TeamSwift

So Yeah, it took forever, but seems like a quick 4 months.

Awesome. Absolutely awesome.

That looks amazing!

Puts my freshly-rebuilt Sprint to shame! Maybe next rebuild, I'll spend a little more time cleaning and painting...

_________________
Buy the ticket, take the ride...

I'm having a few issues getting it to run right.
The first run left me stranded at the 100 yard line
with no power, I was able to idle it back to the garage.
I pulled the timing apart 2 or 3 times just to double check
the marks.. it's acting weird.
I have multiple issues, but I've narrowed the big issue
down to the distributor. The one I had rebuilt is not
working correctly, I swapped it out twice for an older
known good distributor with the advance mechanism
seized and the results were much better. At least enough to
get me around the block.
Still having issues, I've removed the turbo and torn apart the
precat, expecting it to be plugged I was going to remove the
biscuit, however, when I got it apart there were only remnants
and they had lodged sideways in the tube restricting the exhaust.





So the results were much better, but still no power after 4000 RPM
so convinced I had further exhaust restriction, I went down to the
local muffler dude to replace the cat and pipes.
We did a backflow test and all was ok, so no restriction, that's not
the problem. But I did upgrade the pipe to 2-1/4" and also the
resonator was rotten so no more exhaust leaks. Also the cat
was fine so I save a couple C notes.





Now it runs a bit better but still not where it should be.
I'm currently rebuilding a distributor, so when I get the parts
I can put a nice fully working unit in. Anyway off to the
Smog Test as it was due in October and I need tags so I
can put it on the street.
Not sure if it will pass with the power loss in upper RPM's
but it ran amazingly clean.



So now things are starting to look good. I got my tags
and it seems the engine is starting to free up a bit.
But I'm getting some brown smoke now out of the exhuast.
I did put in oversize injectors (240 or 260 I think), could be the
problem or not. I'm going to drive it around a few days and
take it from there.

Wow Jamal, sorry to hear that... I hate when those little gremlins come rear their ugly heads...

I hope the new distro solves the problem... But I'd take a closer look at the injectors. Black smoke (which is often mistaken as brown) can be caused by too much fuel. Although A/F should be controlled by the ECU from O2 sensor readings, it could be "confused" for lack of a better word, and letting too much fuel in the cylinder.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/maga ... /index.htm

_________________
Buy the ticket, take the ride...

Yeah, that's a good possibility.
I was expecting with the way I thought this thing would breathe
with the slightly larger valves and port job, that the bigger injectors
would do me good.
They're not that big, OE is 210 and these are 240cc.
Swapping injectors is a very minor task, so I'm not too concerned right
now.
I've got 320's in my other, and zero smoke, but that's dialed in
with the bigger turbo and 15psi boost.
I'll figure it out eventually.
Gremlins, yeah..

I would say injectors are not the problem . My buddy is running 240s out of Mazda 323/Mercury XR2 without any issues for past year or so . Too small of a difference in size to matter . Are you sure your vacuum advance and retard thingy on your dizzy is working ? Those membranes are known to go bad . One part that will make us all switch to Megasquirt because its not available. When they go bad we are dead in the water

Ughh... That's bad news. The membrane isn't something you can fabricate?

I wasn't sure about the injectors, it isn't a big jump in size, but thought I'd throw that out there.

_________________
Buy the ticket, take the ride...

why not do a vacuum test on the canisters? if you don't have access to a hand operated vacuum pump and gauge, connect some clean hose to each pot with the distributor cap removed so that you can observe inside the distributor. suck really hard on the hose and you should see the breaker plate move one way. switch the hose to the other vacuum pot, pull hard on the hose, and you should see the breaker plate move in the opposite direction.

i have had vacuum operated distributors that collected so much crap and crud that their breaker plates got bound up and wouldn't operate. the vacuum canister diaphragms were okay, the mechanical systems were jammed.

i also recommend our member, fainya, as a rebuilder for your distributor. it probably isn't a bad idea to have him go through a 25 year old unit to clean it up and calibrate the mechanical advance. he could also test the diaphragms for you. you make arrangements with him via pm.

_________________
1991 Blue Geo Metro Convertible highly modified 1.0L Turbo3 5 spd. - 1991 Red Geo Metro Convertible customized with a Twincam 5 spd.

My Turbo3 Project
My Cardomain Page -Ol' Blue
My YouTube Channel
My Photo Gallery
SAAB Sonett II

Great job man. That's about as clean as it gets and I'm sure you'll get all the gremlins out soon enough. Are you gonna head up to Palm Springs on the 15th?

Busy time of year at work and at home, so spare wrenching time
has become scarce. If I had all day to fart around, I'd probably
be in better shape.

