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1987 Valencia Gold restoration


dmyers151
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Suppose I should start a resto thread for this car. Took the owner a few weeks to get the title, but all is well now. Went and picked the car up this weekend. Nothing started on the project yet, just getting it home and settled. Here's a few pics to get things started.

 

Picking it up at the previous owners house:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/eb0ac552.jpg

 

Checking tire pressures & getting some lunch:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/baa18f63.jpg

 

Pulling it into the shop:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/47fc9b74.jpg

 

Stable mates:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/4c423702.jpg

 

Keep an eye out for me in the "Items Wanted" forums. ;)

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Thanks guys, I love the color. Even with the paint in rough shape it's still beautiful.

 

It's gonna be a slow going process and I'm going to try and document everything as best I can.

 

Something I've noted already, the ODO reads ~192k which is very high for these cars, especially a Northeast car. But going over it briefly, there's almost no way its accurate. The pedal pads all look new, as does the whole interior, wheels, and underbody. There isn't even a sign of rash on any of the wheels, baring one major bend in the front driver's, which will likely need to be replaced.

 

More pictures to come later in the week. :)

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Updates, yeah. :D

 

Did a decently thorough cleaning out of the car last night, just to get something done. Found some drug paraphernalia and a couple bottles of drink mix? Also about 5 lbs of acorns and misc. fuzz & foam formerly known as carpet and seat cushion.

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1872.jpg

 

Also found an expertly installed fuel pump. :angry:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1873.jpg

 

The interior is mint, much nicer than my black car, albeit a little stinky... It's been sitting for a couple years. The only crappy part is the original owner "installed" some aftermarket speakers in the doors, dash, and hatch privacy cover, effectively ruining each part.

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1875.jpg

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1874.jpg

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1876.jpg

 

Engine shot, it's all there from what I can tell. Not the cleanest, but def. complete and minimally "modified" if at all. Airbox is still stock, no holes.

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1867.jpg

 

Rebuild receipt, huge factor in my purchase of the car.

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/Valencia_Receipt.jpg

 

Everyone's garage should look like this:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1879.jpg

 

I charged the battery up and dropped it in to see what would happen. Neither seat belt retracts, and neither door card light comes on. It cranks but won't fire, fuel pump runs and I can smell fuel, I'm guessing no spark as the previous owner had suggested. I pulled most of the IC piping off to get a better look at the turbo and wiring. Looks to have the fog light mod and like 4 aftermarket horns, trashed.

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Well... This went from "quick fix & daily" to "legit project" pretty quickly. I picked up an '87 ignitor & intercooler from Ryan - rosengrant826 (thanks again dude), and installed the ignitor Saturday morning. Tested for spark and it's all good. Tossed my optima in to get some good cranks going and let it rip. After 6 or 7 crank sessions, we start getting smoke and sputtering... Problem is, smokes coming from the rear of the head. :o Turns out, someone either forgot to install it, or the plug in the back of the head (not the circular cam seal) is missing. So the investigative tear-down begins...

 

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/d62dd27f.jpg

-

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/3e42a6c5.jpg

-

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/30630eaa.jpg

 

Old intercooler, not sure what happened here:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/b04b9ada.jpg

 

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/17904cf5.jpg

 

Discovered a non-jet head, nice.

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/03dd2539.jpg

 

As well as some sweet wiring & plumbing...

Fog light "mod"?

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/7c848097.jpg

 

Turbo coolant line mix-up?

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/db7e4709.jpg

 

Heater core hose end, destroyed. Good thing I planned on pulling the dash anyways...

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/17f1c2ad.jpg

 

Looks like this is going to take longer than I thought. On the bright side, at least now I'll know how everything is, and will get done right.

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the turbo coolant line, not a mix-up, just a combination of different year parts. The hardline that runs along the side of the block is off a non-intercooled car iirc, and the water pump is from an intercooled one.

