1987 CSX for SDAC 2015

[turboshelbys]

starting to look sexy!

Masked off the drivers side, did some more touch up putty work and then started hitting it with primer. Between coats i wet sanded the other side with 2000 grit, cleaned it well and laid down the door decal. Came out rather nice i'd say! I'm looking for a better trim tape than i usually use for the lower plug, the 3m stuff i have is too thin and doesn't have much give for irregularities. Need to pop down to my friends body shop and see what he has for foam trim tape which is a touch thicker.

Sanded the drivers door several times with 600 grit between coats and laid down the last coat and rolled it back in the garage. Tomorrow hope to do a final sanding of the primer and hit it with several coats of gloss black which i'll let sit for a few days. While that is curing i'll swap out the struts and axle and do the a/c lines. Maybe i'll get a chance to black out the rims this weekend.

Gary

nyoice!!!

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Older auto AWD Magnum vs 2012 manual R/T, would be an interesting contest!

You would have a traction advantage but my R/T is lighter and stripper model to boot and has a better 5.7 with (375 hp and 410 ft/lbs)

Be fun to find out =)

I got a lancer that I wouldn't mind racing, it's just an 8v

[mopar-tech]

Drivers side decals are done!

[mopar-tech]

Changed out the a/c lines, receiver/dryer and expansion valve last night. Wire brushed the compressor and painted the clutch assembly, filled with 7 oz of R-12 compatible oil and reinstalled. Not 100% optimistic on how well the system is going to operate, lots of debris and crud were present and cleaned out as best I could. Find out this morning after putting a vacuum on it for an hour and filling.

And yes, the system is getting R-12. I have a few 30 pounders squirreled away for just such an occasion.

Not sure I'll get everything done today, still have to do struts, an axle and a alignment. We have a family cookout at noon and the weather has been brutal hot.

[mopar-tech]

Success! (For the moment) I trust Mopar 80's A/C systems as far as I can throw them.

After digging around my belt collection (doesn't everyone have one? Every time I strip a car the good belts go into the pile, never know when one will come in handy) I found one that worked with the underdrive pulley.

First step was to hook up an old electric vacuum pump from my old job, they are for suction in the medical field and will pull 21" of vacuum. I left this on for an hour or two to do the heavy lifting before swapping over to the compressor powered vacuum pump for final draw and check. I use the electrical one for the long pull as the compressor powered ones uses a LOT of air and will run the compressor hard. They will however pull a full 30" of vacuum and if you see 29.5" on the gauges you can be pretty sure the system is fairly well sealed.

Fired up the car, fed in a little R-12 till the compressor started firing and then jumped the clutch cycling switch (Damped pressure switch if you want to get technical) and slowly fed in Freon while watching the sight glass, gauges and monitoring the dash output temps. This took about a 1/2 hour as I don't like to shotgun a large amount of liquid into the system as it is bad for the check valves in the compressor. Once you think you are getting close start feeding in Freon in 15 second bursts.

Check the dash temp, feed in 15 seconds, let system stabilize, check again and so on. Chrysler states with R-12 to feed the system till there is no bubbles present in the glass but I like to be conservative and come up just short of that point so there is no chance of the system being over charged. Clear glass 98% with a few random bubbles now and then and call it good. The results speak for themselves.

Did get one more surprise as the Damped pressure switch turned out to be bad, good thing I had a spare!

Gary

[Aries_Turbo]

the damped pressure switch..... is the larger one functionally the same as the later style with the pressure switch on the expansion valve?

i have a NOS r12 expansion valve and a r134a expansion valve with a port on the side which a pressure switch seems to screw into and a small pressure switch.

i dont have the large damped pressure switch but my new lines have provision for the larger damped switch.

Brian

[Aries_Turbo]

oh yeah... im going to fill my system with R152a.... also known as canned air. it seems to work well in R12 or R134a systems. I had it in my 97 neon. blew 39 deg air sitting in the sun idling on a crazy hot day.

ill have to use r134a compatible oils though. i have a new can of ester sitting there.

Brian

[mopar-tech]

the damped pressure switch..... is the larger one functionally the same as the later style with the pressure switch on the expansion valve?

Not sure- The 87-89 unit cycles the compressor, the later units have a variable displacement compressor and adjust the compressor output based on demand.

[Aries_Turbo]

gotcha. well i found an 89 used one for 15$ so ill go with that style.

now i gotta find another compressor. i had a reman that is really really hard to turn. way to hard imo.

i have a used one too but i think it has rust inside.

Brian

[mopar-tech]

Took the CSX for a spirited drive to drop Jacob off at a friends house, A/C working even better with more airflow through the bay at speed! 30F outlet temps noted for most of the drive! I'm going to take the car to work tomorrow to stretch her legs.

And in typical Turbo Dodge fashion something broke! While adjusting the rear view mirror it popped off in my hand! LOL

Had glue on the shelf, already fixed.

Doubt I'll get the struts done tomorrow, have a busy night planned after work.