Main thing is I got the tags so I can put it on the street and not
have to worry 'bout the meter maid, and it's mobile enough
that I've freed up my garage space so I can at least move on
to other vehicle maintenance.


I'm sure there's somebody out there that does that, my first thought
would be the places that rebuild brake boosters. With enough digging
around there's probably a compatable unit anyway out there somewhere.


As I posted earlier, been there done that.

But as my bad luck would have it with these things,
I always seem to get the 'lemon'. The last time it was goofed up stuff from Turbine Tech.
I've just come to find out with custom and odd stuff, it's the luck of the draw.
I don't get upset, just dissappointed. Problem is I sent the working distributor in to Fainya
on a leap of faith, but when I got it back an plugged it in, no workee righty. I'm sure it's
something simple like just swapping out the module, but I've yet to fuss with it.
Since then I've found my box of spares and simply picked the best looking one of the
lot out and that got it going, then tried Fainya's rebuild one more time and got the same
results, so I put the old spare back on. I would have rather sent him all my spares,
and kept the working one as a 'control', but I couldn't find the spares at that time.
I did have him calibrate one for my modified sprint that I'm running 15psi, so I'm anxious
to try that one out and see what happens.
I've tried to dissemble dist's before, but only partially. Since I got the 2 rebuilds back
from Fainya, I've got a little bolder and managed to get one fully dissected and try
my own hand at rebuilding, I just don't have the fancy advance checking/setting machine,
but did get some good pointers from Fainya.

In time, I'm sure I'll get things resolved.


I'm sure gonna try to be there.

Finally, pretty much got all the bugs out.

Adjusted the TPS correctly, re-adjusted the valves, overhauled a spare
distributor, tightened up the clamping assembly on the steering wheel
column that holds the ignition switch and turn signals (so loose it was
floppy) and did a few other things, all of which had nothing
to do with my lack of power problem.

The solution it seemed was so simple, I'm embarrassed to admit it,
but it seemed to boil down to a defective timing light. A quick adjustment
was all it took in the end to bring 'er to life.

So now it seems Fainya's rebuild was fine, ( I haven't put it back in yet,
but I'm sure it's good) which I'm happy about and still banging my head
against the wall that I hadn't figured this out sooner. The distributor that
had worked best had the mechanical advance seized, so that explains why
that had worked the best even though I had it in the slot fully retarded
with no more adjustment just to set the base timing. So something was
going on with my timing light, or maybe it was just me.

Anyway, lesson learned and I got some good experience tearing down
distributors and a lot of info in my cranium from reading up on distributor
advance mechanisms and spring rates, vacuum advance, blah blah blah.

I'll be posting a distributor teardown/rebuild sometime soon showing how
to dissassemble, pull the bearings, replace the seals, source and/or fabricate
your own mechanical advance springs, and most importantly how to unstick
those long frozen mechanical advance units.

I've got some more tasks at hand, mostly cosmetic and a few suspension
related upgrades & brakes and replace or bush the worn out door hinges.
But nothing pressing, I'm going to enjoy driving her around this week.
With a freed up garage space now I'm able to move back to some other projects
which is another motor overhaul on a white turbo sprint, and most
importantly trying to get my little red devil back in shape for the gathering
next week if I'm to make a showing, if not I'll likely be bringing this one.

I've got 5 days to pull the recently refabricated Turbine Tech header,
have it repaired once again as it's got a cracked tube again due to the
warped flange it had when I received it. I've got to have it welded,
machined and repowdered as the ceramic coating it came with only lasted
2 weeks before it peeled and flaked off (Jard was good enough to offer
to repowder, though claimed the flange had been decked before
powder, but bottom line is it was not square when I received it,
at any rate I had no place to store it for 4-6 weeks had I removed
the header and sent it back on it's merry way to Canada).
As the repair is relatively minor this time,
I'm gonna try my local machine shop and powderer even if it
costs more as it wont be a warranty fix. And I've got a modified
head to swap out as well as trying out an MR2 MAF. It's a lot of crap to
fit in this week, so if I don't make it at least I have a back up.

Windshield time!


Nice to find an older, smaller shop who does mobile install
and takes the time to do it right. I'm not fond of the newer
non hardening sealer where they just plaster down a bead
and lay the windscreen down. It tends to bleed over the edge,
and if you ever get it on your hands or interior it's hell to get
it off. I have one car where the sunshade I use picks it up
and it gets everywhere! These guys don't use it.
Here's what a buck seventy gets you!


They even got me an NOS seal! I decided not to use it,
and keep it for the future, they were able to use a bulk
gasket that looks just as good for this ride.

are all the previous picture in you post broken I can,t view them is it just me ....jv&s

I just fixed this thread.

thanks for taking the time to do that, i love all the pics you take i use them as references

Got to love the new windshield! Nice work!

Time for some front brakes.

