'68 Power Steering Pump
Last year as I was moving cars around to store them for the winter I was warming up my '68 Vette in the driveway and looked out to see smoke rising from under the hood. My power steering pump blew a seal, the steering fluid went everywhere and the engine heat was causing it to smoke. No better place then the driveway if it has to go! Over the winter I bought a chrome power steering pump and pulley to replace the stock unit and as procrastinators go it was still sitting on the counter this spring. Car shows are coming so I decided I better get some motivation and get busy. Well at least I got busy.
First I pulled the two hoses off the old pump, drained the remaining fluid and then unbolted and removed the pump. Nothing ever goes exactly right so after I mounted the new pump I noticed the pipe connector for the new pump was too long and the hose would rub against the frame and eventually fail. Being as lazy as I am I decided to cut this off in place instead of removing the pump and making a neater cut. This leaves me two worry cards; 1) hopefully the sharp edges remaining won't eventually cut the hose from the inside and cause a failure and 2) since I no longer have a "nipple" on the end I hope the hose doesn't blow off the pipe. If you are following me down the street someday and suddenly I start blowing power steering fluid you'll know I lost the gamble! Maybe I'll fix it right next winter? Yeah, that'll happen!
You handy guys that tinker (that's tinker, not tinkle) know that one project leads to another so I decided since I was playing with the car I would do a couple of maintenance issues. As you might expect from a vehicle that is 45 years old it has a couple of fluid leak issues. Nothing serious but just the annoying minor drip that bothers nothing except the way your garage floor looks over time.
First I decided to add some Bar's Leaks Rear Main Seal Repair to the crankcase. (Gal's trust me I am not talking about the back end of a little furry creature that makes its home in the water.) To make this easy I decided to just pull the oil filter off and drain it to make room for an additional 16 oz of fluid. I pulled the filter off and gulped hard as it was EMPTY! I knew I changed the oil on all the cars this spring and I was talking to myself pretty seriously now. Something like "surely you absent minded old kook you didn't drain the oil and then start it up and move it without putting oil back in it?" I popped the oil plug out and was very relieved to see it had plenty of fresh oil. Whew! I guess I just haven't started the engine yet since I changed the oil! I decided to drain the oil once again and drained it into an empty 5 qt oil bottle so I didn't waste some brand new Mobil 1 at almost $30 a jug. I mixed a bottle of the Rear Main Seal Repair in with the oil and poured it back into the engine. After a couple opportunities to drive the car this summer I'll find out if this stuff actually works and the minor leaks from the timing chain cover, rear main seal and oil pan disappear. I doubt it, but always good to hope and dream!
Still on the "fix the leaks parade" I decided to put a bottle of Bar's Leaks Power Steering Stop Leak Concentrate in the power steering pump when I replaced the steering fluid. (The rest of the power steering components were replaced when I did a total bottom end restore about 10 years ago so hopefully any leaks were from the faulty pump or hose fittings and the combination of a new pump and the Stop Leak will cure any drips.) Again, one can always hope!
For those of you that know your Corvette history the '68 Vette was rushed to production and one of the things they didn't do the best job on was the cooling system. That means that if you do prolonged idling on hot days, say like in a 4th of July parade, the potential for overheating exists. It never happened to me but since I was thinking of driving the Vette in parades, several years ago I modded the Vette by replacing the stock radiator with a '65 Vette big block radiator, removed the mechanical fan and replaced it with a twin Spal electric fan and changed the stock thermostat to a 160 degree stat. (Gal translation: tried to make it run cooler so the engine wouldn't overheat.) When I did this I found the Spal fans cooled great but were relatively noisy as they moved a lot of air but I could hear them run over the car idle and that bothered me. To "fix the glitch" I put my engineering degree to work and designed an electrical control system for the fans. The design was to switch the fans on in "series" at about 170 degrees which would essentially run both fans at approximately half speed, provide some cooling and run much quieter. Knowing that on hot days I might still need full speed from the fans, the system called for turning the fans on in "parallel" if the temperature exceeded 180 degrees. That would put both fans on full speed and provide maximum airflow for optimum cooling. Despite the fact my degree is from Purdue, the Rube Goldberg system (which uses two thermo-switches, 3 relays and a lot of wire) actually works exactly as I hoped! (All this work to get it parade ready and I've never used it in a parade. Too much clutching for a very old leg muscle!)
