Blista's EE4 Shuttle

Blista

Hi !

So here is my car, I hope it will be running for this winter.
(pics are from my introduction thread, I'll take some more tomorrow if I have time)









Problems :
- Headgasket is blown
- Radiator is leaking badly (yeah, those two are related, I know)
- A lot of rust
- The trunk door won't lock (it is a minor problem compared to those above but still...)
- Driver door hinge is broken (well, no the hinge itself I think, but the middle thing that prevents it to open it very wide, I don't know the name in English)

It is a D16A7 engine, has 200 000 km (124 000 miles) and I am the third owner, it was sold on December 1990 (I think it is a 91 model but I'm not sure, it may be a 90), and it spent all of its life near the Mont-Blanc (highest summit in Western Europe), that explains the rust. I don't know about USA, NZ or other places, but here they use salt of the road to prevent it from freezing, which involves a lot of rust on the car bodys.

Blista

Earlier today I'm afraid I found another problem. I was moving it on wet grass / mud to park it in front of my garage and suddenly, the front left wheel lost grip and spinned. Of course the front right wheel wasn't spinning at all, but it seems that the rear wheels weren't pushing at all (I was in SL gear). Is it normal ?

I read this thread here : viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9772 and saw this part :

1991 HCW FSM, 16-19 wrote:

Viscous Coupling Stall Test

1. Raise the car off the ground and place safety stands under the side sill reinforcement sections.
2. Start the engine.
3. Keep the engine speed at idle.
4. Shift into low gear and gradually release the clutch
5. Apply the parking brake firmly.

Viscous coupling is OK if the engine stalls
Viscous coupling is faulty if the engine continues running

I tried and both rear wheels stopped (don't laugh, I just bought the car and didn't even knew if the parking brake was working : it is), but the engine didn't stall. However, the speed of the front wheels was reduced.

Is my VC dead ? Diying ? Is there another test I can perform or is it definitely sure ?

I read this thread here too : viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11567 however I don't have the right tools (basically the puller).

Any advice welcome, thanks.

ragenasian

Have you checked to see if the previous owner might have disengaged the 4wd?

Blista

No, to be honest I didn't check and you made a point.
But he didn't told me anything about it and as the four wheels are spinning when they're off the ground, I don't think the 4WD is disengaged.

As I don't know precisely how the transmission works I'll check tomorrow if it is not disengaged.

Thanks for your answer.

Blista

4WD was engaged. I did the same test with my father's Shuttle and the engine stalled. So his VC is okay and mine isn't (sort of better that way as he'll use the Shuttle daily on winter whereas mine is just a fun ride). Still, I'm in the process of buying a used and untested VC : I hope it works and anyways I'll try to rebuild the worst of the two.

I had to take photos of rust to get a quote for the work from a professionnal. Here are the pics, hold on and stay calm !

Left side is the less rusted :








Right side is very bad :


Before I touch anything, there's a hole here :


Then, I took a hammer and a screwdriver and began to remove bad parts.



:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:










My Shuttle is now vented and lightweight, and I took off some huge fiber bits !



I didn't have time to work on the left arch or the side skirts, but judging on the swells (vocabulary ?) and the picture under the right side skirt I know exactly what to expect.

The quote to have new parts formed and welded might be too high for me so I think I'll remove as much rust as I can, then use rust stopper and wait until I get the money to have it fixed the right way, or to buy a MIG welder and learn (I won't mind an unperfect work if I do it), or maybe just fix it with tin and metal panels without properly use a welder (not sure it is possible). I'm not interested in using a body filler or anything, it will be proper metal or nothing (I might just drive it this way after I remove all the rust).

I know it seems impressive, but trust me, this is just the result of salt projections from the wheels, the structural chassis is not rusted contrary to some Hondas I saw that had a nice sane body and too much rust on the structure.

LowFlyin'

What color is this?

Color code?

Blista

I'll check later and post it here. This color is very common here, I hate it by the way.

crxlol

That's some mean looking rust! Good luck with the build

Blista

Thanks !

Color code is G-60M (La Mer Green according to Google). Funny how japanese people give a frenglish name to a rubbish color (la mer = litteraly "the sea").

LowFlyin'

I like the color. :P