no sooner do i get comfortable with the new headers and the added hp and a small fiasco begins to unravel (50% is my fault :-( )
Driving home from the beach a few days later Gertie made a strange noise getting off the freeway in Wilsonville (where i live). Almost instantly the temperature of the engine soared to over 250
degrees (normally 180-190). As we pulled into the neighborhood the charge light flickered as the engine died. We coasted down and around the hill to the parking spot.
I jumped out and looked under the hood. The fan had managed to wobble and jam itself under the radiator (luckily the radiator hadn't been damaged). It looked as thought the fan (obviously) and the fan clutch had been damaged.
This is where my odyssey to oblivion begins...
Since I would have to replace the fan I thought it would be better to upgrade the fan to an electric fan.
MISTAKE #1I thought i would start this process by removing the fan clutch so that i could fit the new aftermarket
Flex-A-Lite Fan from
Baxter Auto Parts into the engine compartment.
MISTAKE #2After looking at the clutch and not seeing any reasonable way of getting the clutch off, I decided to take the clutch apart to see if there was a hidden bolt/screw. After unscrewing/tapping/drilling I discovered that there wasn't an easy way to get the clutch off. So in a sa
d state I went down to
Wilsonville Nissan and talked to Bruce in the parts department. After some searching through super session after super session of part numbers we discovered that there are two versions of the water pump, the one with a clutch an pulley and one with nothing. Arrg! I could buy the pulley separately from the water pump but they didn't have any pictures and he couldn't garuntee that they would work together. They had to be special ordered and at $70 for each part I wasnt willing to make that gamble.
So still continuing in this vein I decided to take it to my friend Kai to see if he could possibly cut the clutch off. Kai worked at the clutch for about an hour, using gear pullers, a blow torch, and a Saws-All he finally got it off.
I got it back to Gertie, started to put it in an began to realize that it was going to very, VERY close on clearance. So close in fact that it didn't seem like a good idea to go that direction any longer. CRAP!!
At this point i had to start looking for replacements for the stock parts, which of course I couldn't find anyone that had them in stock....until I went to
Discount Import Parts in Beaverton. They were fantastic. Unfortunately they didn't have the the fan in stock, back to Wilsonville Nissan. The dealership was able to get the fan and they could overnight it from the east coast for around $15. It should be in tomorrow and I should be able to button up this project by the early afternoon.
Wow...lesson learned
Last week The Gert began smelling a bit like gasoline...not just a bit ALOT. Driving was difficult the fumes were so strong. I parked the car and left it overnight. The next day I got in to see if it was a fluke and there was a puddle of gas/sludge in the drivers side floorboard. (it's a little tough to see it in the photo but there was about an inch and a half puddle). It had also started seeping through and dripping out from under the car.
I traced the leak, under the floormat, back under the drivers seat, back through to the back seat. I could see the back seat was saturated in one corner from the gasoline.
So I pulled the whole thing apart. Once i got the gas tank completely out it was easy to see what had happened, the plug secondary outlet on the tank had cracked majorly. The crack was allowing a substantial amount of fuel into the cabin of the car. It ended up being a $0.30 part and it took all day to deal with.
My car still wreaks of gasoline. Now i just have to figure out how to get rid of the smell. I imagine it will go away on its own eventually but i need to speed up the process.
