Eurosport body, K20 power

The weakest part of the system failed, sequentially as a result of the reciprocating mass continuing to rotate under power. It is pretty remarkable that all of them failed in that way but there is no other mechanical problem which would have caused this.

It speaks to a very stupid person likely running at high rpm in low gear into standing water with a low mounted cold air intake.
 
Waiting for the rain to stop so the sandblast guy (guess he is really the glass bead blast guy - he doesn't use sand) can come and blast the car. While waiting I refurbished the fuel sender, replacing the sender itself with one from the Acura - to match the instrument cluster I plan to use. Before doing this I tested the fuel gauge with the sender from the Acura, and seemed like I couldn't get it to work. It would reset at the proper level each time the power was cycled, but when I moved the float arm there was no movement on the gauge. I left it for a while in frustration, and to my surprise when I looked at it again it had moved, corresponding to the new position I had put the float arm in. Turns out it moves fine, just very slowly, I suppose to compensate for sloshing.

Here is a pic of the sender:
Fuel Sender.jpg


Some will notice that there is fluid in the float. I wondered if it was leaking so I sunk it in some water overnight but it didn't gain any volume. Perhaps the fluid is there to give the float some weight - act as a dampener against sloshing.
 
the new gauges move slowly to hide the slosh effect.


that is probably is fuel in the float and eventually, it will fill and quit working right. it might be best to find a replacement when you still have it out.
 
Mark Olson said:
Waiting for the rain to stop so the sandblast guy (guess he is really the glass bead blast guy - he doesn't use sand) can come and blast the car. While waiting I refurbished the fuel sender, replacing the sender itself with one from the Acura - to match the instrument cluster I plan to use. Before doing this I tested the fuel gauge with the sender from the Acura, and seemed like I couldn't get it to work. It would reset at the proper level each time the power was cycled, but when I moved the float arm there was no movement on the gauge. I left it for a while in frustration, and to my surprise when I looked at it again it had moved, corresponding to the new position I had put the float arm in. Turns out it moves fine, just very slowly, I suppose to compensate for sloshing.

Here is a pic of the sender:
View attachment 33224

Some will notice that there is fluid in the float. I wondered if it was leaking so I sunk it in some water overnight but it didn't gain any volume. Perhaps the fluid is there to give the float some weight - act as a dampener against sloshing.
Click to expand...
Just an FYI regarding the bead blasting. I had it done to mine and I am still getting blast media coming out of places. The X body has lots of blind nooks and crannies that will fill up with the blast media. You will have to flip it from side to side on the rotisserie multiple times and vacuum up the media as it falls out. Use air to blow Into any hole you see, vacuum, flip it and repeat endlessly. You will never get it all out.
 
Rodger said:
Just an FYI regarding the bead blasting. I had it done to mine and I am still getting blast media coming out of places. The X body has lots of blind nooks and crannies that will fill up with the blast media. You will have to flip it from side to side on the rotisserie multiple times and vacuum up the media as it falls out. Use air to blow Into any hole you see, vacuum, flip it and repeat endlessly. You will never get it all out.
Click to expand...
So, @Rodger...

Since you are now a well experienced individual in having your X completely stripped with media beads would you do anything different? A different process? I wouldn't even consider a "dip" in acid, but aside from media beads would you opt for something like dry ice blasting instead?

NOTE: for readers already bored with this post: if you wanna see some crazy YouTube post of a largely mid 50's American (mostly Chevrolet) car collection by an obviously super rich old dude, I recommend you watch the video linked in that previous dry ice blasting post - that is something else altogether!
Click to expand...

I probably need to find a body shop in my area, meaning a <75mile drive, that can do this dry ice blasting as well as an amazing paint job like Rodger had done (except in a stock Mediterranean Blue) but interested in your thoughts Rodger.
 
Mark Olson said:
Some will notice that there is fluid in the float. I wondered if it was leaking so I sunk it in some water overnight but it didn't gain any volume. Perhaps the fluid is there to give the float some weight - act as a dampener against sloshing.
Click to expand...

