Monday, September 29, 2008

Arrrrgh!!!!!!

Well... Yesterday, I gave it a miss, and helped out Sean to prepare his room for the new arrival into his family... So I was over at his place to help him out for the preparation.

Today, though, I decided to do some more cleaning, and the odd bits and bobs around... most of the engine mounts were covered in oil, and hence, the required cleaning...

So here I come with another bucket of soapy water... :-)... removed the engine mounts from the engine, and started cleaning them. Also, cleaned the engine mounts which connect to the chassis, and inspected them all in details...

On initial inspection, the engine mounts looked OK... but after a wash and closer inspection, it was obvious that they started showing their age... I could see minute tears in the rubber.


Also, after cleaning it in soapy water, the paint simply started pealing off freely, which was a bit of a worry...

I've also had a closer look at the 20v Engine mounts... that was the other reason why I decided to go with solid filled urethane mounts... The 20v Engine mounts are absolutely rock hard and solid!!!!! Those engine mounts make the 16v engine mounts look like chop-sticks!!!!! Alas, I forgot to take pictures, but maybe next week-end I will do so, just for documentation purposes.

Anyway... also took the chance to remove the inside. Many people indicated that it was going to be very hard!!!! I didn't think so... it only took about 10-15 each to get to the picture below!!!! I used a pair of Tin-Snips to remove the center piece... then used an electric saw to remove the majority of the remaining rubber to get as close to the edge as possible. Alas, when I was looking for my wire brush, I couldn't find it, so it'll be until next week-end... :-( (I was searching for my wire brush for about 1 hr, and couldn't find it)


I also decided to give the aircon compressor a quick clean down, as you can see from my previous pics... it was UUuugly! It looked like new once I finished... ;-)


And removed and cleaned the engine mounts that were still attached to the old 16v engine... They still looked in pretty good shape...


Decided to call it the day... but wait... I still remember that I needed to remove the Speedo gearbox adaptor... OK... Well, I put plenty of CRC last week so that is could sink into the mounting. Nope... still wouldn't budge.... Put some more CRC and gave it another 30-40mins...

Nope still wouldn't budge.... performed this several more time, and finally managed to start turning (After remove the bolt and plate that was holding it in place) around in it's socket, using a blunt screw driver and a hammer...

Wait... one of those moments of my Super-Genius time... I should have stayed in bed this morning!!!!!

I looked at the thread and realised it's the same size as the Hub nut... Hmmm... Ok, super-genius goes and grabs it... and hey... I was right... it's a perfect fit... I screwed it in a couple of threads.. perfect... Put the bar to it, and it should just pop out, right!!!!!

It poped out all right!!!! matter of fact, instead of a pop, it went snap... Blink!!!!! Oh crap! I had snapped most of the thread off the speedo adaptor.... Arrrgh! So now I have a speedo unit that only has about 4-5 threads... and guess what... me super-genius had to do it again, and again snapped another 2 threads off... so now I only have 2x threads!!!!! Arrrgh!

After a lot of cursing and swearing, and slowly nudging it loose, back and forth with the screw driver and hammer, I finally managed to get it out.... but just... and it sure was dirty... and now ruined. First thing I did, was to check if it fit onto the speedo cable... Sure does, but only 2-3 threads / turns deep... dunno if this will do the trick... But boy, do I feel stupid!!!!

End result...


Might need to take a trip down to the wreckers next week-end instead!!!!!
&&^#%$^&*^%$&)(*!#%$^*&^%&^ (<== No translation required, I hope!!!)

Stay tuned, and the saga continues...

PS: Considering this is the first goofy mistake, we still not going too bad... :-)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

To remove the rubber inserts from the engine mounts, I use a sharp wood chisel to remove as much as possible, and then clean out the remaining bits with a small wire brush in an electric drill.
I find that it works quite well, although it gets a bit messy when using the drill....
Note that some rubber engine mounts are fluid-filled, so try to drain the fluid out before attacking it with any tools, to reduce the mess.