I'm sure everybody on here has been down this road before, especially since we are all playing with 20 year old cars, but jeez it gets old sometimes.


A few weeks back I had an overheating issue and the factory water pump was identified as a culprit. Coolant was leaking profusely from the underside drain hole and I was low on coolant so I decided to order the Mezziere HD water pump and give it a try. After removing the factory water pump, I identified excessive corrosion to the mating surface of the water pump housing so I ran to the parts store purchased a new water pump just to have the housing that I would need for mounting the electric water pump to. I knew I would be changing out the water pump seal while everything was off, but I noticed excessive oil on the timing cover around the opti-seal as well so I stopped what I was doing again and ordered the timing cover gasket kit which included the water pump seal, opti seal, hub seal, and timing cover gasket. Since no other seals were leaking, I replaced the opti seal and the water pump seal only. The crank hub is easy enough to do at a later time and can be done without taking anything off the front of the motor (other than hub) so I'll wait to do that until I notice moisture around it. While removing the plug wires from the opti, one of the plug connectors for the MSD wires separated from the wire and required a new plug wire to be installed so I had to stop what I was doing and purchased all new plug wires figuring it was time anyways. Pulled apart the original opti (~115k miles) and there was no corrosion, everything was dry, so I reassembled it and began buttoning up the front end of the motor. Darn fan shroud wouldn't fit between the radiator and EWP so I wound up shaving off a good portion of the shroud and fan blades to make it fit. Next, I started wiring the EWP and sure as **** the wiring diagram I got for it off the internet was backwards (which probably still would have worked) so I'll have to re-wire that tonight for some peace-of-mind. I start to put intake elbow system back on and wouldn't you know the donkey dong wont fit so now I'm waiting on a 1lE elbow that bypasses the use of the air silencer. I figured while I was waiting on the elbow to arrive I would attack the "low coolant" light on the dash. I removed the sensor to find that the copper sensor was completed corroded with barely anything left of it. Another trip to the parts store and I now have a new low coolant sensor.

Started off as a water pump replacement but ended with 4 trips to the parts store, some online ordering, and replacing more parts than I ever intended to. One thing leads to another and the next thing you know your knee deep with other things you identify as needing to be done. However, I did get to purchase a new puller so its always nice when you end up with more tools than you started with. Its getting to the point where I need a second tool cabinet just for the specialty tools.....birthday maybe?

 

I feel you man. I bought an 40 year old custom Harley a few months back and talk about a can of worms. I go to fix one thing and find two or three more things that need to be addressed and it just never ends. Just how this **** goes. Part of the reason I'm getting burned out working on stuff. On the bright side, at least your car is now in a better position today than it was a few weeks ago. Since you found and fixed some stuff you didn't anticipate, it should just save you time and BS in the long run.

 

I hope so, at least thats what I tell myself as I'm doing it. Having owned it for 20+ years though, I'm well into "the long run"

 

It's worse when you go to fix or improve something and find something stupid the previous owner did and you have to address that before actually doing what you wanted to. The things I have found wrong with my car.

 

Yea...them custom jobs are great. i got a story for you about after market cams and proper oil pump install. Fixing stuff never burns me out though, but it does when its due to someone elses fault. have manual-will travel.

 

Old cars suck. Always something. Fortunately, at least for now, your problems are minor. You are using a relay for that e-w/p, yes?

 

Yes, a relay with the signal line tying into the IGN conductor. Picked up the relay and connector at Autozone, hoping it works.

 

The good side parts for 4th gens are usually very cheap and easy to find but it does get old sometimes.

 

to add to the list of what gets tiring, for me its not the fixing, its the car breaking and me hoping that i can fix it to get it running properly. the added strain of "i need this to work" sucks the fun out of a job. the car meaning my wifes pos.

 

It's definitely this for me, as well. My car is my summer toy, but it was my first "fun car," and it has gotten me through some of the worst times of my life, so I'm pretty attached to it. For me, it's just a horribly defeating feeling when I make a minor mistake that causes a big mishap, or when I fix one part only for another to go right after. In 2017 swapped over to duals, and between classes and work, that took me 2 months to get to a point where I could actually drive the car without scraping. After that, I had to switch to a new setup again after I lowered the car. That one hurt, but not as much as last summer after I finished a H/C job out of my driveway and blew the bottom end because I made one tiny mistake. That one hurts because now I just feel scared to work on the car myself anymore.

 

Thats rough, sorry to hear that. What was the "one tiny mistake"? It's tough being in those shoes, you almost feel powerless because you wont let anybody touch your car, but at the same time your scared your gonna mess something up so your nervous to work on it as well, like a catch-22 situation. I'm kinda in the same place but with less severity. I hope you get yours going soon, best of luck.

 

It was my first time ever doing any major engine work, and I got everything running juuuuust right... So 200mi later I went to connect a PCV catch can, and hooked the PCV line to the valve cover("How complicated can it be? I can probably drink while doing this.") Pressurized the crankcase, dislodged the timing cover seal, unknowingly ran down to 3qts, pulled to 6600, trashed a bearing.

 

Blyat, thats a bad one. the worst ive done was forget i broke a sparkplug, took apart the cam chest to focus on the oil pump, rotated to tdc to remove pushrod, scored the jug, marred the piston. just wanted a new $200 oil pump, $1000 later i finally installed it.

 

Had a neighbor,,, he was working on his old 78 Corvette,, Had just put a brand new GM Crate motor in it..
I see him pushing it out of the garage and walk over ,, figuring first start..

He's all cranked up climbs in and starts the engine.. Sounds perfectly awesome.
Then a high pitched squeal starts,, then really expensive bottom end noises.. and CLUNK
Stops rotating..

I'm staring in the engine bay thinking wtf.. He gets out and I asked,, You did put oil in it,, right?
The look said no..

Yep brand new ramjet 350.. Straight to Valhalla...

I just put my hands in my pockets and walked back home.. Brought a tear to my eye..

 

Still trying to figure out where to go with the car. I'm thinking about just trying to replace the short block, but I may just get a rebuild.

 

Oh my god....that poor guy....

 

Worst iv done so far is did a waterpump job 5 years ago and hooked up the overflow and return (the two small hoses) backwards then had overheating issues with it flowing out of the overflow. I bring it to Firestone in all my 19year old wisdom, they tell me engine is trashed and I need a new motor! Luckily i knew better. But it did take me over a month to figure it out! And actually just tonight I just finished building my new 3.90 rear with torsion diff, so once I swap it we will see if I made any other grave errors!

 

I just did all fuel lines on my car with ptfe stuff.

Had a slight drip at the fuel rail, so figured I would pop fitting off adjust and retighten. (this is after backing car out of garage and down driveway)

Then come to realize with ptfe fittings the brass ferrule is not reusable, and now I can't start my car to get it back in garage.

Minor hiccup in the scheme of things.