The Adventures of 42137: A Shipwright's Tale

He does a quick check to make sure the emissions stuff is there, runs it bit on the dyno and says I pass! WooHoo! I paid my $80 and got the printout and the car is pretty much average as far as emissions. I don't know if anything I did (intense Techron, new injectors, new extenders, new spark plugs, new wires, lots of heat) made a difference or not, I don't know how well my leaky intake valve is sealing, but a pass is a pass. I'm good to drive legally.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

So I'll call this phase done. And befitting the shipwright's title of the thread, this is what broke and started the whole thing.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

...and this is some of the parts I replaced to fix it. 'Cause you know, since I was already in there I might as well.

(Missing from this photo are a bunch of things: gaskets, header heat shields, 3 timing belts...)
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Thanks for the help. You know, I think there's more pictures of you in this thread than of me (as long as my hand doesn't count).

I ordered a clutch cable today. I'm pretty sure that's the cause of the grinding feeling. I even disassembled the clutch to take a look and everything looks fine, I just wanted to be sure. The grinding is getting a little better, but it is clearly not going to go away. And it is probably the first symptom, the next one being a broken cable.

 

I got my new clutch cable in the mail. Installation was pretty easy after reading a few posts here from other who have done it. The big thing to know is that the rubber plug in the floor pan covers an important junction for the clutch cable and needs to be removed to change the cable. The other thing I discovered is that using a big zip tie to hold the clutch pedal all the way up the the steering column is a huge help. (picture is sideways, but that is how it looks wedged between the door, seat and steering wheel anyways) This only works on the later cars or those with the updated clutch pedal. I pulled the old cable out and was surprised to find....nothing unusual. Looks like a fine cable. No wear, so broken strands, no rust. If I didn't have a new one in my hands I wouldn't hesitate to put it right back in.

But I have a new one. I lubed the cable where it runs through the sheath and put it in. And the grinding is still there. What is left? I checked inside the bell housing and it all looks great. I have a new cable. Some searching here reveals that someone found his pedal pivot bearings were crusty. I think that's all that's left.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I sprayed the pedal pivots from below with some oil lube and let it sit over night. Still kind of crunchy. So I took the lid off of the pedal box. There are heater hoses in the way. This, of course, means draining the coolant because every job somehow requires dealing with coolant no matter how unrelated you think it might be. I changed some of the old heater hoses with some of the silicone hose I had left. From the top I could aim better and make sure I got everything well lubed. I polished up the pedal box lid while I waited for penetration into the pivots because polishing is what I do when I don't know what else to do.

And it is still just as crunchy.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

One more time under the car. My wife operating the clutch pedal. The cable transmits the noise everywhere, but finally I found it.

The pin that connects the cable clevis to the arm on the bell housing is a smidge too long, and/or perhaps the engine is just a tad but further to the left than before. The end of the pin is scraping the frame rail.

So after eight hours of work, $150 worth of parts, it turns out to be a free fix that takes five minutes. Dang.

But the clutch action is silky smooth now.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I pulled off the front under plate to drain the coolant out the heater return hose. Of course it got shined up before going back on. It still has battle scars but it cleaned up well. If I ever run you over be sure to have a look as you go under.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

No, the frame rail is in the way. There isn't much clearance there. Two minutes of bench grinder took off the tip of the pin and I am good to go.

 

I've been driving the car here and there and things are good. I have a rattle that I think I found the source of. The rattle is just a moment as the car returns to idle right around 1300 rpm. I found one of the catalytic converter heat shields had a broken weld on one corner and I think the vibration at 1300 is just right for this to rattle.

There are two really crummy welders in my garage. One is a 120V 20A stick welder that I got for free. And even then it wasn't a great deal. It just isn't powerful enough to keep the arc going and loves to glue the rod to the work. The other crummy welder is me. So between the two of us, well it isn't great. But this is invisible and not structural.

So I glob a little weld in the corner and the heat shield can't move now.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

While under the car I find a little glob of black goo on the sway bar. And then I look and there are little black boogers on a bunch of things. A little more investigation and I find the outboard right CV boot clamp isn't sealing and CV grease if flung about. Dang.

An interesting note about that. The 308 workshop manual says to put 140 grams of grease in each joint. The average CV grease packet has something like 80 grams. I bought extra grease and loaded each joint to somewhere close to 140. Not long after that in a separate thread a pro mechanic (fast radio?) mentions that 140 is too much and that 80 is about right and that 140 will make a mess. So perhaps that is part of the problem.

CV grease is nasty and I don't feel like getting quite that dirty. I polish the real under plate to drown my sorrows because polishing is what I do when I'm avoiding doing something else.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Armed with a roll of paper towels and rubber gloves I cleaned off the suspension, CV joint and boot of the grease. The boot is a little loose on the flange. It appears that the boot is too stretched out - I clamped the little end of the boot too far towards the middle of the axle so when the joint was pulled apart it tried to pull the boot off of the flange. I loosened the little clamp and scooted the boot end out an inch and reclamped. I took the big clamp off straightened it out, cleaned everything up pretty well and reclamped it. I give it a 50/50 chance of being ok. I think there's a chance I'll need to get a new clamp. These clamps aren't designed for reuse. But as a free fix without much downside I'll give it a shot.

 

This is a cool thing I bought since I was already buying parts. It is the Hill Engineering wheel guide. Apparently there is something like this included in some of the tool rolls, but since I've never owned a 308 tool kit, I've never seen one. I considered just buying a bolt and cutting the head off, but I was already buying parts and it isn't that much more than getting a bolt this size.

And it works! That is way easier than all of the gyrations I usually do to get the wheel on. I like it!
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I've used different things over the years, including Simichrome. Right now I'm working my way through a tub of Mother's polish. I also have a bench grinder outfitted with both a sewn and non-sewn cloth wheel and use various rouge sticks.