The Hacked Saga: A Tale of Way Too Many Projects (144>245>944>244>144>144>245)

[fatcatbestcat]

I wonder if an OBD reader could have identified the MAF sensor fault?

I'm not sure. I tend not to work on post-OBD cars and EFI in general is pretty much a mystery to me. The blinky box in the engine bay didn't give me any forewarning before the check engine light came on - and that was only after I disconnected the now obviously bad MAF while the car was running.

 

[Jack]

View attachment 26010

showing off nearly full tank!

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Been a slow month progress-wise on the 944. I put some fuel injector cleaner (which I used to think was snake oil?) in the tank and noticeably improved the idle as of late.

redblockpowered's chip sale gave me something to do though; find out if/what kind of ECU/EZK and mystery chips my car had in it. Yes, Cameron has to hold my hand and walk me through it because I haven't torn down a Bosch EFI car before. Or anything with EFI, now that I think about it.



From what I was told, it's some kind of early chippable EZK from an EGR B230F. Score!

The ECU had also definitely been cracked open, and of course it has some kind of weird mystery eBay chip.



Enough info for me to order a set of stage 1 turbo chips for my car, now that I know it's probably a mostly stock tune. I've never revved it past 4,000 rpm so I have no idea if the chip removes the fuel cut or what.

Anyway, I got bored and decided it was finally time to clean the residue off the trunk lid and reinstall the badges.



I don't know that I'd really recommend doing it this way, but I guess it worked. I know solvents get the adhesive off pretty good but I wanted to avoid chemicals - thus my organic boiling water method. Next time around, I'd look for a watertight tray. It worked decent enough, the hot water loosens the adhesive and acts as a lubricant for getting the felt stuff off.



Afterwards I had to grind the backsides a little to get some of the stubborn glue off, then lapped them until they were vaguely flat. I also took steel wool to the front of the emblems to shine them up a little bit.

I had some suggestions to use an eraser wheel to get the residue off the car, but I'm not really a fan of buying single-use tools. Spent some time with some goo-gone and a plastic razor blade, which eventually did the job. Afterwards, just a matter of using compound to level the paint and erase the ghosting of the logos.



This next part I probably wouldn't repeat again. Went for some 3M 2-sided tape to adhere it, and I really should have gotten a slightly wider strip for optimal adhesion. I also didn't prepare a sharp blade to cut the outlines with, so they're not quite perfect - but good enough for who it's for. Passes the 50 ft inspection.




And there we go. Now people at gas stations can stop asking what my car is and if it's for sale.

I guess next weekend project is going to be the headliner, finally? I have some cheap foam-backed suede that might work well.

Homing in on a couple wagons for Hacked V - 760s, 940s and 960s.

 

[nordmaschine]

Good to finally see you driving a car.

If you're struggling with a Redblock, you're going to hate a W-HateBlock 960. OTOH, 760's are way more refined than a 740/940, but that much more complicated in terms of wiring and insulation where you would not expect it. Buy a 940 N/A M47 wagon for ultimate reliability if you really have to get rid of this car, now that it's finally drivable and jump down another rabbit hole. But you're getting a hang of it. I'd buy a 765 any day.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Welp - another non-update. Still just driving the car around, still need to get around to a lot of little quality of life things. That being said, I actually trust this car now - and I definitely feel a lot better taking it absolutely everywhere, unlike that godawful 244 in Hacked IV.

Hanging out in Guelph (another small road trip), I saw this at a Walmart parking lot and just HAD to park up next to it and get a picture. I had half a mind to leave my phone number for the owner, but I deduced that it was a family truckster (child seat in the back, kayak on the roof, trunk full of camping gear) so I guessed they wouldn't want to trade.



And then my passenger side door mirror just kinda fell out. My girlfriend caught it in time, she totally saved me there. It had been a little wiggly the entire time I've owned it, for some reason I never thought to do anything about it. EVERYTHING on the 244 was loose, so I guess I didn't notice when I transitioned to the better car. After I got home, I stuck it back on with 3M mounting tape, and it's rock-solid now.




And then I got to hang out with another Toronto-area TBer. We traded some parts, but more importantly test drove each other's cars. I was sort of interested in a vaguely apples-to-apples comparison of a stock (engine) automatic turbo car to a stock (engine) manual turbo car.



So there were a couple things I learned from this.

1. The condition of the suspension and brakes REALLY makes a huge difference to how the car drives. Mine is on fresh brakes and pretty good bushings all around, plus IPD handling components (sways, sure - but I found a receipt for rear chassis braces when cleaning out the glovebox). The other car wasn't necessarily bad to drive, it was actually somewhat cushy. Just different.

