yarddogg77

Alright, I found why my car wouldn't run. It was stumbling real bad like it was out of gas. Turned out to be the Timing chain slipped on the cam. I have no idea how it happened. I have a new head gasket and a real round port header gasket waiting to go on, but it's been to windy to open my engine. Waiting.... That chain slipping pisses me off. I put it on there tight as humanly possible. I turned the cam back a little to take the slack out of the drive side and everything. This car is cursed.

Those fuses are to replace my factory fusible links coming right off the battery, they feed the ignition, then on to the factory fuse box on the passenger side under the dash. If anything, one of those should have blown. I'll have to check to see if the PO swapped out a larger one cause it kept blowing. I'd bet on it. I did find one bare wire, but after testing, I don't think it had anything to do with the lighting system. It wasn't the color of the one I was hunting anyway. I won't stop until I find the real cause of that short cause it's bound to happen again. At least I know I won't have to dig to deep now.

Headlights are fixed. The abd part is I don't know how. There's a bare spot somewhere and I'm trying to track it down. It became fixed when I started messing around in the engine bay.

Making progress. I unhooked the main engine wiring harness leading to the headlights. I hooked up my switch and turned on the lights. The rear lights are all working great and the wire isn't heating up at all. The short is in the engine harness somewhere in the front of the car. This sucks because I already went through all that. I must have missed something. The trouble with checking continuity through the ground. Is if the hot circuit is already grounded, then I accomplish nothing. That red and blue wire spiders through factory crimps. So all the hots are connected, know what I mean? If I try to test continuity from positive to ground, all it does is complete the circuit and shows me it's good. Wait a second, now I get it. You're right.

I've replaced the fusible links with Mini-ANL style fuses so there is now one thick power wire feeding all the positives to the car. This red and blues wire feeds so many components and systems that if I test it from the end of the circuit the short could still be anywhere. I'm probably gonna take my dash back out and start at the switch. I'm pretty sure that there is no main harness connector that connects the tail lights so I'm screwed there. I wanted to pull all my interior and check out all the wiring anyway. Guess I'll just do that. Gremlins are scary.

I found out the headlight short is worse than I thought. It's the red and blue wire, which spiders out into everything! I'm gonna have to tear this whole car apart to find the short, literally. Does anyone know of any common place where this circuit may have shorted out? I'm looking for a place to start. Maybe it's a component that burns out frequently? I've unplugged my main engine harness that supplies all the lights in the front of the car and the circuit is still shorted. Does anyone know of a harness connector that supplies all the rear lights? If I find that I can isolate it to under the dash, or to the rear of the car.

I'm having a few issues and would like some brainstorming help. First a little history. I just got my car back together after tearing it down and painting the engine bay among other things. I had everything out of the engine bay and the dash was out. I got it all put back together without the dash in and it seemed to be running great except for a little steam from the exhaust which wasn't there before. Head gasket, fine, but it isn't bad enough to inhibit it from idling in my driveway and messing around with other things. Then I installed the dash, started it and warmed it again checking gauges and all that. It decides it doesn't want to rev past idle anymore out of nowhere. Start it again when cold and it revs fine, warms up and won't rev again. I spent all day checking all the sensors that run the engine. They all test fine except maybe the throttle position sensor, but it still isn't terrible. The idle does still need to be set and the sensor is working alright. I have all new EV1 connectors I still need to install but it all tested fine through the ECU harness. Stumped. #2 I hooked up my headlight switch, turned on the headlights and the whole circuit started to smoke. I took the switch back out and it all tested fine, then I cleaned it anyway. The PO had some wire which appeared to be grounding the 2 headlights together which made no sense at all to me. I can't see what it could have accomplished but it was working fine before I did away with that wire. What could that wire have accomplished and what is the real underlying problem? If I have a positive short grounding out somewhere which is probably why it is smoking, then why would that wire help anything? Stumped. Where is the headlight relay? #3 Power steering problem. I replaced the seals in the rack and pinion and am reasonably sure I didn't get any foreign material inside. I am a clean freak with internal work and I know I assembled it correct. However I did use the wrong fluid in the system (power steering fluid) which is too thick. When I first started the car back up, the pump started to heat up. So I flushed it all out and got the Dextron 3 in there. It still doesn't want to bleed and the pump still heats up. Do you think I destroyed the pump? Or do you think material may have entered the lines at some point and clogged it up? I must seem like an idiot, but I've never had such a hard time working on anything before. I'm getting a bit disgusted with this car and all the Gremlins I'm finding. It keeps breaking before it leaves the driveway. I need this thing to drive soon.

Been a while since I updated. I'm still having the power steering issues. I'm not sure if I have dirt in the system, my pump is destroyed, or if I put did something wrong when I re assembled the rack and pinion. I need to rebuild the pump and see if that helps, if not, I'll re work the pinion. I know it was leaking for a while and who knows if the PO bothered to keep it full. Then the power steering fluid I used may have done the pump in. We'll see. Upon starting the car I also noticed an exhaust leak. I think it's because the thickness of the header flange vs. the intake flange. I need to take out all the bolts and install spacer washers where the bolts clamp them both down together. Another set back.

That's a possibility there. Those holes in the pinion assembly are very small and wouldn't take much to plug em. I might have to take it apart and clean it all again. Like I say, I know that rack is back together right.

