the car and it idled quite high and then ran like crap. Idle went up and down, down to a few hundred rpm and car died a few times. It smelled funny, too. I thought maybe the computer was relearning the idle with a clean throttle body and no intake air leak. I shut the car down and was going to walk away for a while to think about it....I was just opening the door into my kitchen when it hit me....OH, SH*T! SH*T, SH*T, SH*T!  What did I forget to do?.....remove the paper towels that were stuffed into each intake port to keep dirt and crud out of the motor.

I removed the intake system in about 1 minute flat...pulled the intake back and couldn't see the paper towels. Oh, sh*t, did they get sucked into the motor? Bending valves?  Nope, they were just sucked in bit further. I pulled them out with some long needle nose pliers. They were dirty and smelled like gas but were otherwise in the same shape as I'd put them in. Nothing got into the valves or motor.

I went from thinking I'd just grenaded the motor to a feeling of total relief. Started it back up and it ran fine..high idle, but that is normal with a Toyota after a throttle body clean until it relearns the correct idle. Disaster averted.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Love it, Hawk!
Reminds of the day I tried to set fire to my LIKE.
I always place paper towels under the valve cover to catch the drips when checking the valves

Buttoned everything back up and rode down to the reservoir. Parked, and smelled "burning".
Pulled a wad of scorched and blackened paper towels from below the scooter.
Glad I'd only ridden a couple of miles!
Stuff happens....
Stig

[Iahawk]

Stuff happens....
Stig

Amen!