Another DAPO., a real dumbass Options

[TheCabinetmaker]

Nick73914 just bought a 73 1.7 litre a month ago, and brought the car by for me to look at. Its badged as a 2.4L. The po said he pulled out the 2.4 and reinstalled the 1.7. I checked and reset all the settings, but it still ran like crap. I thought it was running on three cylinders. Last week his alternator went out and he brought it over last friday so we could change it out. That's when I discovered someone had used a 3" long shoulder bolt to secure the belt tensioning nut. It needed a 1/2 " wrench. I turned it just a little, and the bolt snapped about a 1/2' from the bracket. Vise grips would not unscrew it. While it was on jackstands I decide to give it a good look underneath. What I found was shocking. This is a 73 1.7 with side shifter. Here's the mount bar, and the shift rod. The bottom rod is for comparison. The bar was shimmed down with two nuts and two washers on each side. There were no soft mounts. The shift rod was hitting the cutout they made in the bar.
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i290.photobucket.com-666-1279545937.1.jpg)

Then there was an external oil cooler that had been installed. The lines (which are common heater hose) was running in the wheel well, with the filter mounted directly over the tire. Yikes!!!
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i290.photobucket.com-666-1279545940.2.jpg)

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/i290.photobucket.com-666-1279545941.3.jpg)

Nick, I said, We need to pull the engine and fix this right. Engine came out at 4pm friday. We worked all day Saturday to make everything right again. We removed the cooler crap and put the filter back where it belongs. Switched the mount bar, and found a proper shift rod in my parts stash. Had to remove the front tin so I could grind off the strange bolt on the alternator. Got everything done, and I thought this is great time to check vale adjustment. Every valve was at zero lash. No wonder the car ran like crap. By the time we got done it was 4pm saturday, and the 100 degree heat had got to me. We called it a day. Took the day off
Sunday as it was my 18th day in a row at work. Nick will be back this morning to help me reinstall the engine. This 19 yr old has learned a lot in one weekend, and I got a feeling he will be smiling big this afternoon.

Thanks for listening. We'll report back later.