Day Eleven - Exhaust down pipe REALLY down now

Okay, I lied. I didn't really remove the down pipe. It's still attached. I tried to pull the bracket from the bell housing, but it was way too tight. Now, I'm thinking I need an impact wrench to get this sucker off. So I bought one, and a new compressor to go with it, from Harbor Freight. My little 8 gallon compressor wasn't powerful enough. I wanted to get an impact wrench for a while now, but didn't want to get it unless I was backed against the wall. This seemed like my wall. I crossed my fingers hoping I didn't buy a dud. 

I followed all the directions for setting up the compressor, adding oil, breaking it in, flushing the oil and replacing it. I wanted to make sure I followed all the directions to the letter. I want these tools to last. Everything seems to be working fine! :) Now on to the exhaust pipe.

It was difficult to get to the fasteners with the pipe in the way, so I was hoping the extensions and the impact action would loosen them. No such luck. Is this impact wrench not powerful enough or are these things hopelessly on too tight. I had to come up with another strategy. Not thinking it would work, but wanting to try all the alternatives, I tried to loosen the clamp nut attached to the bracket. 

Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to move with a regular socket wrench. And, it wasn't a nut as I had thought. It's hard to see what's what down there with everything in the way. When you're not familiar with the pieces, you tend to think they're a certain way and it's not always true. So I finally got it off. Hmmm, I guess I didn't really need that impact wrench for this after all. Well, who can say no to more tools? It'll come in handy later on anyway.

Ha! Got you sucka!

With that accomplished, the rest of the work today was disconnecting the wiring from the start motor and whatever else I could find along the transmission. I pretty much wanted to have the engine and transmission disconnected completely.

Starter motor connections

Wiring harness along the transmission and PPF.

Almost ready to pull this off. Made a list of final details and planned on doing the deed next weekend. Kinda excited!

Day Ten - Exhaust down pipe is down

During removal of the rear exhaust pipes last weekend, I intended to remove the whole length but hit a snag.

These friggin nuts on the down pipe, just below the pre-cat. You can see I've been soaking them in WD-40.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't budge and they're hard to get to. With a little online research and some advise from the peeps on BAMD, I bought some wobble extensions and used a cheater bar. Along with ample weasel piss I was able to break two of the nuts loose. The third I managed to strip, so I wasn't able to get a grip with my sockets. What to do?

So today I went to the local Ace hardware store and got a set of nut extractor sockets. They grab the nut with this reverse helical fluting. Similar to screw extractors, but for nuts. (Hmmm, that didn't sound right.) Along with a cheater bar (engine hoist jack lever :D), this worked like a charm, though the nut is now useless. Easy enough to replace though. 

Handy, these things are.

Day Nine - New engine hoist exposes a snag

Knowing I was committed to pulling the engine, I went ahead and ordered an engine stand and hoist from Harbor Freight. I could have driven 15 miles to the closest one, but I decided to save the trip and order it online. With a flat $6.99 shipping charge, it was probably cheaper to do that. I got the 1/2 ton engine stand and 1 ton engine hoist. I wasn't looking to start a mechanic shop, so this seemed to suit my needs. 

The items arrived during the week and I didn't wait for the weekend to assemble them. The condition of the boxes were, suffice to say, laughable. Though, pissed was more my reaction. One of the boxes was completely broken open. Tape loosely flopping around. And they were just left on my driveway for everyone to see. You get what you pay for, I guess. With the condition of the packaging, I wanted to make sure they were fine, so I got to work putting them together. Fortunately, there were no missing parts and everything came together without a hitch and I was satisfied. 

That was, until I checked the reach. Okay, so I probably should have done a bit more research here. This arm is just not going to reach the center of the engine. After a slight bit of panic and mulling over the options, I decided I would remove the bumper, before packing everything up and exchanging the hoist for the 2 ton version. Ho boy! If the bumper removal worked, I'd keep moving forward with what I have. This was the task for this weekend.

Front end and bumper removed.

So, actually, the front end removal wasn't all that bad. I just need to find a place to hold all of these parts to keep them out of the way. My garage is already filled with other crap that all these parts lying on the floor just adds to the crampness. I'm keeping the front end out in the side yard for now along with some other parts. I think it should be safe out there.

Plastic, eh? Who knew?

Fog lights have been this way like forever.
Would be good to get replacement covers.

So the front end removal worked and I don't have to endure the hassle of exchanging this huge piece of equipment. Mission accomplished. Of course, if you're considering pulling your engine and haven't gotten the hoist yet, consider the 2 ton version or you'll also have to do this extra work.

One other note, I purchased the hoist using a coupon to get a discount. Harbor Freight does this a lot. I noticed that a later ad had a deeper discount coupon available. After reading the fine print on the coupon, I went to the local HF store and got the difference back! So, if you bought an item from HF, keep checking the ads for the next 30 days to see if you can get a deeper discount. Every dollar counts!

Sweet! It fits now!

