First Timer takes on '86 GTB

I spent some bonding time with the 328 this weekend and made some decent headway. Unfortunately, I think this is the car's new parking spot for the next couple of weeks.

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I'll post more details on my progress, but the heater hose going to the nose of the car was the source of my problem. It busted right at the motor. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see where my problem is. This also doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy about the other original lines.

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The prior owner did replace some of the coolant couplers, but it appears most of the hoses are original. I will be taking inventory of what lines need to be replaced and how involved they will be to replace. In a perfect world, I would replace all the old lines at this time, but I am also a realist. I may need to split the project into a couple of smaller jobs to keep it manageable.

My current focus is all heater hoses including the long line from the motor as well as the ones in the nose of the car. The couplers on the supply and return coolant lines under the nose are also on the list.

I have been contemplating the tee that is in the great depths under the windshield. After reading many threads on the subject, I am leaning towards cutting the lines, pulling all the hoses out and relocating them forward. Another forum member had both tee's next to each other and that seems like a good solution. At least it would be accessible if you ever had to go back in. Any thoughts or tips would be appreciated.

My wife and I were able to get the long heater hose to move without too much effort, so hopefully (finger's crossed), we will be able to pull the new line without too much difficulty. Time will tell.

 

Well....deep breath....time to dig in. As I mentioned in my previous post, the long heater hose busted where it attaches to the motor. This is looking straight down on the driver's side of the motor. It's not hard to see why coolant was pouring out of the car.

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In my mind, this hose needed to be replaced at a minimum. Going in to this project, I was thinking that I would just replace all the hoses. That turned out to be a little optimistic, but it is definitely better than it was.

There are a number of good how-to's on the forum, but I'll share my details. To gain access, you will need to remove a number of access panels and fender liners. Start by removing the spare time and removing the plastic piece on the rear side of the spare tire space. It is only held in with a couple of screws. Once removed, you will see this.

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Next, you will need to remove the driver's side front splash guard. It is also held in place with a couple of screws.

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You will also need to remove the rectangular plate under the nose of the car. Once again, a couple of bolts hold this panel in place.

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Yes, I am going to clean up some of the surface rust under the battery and shoot some fresh paint on it.

 

Now move to the rear of the car and remove the two rear driver's side fender liners.

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and this one.

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With all the panels removed, you should have access to all of the coolant lines.

With the rear fender liner removed, you can clearly see the long heater hose.

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It comes off the motor, crosses the top of the fuel tank, runs through the bottom door sill and exits in the front wheel well.

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The hose continues up toward the base of the windshield and connect to a tee.

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Before we can start disconnecting the heater hose, we need to drain the coolant. When I put the car on jack stands, I had the nose of the car lower, so I figured all of the coolant would drain to the front of the car. I figured the best place to drain the coolant was by removing the couplers that were revealed when you removed the rectangular access panel under the front of the car.

A little tip before attempting to remove any hoses. I used a 90 pick as seen here.

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I then inserted the tip of the pick between the hose and the hard pipe or connector and tried to move the pick a full 360 degrees around the hose. My hope was to break the 30 year seal. It seemed to make a difference and I didn't really have a hard time getting any of the hoses to move by hand.

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Now it is time to start removing hoses to drain the coolant. I had read that removing couplers and hoses under the nose makes a mess and they weren't lying. The coolant tends to splash on the frame and undertray and goes everywhere. Luckily, I have a handy dandy coolant bucket that is hard to miss.

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Don't worry-no kids of pets use the pool anymore. It's only purpose in life is to catch coolant.

 

Now to removing lines to drain the coolant. I started with this hose, which is where the heating system coolant connects back to the engine coolant hard pipe.

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Next, remove the two couplers on the supply and return hard pipes for the engine cooling. You will probably have to loosen and remove the two couplers where these pipes connect to the radiator to get them free. I also had to remove the battery to get the driver's side pipe free. BTW, getting the battery out of the car with it on jackstands by yourself is not the easiest task.

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Once the coolant has completely drained from these connections, you can now disconnect the heater hose from the motor and the tee in front of the windshield. Once the hose is disconnected from the tee, you can feed it back through the wheel well. You can blow on one end of the hose to clear it of any remaining coolant.

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From all reports on the forum, pulling the new hose is a terrible job. I spent a good bit of time thinking about the best way to go about it and combined a couple of ideas I had read. First I needed to get a rope through the hose just in case something went wrong or the two hoses became detached while pulling. I tried weed wacker string and a stiff wire, but couldn't push them through the hose. The bends were the issue. Striking out, I went to plan b. I took a small piece of cotton and tied fishing line to it.

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I then taped a random pipe fitting (usually used with the press) to the end of the shop vac. The small end of the fitting just happened to be about the same size of the hose. I then just sucked the cotton ball and line through the hose.

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I then used the fishing line to pull a rope back through the hose. I followed the same procedure on my new hose. BTW, I am replacing the hose with 5/8" green stripe hose from NAPA.

