The story of "Swamp Thing"

[Happy]

I have seen posts here, that suggest replacing brake lines exposed to salt. Especially one in particular underneath, in the rear.

[Purplefade]

Yep, those brake lines will go at the least opportune time and leave you either stranded or praying you stop... ask me how I know... best to be proactive on those for sure

All in all a pretty straight forward job.

To your helper, that’s how we came upon our second dog, opened the door one morning to get an amazon package and zoom!, in she came! We searched and searched the neighborhood, put up pictures, you name it, now, three years later she’s part of the family and follows me from the family room to the garage to my office... I feel sometimes like I have a growth


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[c-bass]

Originally Posted by Purplefade

Yep, those brake lines will go at the least opportune time and leave you either stranded or praying you stop... ask me how I know... best to be proactive on those for sure

All in all a pretty straight forward job.

To your helper, that’s how we came upon our second dog, opened the door one morning to get an amazon package and zoom!, in she came! We searched and searched the neighborhood, put up pictures, you name it, now, three years later she’s part of the family and follows me from the family room to the garage to my office... I feel sometimes like I have a growth


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Happened to me one day with a Ford Excursion I used to own.

Coming off the highway exit ramp foot went to the floor, I managed to get it slowed down enough to be able to take the ramp and turn into a nearby mall parking lot.

The brake line split about a half inch and would squirt an ounce of fluid each time I stepped on the brake.

[Excessive cat information to follow below]

We have a house in the country and one spring the local feral cats had several litters of kittens at the same time so there were 12 kittens running all over the property. The Mrs found great homes for 9 of them and the ones remaining well, you can't just send them back.

We had two cats in the house at the time and weren't looking for more. One was a kitten from the year before that was left for dead by the mom because it was so sickly. Of course the Mrs. nursed it back to health and she took to the indoor life quite well. The other was an older cat she's had for years.

At the end of the day we'd try to get the two cats in the house before the freaks come out at night, and Sox used to time it so that he'd run in the house and hide hoping he wouldn't get kicked out. The Mrs. didn't want him in there because he had fleas, tics etc, etc,. but eventually he managed to evade her for a night, which he parlayed into a full time position.

So now we have a Total of 4

[Happy]

Here is a pic of mine.



In his mind though.. He thinks I am the helper.

[c-bass]

Originally Posted by Happy

Here is a pic of mine.



In his mind though.. He thinks I am the helper.

It's ok, I regularly get manipulated by these turds

Cool color/striping what's his name?

[Happy]

Originally Posted by c-bass

It's ok, I regularly get manipulated by these turds

Cool color/striping what's his name?

His name is Romeo, and he is a Snow Bengal. His cognitive function is relative to a human toddler. He keeps me very busy.

[c-bass]

Let's get caught up with some updates, but first

THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT...DON'T EVER BUY PARTS FROM PARTSAVATAR.CA

Sooooo....the last couple weeks have been very frustrating for me. I am currently being outsmarted by the "good" vehicle I bought the wife while I got Swampy on her feet and that has backfired to epic proportions. (I will be starting a new thread about those issues)

We left off with some rusty brake lines so I ordered the parts and figured a few days later I should have them. Enter partsavatar.ca

I usually get my parts from Rockauto and ever since they figured out how to deal with the border crossing extortion (read: duties, taxes, and misc fees) it's been pretty much my go to place. I thought that ordering "local" without having to deal with borders should get my parts to me faster and boy was I wrong. I don't want to get into all the details but let's just say this is one of those times I should have checked the google reviews.

Anyway horrible customer service and I'll never do business with them again. Steer clear of them.

After I ordered the brake parts I turned my attention to the fan clutch/water pump situation. Luckily I had a water pump sitting on the shelf and I found a guy online selling a new fan and clutch for $40. Sweet!

The drain on the rad was being stubborn but finally cooperated and much like the last 3 BMWs I've had to do this on the coolant was nasty and green.



Every time I have to remove a fan clutch it's always a pain in the ass for me so I was sort of ready for that, however while trying to get it off my cheapo Amazon fan clutch wrench stretched out and would just spin around the nut

Prime shipping got a new tool to me the next day and I spent a couple days off and on trying to get the fan off, but failed.

so it's time for the 50's kid super secret option 3, doing it the long way.

Move the fan shroud over and try to remove the fan blades first







Success!

Next up is to remove the bolts from the water pump pulley. I happened to notice that one of the bolts wasn't even in all the way and the rest were just a little bit above finger tight.



Next up is to undo the water pump bolts and get the pump out. The pump didn't want to come out but a few wacks with a 2x4 changed it's mind.



The bearing on the pump feels really good, but the o-ring was shot and looks like it was possibly slightly leaking already.



For the replacement I went with a Saleri brand and metal impeller





New water pump is installed



So after I got the new pump installed I realized my old water pump pulley is being held captive by the seized fan clutch.

I also completely neglected to acknowledge that I should probably replace the idler and tensioner pulley. Which of course sound like skateboard wheels

Guess I'll be ordering some more parts and waiting...but hey, at least the water pump is in and I didn't make things worse. I'll take that as a victory for now.

[Effduration]

If you open the brake system to replace those rear hoses (rubber/steel), you might as well have a look at the steel brake lines that run under the driver's side. They are likely rotted as well. Look at CN90's brake line DIY

[crystalworks]

Nice work. M54 cooling systems are always "fun."

That looks like a composite impeller on that new Saleri water pump though. Not that its a problem. All the metal impeller ones I've seen were bright silver metal.

[c-bass]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Nice work. M54 cooling systems are always "fun."

That looks like a composite impeller on that new Saleri water pump though. Not that its a problem. All the metal impeller ones I've seen were bright silver metal.

I know what you mean, I've only seen the shiny metal impellers myself and I don't know for sure, but it sounds metal-y when I tapped on it.

Maybe it's some metal "composite" but it definitely feels and sounds different than the plastic that came out of there.