Nice! What are the specs on your build?

 

My son reported a vibration at 65 + mph so the long delayed front end rebuild is going on. Hard to keep my hands away so he can learn and since this is his first time it's taking longer that I expected.

Also I will never buy another used vehicle from Iowa as the frame was so full of dirt and rust that it took 2 hours to clear the holes for the bolts on the steering box remounting. The steering box and power steering pump were leaking and have been replaced along with the hoses.

But this a greasy dirty mess underneath and my son claims he washed the engine bay and under carriage but he is realizing it was far dirtier than he knew. He didn't like how dirty it was when we replaced the idler and pitman arms

The goal for today is getting the power steering pulley back on and the system flushed and bled, new tie rods inner and outer in and perhaps get one side control arms out and prepped for paint.

 

 

here is some of the stuff I've learned to help with breaking parts on my 2000 blazer and 2002 sonoma.., 98 up door pulls that was broke out bad and 2 center console lids i found and decided to make stronger with fiberglass 2-3 layers on average on door pulls ,depending on how bad they was cracked or broke ,3 layers on the lids cut to fit tight so it will hold up, ( i lean on it all the time and when i did these i was at 400 lbs, loosing now) these have been over a year now no problems, just a heaver lid.i first did mt sonoma like this 3 years ago 2 layers and it holds up well just by removing the loose foam, and taping ALL visible areas and tape over the screws holes just in case , and some aluminum foil for the forming of missing thin plastic if needed ,of the door pulls doing 1 side ,then doing the back side later and there, stronger than new ,i did take a grinder flapper wheel to shape the door pulls flat, that would be easy to slip and mess up with though just what i had to work with.

 

Nice. Did you use epoxy (like West System) or did you use the resin type? Has your repair adhered to the ABS well?

I just recently repaired my console lid by welding more ABS scraps using acetone. It seems to be working pretty well too.

 

i just used resin from the local auto parts store, it sticks well resin then fiberglass then more resin i had too many picks to put on here so i pickes the few i thought would show the most the best,its best to do a few stages sometimes if it dont want to work well depending on the repair the lids was better all at once nice and wet laid , the door pulls look like in the pick i chose may not had been the final coat, or it its just the edges that look ruff magnified on here lol , it cam out solid i got another to do soon so i may go ahead and do the project truck and not waist a brush on 1 door pull ,even if not perfect they hold great, and better than trying to find some ,i have thought about doing them but buying them would probably get more costly than sellable i think, idk its cheep to fix + time, im still learning the plastic weld, just have a cheep harbor freight welder /solder iron lookin thing i think i can do better with a torch that it plugged up just aint hot

 

Fuel evap canister, had some idling issues and massive fuel consumption. Evap canister was leaking

 

Replaced the Vapor Canister Purge Valve Solenoid under the hood and also the vapor canister vent valve located above the rear axle. While the valve was off I wire brushed the bracket and put Rustoleum rust reformer on it and then some flat black and put new electrical tape on the connector. Makes for a cleaner looking install.

The solenoid had a crack in it so needed to replace that and figured I'd replaced the vent valve too. If anything the old original one will be cleaned up and either sold or used as a spare. Vapor canister taken out and looked over and it was still good.



Before

After

 

I was talking to a mechanic and he told me that he doesn't use a ball joint press to remove control arm bushings. He uses an air hammer and dents in the shell where it meets the control. If you do it right you can get the bushing to roll and dimple it all the way around. Still used penetrating oil. Also didn't need to burn the rubber out.

Also the air hammer can be used to push the bushing out.

I have a hard time getting something to match up to the front lower bushing anyway.

I will "helping" my son clean up and paint the pieces but I think I will be doing most of the work.

 

Bypassed the heater core since it was leaking bad and did a coolant flush and clean and figured I may as well remove the water pump to check it and also replace gaskets and decided to paint it and the water pump pulley.

Used Fel-Pro gaskets and Rustoleum High Heat Ceramic paint on it. No leaks so far and looks a lot nicer than the rusty one. Also replaced thermostat, idler pulley, tensioner pulley and belt.

Next I'll have to replace the heater core, but wanted the cooling system done up and clean before I installed the new core.