On cool days as long as I'm moving, the fans seldom need to run. On most days if I'm cruising and the system needs a boost the fans come on low speed. If its a real hot day or I'm stuck idling then it will switch to full speed. Long story but to make this system work I needed to replace the stock temperature sender in the block with a 170 degree thermo-switch and add a second (180 degree) thermo-switch. To do this I replaced the stock thermostat housing with an aftermarket housing that contains a threaded opening where I installed the second thermo-switch. I also used an $18 "no adhesive required", reusable gasket which has always leaked. Not so much mind you that made it important to replace it immediately, just enough to let some drips dirty the polished intake manifold and give you an annoying clean up job. Well might as well try to fix this while I'm messing around!
First I drained the antifreeze. Then I removed the radiator hose from the thermostat housing, removed the thermo-switch too and then removed the thermostat housing and stat. After cleaning everything I tested the thermostat in some hot water (don't tell Donna I used the microwave!) and then replaced it and the housing. This time I used a good ol' fashion $1 cork gasket and sealed it with a lot of Permatex 97 Super High Tack Gasket Sealant. Next I reinstalled the thermo-switch using Permatex 2 Form A Gasket Sealant on the threads. Just for good measure I poured a bottle of Bar's Leaks Liquid Aluminum Cooling System Radiator and Heater Core Stop Leak directly into the radiator through the radiator hose. Then I finished filling the radiator with a 50/50 mix of Prestone Dex-Cool Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolant and finally reinstalled the radiator hose onto the thermostat housing. (In the late 70's and early 80's I was the Production Manager at the Prestone Antifreeze Plant in Alsip, Il and was responsible for the production of 73 million gallons a year of this stuff so I always use Prestone.)
By the way, if you've been looking at the photos and are an old guy that's forgotten or a young guy that never heard of one, that funny looking thing on top of the engine is called a carburetor. Its an old fashion device that was used before fuel injection to deliver the gas to the engine. It wasn't as fuel efficient and it didn't deliver as much horsepower but you could tinker with the idle settings all day long! This particular carburetor was another "project" I did a few years back. I replaced the stock intake manifold with an Edlebrock Performance polished aluminum intake and replaced the stock Quadra-Jet 4 barrel carb with a new Edlebrock Quadra-Jet direct replacement. As I say, the carb is not as efficient as the modern fuel injection systems but for you guys that do know, there in no cooler sound then when you mash down the accelerator and those back two barrels kick in! For you guys that don't know about carburetors and think they sound funny, just wait for a future article when I tell you about Dwell Meters and Timing Lights!
Did all these fixes work? I don't know, I haven't started the engine yet! But I will soon and after a few test drives I'll know what I have to fix next. Old cars are fun! Right Brent? Right Mel? Right Bill? You guys know!!
For sale: Used thermostat reusable gasket. No sealants required.
First I pulled the two hoses off the old pump, drained the remaining fluid and then unbolted and removed the pump. Nothing ever goes exactly right so after I mounted the new pump I noticed the pipe connector for the new pump was too long and the hose would rub against the frame and eventually fail. Being as lazy as I am I decided to cut this off in place instead of removing the pump and making a neater cut. This leaves me two worry cards; 1) hopefully the sharp edges remaining won't eventually cut the hose from the inside and cause a failure and 2) since I no longer have a "nipple" on the end I hope the hose doesn't blow off the pipe. If you are following me down the street someday and suddenly I start blowing power steering fluid you'll know I lost the gamble! Maybe I'll fix it right next winter? Yeah, that'll happen!
You handy guys that tinker (that's tinker, not tinkle) know that one project leads to another so I decided since I was playing with the car I would do a couple of maintenance issues. As you might expect from a vehicle that is 45 years old it has a couple of fluid leak issues. Nothing serious but just the annoying minor drip that bothers nothing except the way your garage floor looks over time.
First I decided to add some Bar's Leaks Rear Main Seal Repair to the crankcase. (Gal's trust me I am not talking about the back end of a little furry creature that makes its home in the water.) To make this easy I decided to just pull the oil filter off and drain it to make room for an additional 16 oz of fluid. I pulled the filter off and gulped hard as it was EMPTY! I knew I changed the oil on all the cars this spring and I was talking to myself pretty seriously now. Something like "surely you absent minded old kook you didn't drain the oil and then start it up and move it without putting oil back in it?" I popped the oil plug out and was very relieved to see it had plenty of fresh oil. Whew! I guess I just haven't started the engine yet since I changed the oil! I decided to drain the oil once again and drained it into an empty 5 qt oil bottle so I didn't waste some brand new Mobil 1 at almost $30 a jug. I mixed a bottle of the Rear Main Seal Repair in with the oil and poured it back into the engine. After a couple opportunities to drive the car this summer I'll find out if this stuff actually works and the minor leaks from the timing chain cover, rear main seal and oil pan disappear. I doubt it, but always good to hope and dream!