2. (As expected) The power delivery is VERY different with an automatic versus a manual. The AW71 is no slouch, but it seriously feels kneecapped compared to an M90 on an otherwise identical motor with a lighter flywheel and a vaguely sporty clutch. Driving the automatic wagon sort of felt like driving in snow, like I couldn't use all the power that was normally available to me. Something I could get used to, but still. It makes all the inconveniences of daily driving a stick seem worth it.

3. I used to not really like the 90+ non-fog front end on a 7/9 but I think it actually looks quite handsome in person, maybe it works better with a darker-coloured car. I used to think the headlights were too far apart, but I actually like it now. So I have not officially deleted all my 7/9 front end roadblocks - I think they all look good.

I do still really want a wagon, but now I'm extremely conflicted about getting rid of the red car for one.
I think if I do, it would have to be the 'right' specs. And very clean, with fresh brakes and suspension. If I go down that path, then I will almost certainly miss the M90. I guess I could swap one in later.

Otherwise, if I can't find what I want, I guess I'm keeping this car for now - still lots I can do with it. Just wish it had five doors.

Thanks.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Another weekend of minor fixes.

I had a nice, long weekend - so lots of time to fix stuff. My original instrument cluster came back from repair (thanks to a kind TBer!), and it was time to get that fitted.

I figured the easiest way to get the cluster out would involve removing the steering wheel - I had put it on wrong several months ago, and had been driving around with it like this. THIS far off center.



I also tightened up my signal stalks, because for some reason I had loosened them last time I had the wheel off? Might have been something to do with fitting the airbag clockspring. Remembered to use the secret screw to hold the clockspring in place! Then it was just a matter of pulling the "temporary" cluster out. Gave me lots of space to screw around with the boost gauge.



Bye bye beer can, hello OEM dash tweeter! I hooked up the wires to the speaker, and did the same on the other side - I have yet to decide if my stereo sounds like garbage with them.



So here's the end result; steering wheel on as straight as possible, no more noisy boost gauge, and a functional gauge cluster.
I seem to be missing some clips to hold the actual cluster in, so the bezel fit is not great. That will probably be my next minor inconvenience to fix in the future.



I also finally got around to replacing this silly bit of side trim I had been missing for the longest time. It was missing when I got the car, found a piece, and then had that piece go flying after hitting a bump. This new one I secured with 3M mounting tape (same as the trunk badges) so hopefully it stays.



That's all for now. 760 and 940 wagons are now ruled out for Hacked V, but I am still looking at a 965 and possibly a 245. We'll see where that goes.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Well, the repaired cluster didn't last. First time getting it on the road, and it was apparent the speedo wasn't working as intended. It would read up to 80 (regardless of my actual speed) or zero. I was worried that maybe it had a bad VSS signal (and that was causing issues with my old cluster anyway), so I went about replacing the harness for that.




So this is the little junction box that leads into the rest of the body harness. There's two wires that transfer the VSS signal from the diff - the brown and green/white wires. I traced those up from the diff to be sure they were right. I made an effort to reuse the factory insulation as much as possible - at least as far as keeping the plug in the body so rust doesn't start happening in the open area of the trunk where the hole is.




Naturally this didn't fix it, so I swapped back to my old, spare cluster. Of course - it just works.

I also fixed the boost gauge - the PO had cut the original hose for the cluster-mounted one in half to make the stupid beer can one work. I reattached it and now the cluster actually sits in the dash properly, and the gauge works flawlessly now.

I also installed a set of RBP Stage 1 turbo chips. Well, with a lot of hand-holding by Cameron. First time around, I had the fuel chip in backwards and it just dumped fuel into the motor. I switched it back around, gave it some throttle and it fired right up. Idle is pretty steady now, though I went through a rough "learning" patch with the LH where it didn't quite want to return to idle at stops. That's fixed now though, and it's returning very cozy MPGs. Also, it's much MUCH faster when in boost. I'm happy.

There's more to write, I gotta move to a second post though.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Welp.

The 940 was getting to a point where it's getting too reliable for me to want to modify. And I recently had a hankering for pushrod pain, so it was time to start browsing for 140s and 160s, which are still roughly budget-friendly as projects. I had a few people on Facebook approach me, offering their Amazon and P1800 "projects) for the $10-15k mark which is um... no. Way more than I'm ready to spend on a project that will just sit for eight months out of the year.

So I bought these two.

Hacked V: The 140s Strike Back



Yes.

If the ownership paperwork is to be believed, the white car is a '67 144S (sounds familiar, huh?) and the orange car is a '74 144 DL.