Brakes are easy, but replacing the rotors are a pain in the butt
as you gotta separate the hub from the knuckle.
I usually get all my stuff set up first.




A flex ratchet and spark plug socket make the perfect lug wrench,
plus the socket is thin enough to work with my oversize lug nuts yet
still fit in the rim without marring the finish.




Crack the lug nuts loose, raise the car then take off the lugs and wheel.
Use a 12mm wrench to loosen and remove the caliper bolts.



Put the lugs back on finger tight and stick a prybar in and let it rest on the ground.
Now you can use a breaker bar and 30mm socket to take off the axle nut once you've removed
the cotter pin.



Fit a slide hammer on the hub and snug up 2 lugs, a couple firm taps and the hub should
come out.





It's a good idea to service the wheel bearings at this point, but I wont go into that this time.
It requires removing the knuckle, popping out the seals, cleaning and repacking the bearings
& installing new seals.



Once you get the hub out, remove the 4 bolts securing the rotor with a 14mm socket.
Replace with new rotor and snug up the bolts hand tight. (Be sure to wash the rotors
and scrub off any rust preventive coating first)
Using the slide hammer as an installation tool, position the hub on the axle splines and
center in the knuckle. (Make sure to have some grease or anti sieze on the axle splines
to facilitate removal for next time and prevent siezing)'
While rotating the hub to ensure even installation, some firm taps
will seat the hub back into position. You know when it's fully inserted because you will
feel it and the slide hammer will have a different sound when the hub seats. Don't worry
if there seems to be a little play, this is normal and the play will dissappear when you
torque the axle nut.



Using the prybar method, torque the lug nut and rotor bolts to specifications and
install new cotter pin. If the cotter pin holes don't quite line up after torquing,
use the breaker bar to move the nut slightly (tightening clockwise, not loosening).





This brake job was easier because I was replacing the calipers as well.
They came loaded with pads and new clips.
Attach the clips and lubricate the sliding surfaces with brake grease,
attach the brake pad clips and wear indicators. Load the outboard pad
and attach the inboard pad to the inside of the caliper piston, then install
caliper. Since the calipers are new, they are already retracted so they
should go on pretty easy. Also a good time to install some anti squeal or
light brake grease on the pads where they contact the caliper or piston.
Detach the hose from the old caliper (I had already cracked it loose before
removing) and install using new sealing (copper) washers to new caliper.
Open the bleeder screw and tap on the caliper lightly while 'gravity bleeding'.
Since the caliper is retracted, it will only take a minimum amount of fluid to fill
it. Close bleeder screw and depress pedal firmly and slowly until you get
a solid pedal. Crack the bleeder again making sure all air is removed.
If you have a buddy to help or a one man bleeder now is a good time
to bleed some fluid out. Be sure to top of the master cylinder before
moving to the next side.

all that is exactly the reason guys would throw away those knuckles and hubs and use the vert parts as replacements.

doing that you get an additional drop to the front end suspension from the vert knuckles and rotor over hub brakes that take about 15 minutes to swap rotors. you also get bigger calipers and pucks with ventilated rotors to boot.

for a mk1 car it's like upgrading the vert brakes to gt parts.

_________________
1991 Blue Geo Metro Convertible highly modified 1.0L Turbo3 5 spd. - 1991 Red Geo Metro Convertible customized with a Twincam 5 spd.

My Turbo3 Project
My Cardomain Page -Ol' Blue
My YouTube Channel
My Photo Gallery
SAAB Sonett II

You mean like these?




Well, then what would I do with all the Turbo Sprint brake parts I stocked up on at clearance
prices?
As well as the car not being factory for all you purists out there.
Actually not that big a deal, it's only a few extra minutes of work anyway and how
often do you swap out rotors? Twice in 500k miles for me, the semi mets wear
pretty long too. Yes, I understand about the bigger brakes. Now I'm stocking up
on 'vert knuckles.


I have a vert knuckle swap planned for the near future, but I was saving it for a different
Sprint.

I absolutely hated the stock brakes I was seriously having to do the brakes every three months or so But I was hard on the poor system

_________________
1987 Chevrolet Sprint Turbo under construction

My sentiment as well . Switching to GTi brakes is one of the first mods I do to my cars. But after last upgrade even that is so-so

Did you do a write up on that setup??

_________________
1987 Chevrolet Sprint Turbo under construction

I have read that more times than I can count. I have never had a problem with front or rear brakes wearing out
prematurely. After several years, I would take my 'lifetime' pads back to napa for trade in for a new set
and they still would have like 20%. I have never completely worn out a set of pads or shoes.



Yeah, Yeah.. We do not all have unlimited access to a water jet cutter like you do
to make our own custom parts. Did you make a back up set of rotors?
Or do you not plan on ever wearing these out?