Down, but not out!

[Jeff Stich]

In between work, commuting to/from work (via bike/bus) & the occasional nap, I spent the last few weeks pulling the tired/wheezy/leaking 1300 engine & the whining-like-a-Learjet & shifting-like-a-tractor original 4.42 4-speed trans out of my daily-driver '72 128 Wagon:



Now replaced with a NOS USA 1100 shortblock & NOS Euro 1100 (high compression) cylinder head, all the bolt-ons from the 1300 (cam tower assembly, water pump, alternator, starter, Yugo Bosch EI unit, intake with 32DMTR & ANSA 4-2-1 header) & a known-good Yugo 3.76 4-speed trans. :love:

I also took the opportunity to replace other items "while I'm in there" like the front CV joints/boots, inner axle tripode bearings/boots, NOS driver-side axle, larger-diameter Yugo passenger-side axle (helps reduce torque steer), fresh GL-1 trans fluid, new lower trans mount & upper side engine mount, new timing belt/bearing/pulleys, new alternator-water pump belt, new heater/radiator hoses, new thermostat & radiator cap, oil/fuel/air filters, front brake rotors (Brembo) & pads (Ferodo), lower front control arms, front swaybar end bushings, & a host of other items I'm forgetting at the moment. Needless to say, the car definitely feels like it has new life in it!

I still have to chase down an occasional cooling system air leak (that I think I finally located last night?), re-jet the carb & adjust the idle/mixture settings a bit, dial-in the ignition timing a little better, have a rear exhaust pipe section fabricated (I mis-measured the one I just had made, so it's leaking/popping on deceleration), then readjust the wheel alignment & mount new tires. After another 350 miles or so, retorque the head & readjust the valves. Maybe swap in a hotter cam while I'm in there? Hmmm...

With all that out of the way, in a few more weeks I should be ready to sort out the rear of the car with NOS Monroe heavy duty rear struts, new wheel bearing/hub assemblies, a rear disc brake conversion kit, control arm lowering spacers & an Addco rear swaybar kit. Woo-hoo!

 

[JimD]

You need a hobby Jeff

That sounds like a lot of work.

It's amazing the energy some of you guys have to get all of this work completed. Very impressive. :worship:

 

[budgetzagato]

I love how every job we do seems to entail endless sub-jobs. In my day job we call is scope-creep.

Glad to hear it's up and running. Though, the biking could be good for you. :wink2:

 

[Agnelli]

short block

Excellent Jeff. Where did you source the NOS 1100 block, and head?

 

[Jeff Stich]

I love how every job we do seems to entail endless sub-jobs. In my day job we call is scope-creep.

A lot of the sub-jobs were work that I had already planned on doing (eventually), & I had already systematically bought the parts needed as I saw them come up for sale cheaply (via eBay scores, vendor sale/clearance, forum sales by private individuals & good ol' junkyard scores). This car has been in daily-driver service for me for nearly 13 years now, so I was well aware of which items needed attention & which ones didn't. :wink2:

Before I pulled the driveline out of the car, I sat down & made a loose "schedule" of systems to work on per week(s); the engine I gave myself 2 weeks to build (there were numerous little "issues" to deal with, like the blocks' head studs/bolts being M12 & the NOS head having M10 head-bolt holes). The transmission, axles, CVJ's/tripodes & boots got another week, the rest of the suspension & brake work got yet another week, the cooling/heating system got a weekend, etc.. With the engine/trans already out for replacement, it was prime time to now pull all of those spare parts off the shelves in storage & put 'em to use. An additional week was added due to various technical issues &/or me being just too physically exhausted at the time to do any work that day (riding that damn bike 60 miles per day to/from work just killed my legs & butt!).

I've rebuilt quite a few 850's in the past, so I was well aware of the inevitable "job-creep" that would occur, especially as on the 128 it's not as simple to swap a driveline in/out in just a few hours like on the 850's!

 

[Jeff Stich]

Re: parts

Excellent Jeff. Where did you source the NOS 1100 block, and head?

I've had that NOS 1100 shortblock in storage for almost as long as I've had the car itself (13 years)! I bought it from a friend at the Best of France/Italy swapmeet back in 2000 (thanks again, Ron!). The NOS head was bought within the last year or so here on Xweb from a seller overseas - he'd advertised the head for sale several times & had no takers, so I figured at the very least it'd be a good companion for the shortblock in storage, & I broke down & bought it. :laugh:

 

[Jeff Stich]

Re: That damned coolant leak...

I still have to chase down an occasional cooling system air leak (that I think I finally located last night?)...

I'd found traces of a coolant leak (seepage) along the upper vertical tube of the thermostat housing (around the base of the upper radiator hose), but no matter how tight the hose clamp there was, a faint outline/dark spot of wetness would eventually show itself again in the same spot. I also found similar coolant seepage near a former small hose outlet that I'd tapped/plugged about 1/2" away on the thermo housing body. Not knowing if the seepage was from a single source or both, I simply eliminated both possibilities by installing a new upper radiator hose & then covering the tapped/plugged outlet hole with a medium-sized smear of JB Weld. :jedi:

Both leaks fixed! :woot: But the air leak persists! :wall:

I'd already found & eliminated a previous noticeable coolant leak where the heater hose outlet pipe screws into the cylinder head, then the 1-2 harder-to-notice leaks as noted above. Looks like I have (hopefully only) one more leak to trace down before I get a stable cooling system. It's one of those tiny "pinhole" type leaks that doesn't really leak coolant out enough to where you can see it, but it lets enough air into the system to get things boiling (literally). Damn, there goes my day off from work on Sunday! :tomato: