Let's See....Where Was I....?

 Had a post going, then got busy, then got clobbered with a "24 Hr Bug", etc, etc, etc.

Sooooo.....I isolated the issue with The Fisher down to the "Darlington Power Packs" that I've mentioned before here. The one in the right channel failed, probably when the Zener Diode in the on-board regulator shorted and nuked the transistors on the board. So I still have some more sleuthing to do to nail down the exact problem.

Yes, I've working on this receiver for over a year now. I'll be very happy to see it finished.

As far as my Toyotasaurus Supra goes, well....I've really been digging into it, and finding several things of interest.

To fix the rust properly, I had to pull the mounting brackets for the "Strut Rods", more accurately called a "Lateral Locating Link", because they 'stick into' the engine bay, and you can see them.

I took the whole shebang off the car first. Both strut rods and their mounts, and the antisway bar. Pulled twelve bolts, four nuts, the end links for the sway bar, and it dropped right out.

 Then I separated the parts. The nice one is from the right side of the car. The rusty one is from the left side of the car, where it lived under the battery, and took some guff!

 These will get sandblasted, and then repainted with some of Eastwood's "Extreme Chassis Black" paint. This paint is very good. It takes a while to fully cure, and of course, surface prep is important, but once it cures, It's ON There! 

I was planning on replacing the brake master cylinder, and it's a good thing I pulled it off. It was just starting to weep brake fluid out the back. It appears to be the OEM cylinder, as it's made by AISIN, which is an OEM to the Japanese auto industry. 40 years and 168,000 miles ain't bad for an OEM part!

 

As soon as I get under the dash, I'll pull the hardware for the brake booster and clutch master cylinder.

 That will allow me to get back in the corner and repair the damage from the "Great Brake Fluid Deluge of 1998".

 

 I also have a bunch of spots in the driver's footwell that need to be repainted, the result of the brake fluid leak. At least I have all the nasty carpet backing scraped out of the interior, and I went over everything exposed, and scrubbed it with my mix of Simple Green, Denatured Alcohol, and a good squirt of dish soap. It's amazing how much dirt and dust a car collects behind the interior pieces, and inside the doors.

 

And finally....I found this:

 

 That's one of the two main engine ground wires. It's a 10ga wire, and there's another one from the cylinder head to the firewall. This one is supposed to go under one of the starter mounting bolts. This means the "mechanic" who replaced the starter not only didn't put this back in place, but he coiled it around the fuel line so it wouldn't hang down and show.

 

Yep....did the job wrong, and then tried to cover it up! I've several other things like this on the car. One was improper hardware bolting something on the engine (wrong type bolt, and too short),  another one was really bad Bubba Work on some of the rubber air couplings in the intake tract, another was the really BAAAAD stereo installation, and another is the VERY sloppy alarm installation.

 

 

And I put new brakes on SLW's car. She had about 10k left on the pads, but she's going on a trip, so I thought it was prudent to go through her car and fix anything getting worn out.

Got some rain coming, but it'll be nothing like they get on the Eastern Plains here!

 

 Have a great and safe weekend, stay in CDX YEL, and enjoy life.

 

 

 

Catching Up....

 Yuk....got some kind of tummy bug or something, so I was down all day yesterday, and feeling somewhat better today.

 Found the problem in The Fisher, and now have to troubleshoot it.

Finally have all the rusty parts off the Supra, and will proceed with refinishing things when I'm feeling better.

 

Soggy Week....

 We got .77" of rain today, which brings us to 1.5" for the month so far. Had a hail storm go through and it dumped enough small hail to cover the yard and street. Pretty soft hail, so no damage, but Luna didn't know what to make of it. I opened the door to let her out, and when se saw the hail bouncing off the patio she recoiled, jumped back a couple of feet, and gave me a "You're kidding, right?" look.

So, it's been a bit too cold and too humid to do much in the garage besides organize things and clean up the area. Going to be in the 70's~80's over the weekend, so I'll be able to jump back in on things like removing the steering rack, and the rusty bits on the left front corner of the car.

Keep dry, and keep your head on a swivel!

Happy May Day, and a Supra Safari

 As opposed to "Mayday", which usually isn't a happy day.....

Weather's been pretty nice, so I'm doing my Day Shift activities outside, and then go on Second Shift for my projects. Day Shift is mostly yard work and general chores / clean-up things, and being with the grandsons when they're here, usually two days a week.

Still working on the Fisher, and it's going to be hand-to-hand once I really get back into it. I checked for stray bits of wire causing a short, carefully checked the back of the board for solder shorts, and pulled the heatsinks off the four transistors to verify they were properly oriented.

No joy

So now I have to start disconnecting things from the Power Amplifier stage to see which supply is drawing all the current. Stay tuned.....Details to follow.....Film at eleven.

On to more enjoyable things, like an old car.

First off, I'd noticed that the power steering fluid I put in when I installed the new hoses 2,000 miles ago (Yes, I flushed the system until it ran clear) was already getting a distinct shade of brown indicating it, or something, was breaking down and putting trash in the fluid. The right side steering rack boot was ripped when I bought the car, and the rack was dripping oil. I put a new boot on it when I rebuilt the suspension, but now I see the left side boot is ripped. It's dry, but but it only a matter of time before the seals go out on this side.

SO......A "Re-manufactured" power steering rack assembly (bought it 11 years ago!), new power steering pump, upgraded power steering fluid cooler, new outer tie rod ends, and new urethane bushings are going to be installed.

 The 40 year old OEM rubber bushings are pretty tired, and starting to squeeze out of their mounting brackets, so replacing them will make the steering more precise.

And the obscenely dirty, rank, gross, grody-beyond-the-max and possibly hazardous, carpet is OUT of the car!

In the Summer of 1998 (I found the receipt), the master cylinder for the clutch blew the seal out, and dumped about eight ounces of brake fluid inside the car, soaking the carpet. Since the seal rarely fails all at once, it was leaking inside for quite a while. I can imagine the Original Owner going bonkers adding brake fluid to reservoir constantly, and never seeing a drop under the car! Now it's bad enough to have a spill like this, but you clean it up as quick as you can. In this case, it looks like the carpet, the carpet backing, and the sound deadening mat on on the floor pan marinated in brake fluid for 27 years. And they all bonded together. The only way I can get the backing off the mat is to vigorously wire brush it.

This is after about 45 minutes of brushing it.

Still have more crud to get out of there, but it's coming along. I'm concerned about the mat itself, as it's butyl rubber, and may have to be scraped out and replaced. If it has to come out, I'll replace it with something like "Dynamat".

The passenger side isn't as bad, as all of the brake fluid dumped into the driver's footwell, but it's still going to take a bunch of brushing. All the grey stuff next to the transmission tunnel is what has to come out.

 

And we have a new addition to the fleet.

 The car on the right is the one I bought for myself a couple of years ago. I ran that one while grandson #1 drove my older ARRMA "Senton" short-course truck. He liked mine so much that I bought him the "little brother" of mine. It has a smaller motor and battery, but still goes like stink, and runs beautifully.

Let the games begin!