I had one of those days...long.

[wegweiser]

At 4pm I pull the nose of the F Bomb in to she shop. Our shop currently has a mid 60s Lincoln convertible, a 68 camaro 1/4 mile car, a 63 Impala, and a bunch of other massive cars along side the fancy Euro stuff...so the ass end of MY car is hanging out the shop door...in the rain. Not ideal.

I install the new distributor and spend some time mapping out it's advance curve. I figure I'll drive it over the weekend and see how it does. I then decide to finally replace the slightly leaking downpipe to manifold seal as this will eliminate any variables in exhaust popping and ear tuning, while replacing the broken 10mm stud at the same time (I had to do a quick fix before the Vintage and drilled it for a smaller nut/bolt configuration until I could remove the whole thing from the head. The leak was noticeable...but not loud.

I figured since the plug wires were out of the way to do a simple compression test to see if anything suffered during the North Carolina shenanigans...not too bad, given the age / history of the car (160-165 each cylinder, hot/dry test). It would have been nice to see 180 across the motor though. ;-)

Remove 8 nuts from exhaust studs and the manifold comes off in TWO PIECES in my hands. (!!!!) Did I mention it's raining? I push the car out in to the back parking lot at 7:30 and walk 1.5 miles home in a T shirt.

Temporarily defeated.

Yes. Old cars can be a bummer. This is not the end of the world. There are folks with much larger problems than me. Once I get her back on the road, I'll let y'all know how the distributor swap turned out. I can tell you that the TDC mark is MUCH MUCH more stable in the light than my old unit. Not convinced on the curve yet. I'm actually graphing it and will publish my results with several setting methods including the factory 2400rpm / 25 deg technique.

Looks like I'm driving a Subaru this weekend. *sigh*

[Koblenz]

Would it be cheaper to have a mistress?

Ah, the joys of the 02. I tend to think its better than trouble shooting a faulty computer sensor that locks you out of the car during a thunderstorm.

[Emyers]

Paul,

I feel your pain. Well before I bought the M Roadster, my daily drivers consisted of my 74 02 and my 72 Volvo 1800ES. I found it much easier to own two old cars.....used one while the other was needing one part or another. Variety is the spice of life.

Earl

[JackF]

See, Paul, that is the difference between you and me. I would have really been defeated. You just stubbed your toe, but know exactly what you will do to make it right. Glad you live only 1.5 mi away;)

[ziff73]

I feel ya...13years ago, when my brother and I were still 'struggling' out here, his 320 broke down in Hollywood and, being low on funds, we pushed it home 4 miles through Hollywood streets....not much fun.

[fourtii]

Paul-

With all the problems you've been having with that car, two things come to mind.

1) You gave it the proper name.

2) I hope you didn't pay more than $500 for it.

Did you wash you hands after working on it so you would have a clean thumb when hitchhiking those 1.5 miles home?

[adawil2002]

Time to pull out that Stahl header you've been saving for that 'special' occasion when conditions are perfect and you've decided the 'time is right'.

or

"I can glue that with molten metal, chicken wire and exhaust tape"

or

"I know this guy named...,oh forget, you know him too"

or

Someone will send you a stock replacement.

[TobyB]

...or just grab another manifold out of the pile, make sure the studs are OK,

bolt it on and go.

There are SOME advantages to being up to your eyeballs in junk...

(Paul, if you need one, email me. Shipping will probably not be pleasant, tho)

t

[wegweiser]

Paul-

With all the problems you've been having with that car, two things come to mind.

1) You gave it the proper name.

2) I hope you didn't pay more than $500 for it.

Did you wash you hands after working on it so you would have a clean thumb when hitchhiking those 1.5 miles home?

I've had 12 months and easily 11,000 miles of 100% trouble-free driving from a car that sat behind (not IN) a goddamn barn for fourteen fucking years UNTOUCHED....NEVER STARTED....EVER during that period. None of this has me stressed out. Hell...the engine RAN 10 days after I dragged it out fer chrissakes after some simple fuel system clean-up and a battery! I was grateful for the luck I've had, and this is standard 2002 failure stuff. This is not my first rodeo.