I went into this purchase expecting to part out the white car (it's got some frame damage and overall just looks terrible) and put the good parts on the orange car, but I've sort of reversed course since then.



When I got there, I learned that not only was the '67 a factory twin carb car (making it a 144S), but also that it;

1. Was already B20-swapped (I had gone in expecting it to still be a junk B18)
2. Actually has decent floors? Looks like someone replaced all the floor pans and put new butt cheeks in it.
3. It's a factory manual; M40 car.

AND the engine spins over. AND has allegedly ran in the last five years. AND lights come on when you hook up a battery.

The '74, conversely is just a bit too far gone. I love the colour, but the floors are gone and the frame rails are dust in too many places to warrant fixing. It's also K-jet and has probably not run in twenty years or so it's probably best to part out. A lot of '74 bits won't bolt to the '67, but I'm hoping to reuse as much as possible.



I sort of lucked out with these, I wasn't finding too many leads until I learned that @Hodginsa was picking up a 242 GT from the same place. We got something of a package deal worked out with the owner, Hodgins got the 242 and I snagged both 144s. We spent basically half a day just moving all three cars one at a time, loading them onto a U-haul trailer, dropping them off at Hodgins' shop.



I'm not going to write much about the GT because it's not my car. But damn does it look cool, especially now that it made the shop look like every Volvo hoarder's place

 

[aeug]

Hacked VI surely will be "the return of a 240" :^)

 

[dl242gt]

Well done! Glad things are doing well with the 940 and love the newest addition to the collection. If there is no vacuum unit on the kjet distributor. The mechanical advance only distributor is a good one to use with carbs. I'd save that for when you get into tuning the engine in the 67.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

If there is no vacuum unit on the kjet distributor. The mechanical advance only distributor is a good one to use with carbs. I'd save that for when you get into tuning the engine in the 67.

That's something @spock345 was tuning me up to, as well. I think immediate first steps are going to be figuring out the ignition wiring (might be a bad relay or junction box in the engine bay), and then the interior is all probably going to have to come out. And also the engine/transmission - it needs some repair work done where the transmission crossmember is, in the long run. Plus it means the engine bay can be painted and properly rustproofed for the future.

The other area of concern is a pretty bad mildew smell in the trunk - the seal is bad and letting water in. Guess I have some parts to order from VP...

 

[fatcatbestcat]

So, small update - started slowly working on the cars. Trying my best to get over to the shop once a week to get stuff done. Driving around a 940 sedan full of boxes and/or tires is making me realize that I really really really need a wagon.

Of course, this was sort of a foregone conclusion, but the orange car is just too far gone. Lots of rust around the glass, destroyed frame rail on the driver's side, holes in the floors, mouse turds inside etc etc. @jmiles dropped by to give Hodgins and myself a hand with the partout.

Really, not a lot could come out of the car - just about every exterior fastener was rusted up and/or broke. I salvaged what I could, and grabbed all the K-jet parts and the P/S and A/C off the motor.

Anyway, that was last week. This weekend my goal was to make the white car run. I wish I had gotten more pictures, but Hodgins was there to help and I didn't really have time to whip out my phone - the guy works fast and it was all kind of a blur.

The gist is this:

With a battery in, key on, there's lights on the dash. Not much else. Jumping the starter didn't do anything, so it was decided that the solenoid was junk. We turned to the parts car, and somehow the starter works MINT and spins the motor over. A lot of knuckle bashing and wrenching later, that starter was swapped into the white car, and that made it spin over. WITH THE KEY, no less. We figured out it had compression, and after some spinning, I could see oil coming out of the rocker shaft, so we knew it had good oil pressure.

Amazingly, the majority of the electrics work; the lights, hazards, turn signals, brake lights and interior fan all worked as they should - colour me impressed. Hodgins jumped in and crimped some broken connections in the engine bay, and cut and recrimped the positive side battery terminal. Grounds also got cleaned. We had a weird issue where touching the positive battery cable would just kill all power, even with 12.3 volts at the battery.

After all that work, no spark at the plugs. Took the distributor apart, and found that the points were worn out and not opening enough to let spark jump the gap. Miraculously, the distributor out of the parts car (I had pulled the week prior) was basically pristine, and we plugged that one in. THEN we had spark.

Unfortunately, it still wouldn't start, probably because the fuel pump is junk and leaking gas straight into the crankcase, or just not making any pressure. It couldn't pull fuel out of a jerry can sat atop the brake booster. I think I got one full combustion - just a cough, by shooting carb cleaner straight into one of the SUs with the throttle cracked open all the way, but that was it. I'm ordering some parts and will try this all again next weekend.