Yeah, as Daniel pointed out, the float should be sealed & empty of any fluid. It will ultimately fail. I used one for a Jeep application, works fine, just slightly larger OD. Can't locate the number right now, it's somewhere in my K24 thread.

EDIT: This one
 
darwoodious said:
So, @Rodger...

Since you are now a well experienced individual in having your X completely stripped with media beads would you do anything different? A different process? I wouldn't even consider a "dip" in acid, but aside from media beads would you opt for something like dry ice blasting instead?



I probably need to find a body shop in my area, meaning a <75mile drive, that can do this dry ice blasting as well as an amazing paint job like Rodger had done (except in a stock Mediterranean Blue) but interested in your thoughts Rodger.
Click to expand...
I think the dry ice blasting would be the way to go if you can find someone that does it around here. In lieu of that, I would get a large collection of rags and stuff them into every opening in the body shell that you want to keep the media out of. Another idea is to tape over the opening(s) with duct tape if the opening does not have rust around it that you are trying to remove. The places that really accumulated the media were the rocker panels, the rear fenders, under the dash (I still find particles falling out on the carpet after a drive) and all of the spaces that the large oval rubber plugs cover.
 
darwoodious said:
So, @Rodger...

would you opt for something like dry ice blasting instead?
Click to expand...

I tried that on a transmission case. It did an excellent job of cleaning the encrusted grunge on the case left after a mineral spirits cleaning. It did not touch any of the staining on the aluminum, and the vent cover (nylon I think) cracked and fell off. I ended up painting it, as I did not trust my ability to get all of the glass beads out after a glass blasting process. (Steve H. has a process for doing so.)
 
Mark Olson said:
notice that there is fluid in the float
Click to expand...
I also agree with the others, replace the float. This is very common with plastic floats, especially the Fiat ones for some reason. It will get worse over time and you'll be doing the job again. I suspect it isn't so much a leak as permeation. That's why you don't see it leaking when you test it. It's more of a very gradual seepage through the plastic material wall.

There are direct replacements available inexpensively from the Lada supplier. But I'm not sure they will last all that long before they also leak.
I found a brass one for older American vehicles for less than $10 on eBay. Hopefully brass will not leak. The round end of the metal rod can be bent to accommodate any small discrepancy in size, so really almost any flat will work.
 
Regarding blasting car bodies. I would not use any process that involves water or moisture of any kind. For example the "dustless blasting". Think about it, you are pouring water onto a freshly stripped bare metal surface. The "anti-corrosion" additive they put in it does not work well enough to protect the surface. Everyone I've talked to that has done it ended up with a rust covered body that had to be hand stripped before being sealed. Just doesn't make any sense.


Rodger said:
The X body has lots of blind nooks and crannies that will fill up with the blast media.
Click to expand...
In addition, the X body shell has a LOT of openings hidden all over it. They lead to concealed cavities that will fill up with media. Those openings is one of the reasons there is so much rust on these cars. Perhaps not the end of the world so long as it doesn't blow back out when you are spraying the paint. Ideally all of those openings would have been sealed off at the factory but weren't. Which is funny because they sure did use a ton of seam sealer everywhere, yet left big open holes. You can try to cover/seal the openings, but there are many you may not be able to.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Perhaps not the end of the world so long as it doesn't blow back out when you are spraying the paint.
Click to expand...
That was an issue when they were painting the inner areas of my car. Most notable in the frunk that I can see some of the media imbedded in the paint along the drip channels and the floor. I'm sure there was some in the interior, but they did a truck bed liner spray afterwards on the floor, and that is all covered anyway. Did not seem to be a problem on the outer panels of the car.
 
Thanks for the advice on the float, I will replace it.

Regarding the media - for me it is the best solution even accounting for the downsides. So I will put up with the resulting issues, and clean it out the best I can with air and vacuum, plus rotating the body (maybe I should get a motor for the rotisserie and just let it spin for a while 😉).
 
