Tim the Mechanic Our Heroes Car Parts cars Tim's Story David's truck
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Tim the Mechanic Our Heroes Car Parts cars Tim's Story David's truck
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Cars
NEW SHOP OPENED!!! FINALLY!!!
62nd & Downing, Northwest corner. Just getting set up, More details coming!!!
L MY1981 TOYOTA 4X4 ROCK CRAWLER
"THUMPER" Winner 3rd Place Transwest Car show This is my Mistress. It's a 1981Toyota 4x4 pickup. This little truck turns more heads than a screwdriver!!! It has a Detroit Locker rear axle - fun, because it chirps the tires every time I turn a corner. This is my daily driver. Ready for the next snow storm. Actually drives nice, quick!!! Update 6-13-08 "Thumper's new heart". Picked up a nice 4.1L Buick V6, totally rebuilt, bigger pistons cam, spins nicely at 7,000 rpm:
Note that I won 3rd place 1 year prior to these recent upgrade, so this truck is even better now. These taken June, '08:
All the gauges, starts with first touch of the key. Performance cooling fan on engine and an additional electric one on outside of radiator. Headers and custom exhaust including converter. Edelbrock intake manifold & chrome valve covers, Edelbrock 4bbl. carb. The interior is nice, too. The interior does need attention, but it's mostly done. The suspension on this is a little muddy, but it still can't hide the modifications to the axles and frame. Factory it came with 4 shock total. This has 13. This is my daily driver... Suspension and body lift totaling 10". Since this came to me, I've spent much of my limited extra time fixing every flaw. I installed the Buick 231 V6. Most conversion I've seen are either Chevy 350's or Ford 302's. The rear tires chirp shifting from 1st to 2nd gear. The GM turbo 350 transmission his the B & M valve body and shift kit. It's solid. It turns heads, people can't quite figure it out. The only place it says Toyota is on the mud flaps. Everyone notices the BUICK V6 on the fender, and some say they didn't know Buick made a truck - they don't, just the sweet little V6 engine tucked under the hood. Put 4,000 miles on it in 4 months and so far trouble free. Perfect glass, rust free body - little surface rust on chrome. New tires, new battery. It's fun to drive, though I need to calibrate the speedometer. Passes everything. I fondly call her "Thumper". Transwest Car show Henderson, CO. 8/25/07 GREAT SHOW!!! I just hit one today in Henderson, CO., 5 miles north of here. 100's of cars, 1000's of people. Most of those people who voted on the cars. Thumper made 3rd place, 1980 to 1989 vehicles!!! I call that a miracle, because the competition was tough. Wasn't thinking of years when I took pictures of other vehicles, but there were some AWESOME rides. Check them out. Transwest did a great job putting on this show. Every place a car could fit was full, all makes and models - true masterpieces. Here's a few -
There were so many awesome cars at this show! Hopefully Transwest will have this show posted somewhere I can link to. LATEST CLASSICS SALE: 1969 CHEVY EL CAMINO: $2500 Sold This little Beauty is a true classic, partially restored, extra parts, actually runs. At one time someone install a 6 cyl. with a 2 speed Powerglide transmission. It's pretty close to complete, clear title.
Cars have been my life as far back as I can remember. It's what my dad started me into the backyard and has become an everyday part of my life since. This has been a "love/hate" relationship for almost 30 years. When I say cars, I also mean trucks, too. Maybe I'm in this field because of the fact that cars never stop changing, becoming more challenging every time I lift a hood. I work on almost anything made.
Project - 1997 GMC Jimmy SLT $400 & a good friend with tow truck brought me this nice little SUV. It had a spun rod bearing. Needed an engine. Found a '98 S-10 that was wrecked with the same 4.3 Vortec - $500. The vortec is prone to spinning rod bearings. This Jimmy actually sat in my back yard for about 4 months before I had time to find Time/afford engine install. Plus, doing an install in one of these is a BIG job. Don't start unless you plan 3 full days.
