I took it to work last weekend to start on getting it road ready. Here's the list so far:
- rear diff fluid change
- transmission fluid change
- flush engine oil & changed twice
- flush cooling system and fill with Red Long Life Coolant
- new brass battery terminals
- NGK G Power Platinum spark plugs and NGK wires
- brake fluid flush (looked like apple cider)
- new Bosch wiper blades
- throttle body cleaned
- cleaned rear drums & lubed contact points
- lightly resurfaced the front rotors & lubed caliper slide pins
- "fix" the passenger door latch so it won't unlock when closing the door without holding the handle up
- major engine degrease (the pressure washer at work is good enough that it also started taking the flat black off the JY hood)
I also found out the oil pan is so dented up that it takes 1 quart less than it should to fill & the drain plug is about 3" higher than the bottom of the pan so I can't get all the oil out (already have an idea for a guard to prevent that in the future).
One of the last things I checked before I had to leave was ignition timing. This is where it got weird as it seemed to drive decent otherwise. The distributor was set to fully advanced and the timing light showed it to have 45 degrees advance at idle (with the check connector jumped). I didn't even know an engine could run with that much advance at idle. When I tried to set it to 5 degrees it would run like dog poo and I couldn't get the idle speed to come up with the idle air screw on the throttle body. Also at 5 degrees the distributor was near the end of its range (fully retarded in the bolt slot). I think I have it figured out though, it seems the outer ring of the pulley has slipped relative to the crank which is why the timing seems so far off.
Between last weekend and today I picked up most of my junkyard list (still need seats). Next weekend's list when I tow dolly it back to the shop again goes something like this:
- oil pan & pickup
- cut and weld in a new radiator core support
- new radiator that I scored from the JY (has a lifetime warrant sticker on it )
- crank pulley
- valve cover gasket & pcv valve (to replace the giant mound of red RTV the PO made around the PCV)
- exhaust gasket after I thread repair one of the holes for a missing exhaust stud
And I also have a spare metal moonroof panel which will get welded in when I eventually remove the moonroof. For that I'm thinking many very small tack welds to prevent warping the mostly flat roof with fiberglass strand body filler to seal it up and keep water out of the interior. I still need to figure out what to do for roof bracing since there are none - the moon roof itself is the roof bracing. Right now my best idea is double wide shelf track with the open end facing up (for safety) with one piece running straight down the middle and another running side-to-side behind the front seats. My thought is to use bare metal shelf track, bent it to contour and tack weld it to the perimeter roof frame. Whatever I use for bracing will also get bonded or glued to the roof panel.