JohnJ's 87 924S Rehabilitation

[OK-944]

yeah...but the very asymmetrical nature of whats left of the rubber implies that it just dried up and fell apart due to gravity over the 12 years it was idle.
You think?

[jjeffries]

OK944 .... Maybe? I hadn't considered that as a possibility. Hmmmmmm .....

John

[djnolan]

Don't those clutches have some "emergency" tabs so it will still drive the car if the rubber breaks? I have a 86 944 needing a clutch I am told. When starting to decelerate there is a clunk in the driveline like something slipped for a second.

[TheSecondChris]

I thought there were metal hooks

[KTL]

Is the remainder of the rubber damper dry/hard? If not then I believe it failed and chunked apart during operation

[Discseven]

Originally Posted by jjeffries

...The last few yards must have been rough.

John

You do have a way with words John. Were I a publishing agent, would have to torture you into novel writing.

ps. Singer with a... SUMP! That's wild!
.

[jjeffries]

... sump and an oil pump. 1940 mfg. Amazing to me.

Must get of my tuchus and learn to use it.

John

[UROParts]

Nice work John! As you mentioned, quality drill bits are worth it. Always good to have a set of standard Ti-coated bits for everyday use, and then a set of rarely-used (and thus sharp) cobalt bits on hand for the tough jobs.

Cobalt drills almost anything with lots of cutting oil, care to keep the flutes from packing with chips (reducing friction and heat buildup), and slow drill speed to keep the cutting edges from overheating. Always slow the drill speed just before you punch through the back side, as this is the moment the tip temperature will peak. (You may want to remove the drill from the hole and clean the hole with a shot of compressed air before cutting the final fraction of an inch.) If you have a ring-shaped burr of metal on the back side of a hole, you came through too hot and the cutting edges on the drill may be dulled. A sharp, cool drill cuts a clean hole.

[jjeffries]

Sounds like you were either in the machine-shop or equipment sales business before joining URO, or are a skilled metal fabricating hobbyist? Good advice ... it's easy to be a bit cavalier with drill bits, but that never ends well. Thanks for stopping by.

John

[jjeffries]

I'm still picking away at assembling/dressing the replacement long-block; parts on order (hoses, o-rings, etc). I did pull the clutch bellhousing as previously described but I'm not sure I've updated the thread since removing the clutch release bearing cross shaft. Wow: that piece of steel did not want to come out; advice came from an older thread that I bumped recently in appreciation and to leave as a further marker to those who come after us.

You'll have observed that I like to clean and freshen parts to be ready once reassembly begins. Hence I've scrubbed items such as the intake manifold, Air Oil Separator, etc. This weekend I tackled the steering rack/cross-member.

Nothing too notable here, but I did take pictures.

I used my now-standard technique of Simple Green, then Fast Orange hand cleaner, albeit this time with a hand scrub brush, as opposed to an attachment on a drill.

The rack showed no signs of previous leakage, but I realize it would be of questionable judgment to not reseal it now.

My friend Jon forwarded me an article from 924.org to guide my efforts; will order parts this week.

Kind regards to all,
John

[Spring44]

John, I like your idea of removing the crossmember to replace or repair the rack. It lets you remove and reinstall those crazy bent pressure and return lines on the workbench, rather than on the car, where your chances of kinking one of those expensive metal tubes goes up dramatically. Also, it is just much easier to disassemble and reassemble without the engine and body in the way.

If you also need to replace the motor mounts, it is an additional bonus to do it this way.

[jjeffries]

Hi Spring, thanks for stopping by.

I had to remove the engine from this car in order to get the gas tank out for repair; it needed to come out anyhow because it's locked up solid.

Being that I'm lucky enough to have the car on a mid-rise lift, it seemed like a no-brainer to drop then remove it from underneath, which meant I also dropped the cross-member and PS rack in one fell swoop, by disconnecting both control arms from the struts at the ball joints.

I'm doing all this for fun and edification so will go a few steps further if that allows me to reassemble a cleaner and more reliable car.

Question for the veteran mechanics here: would you also reseal the PS Pump, or is that a part with a lower failure rate, and/or a sleeping dog I'd be best leaving alone? The fluid I drained from the PS system was clear and clean. Thoughts appreciated.

Thanks, John

[911tracker85]

had to remove the engine from this car in order to get the gas tank out for repair

really?

[Jay H]

Originally Posted by jjeffries

Question for the veteran mechanics here: would you also reseal the PS Pump, or is that a part with a lower failure rate, and/or a sleeping dog I'd be best leaving alone? The fluid I drained from the PS system was clear and clean. Thoughts appreciated.

Thanks, John

My rack had 186,000 miles on it and was leaking quite a bit. This winter, I pulled it and replaced it with a rebuilt unit. The rebuilt rack is ever so slightly tighter in operation (though could be attributed to everything else being replaced as well in the steering and front suspension) and I noticed the difference, but I'm pretty picky and particular on my cars. I feel most people wouldn't even know there was a new rack installed (other than the lack of oil leaks) in my instance. Even after 186k on the clock, the wear and tear didn't seem excessive in the steering.

I'd leave that rack intact and untouched since it's not leaking and the fluid looked good. If it ain't broke, don't fix it? Would the rack start leaking once you started driving the car regularly and fluid started moving through the system? Maybe others can help...?

On the flip side, if you refresh the seals now, you'll never have to do it again. With your skills, I'm sure the refresh of seals will not be all that difficult for you.

Disclaimer: I'm not much of a mechanic and others may have a different thought process.

[jjeffries]

Originally Posted by 911tracker85

really?

Yes, see page 6 or thereabouts.