Tie down hook.
Know what happens when you bang your
head twice within 10 minutes on these things?

This.

Day Eight - Center console and exhaust pipes

So looking over the engine removal instructions in the service manual, it says I need to remove the stick shift, et al. Seems like a reasonable starting point for the day. No real issues. The rubber boot on the shift lever looked torn up, so I think I'll need a new one. Other than that, I stopped short of pulling the shift lever because I still haven't drained the transmission yet, and didn't want to deal with any leakage. However, center console is out and access is clear.

Muffler gone, showing the locations of the 3 rubber hangers

Next on the list was removing the exhaust pipes. Instructions stated to start from the rear and move my way forward. Since I'm pulling the transmission as well, I'll need access to the drive shaft and removing the exhaust pipes will make access easier.

The biggest headache I had was the rubber hangers hold the exhaust pipes. I didn't appreciate the amount of twisting force I had to apply. I didn't want to tear them, but fortunately they are built to take it. The lack of room didn't help, but with a big screwdriver, I managed.

I'm sure they are easier to put *on*

Fortunately, I didn't strip out any of the nuts holding the pipes together. They were a little tough getting loose. Nothing a little weasel piss, a cheater bar and some brute force couldn't cure.

Day Seven - Reference shots and heater hoses

Not a whole lot done today. Just took more reference shots of wires and hoses. Trying to figure out what I need to disconnect and take enough pictures to refer back to when I put this thing back together.

Down the area behind the intake manifold.

Disconnected the heater hoses from the firewall. Had to be extra careful not to damage them after what I read about the difficulty in removing these.

The down pipe of the exhaust which is looming.

Wires behind the coil pack

Day Six - Just a few more parts

Not a whole lot done today since I didn't want my entire weekend devoted to working on the car. I did manage to pull off the pulleys on the water pump and the crankshaft. I was a little taken aback with what looked like an oil leak at the crankshaft seal. Hmmm, is this bad? It certainly is filthy with grime down there. What a mess!

Yuck! Although I'm pretty sure the engine is hosed, is this "normal"?

Day Five - On a roll

So dedicated the entire Saturday to dismantling parts to get the engine ready for pulling. I'm planning on pulling both the engine and the transmission, even though the transmission should be fine. I've heard that it's easier to get the transmission off when everything it outside of the car. Makes sense and since this is an education, might as well learn as much as I can.

Before doing any more part removal, I needed to take care of the fuel lines and relieving any pressure in the lines. I'm doing all this work in my garage that has a water heater in the corner and the thought of gasoline spilling everywhere made me nervous. I want to heed all the warnings I've read about this. So, I buttoned up some of the parts I took off and pulled the car out of the garage into the driveway. While it was outside, I took the opportunity to try and clean of some of the crud in the engine bay. Nothing too extensive.

With that done I had to pull the fuel pump relay, open the gas cap and crank the engine a few times until it stalled. I was also a bit apprehensive about this, because of the state of the engine with the knocking and all. Was I going to be doing even more damage? Well, it already doesn't work so onward. Curiously enough, I don't recall hearing any of the knocking. I gave it a few cranks until is stopped. Waited a few minutes. Did it again for good measure and called it done. I'll find out when I try to pull the fuel lines. Images of gas squirting all over the place went through my mind. As it turned out, I was worrying over nothing. After making a detour to the local Autozone to pick up a disconnect tool, the line came off easily and without any spillage. With no return line to have to deal with, I plugged up one of the ends with a rubber stopper and the other with a bolt.

Fuel line disconnected!

With my son's help, we pushed the car back into the garage so I could continue. And so began the labeling of the wiring harness. While I was at the store, I picked up some masking tape and started to label the connectors and taking more pictures. Note to self: Don't try to peel off masking tape with your latex gloves on. It's just an exercise in frustration.

The wiring harness pulled back out of the way.

Guess I didn't really *need* to disconnect this hose, but looks pretty gunky here.

Next on the list is pulling off the power steering pump and wiring it away. This is so I don't have to disconnect any of the power steering hoses which would be an unnecessary pain. The same will go for the air conditioning compressor when I get to that point. Don't want to make more work than is necessary. And I really don't need another possible failure point.

Next to go was the alternator. I replaced the alternator about a year ago, so I was a little familiar with it. One thing I remembered I had to do was remove the intake manifold bracket which is in the way of the attachment bolt. All of the cleaning I did earlier was for naught when dealing with the underside here. It was completely filled with grime and crud.

Crud down there easier to see sans alternator

After a little cleaning. Much better!

Next to come off was the exhaust manifold shroud. Bolts were pretty rusty from the looks of them. One of them felt stiffer as I loosened it. Crap! Twisted the head off. This will be fun getting out. Ugh!

Hmmm, time to use that screw extractor set I have

I wasn't quite sure what this black crud was. I think it was some chunks of silicone sealant mixed with some left over water when I rinsed off the engine earlier. Looked horrible when I removed the shield. Heh.