...and it was F R E E.

I have a tii manifold graciously donated and arriving from Maryland in a couple days. She'll be back. I love this old girl. She makes people smile. Even me, last night.

...and Andrew: "headers"???? *GAG* Last set I had I removed after one weekend of miserable, buzzy, rattly non-horsepower improving disgust.

[Psymon]

Paul-

With all the problems you've been having with that car, two things come to mind.

1) You gave it the proper name.

2) I hope you didn't pay more than $500 for it.

Did you wash you hands after working on it so you would have a clean thumb when hitchhiking those 1.5 miles home?

I've had 12 months and easily 11,000 miles of 100% trouble-free driving from a car that sat behind (not IN) a goddamn barn for fourteen fucking years UNTOUCHED....NEVER STARTED....EVER during that period. None of this has

me stressed out. Hell...the engine RAN 10 days after I dragged it out fer chrissakes after some simple fuel system clean-up and a battery! I was grateful for the luck I've had, and this is standard 2002 failure stuff. This is not my first rodeo.

...and it was F R E E.

I have a tii manifold graciously donated and arriving from Maryland in a couple days. She'll be back. I love this old girl. She makes people smile. Even me, last night.

...and Andrew: "headers"???? *GAG* Last set I had I removed after one weekend of miserable, buzzy, rattly non-horsepower improving disgust.

Paul,

I dont think 'fourtii' knows you or the fbomb. That car is nothing but a positive karma machine.

[OriginalOwner]

wow, you had one of those too ?? the custom-special-order cosmically-rare two-piece exhaust manifold ?? I had one of those once ..... and here I thought I was the only guy ever won that lucky lottery.

Cheers,

Carl

[fourtii]

I've had 12 months and easily 11,000 miles of 100% trouble-free driving from a car that sat behind (not IN) a goddamn barn for fourteen fucking years UNTOUCHED....NEVER STARTED....EVER during that period. None of this has me stressed out. Hell...the engine RAN 10 days after I dragged it out fer chrissakes after some simple fuel system clean-up and a battery! I was grateful for the luck I've had, and this is standard 2002 failure stuff. This is not my first rodeo.

Touchy aren't we!

[MatthewCervi]

Ugh. Sorry Paul, that really sucks. I hope it wasn't raining like the storms we got through Baltimore Friday night because those were some intense downpours.

[wegweiser]

Metthew -

The rain wasn't all that bad. Having the F Bomb off the road gave me a chance to focus on my dad's CSi work yesterday (finished up timing cover seals, oil pan seals, oil pump*, crank sprkt, oil chain, tension/guide rails, motor and trans mounts, shift linkage, trans seals, and nailing down the bad injector that's been fouling his #4 cylinder for years.)

*oil pumps for these cars are now $430 (!) and require a flight from Deutschland...ugh!

Today it'll be D Jet tuning, parking brake adjustment, cleaning, and wheel bearing inspection.

....and Bruce - I can take good natured jabs (Lord knows I'm a smart-ass snarky shit on many occasions)...I just try not to make said snarkiness my primary contribution to a community (and I've been guilty of same, on occasion, I'll admit). :-)

All of the issues I've had with this car recently can easily be traced back to a faulty distributor. Head gasket failure, heat build-up on long drives, ultra-hot exhaust manifold-weakening, ignition points failure, valve adjustment anomalies from overheated seats, etc. I'm actually enjoying the sleuthing-out process. Until last weekend, she's been one of the smoothest, quickest 02s I've ever owned.

[fourtii]

Paul

Fair enough, I guess, I pushed you to the brink. Check on your build date to see if it was Monday or Friday. Anyway...on your valve adjustment issue, someday when you pull the cam out of the head, mic the cam. I think you may have a soft spot (notchy) that is there and changing the lash tolerance when you go back to check it periodically i.e. you're not in the exact spot on the cam every time.

Just a thought since you have gone through the process of elimination of all the other wear items in the upper end.

I'm glad we had a chance to kiss and make up.

B