But here's the sequence:
- I wanted to get the gas tank out; requires transaxle removal;
- to pull the transaxle,you have to split it from the driveshaft/torque-tube with the two 180 degrees-apart cap screws on the coupler ... I could not turn the driveshaft to get the second one out
-the clutch plate was stuck to the flywheel
-the engine was seized

Ergo ... Out came the motor.

All good,
John

[jjeffries]

Originally Posted by Jay H

My rack had 186,000 miles on it and was leaking quite a bit. This winter, I pulled it and replaced it with a rebuilt unit. The rebuilt rack is ever so slightly tighter in operation (though could be attributed to everything else being replaced as well in the steering and front suspension) and I noticed the difference, but I'm pretty picky and particular on my cars. I feel most people wouldn't even know there was a new rack installed (other than the lack of oil leaks) in my instance. Even after 186k on the clock, the wear and tear didn't seem excessive in the steering.

I'd leave that rack intact and untouched since it's not leaking and the fluid looked good. If it ain't broke, don't fix it? Would the rack start leaking once you started driving the car regularly and fluid started moving through the system? Maybe others can help...?

On the flip side, if you refresh the seals now, you'll never have to do it again. With your skills, I'm sure the refresh of seals will not be all that difficult for you.

Disclaimer: I'm not much of a mechanic and others may have a different thought process.

Jay, good to see your comments. It would be great to drive your car to know how a good 924S is supposed to go down the road. I'll do the rack while it's sitting there on my bench. I already overhauled a likely-good torque-tube ...

Best, John

[Spring44]

The pump seal kit is only about $25 and takes an hour or less to install and there are good videos on the topic. The pump will never be easier to access than it is right now with the engine out.
The rack reseal is higher on the difficultly scale, especially removing the old seals from deep down in a long tube, but it is doable. The kit is $80-90.


Good luck!

[jjeffries]

Someone asked me just now what progress I've been making. Answer: not much. Need to order some parts and wait for some already-ordered stuff to show up; the two tasks at hand are the P/S rack reseal and dressing the replacement engine. Plus, work (as in, real life) has ramped way back up.

Like many of you, I imagine, I need to get rid of stuff, especially as we hope to soon be sans kids at home. A good example is bicycles: my wife and I each have Giant (Chinese) cruiser bikes, ideal for what minimal riding we do nowadays. But when we were younger - I'm talking 25+ years ago - we were more adventurous, she with her 1970's Motobecane women's frame road bike, and me with an unusually nice Raleigh a friend gave me when we lived near Philly. It's a "plain" Super Grand Prix (no Reynolds 531 tubing), so not particularly light, but just a relic from another time (the 1970's ...) when things were made to a delightful standard. I know, the 1970's was the time of the Ford Maverick and Sears Menswear, but let's just agree that back then Raleigh's were made in Nottingham, England and they were nice.

Note, these pictures taken before this weekend's cleaning

But nowadays we never ride these two classics, so I put them on CraigsList. The Motobecane wasn't in as good shape as I remembered ... steel wheels with big wobbles and the wrong derailleurs, installed by a hack bike shop in Latham NY in 1991. A young woman expressed interest and had ... wait for it ... impeccable CL manners! Please and Thank You, questions asked respectfully and answers to my questions provided swiftly. Long story short, on Friday I put new tires and tubes on (because I went to test drive it and the dry-rotted rear went POP), then met her and her BF at a local commuter parking lot, and gave it to her in exchange for two homemade jars of jam. Good karma.

More pre-cleaning photos.

The Raleigh: one guy wrote and asked what the standing height was; I'd provided the frame dimensions in the ad but this measurement (I believe it means height of the crossbar) was new to me, so I measured it and advised him. I'd already said in my ad, "tall guy bike; I'm 6'1" with a 32 inseam and it fits me OK but would also work for people taller than me". He comes back with "I'm 5'10" will it fit me?", then, in the same email, his piece de resistance, "Why did you fail to put the standing height in the ad?". I had to check myself, wanting to say something very rude, but stopped myself from talking out all my (many) current angers and going DefCon4 on this little puke.

Pre-cleaning photos.

Another guy has since expressed interest but must have a very complicated life because he cannot seem to stick to an appointment, although he does give warning when he can't make it; I'll give him credit for that.

Pre cleaning photos.

So what did I do instead of working on the 924S (remember the "S"!) this weekend? I cleaned the Raleigh rather well. No disassembly, but old toothbrushes, WD40, lacquer thinner, leather balm, Simichrome, Britemax polish and Pure Carnuba wax all made appearances.

Pre-cleaning photos.

I already have LOTS of stuff related to my car and tool obsessions, so keeping this bike because it's pretty and reminds me of the gorgeous engineering my mother country is capable of isn't really sensible, but ... I guess we'll see if the fellow with the complex schedule can actually pick a date and stick to it.

After maybe 4 hours of cosmetic TLC. Really? Yes.

Best to all,
John

[djnolan]

Originally Posted by Spring44

The pump seal kit is only about $25 and takes an hour or less to install and there are good videos on the topic. The pump will never be easier to access than it is right now with the engine out.
The rack reseal is higher on the difficultly scale, especially removing the old seals from deep down in a long tube, but it is doable. The kit is $80-90.


Good luck!

I agree, definaely do the pump seals, and while the fluid is out, I would also recommend replacing any of the rubber lines with tranny line using fuel line clamps or spring clamps as you don't want weeping lines. Except for the pressure line, (they do rupture) that one needs to be replaced with the crimp collar type. The fluid resovoir has a filter in it, may want to replace that too.

[jjeffries]

DJN, much appreciated.
John