(has done been continuing)
(today, I wasted more time to index the windshield's lower chrome trim cap to the exact center of the vehicle . . . this may be the only place in my life ever where anyone would almost have a passing interest in such arcana)
The chrome trim replacement may look better from ten feet or so, but any closer and you can tell it is "disturbed", and that:
a) makes me sad for this deteriorating world that inexorably tears things down and oxidizes them and corrodes them and breaks them down in countless ways, and the BobD now looks less than immaculate-though-shiny.
b) triggers my catastrophizing, the car is ruined! it looks like hell! F it! I don't care any more!
( I have subsequently fixed that pulled radius in the lower corner closest to the camera)
This is a good distance to enjoy the view without little niggling critiques:
But look at this! Look at this! There is nothing to be done! The trim cap doesn't know how to lay down on the new chrome profile! This is the sliding door window. One more moment where I have to retire not only my own standards, but lose the example of how beautifully these cars were originally put together:
Now, the poor BobD has informed me that the honeymoon is indeed over. I have had a clacky hydraulic lifter begin to plague me at too many start-ups. So, at my first valve adjustment in three years, I decided to remove said lifter once I discovered which one was "soggy". Here is the 110,760 mile engine under the lower tin:
Here is the heater valve dump tube, painted in 2011 outside of Fort Worth TX.
viewtopic.php?f=65&t=10045#p179583
That is primer plus clearcoat. Looks like the factory paint and is cheap and easy to execute, and heck, it has held up fine:
110,000 miles of some pretty hot driving and all, and the head areas looked fine. This picture was taken minutes before my ten-year-long honeymoon was over:
Yeah, party's over, right here:
The above slightly blurry photograph shows #1 intake valve stem mushrooming. It means that the valve adjusting screw was not properly offset from dead-on center. The rocker arm needs a thrust washer to move it barely a half-millimeter to either side, but I fear that it is too late. THEN I thought to check the torques of the head nuts while the rockers were off. Dang again. One was at 12, another was 15 then 17 and a 20. Torque value is supposed to be 23. With torque values this low, there is a risk of distorting the heads by tightening only the lower ones. So, I decided to just do an easy zip up to 20 for all of them. Better than before, but not so much as to distort the heads too much. The engine needs to be torn down when I get a chance.
In the good news department, the hydraulic lifter "overhaul" was quick and it works like a charm now, that engine quieted down in seconds at first start. Lifter bottom (110,760 miles) looked pretty OK sort-of, if you ignore the caved-in bevel from outside to inside:
(put a towel over the lifter as you pry the circlip out, so it does not launch into low Earth orbit)
Circlip, pushrod follower, lifter piston, lifter body:
There is the spring that your screwdriver pushes against as you preload the lifter to 1 1/2 or 2 turns:
THIS, this little ball was why my lifter was clacky. It wasn't sealing well under oil pressure. I filled the chamber with GumOut and pressed the ball against its little seat spring and let the GumOut drain through a few times:
Cleaned everything very clean, filled the clean lifter body with some oil and stuck the clean spring in it:
The piston has a little chamber with a spring for that ball I was writing about. That chamber also serves to index the lifter spring. There are drain slots under the spring/ball and it all has to be clean:
Oiled over the piston, pressed the ball under the oil with a well, test light probe, watched it drain down, and presto, the lifter has enough oil in it to pump up readily:
Pressed the ball with the electrical tester, pushed down on the piston, crammed a 2.5 mm allen wrench end in the lubrication hole to hold the piston down artificially against the spring. Stuck the lifter follower on the piston and snapped the circlip into its groove to hold it all together. Had to wrestle the allen wrench out of the hole.
Stuck the lifter in, reassembled the rockers, adjusted the valves, and cleaned both valve covers shiny so I can keep an eye on any future broiling oil-come-coke deposits:
After all of this, I thought the BobD was going to be "grateful" for a little love. And it was, all the way to WalMart and back and until the next morning.
(to be recontinued)
![Image](http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x133/73VW1800/IAC%2018%2004/04%20FL%2062.jpg)
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles