The Flight of the PHOENIX !

[idmetro]

Congratulations on bringing THE PHOENIX back from the ashes! No doubt it will pay you back many times over.

As previously mentioned what will we do now for a daily AF fix?

[Mohave]

After providing you with the name Phoneix, I am glad that she arose from the ashes. Mine is next.

[HannabilRox]

Congratulations DOC!!!!

See, if the MAP sensor was changed before you started any of this, you would have not experienced the wealth of knowledge you have gained over the last few months! I still have to say how much I admire your determination. The "Phoenix" should be running like a new car after all you have done to it!

I hope mine runs as well when I finish putting it back together. (I am pretty sure it will ). You certainly will probably have a spare part for just about anything under the hood that could go bad.

I agree with change the oil at about 500 miles instead of 100. But that is your choice.

Definitely vary your driving speed. It would be ideal to take it on a highway cruise and vary your speeds 5 MPH (either up or down between 50 & 70 MPH) every 5 minutes.

As for the AutoMotiveFourm fix...it is time to offer your advice to those that request it now!!

Congrats again!!

[DOCTORBILL]

I am noticing a bit of oil usage - can I expect that until the Rings wear in?

HannabilRox - Yes! Had I obtained the proper MAP Sensor early on, I
would not have known that my valves were burning out until much later....
I might not have decided to have the Head Reworked or to have changed the
Rings myself....might have dumped the car (?)

The roads are curvy and hilly enough and have enough SheizKopf people driving
on them that I have to change gears fairly often. We get FARMERS and CASINO
Gamblers on the one road I have to drive every day.

Farmers...well...enough said. Casino drunks...I worry they will one day kill me.
It is not funny. Idaho is about 10 miles East of where I live and has Indian
Casinos on the border. People go home drunk...lot of weaving and idiot driving.

Mohave - Ya! It was you who suggested Phoenix! Perfect Name!
I was thinking of FRANKENSTEIN with all the parts having been changed, but
I like The Phoenix better.

Why not start another Metro Repair Odyssey on your Metro.....?

idmetro - if The Phoenix gets 45 mpg, I will save about $982 / year if
gasoline stayed at $2.50 / gallon. I estimate I drive around 19,000 mi / yr.

826 gallons using the Jeep @ 23 mpg versus 433 gallons on the Metro @ 45 mpg.

If I get another 150,000 miles out of this Doctored engine (pun), by then I
would expect the clutch to need fixing.

Is it difficult to replace the clutch?

DoctorBill

[idmetro]

Some oil usage is normal until the rings "seat" I'd just keep an eye on it and very likely you will see it gradually fade to nothing as the surfaces mate to each other.

Compared to what you've done so far; changing the clutch is just a matter of following a rather straightforward procedure.

I've changed one Metro clutch so far (another one is in the works in the not too distant future) and I would definitely heed Corvette69's advice regarding pulling the engine and transmission as a unit; then changing the clutch outside of the car. I was too stubborn to see the value in this so had to learn for myself. It is possible to change the clutch without removing the transaxle but clearances are very tight and much time, sweat, skin and blood was lost in the process. It would have been far easier (and faster too....) to have pulled them as a unit and changed the clutch with them sitting outside the car. By the way the clutch in my first car went 198k miles; the engine checked out before the clutch did.

[Mohave]

"Why not start another Metro Repair Odyssey on your Metro.....?"

I plan to, but I am also planning to add some hybrid technology to the Metro. I was thinking about it and then bought a Honda Hybrid a month ago. I am now sold and think it might be possible to retrofit it to a Metro. It might be the perfect combination.

[JustSayGo]

Being a Chemist, I want some good studies done with large amounts of
evidence.

I am going to COSTCO today - I'll pick up their brochure on the benefits of
Nitrogen and report back..... Maybe I am wrong.

That would be the reason I recommend that you read the brochure, from Michelin I think. There is no charge or sales involved. I knew you would be interested in a little more modern tire technology. Nitrogen generators look like an air compressor which they are. I think the oxygen is simply burned out of the air.

I have known for thirty years that racing tires are filled with nitrogen because it is more stable than oxygen and pressure does not change with temperature which results in consistent performance advantage.

If none of the oxidizing factors were significant, I can tell you from personal experience that nitrogen filled tires could easily go two years or longer without being re-inflated.

On highways, streets, and unpaved alleys, properly inflated tires are safer because of improved handling performance, reduced catastrophic failures, and allow improved fuel mileage. Tires filled with air, leak and require quarterly maintenance. What was your tire pressure after more than a year?

Who are you thinking may fund an independent study to convince you that filling tires with nitrogen is better than filling with air? I see nitrogen as being a required safety standard in the near future before that study occurs.

[Metro Mighty Mouse]

Originally Posted by DOCTORBILL

PS - MMM I am thinking about cutting a stencil out of poster board and spray
painting THE PHOENIX on the side of the car with Yellow Auto Paint (Spray Can).

I can not condone the use of a cardboard stencil on the side of what appears to be a straight, clean paint job.

If you want to put " the phoenix " on the side of your car, then do it right.

Buy some of the blue or green masking tape and make a panel of tape large enough to fit what you want to paint. Do this on a slick surface like a countertop or something similar and slightly overlap strips of the tape.

then use some type of stencil to draw the letters or picture you want to paint and then cut out with an exacto or razor blade.

Wipe down the area you want to paint with rubbing alcohol or something to remove all wax and contaminates and then carefully place your tape panel over the area where you want to paint.

Take some very fine sandpaper and scuff the open areas in your tape stencil and then press the edges of the stencil firmly onto the panel.

pick an area free of dust and such ( a problem, I know) and paint a couple of very light coats, followed by heavier coats until you get a good solid coat.

let it dry for a couple of hours, then carefully peel your stencil off.

Touch up any areas that the paint got under the tape with solvent or very carefully with a razor blade and you're done. Repeat the procedure for the other side, except if your stencil is still in useable shape you can reuse it on the other side.

[DOCTORBILL]

Are you saying that you don't think Big Block Letters with fuzzy edges makes
a very good way to say The Phoenix !

I was wondering about a store here that sells vinyl Lettering and Signs.

If it doesn't cost an arm and a leg, I might do that - being removable....

The Phoenix is still going strong!


Almost at 200 miles and the gas gauge is only at 3/4 or so...

Showing signs of needing some oil - the dipstick level is a bit below where it
started at. I'll keep it topped up until the oil change.

Have to find 5w-30 somewhere. I'll try Wal-Mart. Costco only sells the
synthetic 5w-30 at $30 a case. Twice what "normal" oil cost there.....

Supposed to get some snow here in a day or two.

I hate putting my studded snow tires on since they are so damned noisy!

And The Phoenix doesn't handle well at all in slush! The front end is too
light! The slush grabs the wheels and I go off in some direction I don't want to go...

DoctorBill

[Crvett69]

don't run synthetic for at least 1500 miles after rebuilding engine, if rings aren't seated they never will with synthetic oil. same thing with the slick 50 type adatives.

[Crvett69]

also check out e-bay. type in Phoenix decal. i fould a lot of them on there for cheap, look a lot nicer than a spray can job

[DOCTORBILL]

I spend a lot of time driving the 70 miles round trip to work each day and even
more driving my daughter to Cheer Leading practice (40 miles RT).

So while I was sitting there with my finger up my nose listening to Laura Ingram
talk about Conservative stuff (or Rush Limbough or Michael Savage), I remembered
what my Boss used to say about simple jobs - "It is so simple. a dog with five
fingers could do it!"

Of course, I was thinking about what I had done to The Phoenix this last Summer and Fall.

Pulling the Head off of the car was child's play....truely - a dog with five fingers
could have done that! And getting it reworked cost me only $130....
add another $80 for the gaskets. Cheap considering the performance reward.

So, I'm thinking, why not do that every 100,000 miles? Just for the grins of it!

Yes? No?

The Phoenix might live forever.....be immortal even!

DoctorBill

[idmetro]

If you are working towards making the Phoenix immortal (or at least close to it) why not start looking around for a really cheap engine that has had a valve go south? Then you could keep it protected until you start to notice performance loss in the current engine at which time you could rebuild the spare and then just swap it in. With an engine all ready to go I bet you could be in and out of the "shop" in a weekend.

[Crvett69]

i usually have several core engines around that if you want to come pick up you can have one. most were runners with a burned valve. i still think its easier to just grab a jdm engine and drop it in though

[DOCTORBILL]

Well, guys, consider this...

I am almost 64 years old.

I drive maybe 25,000 miles per year - if I am lucky.

150,000 ÷ 25,000 = 6 years.

So, in six years The Phoenix will be needing new valves and maybe new rings.

I will be 70 years old by then.

Do you really think I will want to 'swap any engines' by then?

AND - in six years, do you think The Phoenix will be in any shape to accept
another engine?

That would be like myself having the heart of a 25 year old transplanted into
a 70 year old body. Like some old car with bad Vacuum and pressure hoses, I'd see
some cute babe chick and probably have a down-under EXPLOSION and bleed to
death with my new heart pumping away to the last moment!

No - I think this Valve/Ring Job was the last of its kind in my driveway.....

Now all you young Whipper-Snappers should consider it, though.

DoctorBill

PS - It may snow tomorrow, so I've got to go get the studded snow tires out of the Barn and
change the tires on my wife's '93 4x4 Geo Tracker. I suppose I should do The Phoenix also.
And of course the 4x4 Cherokee, too!. Lord - I'm going to be sore as an old board!