Mark Olson said:
maybe I should get a motor for the rotisserie and just let it spin for a while 😉
Click to expand...
As I read this statement I had a flashback of something funny I saw decades ago. I was on a trip through Egypt to see all the historical stuff, when we stopped to eat at a small roadside restaurant (if you can really call it that) because the sign said fresh BBQ chicken. They had a long narrow BBQ pit with a wood fire underneath and a long metal rod going the length of it with whole chickens mounted as a rotisserie. Must have been 20-30 chickens going at once. The whole affair was rotating (to cook the chickens evenly, like a rotisserie does), but the drive mechanism was a electric motor spinning rather rapidly (I guess there wasn't any gear reduction available). The chickens were flying around with the wings and legs fully extended from the centrifugal force. Funnest thing I'd seen in a long time. But really delicious food.
As I read your comment I pictured the X rapidly spinning on the car rotisserie to throw the blast media out of it. :D
 
If it was fast enough, you wouldn’t need blast media, the rust would just fling off.
not sure I’d want to be in the trajectory though...
 
The thing with the dry ice blasting is that it is NOT water - it's either liquid/compressed CO2 or Nitrogen, so your water issue should not be an issue Dr. Jeff

BTW, are you really a doctor or people just call you that? If yes, PhD or MD?

EDIT: Apologies to @Mark Olson - I don't want to pollute your thread with meaningless banter. Keep the great posts coming Mark.
 
I'd love to know what kind of force or pressure was needed to bend those pups.

Never seen anything like that before, the occasional bent valves but that was serious.

Also I wonder after hitting the water how long before the engine seized?

Great project! Enjoying the read.
 
Still waiting for the fellow to come and blast the car. This week I decided to "upgrade" my cabinet blaster as there are a lot of smaller parts I will need to clean up. I have had the cabinet for a few years, but it has not worked very well. A little research on the web was helpful with some of the changes needed.

First, and probably most important, was a new method of getting the media from the hopper to the gun.

I added an outlet on the bottom of the hopper and made up a bleed screw for air venting:
Media feed metering.jpg


Routed the media hose and the air line to the center front of the cabinet:
Inlet lines.jpg


Added a foot valve I had from another project:
Foot valve.jpg


And a new gun:
Gun.jpg


I added a regulator for the air:
MB Regulator.jpg


A drip tray to catch media that escapes when the door is opened:
Catch tray.jpg


Some decent lighting:
Lights.jpg


A baffle for the exhaust (I know it is upside down, works just the same):
Baffle.jpg


And a dust control cyclone bucket (free bucket from fuel distributor, a cheap funnel, and some plumbing bits I had laying around):
Dust Control.jpg


After all that was done I tried it out and ended up with this:
Blasted parts.jpg


This now works VERY well. I think I will keep it!
 
Mark Olson said:
This week I decided to "upgrade" my cabinet blaster
Click to expand...
I've been slowly working on the same improvements to mine (starting on post #15):

Tool thread

I guess that title could be about certain types of people, or about the instruments we use to work on our Fiats. In this case I intend it to be about the mechanical one (for any 'tools' out there, that means the second definition). :p I don't recall, have we ever done a thread just about tools...
xwebforums.com

Any thoughts on which changes seemed to make the biggest difference?
Also curious what media you use; the results look good.
 
I am using glass beads. The biggest difference was made by getting rid of the internal siphon tube and adding the bottom exit for the media with the little bleed valve. I looked at those units sold by Tacoma Company and decided to try just making one up with a few plumbing parts. Working good for me. I think the new gun, made usable by the foot valve, has also helped a lot. Certainly easier to use and very light.

I don't get any leaking around the seams because I believe the vacuum provides a bit of negative pressure - my cabinet has a large (4"?) baffled hole in the back that allows air intake and I don't get any dust flowing out there. It all goes out to the vacuum.

BTW, I made a couple of other mods I didn't mention - I lowered the tray a couple inches which allows for bigger pieces, and I installed nutplates around the window so changing the glass could be done quickly with just a screwgun. I gave up on using the sacrificial mylar and just use a single piece of glass. I'll change it out as necessary - one of the local glass shops will cut me a 1' x 2' piece for $10 from used windows.
 
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