Non-Volvo car chat megathread

[volvolugnut]

The standard insult at a place I used to work, if you were spotted in dirty clothes or had dirty hands.
"Did you fall down?"

volvolugnut

[BlackBart]

I'm not one of those guys who can walk into a garage and remain clean for more than a few minutes.


White coveralls....pffft!

[BlackBart]

Who doesn't like an Alfa Spider?

alfa-romeo-8c-2300-zagato-spider-56579-jpg.1706377.jpeg (181.31 KiB) Viewed 788 times

[volvolugnut]

How seasonally appropriate - Spiders for Halloween.
volvolugnuty

[BlackBart]

I'm running into painting issues since it's turning cold. Right now I'm cleaning/prepping and painting steel wheels and suspension components.

If I paint in the basement where it's warm (just a little boiler room), it makes a paint cloud that I breath and stinks up the house. That won't go over with Mrs BB. I suppose I could rig up a visqueen barrier at the bottom of the stairs and buy a good full filter mask.

In the garage, it needs to be warm enough to paint, and stay warm until it dries / cures.
I have a cotton cover on the car, but I'm getting powder on everything and the tools (and my eyelashes).
It's too cold out in the yard now.
I'm already sick of breathing this stuff, whether it's epoxy primers, primers, color, chassis black, whatever. Gives me a headache, that can't be good.


Also -

[abscate]

Solvents in paint are acetone, xylene, and toluene. You don’t want to be breathing any of these for either short term or long term. Nasty shinola.

They were warning us about acetone in the 1970s

[BlackBart]

Yep, bad stuff. Brake cleaner - bad stuff.

I was trying to browse the hundreds of options, but I landed on a 3M 6700 full face respirator (so it doesn't get in your eyes). Then you have to decide on which of dozens of organic filter cartridges to use on it. Best price I saw was $125, but what's your brain worth?

Any experiences out there?

[abscate]

You have to be in good health and fit test one of those to be effective

In the workplace , that’s actually a ( OSHA) requirement

[volvolugnut]

The last several days I have been working on our 2009 Smart car. One day the car would not start. It would crank until the end of the start cycle, but would never fire. I was sure the battery was well charged, since I had just charged it. The battery is located in the passenger foot well under a panel. We have owned this car several years and it has 34K miles. It never goes out of the garage if it is wet out.

I opened the hatch, folded down the tail gate, raised the floor mat, and removed the engine cover panel. Yup, looks like the little 3 cylinder engine is still all there. The fuel line is on top and does not show leaked fuel. All fuel lines are molded plastic or crimped clamps. No easy connection for fuel pressure check. Dang.

Off to the internet to find information. There are no paper manuals available and there are no online forums as good as MVS. Darn. I learned that the fuel pump may fail as soon as 30K miles. I also found that the fuel pump is inside the fuel tank and the fuel tank must be dropped to get to the fuel pump. Just like some Volvos. There is no fuel filter other than one at the pump. Dang.

I did find some rough instructions without photos on how to change the fuel pump. First jack up the car. This car does not come with a jack or a spare tire. Does come with an electric air pump and a tube of slime. DANG. I found other jacks and blocks and raised the car several inches.

Next remove the belly pan to get to the fuel tank. The rear belly pan in hinged to the front belly pan and cannot be removed separately unless you have the car on a lift. So you have to remove the front and rear belly pan together. All plastic of course. About 15 screws. DANG.

Finally, I can see the fuel tank. It is held by about 6 screws. But to get to 3 of them you must drop a frame brace with 4 more screws. DANG.

I had recently filled the tank with fuel, so I needed to drain the tank as much as possible to remove the weight. I got out my trusty rotary hand pump and tried to fit the 3/8 hose past the anti-siphon valve in the fill tube. No go. DANG!

So I get a smaller tube for the suction tube. I find a 1/4 inch hard nylon tube and adapt it to the larger suction tube. With some twisting and pushing it goes further into the tank. A few turns of the crank and it is flowing into my fuel can. Good.

It is slow to fill the fuel can while sucking through the 1/4 OD tube. I do some other things but watch closely so it does not run over. When the first 5 gallon can is full, I start a second can. When the second can gets a couple gallons, the flow slows and I have to wiggle and twist the suction tube to find the bottom of the fuel tank. When I have pumped out about 7 gallons total and nothing more seems to be coming, I decide the fuel tank is empty enough. The little tank for the little car only holds 8 gallons. Good enough.

I get under the car ( It is solid on two jack stands and blocks) and drop the fuel tank. There are multiple fuel, electric, and vent lines to disconnect. I can now drop the tank enough to get the pump out. One vent line has molded hose and is not removable. I will not be taking the tank out from under the car. DANG!

The pump is held in the tank by the same type plastic ring as Volvos. I go search and find the tool I bought to remove my Volvo pump. Tool cost per job of tank tool has now been reduced by 50 percent. WOO!

With the ring removed, the pump lifts out of the tank. It has some rust on the steel parts. There is some old fuel sludge at the bottom of the tank. I will need to buy a long handled brush to scrub it out. Dang.

After gathering some wires and buckets, I test the pump with power to the terminals. No click, no buzz, no nothing. Dang.

I search the internet and order the pump and two replacement belly pan clips, About $330 and 6 days. OK.

The next errand trip located a toilet cleaning brush with long handle and nylon head for cheap. Good.

Since I had wait time, and the Smart car half way on jack stands, I decided to flush the brake fluid. And since the wheel hubs had some rust, I decided to clean the hubs and add some fresh paint. I found I had several unopened pint bottles of DOT 4 brake fluid and I found a partial spray can of a close match of gray paint. Great!

The belly pan had a few cracks and breaks. I found some two part plastic glue with a primer coat made for hard to bond polyurethane and polypropylene plastics. It seems to work. Good.

Brake flush and hub repaint were uneventful. GREAT!

I scrubbed out the tank and flushed with fresh fuel. I pumped out the bad stuff, with the hand pump. The new pump went in without much trouble. There is an internal fuel line that must be connected while the pump is being placed in the tank. This is a push to connect fitting. Like the Volvo pump, the level arm must be inserted first while the pump is angled into the tank hole. The Smart fuel pump has a spring loaded base which must be compressed as the lock ring is started.

Three electric connectors and three external fuel lines had to be reconnected. I struggled with one of the electrical connector because the locking mechanism was not obvious. The filler hose was the hardest to force on the filler neck and get the band clamps tightened. There was not much room to get to the hose and clamps.

I raised the assembled tank up into place and installed the 5 mounting bolts. Two cases of oil and some wood blocks held the tank in place while I started the bolts.

I poured a couple gallons of fresh fuel in the tank, checked that I had reassembled all connections, connected the battery, and turned the key. The first 5 second crank cycle gave no rewarding engine start. Not at all surprising as the lines had to pump up. Half way through the second crank cycle and the engine was running! YEA!

I looked around for leaks, found none and restarted. Immediate starting when the key was turned. Great! The dash even showed 1/4 fuel in the tank.

All that remains is to put the two part belly pan on and remount the wheels.

volvolugnut

[volvolugnut]

When I put the belly pan back on, I came up with the dreaded 2 extra screws. DANG!

Middle of the night thinking (dreaming?) may indicate I left some wires unattached. Under the belly pan of course.

volvolugnut