The weather here has been Fan-Freakin'-Tastic for the last four days. Beautiful blue skies, temps in the 60's~70's, and just all around pleasant.
That's going to change in the next 12 hours or so. There's a big front coming in from the North, as usual, bringing cold weather, rain/snow, and very high winds. The forecast is for sustained winds of 35~45MPH, and gusts as high as 70MPH. That's some serious wind, so I went around the yard today sheltering the patio furniture, and checking my antennas for tight mounting hardware. All was good, but I slackened my radials a bit to allow for a bit more sway.
Spring Cleaning has begun in the "Hangar Bay" (my garage), and the tables cleared (mostly), parts arranged, and I'm waiting for a tool to be delivered so I can finally get the Harmonic Balancer removed on the Supra. The Big Bolt that holds the balancer on the crankshaft is torqued to One-Hundred and Sixty Foot-Pounds of torque, which is a fair amount of twist for an old geezer like me. I was going to fabricate a tool, and then one of my Extended Toyota Family clued me in to this tool. $22 delivered in two days from Amazon.
This bolts into the center hub of the balancer, and allows you to hold it while you apply copious amounts of torque to loosen the bolt.
For leverage, a 1/2" drive breaker bar plugs into the end of the tool like so....
And your choice of breaker bar length determines how much torque you have to exert while the impact tool rattles away.
This one is about 16" long, and I have a 26" bar, with a two-foot length of pipe, in the truck, if needed.
The 95A alternator sounds like a good upgrade. When I was a kid (20 y/o) the Leese-Neville 100A alternators were all the rage among my ham radio buddies.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, for some reason my WordPress blog has stopped sending me email when comments are received. I missed your comment about the wind blowing the RV around. I finally responded a few days after. I'm looking into why it has stopped with the notifications.
The MKII Supras were equipped with pitifully small ( ! 65A ! ) alternator, and suffered dimming headlights at idle. If the A/C was on it was worse. The one I took off the car was a remanufactured by NipponDenso unit, but still an "OEM-sized" alternator. The replacement is from a certain model V6 Camry, and except for the required pulley swap, it drops right in, and plugs right in. Same diameter and clocking, but a good inch-and-a-half deeper.The electrical upgrades will be new heavier gauge battery cables, and a new heavier gauge wire from the alternator to the battery. I also had to fabricate some "Terminal Blocks" in Toyota-speak, as they were corroded beyond saving, and no longer available.
DeleteBanner has been enjoying his balcony time and I've enjoyed fresh air flowing in the apartment (except when the wind is from the South and I'm reminded we live in a Right to Farm county).
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize the Taurus has a cabin air filter. Recently changed it. The one removed was the original from 22 years ago! Ugly.
The car goes in for an alignment Monday. When the new struts went in the alignment seemed alright but one tire is showing more wear. Next week the tires will be rotated.
RE balancer. Don't force it; get a bigger hammer.
Give Banner a big hug for me. We're just getting started looking for another one, then we have to "audition" it, and see how it likes us.
DeleteI changed the cabin air filter in my Jeep every year, along with the engine air filter. TONS of dust in Coastal L.A., and the filters got loaded up. My son had a K&N on his Exterra, and had to clean and oil it every six months, or his gas mileage would drop noticeably!
That's why I bought the tool. It IS my bigger hammer....
Apparently the tool is from Rock Auto judging from the box. Great source for maintaining older vehicles.
ReplyDeleteI get a lot of stuff from Rock Auto. Their on-line parts listings can be a little confusing at first (some of the Toyota parts are in the wrong category), but they have very god prices, and fast shipping.
DeleteRock Auto has become the 'go to' for a lot of specialist stuff!
ReplyDeleteThey're about the only place you can find things like hoses, gaskets, and oil seals for my "old car".
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