 

The non-intercooled water pump is not even half the price for a new one. ~$35 NEW, compared to 60-70 for a remanned intercooled one. Only difference is the nipple you have the plugged hose in, the non-intercooled pump does not have it.

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the turbo coolant line, not a mix-up, just a combination of different year parts. The hardline that runs along the side of the block is off a non-intercooled car iirc, and the water pump is from an intercooled one.

 

The non-intercooled water pump is not even half the price for a new one. ~$35 NEW, compared to 60-70 for a remanned intercooled one. Only difference is the nipple you have the plugged hose in, the non-intercooled pump does not have it.

Excellent info Derek, I appreciate it. After looking at it for a few minutes, I saw that what they did would work, I was just really confused. :wacko:

 

wow Digging into her deep huh? It'll be nice when its done man.

Yeah man, not my initial intentions, but oh well. Here we go!

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On a second note, I was too tired to fight with the head last night, but I did remove all the head bolts. More than half of them were only hand tight, I'd say only two felt fully torqued, the rest were somewhere between. I also spoke with Randy and it looks like the head is most likely cracked and will need replacing. :huh: -_-
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Quick bit of research determines that the head plug is likely missing from an overheat, as they are made of wax and meant to melt out in these situations. <_<

 

Dale, I'm confused as to what you mean about the rear freeze plug in the back of the head. They do not melt, when they over heat. You are probably talking about the warranty tab, which is hot-glued to the freeze plug, and the center melts out of (and voids warranty) on an aftermarket head. The entire freeze plug does not melt. If your entire freeze plug is missing, how is it that the cooling system held water? When buying a new head from a supplier, the heads usually come with this freeze plug, pre-installed. I'm curious to know what exactly happened to the plug. It definitely did not melt.

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When I spoke with Randy last week, I must have misunderstood. As he described it to me, the plug is a "soft plug" and melts away in an extreme overheat situation. Even though I've been tinkering with these things a long time, I'm still new to a lot of stuff, sorry. :rolleyes: Either way, the plug is gone, haha. Not a clue where it is, there was only coolant in the lower half of the system.

 

I did get the head off last night, with the help of a trusty 2x4, worked really well.

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/photo.jpg

 

Looks like the head was never properly torqued down and/or it warped. 3 of the 4 rings on the head gasket were bypassed by combustion. The #4 piston dish was filled with raw fuel, but all the pistons & cylinder walls looked really good. I'll take some pics tonight when I'm back at the shop.

 

A quick inspection with a straight-edge shows the head is pretty twisted, but no cracks from what we could see. Gonna look into having it fixed, instead of replacing it.

 

Also discovered a nicely ported exhaust manifold.

 

Then we made rice krispy treats.

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/IMG_1847.jpg

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Not much being done on the car now, motocross season has started and most of my spare money has been going into that. :rolleyes:

 

I did take a few pics of the head and block last night though. The pistons have the letters "ROCK" laser etched into the dish just above the 54T, not really sure what this means. According to the receipts, the cylinders are .010 oversize and the whole assembly has less than 3k on it. I haven't had a chance to verify the bore size yet, but do these cylinder walls look fresh to you? The ring at the top has me second guessing the recent rebuild.

 

Deck:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1882.jpg

 

Cylinders:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1885.jpg

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1884.jpg

 

Piston etching:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1887.jpg

 

Head:

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1889.jpg

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1895.jpg

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1892.jpg

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1893.jpg

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This is the reason

 

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/April_2011/HPIM1889.jpg

 

 

that expalins this expression vvvvv

 

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr71/dmyers151/January_2011/CONQUEST__LEGS_SIG-1.jpg

 

 

(Just kidding Dale. Sorry for trashing up your thread, but I couldnt resist. I know they are from different engines.)

Edited by nomad
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Not trashing the thread at all Lee, I welcome all comments, haha.

 

Paul, it's the freeze plug missing. It was missing when I got the car, I just never knew until I went to start it up. I looks to me like the cam plug is installed correctly.

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