Fan/shroud blasting options/input

[mhackney]

Folks have claimed success with Gibbs. Since I have that, I'll give it a shot. If it looks like it will be a problem I can always clean and treat it with Wurth in the future.

[mhackney]

I hate when this happens, I got everything back together and have this bolt and washer left over:



I photographed the removal and can't figure out where that one came from. Anyone have any ideas? Perhaps it fastened the bottom of the fan shroud?

In any event, everything is back together, gratuitous engine compartment glamor shot:



But I'm hesitant to start her up until I figure out what the extra bolt is.

[jbell959]

Originally Posted by mhackney

I hate when this happens, I got everything back together and have this bolt and washer left over:



I photographed the removal and can't figure out where that one came from. Anyone have any ideas? Perhaps it fastened the bottom of the fan shroud?

What size is the bolt? Guessing it's an M6. How long is it? Probably missed one around the shroud or air ducts.

[mhackney]

It looks to be an M6 about 12mm long. I double and triple checked everywhere around the shroud that I can see. The air ducts I do remember because I just replaced the large cross tube when I deleted the AC.

[mhackney]

Ok, a little snooping in the PET and I think it's one of these:



I vaguely recall having to remove the lower right one to get the shroud out since this car is a cab with that extra strut that gets in the way. Now I have to figure out how much disassembly is required to get out back in. I must have taken it out in order to get the shroud out so it might not be too bad. And it is an M6 x 12 so that collaborates with the part in hand.

[mhackney]

Ok, so I found where the missing bolt goes, it did fasten a lower sheet metal piece:



So I buttoned things up and installed the new Interstate battery. I tested the voltage on the battery at 12.4V.

I then fired her up, first crank. The little cigarette lighter volt meter was showing 12.1-12.2V. I pulled out the volt meter and measure 14.5 volts at the terminal in the engine compartment, the red wire to the right of the blue fuse. The wire below it is switched and measured 12.2V



I then measured the battery while the car was running at 12.2V. With the car off, the battery is 12.4V.

So I still have some sort of charging issue. So let me quickly recap what's been going on the last 3 weeks when this started:

4th of July weekend we pulled the engine to replace a transmission seal

7th of July I drove 400 miles to Rochester, NY all fine

8th of July I drove 400 mile back to MA and that's when the charging issue started showing up and I started the other thread to get some diagnostic help. My battery was very old so I decided to replace that. My alt seemed to be having a problem so I decided to replace that too. The 83 alt has the built in voltage regulator so in essence I replaced the battery, alt and VR. Today I got it back together and am still having the issue. Any recommendations?

[mhackney]

Mystery solved...

So, it turns out that when we dropped the engine we had hand tightened the two wires on the + terminal of the starter motor. Somehow the boot got pulled over the leads. In the process of diagnosing this issue I discovered that the wires were very loose and when I removed the boot discovered that the nut holding the wires was so loose I removed it by hand. One of these wires is the red (thick) that goes to the alternator. The other is the huge black wire that goes directly to the battery + terminal. My understanding now, is that when the starter is activated, current flows through that big wire to energize the starter. Once started, the battery is charged through that big wire and the current from the alternator comes through the smaller red wire. I *think* that's how it works anyway! When I cleaned the terminals and installed the wires properly the voltage at the battery jumped to 12.40 and so did the reading on the cigarette lighter meter. I measured everything with my volt meter and it all seemed in order so I went for an hour drive and things are looking good.

So, it seems that the battery and alt were not (completely) at fault. But, my battery was quite old and needed to be replaced sooner or later anyway. And, removing the alt I discovered the broken shroud which really needed to be replaced too. And the fan and shroud cleaned up nicely so it was worth it all in the end!

[mhackney]

Ok, let me wrap this thread up! First, the top hole on the plastic shroud was broken as you can see here:



I fashioned a crescent shaped washer to provide extra support:


(the photo makes it look like it's bent but it isn't, I used a good piece of steel for this)

You can see in the 1st photo the wires cleaned up nicely. The fat brown one is the ground that goes back to the engine. Here's the back of the alternator:



The terminal at the top is #61 and the single blue wire attaches there. The terminal to the right of the black voltage regulator (the part at the bottom) is B+ and the red wires connect there. You can't see it in the photo but there is a B+ stamped near that post. To the left is D1 and that is where all the brown ground wires attach. My car did not have a ground strap like I've seen on earlier SCs, it has a fat brown wire that looks original (exact color match, professional crimping, etc) and it was attached at this post so I assembled the same way.


Once the wiring was hooked up, simply slide the plastic shroud over the posts (5 of them, the 6th is below the VR and as you can see in the 3rd photo already has a nut to hold the alt to the shroud). This was one of the trickier steps as there was not a lot of room in there for my hands. But a little wiggling and I got it on and the 5 nuts and washers (10mm) tightened - including the new crescent washer for the top. I did all of this without the fan attached to the alt.

Then I fastened the strap and finished up the hose mounts.





And this is what I got for my efforts. I think the fan and shroud are perfect! I'd like to have the hardware (clamps, strap, etc) plated (cadmium?) to get that original yellow color. That would be the bees knees.

[Attylla]

Originally Posted by RSTarga

Blasted, chromated and oiled:

I love the look achieved in this process
Would anyone be able to touch on the oiling part of it?
What oil, hot or cold, spraying or dipping?

Very interesting