Still on the "fix the leaks parade" I decided to put a bottle of Bar's Leaks Power Steering Stop Leak Concentrate in the power steering pump when I replaced the steering fluid. (The rest of the power steering components were replaced when I did a total bottom end restore about 10 years ago so hopefully any leaks were from the faulty pump or hose fittings and the combination of a new pump and the Stop Leak will cure any drips.) Again, one can always hope!
For those of you that know your Corvette history the '68 Vette was rushed to production and one of the things they didn't do the best job on was the cooling system. That means that if you do prolonged idling on hot days, say like in a 4th of July parade, the potential for overheating exists. It never happened to me but since I was thinking of driving the Vette in parades, several years ago I modded the Vette by replacing the stock radiator with a '65 Vette big block radiator, removed the mechanical fan and replaced it with a twin Spal electric fan and changed the stock thermostat to a 160 degree stat. (Gal translation: tried to make it run cooler so the engine wouldn't overheat.) When I did this I found the Spal fans cooled great but were relatively noisy as they moved a lot of air but I could hear them run over the car idle and that bothered me. To "fix the glitch" I put my engineering degree to work and designed an electrical control system for the fans. The design was to switch the fans on in "series" at about 170 degrees which would essentially run both fans at approximately half speed, provide some cooling and run much quieter. Knowing that on hot days I might still need full speed from the fans, the system called for turning the fans on in "parallel" if the temperature exceeded 180 degrees. That would put both fans on full speed and provide maximum airflow for optimum cooling. Despite the fact my degree is from Purdue, the Rube Goldberg system (which uses two thermo-switches, 3 relays and a lot of wire) actually works exactly as I hoped! (All this work to get it parade ready and I've never used it in a parade. Too much clutching for a very old leg muscle!)
On cool days as long as I'm moving, the fans seldom need to run. On most days if I'm cruising and the system needs a boost the fans come on low speed. If its a real hot day or I'm stuck idling then it will switch to full speed. Long story but to make this system work I needed to replace the stock temperature sender in the block with a 170 degree thermo-switch and add a second (180 degree) thermo-switch. To do this I replaced the stock thermostat housing with an aftermarket housing that contains a threaded opening where I installed the second thermo-switch. I also used an $18 "no adhesive required", reusable gasket which has always leaked. Not so much mind you that made it important to replace it immediately, just enough to let some drips dirty the polished intake manifold and give you an annoying clean up job. Well might as well try to fix this while I'm messing around!
First I drained the antifreeze. Then I removed the radiator hose from the thermostat housing, removed the thermo-switch too and then removed the thermostat housing and stat. After cleaning everything I tested the thermostat in some hot water (don't tell Donna I used the microwave!) and then replaced it and the housing. This time I used a good ol' fashion $1 cork gasket and sealed it with a lot of Permatex 97 Super High Tack Gasket Sealant. Next I reinstalled the thermo-switch using Permatex 2 Form A Gasket Sealant on the threads. Just for good measure I poured a bottle of Bar's Leaks Liquid Aluminum Cooling System Radiator and Heater Core Stop Leak directly into the radiator through the radiator hose. Then I finished filling the radiator with a 50/50 mix of Prestone Dex-Cool Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolant and finally reinstalled the radiator hose onto the thermostat housing. (In the late 70's and early 80's I was the Production Manager at the Prestone Antifreeze Plant in Alsip, Il and was responsible for the production of 73 million gallons a year of this stuff so I always use Prestone.)
By the way, if you've been looking at the photos and are an old guy that's forgotten or a young guy that never heard of one, that funny looking thing on top of the engine is called a carburetor. Its an old fashion device that was used before fuel injection to deliver the gas to the engine. It wasn't as fuel efficient and it didn't deliver as much horsepower but you could tinker with the idle settings all day long! This particular carburetor was another "project" I did a few years back. I replaced the stock intake manifold with an Edlebrock Performance polished aluminum intake and replaced the stock Quadra-Jet 4 barrel carb with a new Edlebrock Quadra-Jet direct replacement. As I say, the carb is not as efficient as the modern fuel injection systems but for you guys that do know, there in no cooler sound then when you mash down the accelerator and those back two barrels kick in! For you guys that don't know about carburetors and think they sound funny, just wait for a future article when I tell you about Dwell Meters and Timing Lights!
Did all these fixes work? I don't know, I haven't started the engine yet! But I will soon and after a few test drives I'll know what I have to fix next. Old cars are fun! Right Brent? Right Mel? Right Bill? You guys know!!
For sale: Used thermostat reusable gasket. No sealants required.