Gary

[mopar-tech]

Short and sweet as I have to get up for work at 4AM

Painted the new A/C lines to match the factory colors, found a loose A/C schrader valve (tightened), did some general tidying up in the bay, replaced the front struts, bearing plates and bumpers/bellows, replaced the drivers axle with one from my Spirit R/T and cleaned off the flying CV joint boot grease.

Tomorrow will top off transaxle and clean and paint the rims with the proper blackout before reinstalling them and checking the alignment.

Gary

P.S. And got the stains out of the rear hatch carpeting.

[mopar-tech]

Lea, Faith and I cleaned the four rims, roughed things up, taped them off, sprayed with adhesion promoter and then a few coats of black paint. Tomorrow will drop back on the floor and road test.

Gary

[mopar-tech]

.

CSX Version 3.0 (SDAC-25 being V1.0 and Cecil "finally bringing the fire" V2.0)

In the last 2 months the car has received the following: Headliner, sun visors, new seats, seat track, dash replacement, door panels, new speakers, carpet in trunk area, door gaskets, firewall insulation, hood insulation, lower fender/door/quarter decals, new EGT probe, rims painted, new KYB struts, bearing plates, bellows, jounce bumpers, new a/c lines, new receiver dryer, drivers axle and numerous other details attended too.

Tonight topped off the fluids, checked the alignment, fixed a minor boost leak, changed out the EGT probe, popped the carpet in the trunk and hit the road.

The front end was quiet, no more steering wheel shake, a/c cold and the back roads were fun. Amen

Still have to pop the pieces on the doors as soon as the double stick tape comes in... Long term plans are to swap out the engine bay harness (I have a 87 Turbo I harness I'm going to refurbish) and keep an eye out for decent a-pillar trim along with the rear trim.

Time to move on to another project as this one is well along for now. Hitting the track with the Duster in several weeks and the GTX is finally also going to the track after a decades long hiatus. See if the ol' girl still has enough moxie to run 11's.

Gary

[mopar-tech]

Ok so I lied, had one more thing to pick at.

Leah and I headed over to the fabric store and found some headliner material. I had the late '87 build visors I wanted to install but had to recover them first. They had the fabric and I spent a few hours redoing the visors. The wiring was pre-done when I did the headliner so the light would work on the passenger side. I'm fairly pleased on how they came out.

Gary

[85glht]

.

CSX Version 3.0 (SDAC-25 being V1.0 and Cecil "finally bringing the fire" V2.0)

In the last 2 months the car has received the following: Headliner, sun visors, new seats, seat track, dash replacement, door panels, new speakers, carpet in trunk area, door gaskets, firewall insulation, hood insulation, lower fender/door/quarter decals, new EGT probe, rims painted, new KYB struts, bearing plates, bellows, jounce bumpers, new a/c lines, new receiver dryer, drivers axle and numerous other details attended too.

Tonight topped off the fluids, checked the alignment, fixed a minor boost leak, changed out the EGT probe, popped the carpet in the trunk and hit the road.

The front end was quiet, no more steering wheel shake, a/c cold and the back roads were fun. Amen

Still have to pop the pieces on the doors as soon as the double stick tape comes in... Long term plans are to swap out the engine bay harness (I have a 87 Turbo I harness I'm going to refurbish) and keep an eye out for decent a-pillar trim along with the rear trim.

Time to move on to another project as this one is well along for now. Hitting the track with the Duster in several weeks and the GTX is finally also going to the track after a decades long hiatus. See if the ol' girl still has enough moxie to run 11's.

Gary

LMK when you go to the track. May make it out too..... Weather permitting.

[2.216VTurbo]

"Gimbaled" (Gimbled?) P body visor light FTW

[Vigo]

My old Aries had one of those too (still have the car but no visors in it). I thought it was clever.

[mopar-tech]

My old Aries had one of those too (still have the car but no visors in it). I thought it was clever.

I just wanted to get rid of the floppy cardboard units, impossible to find good ones. Would have been perfectly happy with a passenger side unit with no light at all if that was what was available.

[mopar-tech]

LMK when you go to the track. May make it out too..... Weather permitting.

Will do.

I have 2 weeks worth of work to do here at the house and then rip into the Duster.. Don't expect to hit the track for a few weeks since I'll not waste my time going in the middle of a heat wave. Need to swap out gears in the rear and pull down the trans to tighten up the 2-3 shift.

[85glht]

Will do.

I have 2 weeks worth of work to do here at the house and then rip into the Duster.. Don't expect to hit the track for a few weeks since I'll not waste my time going in the middle of a heat wave. Need to swap out gears in the rear and pull down the trans to tighten up the 2-3 shift.

Agreed, hence my "weather permitting" comment. Probably for me will not be till after Labor Day..... Hopefully

[jonnymopar]

"Gimbaled" (Gimbled?) P body visor light FTW

Yeah what the hell is that?? I've never seen one like that before! I've always had plain visors or ones with the lit mirror.

Did those ever come on any convertible cars? (I'm using Lebaron convertible visors to stand up to the sunlight abuse of T-tops).