Now to attach the new hose to the old one in order to pull it through. I figured that a 5/8" barbed coupler would be a good place to start. I did read on the forum that a full length barb coupler may be too long to make the 90 degree bends. I cut about 2 barbs off each side of the coupler, inserted the coupler into each hose and taped it up with a lot of duct tape. Make sure that you run your rope through the coupler PRIOR to connecting the two hoses together. Luckily, I thought about this in the nick of time.

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Now for the moment of truth.....will I be able to pull the new hose through. My wife stood by the front wheel well to feed the hose into the hole and I pulled from the rear. I also had her liberally coat the hose with wire pull soap as she fed the hose to me. I'm happy to report that pulling the hose took all of about 2 minutes at most. I spent a lot more time prepping than actually pulling. No complaints!

 

I'll have to stop here for the moment since I don't have the latest pictures with me. Not to spoil the suspense, but I am installing a valve on the supply and return for the heater system since I bailed on trying to replace the heater lines connected to the tee buried DEEP under the dash. At least in an emergency, I could isolate and shut off the heating system if a leak developed. I also replaced a couple of coolant lines in the engine bay and the couplers under the nose. The prior owner had already replaced some of the couplers, so not all of the hoses are 30 years old. More to come..........

 

What fresh air hoses are you referring to?

 

Just curious-why leave it as R-12? I should know this working for an HVAC company?

I usually agree to dig in a little deeper, but the car has basically been down for 3 months and enough is enough. Belts will need to be done this year so I may dig in again then. Getting back to the exchangers won't be an issue and I can valve off the HVAC system so hopefully I won't have to drain the whole system again. Work sure does impede on my car time. Time to buy a lottery ticket.

I'll post more details, but the car is running again. It's still on jack stands and has air in the passenger side HVAC system and not circulating on that side. I've also got a slow leak on the pressure test but that is for another day. I can at least see the light at the end of the tunnel for getting to drive it again.

Most neighbors know we are car people and don't think much of it. However, the wife of a new neighbor gave me an odd look recently when she walked by with her dog. I was in the driveway last week sitting on a stool washing the ferrari rims. There was no car in the driveway. The rims were already off the car and I was having new tires mounted. It made sense to me anyway. I just smiled and waved.

We all have our quirks!

 

The ac system is currently not working. The ppi said it isn't blowing cold air. I haven't even turned it on and figured I'll get to it eventually. It's not high on the priority list but I may recharge it and see if that is the issue. I can get most any freon from work.

 

I'll have to do some research. I work in HR and safety, so I'm not all that familiar with our service department. I don't always know the answers but I usually know who to ask.

 

I thought about a 90 degree fitting when I was trying to figure out how to make it work, but I wasn't sure I could get the line to bend to connect the pump and accumulator. The fittings for the accumulator and pump aren't at the same "height" and there wouldn't have been much room for the braided line to bend once you put the sleeves on each end of the line.

If/when I ever have to take it apart again, I may hit you up for the 90 degree fitting and see if that would work. At the moment it works, and that is all I care about.

 

I've been a little delinquent in updating this thread, but it isn't because the work hasn't continued. When I last left, I had successfully pulled the long heater hose from the nose to the engine bay with no issues. Since I decided to not replace all the heater hoses in the nose, I thought it would be a good idea to have the ability to isolate the whole heating system in case there was ever a leak in either of the heat exchangers or old hoses. I read on the forum that someone install a valve on the supply and return line, so that is the route I went.

I bought two valves from Lowes and two barb fittings to install in the heater system.
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I installed one valve in the supply line in the engine bay.
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And one in the return line about 2' before it ties into the return hard pipe in the front of the car.
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I removed valve handles to make them more compact, but will keep a handle in the trunk. I can now completely isolate the heater system if I ever have a sever leak and it won't leave me stranded.

Once the long hose was fully connected, I then replaced the two couplers on the hard pipes right behind the battery.

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All of the other couplers on the hard pipes has been replaced by the prior owner.

 

I also replaced these heater hoses in the nose. The long heater hose attaches at the circled location.
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I then moved to the engine bay and replaced a couple of lines that were fairly accessible. First up with this line.

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I had to remove a number of hoses and such to get to the hose clamp at the end opposite the coolant tank. A little tip-I like to put a balloon on each hose and hose attachment point for three reasons. First it keeps fluids from dripping on the engine. Second it keeps debris out and third it helps you locate all the attachment points. You can see the balloons in the picture above.

I finally replaced this little elbow underneath the coolant tank.

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Once everything was connected, I filled and bled the system per the directions found on the forum and pressure tested the system. I then spent the next couple of days tracking down minor leaks. At least none of the leaks were from areas I touched. They were mostly hose clamps that needed tightening from the prior owners coupler replacement.

 

While I was at it, the car also got an oil change, air filter change and a new rubber boot on the air filter box. This one had seen better days.

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This was the pile of parts that came off the car. The two couplers are in the zip lock bags.

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During this round of repairs, the car also got some new shoes. I went with the Bridgestone RE-11A'a. I have them on another car and have been pleased. We live in SC, so it never really gets cold here.

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