First, drain radiator and remove - then the fan, all heater hoses and unplug wiring harness. Unbolt a/c compressor from block and lay to side (Do not disconnect lines), remove distributor, relieve fuel pressure and disconnect lines. There's a couple of bolts holding ground wires and fuel lines at the rear of the block you can't see. Don't forget the power steering lines and negative battery cable. you have to drop drive axles, transfer case, cross member, lower transmission to access bell-housing bolts, starter, torque converter bolts, exhaust. Then, leaving the transmission balancing on jack. Then you have unbolt the oil filter/coolant line adapter from the block and the strap bolt holding it to the oil pan. The 2 motor mount bolts.... Then do it all in reverse order and you're almost done. You should make a point not to do it outdoors after a record blizzard leaves nearly 3 feet of snow. Especially when there's nothing but more severe cold and snow in the forecast. Believe me, laying in snow and ice in sub-zero temps is not fun. But when it's the only place available... The satisfaction was to hear that 4.3 fire up when I first touched the key. Then, after topping off all fluids, double & triple checking all my work, taking it for a test drive... Blue book value of this vehicle is from $4900 to 7500. My cost, maybe $1100. It came with new tires, leather interior, all the options - and push button 4x4 that make this Horrible snow/cold we've been living with for months now survivable. In 3 days, I've put 180 miles on it, just around area. So, so sweet... There's a lot I more involved than mention here - unless you have done a few engine changes before, don't try this at home. Chevy would charge at least $2000 just in labor. Mr Goodwrench engine from Chevy is $2700 - used engines $750 to $1100 at salvage yard. My friend Lee at 720 366-1751 Has is parting about 40 cars, most of them late 80's mid - 90's - Lots of Ford - Chevy Truck parts, complete engine assemblies - Honda, Buick, Toyota, Nissan, some BMW, Fiat, Pontiac, GEO, Suzuki Acura.
Best find to date.
1998 Chevy S-10 Pickup. 114k mile on chassis. 4L60E
transmission, all the luxury goodies... Power everything!!!
1979 Classic Blazer, All new $4000 GONE One of a kind, on or off road.
This Blazer is basically complete restore, custom rock crawler. New paint,
new engine, new exhaust, new tires. The list goes on... The suspension has
new bushing and shocks. Power windows, 4 speed for climbing those hills.
'93 Eagle Talon I bought this Talon for $400, it needed an engine. People think needing an engine is a big thing. I found an engine for $400 at "Eur-Asian" Foreign Auto Parts in Englewood, Co. This one was pretty easy, probably 6 hours for the exchange. It's the non-turbo, so everything is easily accessible. Blue Book value is around $3,000. With everything, including 2 used tires, I have just under $1,000 invested and 2 days work. The Blue Book value doesn't include the price of the custom wheel - about $800 - that came with the car. If I hadn't given this car to my wife, I'd sell it for $2500. My point is, with a little money, motivation and know-how, anyone can have a nice car for under $1000. I could do it for you, for hourly rate on repairs and maybe a finders fee, but there's a lot of options.
1983 Jeep Scrambler - customer Project One of a kind Jeep - or at least I'm of the understanding that there was only 700 of these Scrambler pickups made in '83. This one is even more unique because, though originally is was equipped with carbureted fuel system, the owner had converted it to multi-port fuel injection. I first worked on this about a year ago. The owner had installed most of the injection system - intake, distributor, computer and controls, crank sensor, etc. - then had it towed here for me to figure out how to make it work. It took me a couple of days, but wow! It cost him about $3,000 for the setup, I figure, but the performance was worth it. Then about a week ago he spun a bearing and had it towed here for me to fix. I found another used engine, transferred all the goodies from his old engine - after a lot of time cleaning and detailing the the low mileage replacement - and the scrambler will be moving on it's own power again. This truck was worth doing the detail. I really hate working on a dirty engine. It also looks pretty impressive compared to the one I removed. Another reason for keeping an engine clean is it makes it easier to see an oil leak if one occurs and cure it before it gets as bad as the one in the background. Make sure to click on the pictures to enlarged.
