The I Worked on My Car Today Thread

[1997volvo850]

Today's Plan: New thermostat, new hoses, and timing belt.

Actual Work: Drained coolant. Applied PB Blaster to thermostat bolts. Removed surrounding hoses.
Front bolt came out fine. Tried to be careful with second bolt. Stripped. Removed injectors
and moved fuel lines out of way. Dremmeled a slot for flat head screwdriver. Drilled hole to
lube threads. Bolt will not budge. Good part of day spent on one seized bolt.

Thermostat appears to be stuck open so wondering whether to proceed.

My understanding is some people cut the head off of the bolt. What if it still doesn't want
to come out or the lower housing is damaged.

* Started applying PB Blaster to these bolts regularly over last week or so.

[whoa]

That sucks. I don't know if it would have been better to go for the hard to get at bolt first, so you don't have the added stress of the other bolt not holding the case down... Probably not, is my guess. My bolts seemed pretty close to stripping or snapping when I did this a few weeks ago; they just seize in there.

The good news is that these are not high-tension bolts, so all you need is to hold the housing on with the pressure of a soda cap or the expansion tank cap for that matter. The bad news is that this will be no fun anyway.

I would NOT try an "easy-out" extractor on a seized bolt.

Drill it out. Start with a small bit dead center in the bolt and build up. If you can find left-hand drills, often as you build up the bolt will grab on the bit and come right out. Otherwise, keep going until you can use a tap: http://www.engineersedge.com/manufactur ... -chart.htm

I confess that if it were me, because of the low tension of this thing, I'd try to make do without buying a tap set, but just using an extra bolt or two as a makeshift tap (maybe grind grooves down the sides of a bolt, use plenty of oil, crank the bolt back and forth gradually, etc.).

(Use anti-seize when you put the new bolts in!)

[wheelsup]

What point on the tranny side of the engine do you hook to--the eye on the torque bar bracket (like I've done in the picture)?

Dropping it out the bottom looks a lot easier than taking the whole thing out the top, I can't wait for your guys writeups/pictures.

[Ozark Lee]

On my M56 there was an eye on the transmission itself that I used a ratcheting tie down strap to secure it as I pulled the transmission. It is amazing how similar the Volvo part (tool) number 999-5006 looks when we all shade tree it.

Volvo April 29 020.JPG (228.41 KiB) Viewed 1792 times

I really want to get done with this but work is killing me and the rain has also really hurt the progress. I have slated some time this afternoon to keep working on it but I need to find a thread chaser for the end of the crankshaft. I cross threaded one of the M-10-1.0 bolts when I went to put the flywheel back on after I had it surfaced.

...Lee

[phils94850]

blackburn.. im glad you got the zip back in the car . Get a boost gauge so you can dial it in where u want it...

[lienmarine]

I smoked my tail lights today. It's phase 1 in reconditioning the outside of the car. Next week it's repaint the trim and roof rails to OEM black.

[zhenya]

Full Leatherique treatment for both the 850 and my wife's Forester today. Amazingly the leather in the 13 year old Volvo is in a good deal better condition than that of the 5 year old Subaru...

Also replaced spark plugs - existing plugs looked good but were gapped .045+. For $10.75 for 5 new plugs it was a no-brainer.

[boosted5cyl]

MAF sensor packed in about two weeks ago so I had to unplug it as it kept cutting out at the worst possible times and it was overfueling like a beast........ So last night:

New MAF sensor ($130 Oreilly jobbie). Was getting 12MPG
Plug leads, cap & rotor.
Seafoamed the cylinders: Drop some in down the plughole, enough to get to the rings. Let sit for 20mins, spin motor over, drop some more in, let sit again, spin again & clear it all out.
Cleaned plugs (carbon'd from the MAF being disconnected)

"Vivvie The Grocery Getter" HAULS again!

Next up oil & filter change and another tranny drain and fill with Valvoline Dexron VI.

[RobTheModd]

"Vivvie The Grocery Getter" HAULS again!

.

NICE! I think im going to name mine beaver... since I have a beaver attached to the front.


anyways, haha replaced the battery in my switch, and it still doesnt work..
other then that, leather treatment on the black leather, and left the driver seat alone since its only a matter of time before I reskin it.

[polskamafia mjl]

Oil change today with 10W30 Mobil 1 Synth high mileage.