So, I frequently joked with my friends that my 78' Grand Prix only has a 5 digit odometer, showing what faith Detroit had in the Disco Era that their cars would ever see 100K miles.
Well, because the universe is cruel, the other week when I went out to start the car, I noticed that the starter seemed to be going around twice as fast as it should, and the motor was making absolutely no attempt to fire...
Uh oh.
Removed a valve cover and to my expectations, nothing moved under there when you hit the key. Adios timing chain... at 99,480 miles..... but at least you did it in the driveway, not the freeway.
Well, considering this was a one-owner mostly-garaged car when I bought it a few years back. It's never been restored, and a lot of the little stuff that's broken over the years, or worn, has never been replaced because of good ol fashioned "I'll get to that when there's time-itis" Well, there's time now. And, since the car is 99% original (only change I made was tossing the useless Sears tape deck for an MP3 player) I'm going to keep it as stock as I can on a relatively cheap resto.
First step, getting that motor out. (301 - 4B, stock) Fortunately, the only hard part was having to torch off the Y-pipe because 38 year old bolts on exhaust headers are just NOT gonna turn. And whaddaya know? Still a little of that factory blue hangin' on....
Keep you posted as this goes along, as I'm sure when it's time to go back in, there will be one vac line I forgot to label, and I'll have to swallow my pride and come here for the answer of where the sucker goes.
Well, because the universe is cruel, the other week when I went out to start the car, I noticed that the starter seemed to be going around twice as fast as it should, and the motor was making absolutely no attempt to fire...
Uh oh.
Removed a valve cover and to my expectations, nothing moved under there when you hit the key. Adios timing chain... at 99,480 miles..... but at least you did it in the driveway, not the freeway.
Well, considering this was a one-owner mostly-garaged car when I bought it a few years back. It's never been restored, and a lot of the little stuff that's broken over the years, or worn, has never been replaced because of good ol fashioned "I'll get to that when there's time-itis" Well, there's time now. And, since the car is 99% original (only change I made was tossing the useless Sears tape deck for an MP3 player) I'm going to keep it as stock as I can on a relatively cheap resto.
First step, getting that motor out. (301 - 4B, stock) Fortunately, the only hard part was having to torch off the Y-pipe because 38 year old bolts on exhaust headers are just NOT gonna turn. And whaddaya know? Still a little of that factory blue hangin' on....
Keep you posted as this goes along, as I'm sure when it's time to go back in, there will be one vac line I forgot to label, and I'll have to swallow my pride and come here for the answer of where the sucker goes.