More Later.... Tim I love fuel Electronic injection !!! Unlike all the hassles with carbureted engines, these start instantly! no priming the carb, no turning the distributor to set the timing. After installing this engine, making sure all was hooked up right, I turn the key, waited a second or less to hear the fuel pump stop, finished turning key and she started like she'd never been apart. That's my satisfaction!!! Tempted to tell him I need to test drive it for a month or 2.... Just kidding, on to the next
2001 Mustang GT Convertible New Engine Install Tips Installing a new engine in a Mustang GT 4.6 is a little hard when there's little said about it in Haynes manuals and nothing on line to give direction or hints, so here's some hints particular to the job to save you some hassles. 1. Plan on pulling engine and transmission together. Tried to pull them separate - didn't work so well so I dropped the drive-line, unbolted the shifter (carefully pop the plastic section which holds the shifter boot/cigarette lighter). You'll see 2 bolts connecting the shifter and remove the lower boot - 4 - 8mm bolts. One 3/8 head screw holds the cover over the clutch cable to clutch fork- then use a small bar to pry the fork to front, release pressure, pull cable loose. Unplug 2 electrical plugs. There are 2 set of wires going to the rear, hooked at the trans. mount . Place a jack under trans., then remove the 4 bolts holding the trans. mount to the chassis. It's not necessary to remove the mount from trans. Just pry the two electrical connectors loose from the mount. Leave the starter where it's at, disconnect the wires and pull it with it. Make sure to unbolt all the wiring harness straps and ground wires. . 2. Unbolt the a/c compressor, power steering pump and let them lay loose. Do Not Disconnect lines from pump or compressor!! The exhaust, take loose at the manifolds, it takes a 15mm socket and a swivel w/ extensions. I had to heat the nuts with a torch so that I didn't break or strip them, they were so tight. It's really tight area, so be careful. If you disconnected the fuel line quick release, watch for leaking fuel directly above the right side intake. Remove 2 engine mount nuts. On topside, disconnect and remove radiator. remove air intake tube, disconnect coil/wires, and fuel injectors - the whole harness will lay out of the way if you pay attention and disconnect them all. It's a pain getting the harness loose, I took the whole intake manifold loose so that I didn't break it - plastic. The wiring harness came loose easier, and disconnect the EGR tube, and remove intake pummel(?) One reason I removed the intake was that this 4.6 doesn't provide places to hook a chain (most cars do) and the only place to mount the chain were the rear and front of the heads. And here, there was no way to avoid contact with plastic intake. 3. It's a wrestling match to maneuver the engine & transmission out as "one piece", especially with the plastic intake manifold. I rarely use more than a short piece of chain to hook the hoist. I bought a load leveler here so that I wouldn't break the intake during install. It provided the clearance I needed to clear everything, and gave me the angle needed to guide the transmission and engine in. 1996 Dodge Ram 2500
This Dodge Ram was easier than anticipated when replacing the clutch, except for the cross member. It literally had to be forced out and in. And all those that think cars are all aluminum nowadays are mistaken. The 5 speed transmission behind the 360 are cast iron and heavy. The transfer cases are really light, though and one person can handle them without a jack. One would think the throw-out bearing would be hard to install at first glance because there's nothing to hold it in while you align the pilot-shaft into place. (the bell-housing is like the old trucks, it separates from trans.) Just install the housing, clutch fork and throw-out over the clutch assembly, then install the slave cylinder which holds the fork in place while you install the transmission. Get all that? If it's your first one, use an actual transmission jack that has chain to hold the trans. in place. It's heavy and not very balanced. And, trying to put this monster back on the jack would be a real pain. Also, drain the fluid into a clean container because the required fluid is synthetic, which is $5.00 a quart minimum. I say this because when the transfer case comes off, any tilt of the transmission will spill the fluid. Changing the fluid shouldn't be necessary because it's synthetic. This truck, 110,000 miles, still had clear/clean fluid. Customers Vehicles
"Lady Jane" 1951 Rolls Royce:
Joe's '76 CJ7:
This one just received another engine &
transmission
Kenny's '82 CJ5:
This one I've known for years. It just received
another engine
David's truck was fun. To help someone
restore a nice old GMC was a nice change.
My Personal Projects:
This is my '75 Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4.
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