Topic: My 6.9's

[rumb]

Well, got the gas tank back in properly now, after welding in a patch where PO tore the hole in the trunk. Still need to put in the cover panel in the trunk and the pump assy.

Bought a set of large crow's feet wrenches, - 28-36mm and an extra breaker bar. Made easy work of removing large lines from the dry sump tank.  scraped a huge amount of crud off outside and power washed.  Too bad there was rust and some pin holes in the tank.  Now I get to take the other one off the parts car.

Cleaned injectors and fuel lines and got all that back together.  Sorted out a few wires under battery tray and got most of windscreen and headlight washer parts/ hoses out and new parts for that ordered.

Oh yeah, found a temp sensor mounted in the bumper with a non-std wire running back thru the firewall.  havent looked for the other end yet, suspect some aftermarket stuff somewhere up there?

[daantjie]

Can you post some pics of the pinholes in the tank perhaps?  I want to tackle this job soon on mine and would like to check the spots prone to rust.  I am guessing around the mounting brackets?

[rumb]

The pin holes are on the top. This tank was caked in oily dirt on most side and the top.  It is about 20% rust areas, in 4-5 different areas. that caked on dirt holds water and leads to rust.

I'm not sure why it was so oily, maybe it was the pin holes leaking oil for a long time?

I got the other one out and it is maybe 40% rusty, mostly the side by the fender and the front.  not much caked on dirt and the rust looks lighter than the other. also not very oily.  the brackets did have large gravel/dirt firmly attached.

This is an area of the car that a good washing with pressure hose would be good to do regularly.

At this point the second tank is out, but with all three hoses attached.  I could only get them loose from the oil pan, the ones on the sump are quite rusted on. I even tried double breaker bars and no luck so far. 

[daantjie]

I feel your pain on the hose fittings on the tank side   Man those things are just in the absolute worst spot for rust to take hold!  Problem is if you use too much heat on the coupling you end up melting the rubber inside the coupling and then it becomes impossible to get those off easily so you cannot easily reuse the couplings.
The oil at the top of the tank is from decades of oil top ups and changes which missed the mark and made it's lazy way down the hole in the fender and then gets caked with rust and mud.

[wbrian63]

The pin holes are on the top. This tank was caked in oily dirt on most side and the top.  It is about 20% rust areas, in 4-5 different areas. that caked on dirt holds water and leads to rust.

I'm not sure why it was so oily, maybe it was the pin holes leaking oil for a long time?

I got the other one out and it is maybe 40% rusty, mostly the side by the fender and the front.  not much caked on dirt and the rust looks lighter than the other. also not very oily.  the brackets did have large gravel/dirt firmly attached.

This is an area of the car that a good washing with pressure hose would be good to do regularly.

At this point the second tank is out, but with all three hoses attached.  I could only get them loose from the oil pan, the ones on the sump are quite rusted on. I even tried double breaker bars and no luck so far.

Suggest you clean the tank thoroughly to remove all vestiges of oil - I'd try gasoline first, then follow that with acetone, then with water.

Then get out your blue-point wrench (torch) and heat the living daylights out of the fittings. This will destroy the hoses - in fact, I'd cut the hoses off as close to the fittings as possible. Once you get the fittings good and hot - smoking hot - that should break the hold that the rust has. Let them cool before attempting to remove. Worst thing you can do is rush the process and kink one of the pipes coming out of the tank.

If you can't get the tank into serviceable condition - I have a good non-leaking one I can let you have for reasonable $...

They also show up from time to time on eBay - sometimes for reasonable money, sometimes not...

[rumb]

project creep.  Since I'm in-process on the sump tanks, I've decided to tidy up the right inner fender. Most everything is removed now, need to weld in a new battery tray cross member from the parts car.  the one in is missing about 5-6" in the middle that must of been rusted/hacked out.

Have a couple of cans of anthracite gray (172) spray paint on the way.

Took both radiators out and again the parts car wins with better radiator and correct fan shroud.

It the fan suppose to be painted black?  or just plain aluminum?

cleaned up another 108 pn bundt wheel and using for spare. Got trunk all  back together with cleaned gas tank. flat black paint on the spare cover panel and transferred the hinges from parts car.

[daantjie]

Nice, slow and steady.  I have taken the long view with regards to getting my 6.9 in top notch shape.  I think if you try and tackle too many areas at once it is very easy to get overwhelmed.  I have to constantly remind myself that the car is almost 40 years old, so one cannot expect to get it "right" in a few months

[rumb]

Progress seems slow, though I know things are actually getting done.  It just doesnt look like it.

Focusing on inner fender.  All set up to weld in replacement battery support.

I ordered a Cad plating set from Caswell plating.  I couldnt bear the thought of putting all the little brackets back in looking shabby.

After the welding is done, then time to sand a little, put POR15 on the rust areas, reseal all the seams and then paint.

[rumb]

Progress report.  Besides servicing, restoring and cleaning fuel system - done, radiator - done, and hydraulic system, I have been working on restoring wheel wells. Of course this necessitates stripping all components, cleaning replating, replacing or servicing. I bought a yellow copy-cad system and am replating all the brackets and bolts. It work pretty good, but takes a long time.

Currently rebuilding hydraulic hoses.

Pictures show wheel well preasure washed and stripped of components, then a couple with rubberized texture applied this morning.

Then some of inner wheel well, radiator supports and headlight bucket.

Finally the Webasto heater and a pile of parts glass bead blasted and ready for plating this week.

Excuse the blurry, my hands shake too much to take good pictures anymore.

[daantjie]

Nice work!

Are you planning on refurbing the Webasto unit?  From what I've heard they are notorious for engine fires

[rumb]

I should say on the wheel wells, I first scraped off the aftermarket undercoating, scrubbed everything with simple green, then treated all the rusty spots with POR15 and fixed 2 small rust holes and sealed all the seams. That was followed with the new textured rubberized undercoat.  In a few days it will get painted.

The Webasto for now I'm probably just going to make it look nice, but probably not get it working.

[rumb]

Finally got to put parts back on car. Made new hydraulic hoses using replated ends. Was surprisingly easy to do. Assembled strut unit and installed in car along with refurbed brake cylinder and new hose. Trial set wheel bearings and late today received .01mm dial indicator from amazone. Yesterday plumbed washer hoses and installed pump. Now I get to repeat the whole process for the left side of the car...

[floyd111]

Almost a shame to think road dust will cover all of that plating one day..

[rumb]

Got new keys from dealer.  Guess what, they don't fit anything. The one old key I have is a master and only does ignition and drivers door, and it doesnt fit trunk or glovebox.

The new keys dont fit anything, but the master does grudgingly turn the drivers door, but feels stiff and weird.

Dealer suggest locksmith could redo all the lock tumblers.   


 

[daantjie]

Not much help but my master key opens all locks, driver door,  passenger door,  glove box and trunk.