I just got my car back together and am having trouble with my power steering pump and rack. I had replaced the seals in the steering rack and am beginning to think I messed up. I seem to have a bad circulation problem. Upon reassembly I made the mistake of filling the pump with regular power steering fluid. After I realized I screwed up, I began trying to flush it out. I removed the top hose from the pump, put it in a container and capped the nipple hoping to pump out the steering fluid and get the Dextron 3 into the system. I'm reasonably sure I've gotten most of it out, but the pump still heats up. I'm beginning to think I installed the pinion assembly wrong and the pump is somehow impeded, or even pumping backwards. I honestly cannot see how this is possibly cause I checked and double checked everything about the rack as I put it back together, but I haven't ruled it out. Does anyone know for certain what I may have done wrong? As far as I remember there were no problems with the system before I started besides leaking a lot. The good news is, I fixed the leaks.

Palladin sent me some new side pieces for my dash but they arrived broken. I discovered who my mail man was and they caught him on tape.

Stupid me. I got the car started yesterday just to confirm a fear I had. It ran great but the power steering pump wasn't happy. When I was filling lubes into the car I made the mistake of using power steering fluid in the steering pump. Who would've thunk it? I didn't realize I had made a mistake until I saw it in the FSM. I should've checked it first, but for some reason, when I was checking my cabinet to see what lubes I already have and making a check list of fluids that I need, I didn't feel the need to look any deeper into the FSM when I saw the quart of POWER STEERING FLUID in my cabinet. After I saw in the FSM that it requires Dextron II or better, I knew I had screwed up. I remember how thick the power steering fluid felt, and it sure didn't take much when I bled the rack. FSM says 1 1/4 Quart, well I only got about 1/3 of a quart to go into the system. That's the positive. So now I have to flush it all out of the system and risk getting fluid all over my new paint cause I was complacent. Just goes to show to always check your FSM, even things appear to be cut and dry. In my defense, I think it should be illegal for Prestone to advertise "Power Steering Fluid" in big bold letters on their bottles, when not all cars use it in their system. It should be reclassified as a hydraulic fluid and it's properties as such. Bastards.

I ran into trouble when I had to replace the water cock. The old one snapped at the perforated fitting so I found a universal on short notice. After that I put all the ducts and blower fan assembly back in after a good washing in the bathtub and all new weather seal strips. Then I hooked up the battery cables dropped a battery in and got to hear some LIFE! I turned the key over and she fired on the cold start valve. She's a good old girl. I still need to hook up the cylinder injectors. Then I finally got the windows to roll up for the first time since August. I know, stupid. I thought it would be a 2-3 week job and the weather was good. Here's a pic of the replacement water cock. The cost was $30. The only thing I don't like about it, is it doesn't seem to open as far as the stock one, so hopefully I'll still get hot air. If I had a factory water cock nearby I would've chosen that one.

I might have to forget this after all. I'm getting calls on my Jeep so the ZX might be my daily driver soon. That's gonna limit what I can do. This sucks.

I like to use magnets for holding it together. Or I have some big vice grip clamps and C-clamps. I have a pretty good plan mapped out for the relief cuts and such.

If your head is off, then I'd say pull them together. I barely made it but it's only cause my motor ran into the cherry picker arm. Without the head it would've been way easier.

I may be wrong about the oil pan clearing. I'd wait for someone who knows for sure.

Well, here's my battery tray. I know it looks like crap but it's all I've got.

You're totally right about picking the engine by itself. Together they are a PITA. The only trouble is, I'm pretty sure you'll have to pull the tranny first. I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll be able to slide the engine forward enough to pull it alone. I think the oil pan would hit the cross member before the clutch clears the tranny. There is some room to pick up on it though so maybe it would work. I'm sure someone else in here has tried it, hopefully they'll chime in on this. Even if you had to pull the tranny first, then the motor, I still think it's easier. I know what you mean about not having room under there. My car was just on jack stands for 6 months and there wasn't much more I could do for room other than buying a larger floor jack to get it up higher. It sucked, so glad to see it back on the ground. What do you have as far as jacks and car stands? It's easier to work under it when the car is up high, but the real trouble I ran into pulling my motor and tranny together, is that I bought the smaller 1 1/2 ton cherry picker. I had it tilted enough to clear the fire wall, but my motor ran into the cherry picker arm because it was almost at full tilt to get it all up high enough. It would've been easier if I could've lowered the car back down before I started to pull, but I couldn't because then the tranny tail shaft would've hit my firewall. This could have all been avoided by removing my tranny first. Food for thought.

Yeah, I've been thinking about what they did to that mustang and I think it will work. I could widen just the top and curve it towards the front and back corners like a wedge. Then flatten the tops of the existing fender flares just a bit and crease the body line a little more. It would throw the angle off at the headlight buckets, but with the right air dam it could look like it was meant to be. The hardest part will be the doors. If I do those wrong then the body lines won't match up. I want to get some things in order and make a few body tools, then I'm gonna start. This is the Evil Plan.

I could do that! That would work out great with the body lines.

That was a cool thread. I don't think his method would be as easy with the ZX body lines though. I'm gonna beat it around in my head for a while.

Piece of cake.

This summer I pulled the tranny and motor together and I hated it. Things were real tight once all the tilting began. I'm just glad my paint was crap then. If I do it again, I'll pull the tranny first then the motor. I used 3/16 inch flat steel and bolted it to the bell housing and made my own load leveler.

I was thinking of that too. Except I would want to do the entire car wider. It would look really cool with the contour of a Ford GT. The upper fender would come out real wide, then it could swoop back gradually to the bottom. Beside, if I go as wide as I'd like on just the fender wells, then the door section would look funky. I'm gonn buy some thin cardboard and play around with it. If I can get it close using mostly flat pieces, then I can pu body creases and stuff in it to add some substance.