I also threw on a spare steelie Hodgins had laying around (thus getting rid of a nasty torn trailer tire on that corner and allowing it to roll) and I REALLY like the fit. 240 offset wheels in 205/75R14s I think are going to be the way to go.

Being this close to the car running, I was a bit restless after I got home. I sat in my garage, on the floor (while it rained outside) and took apart the distributor that came off the B20 (a nice aluminum Bosch 007 with mechanical advance) and cleaned it up. Very relaxing, actually. I think I'll use this as a core to convert it to Pertronix breakerless ignition at a later date.

That's all I have for now. Really hoping I can get this thing running next weekend. I'm sure with some actual fuel pressure (and maybe real starting fluid), it will run. With half of the exhaust rotted off, it'll be rowdy - that's for sure.

And in unrelated Hacked news, Hacked II lives!

The wagon is still on its original drivetrain, D24 and M46 still going strong, apparently. The owner complained about the old sealed beams burning out weekly, so he swapped the headlights to LEDs. Not my favourite, but I don't own the car anymore, so I don't really get any say-so. Surprisingly, he swapped to the Dracos I included with the car when I sold it two years ago. THAT means I can go snag the 14" steelies and hubcaps and beauty rings that were on it for my 144. Muahahaha!

That's all, folks.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Another weekend, a LOT more progress made. Or so I think.

This is how the car was left last time. New (used) distributor and starter in - it cranked over and had spark but I didn't trust it actually having any fuel pressure.

So, logically, the first thing for me to parts cannon was the fuel pump. It was old and crusty and I don't think it was really pulling fuel all that well - at least not through that nasty cracked piece of yellow surgical tubing. Got a new pump from IPD and made sure to clean the gasket surface on the boss on the side of the block. I also brought a random motorcycle gas tank and some line to gravity-feed gas to the pump. Last time, it seemed to have issues pulling fuel straight out of a jerry can.

I also took the airbox off to grant some much better access to the SU carbs. They're actually in decent shape, and as we found out later, there wasn't really anything wrong with them. I noticed the float bowls were bone dry, so we tried filling them in case it was an issue of fuel getting to the carbs causing a no start.

For some reason, I chose to replace most of the ignition system; dizzy cap and rotor, new coil and new IPD plug wires (the awful blue ones people seem to hate) - just to eliminate them as variables. That resulted in a lot of head scratching as it seemed like there wasn't any spark coming out after replacing all the parts. I don't quite recall what the solution was, but after some fiddling, sparks came out of the (also new) plugs.

After some more cranks and screwing around, we noticed two things. Firstly, I set the firing order completely wrong - for some reason I thought the rotor spun clockwise, but it's actually the opposite. So rather than 1-3-4-2, I had it setup to fire 2-4-3-1, which was never going to work. And secondly... I hadn't put enough gas in the makeshift motorcycle gravity-feed tank for the fuel pump to pull. With a lot more gas in it, the pump eventually drew nough fuel through to get to the carbs, and the bowls were able to fill. Timing was way off, and after some adjusting and getting it to cough a few times, this was the result.

So, it runs! Miles, MILES ahead of Hacked 1. Now I'm running out of reasons to keep it at Hodgins' property. I gotta figure out storage - it can go into my garage, but that's usually where projects go to die. I'm hoping to find actual shop space with a lift, which is never an easy find. It's not like I can just drive this car home, not without brakes or an actual fuel system and fixing the bluetooth transmission mounts.

I did also check out the trunk to figure out why it was leaking - my first thought was bad trunk seal (I ordered one), but the gutters were so filled with twigs and leaves and junk that I'm sure that was the actual issue. After sponging all the nasty rust water out (after taking the picture), it turns out that the trunk area is actually quite good - there's no real rust or holes in there. Just spots that have evidently been repaired. The tank even looks fairly new, so I'm hoping to clean it out and reuse it at some point. But I have bigger things to worry about.

 

[Hodginsa]

*Hasn't started in 5+ years, running perfectly and idling.*
"Runs kinda rough"

 

[fatcatbestcat]

*Hasn't started in 5+ years, running perfectly and idling.*
"Runs kinda rough"

Maybe it's my monotone delivery, but that was a joke

I was honestly expecting a lot more clatter.

 

[fatcatbestcat]

So, time for another thread non-update. It's a new month, so I guess it's time to make it a big one.

So I finally got around to getting my shitboxes off Hodgins' property. By which I mean he had the orange car crushed and then I spent way too long trying to organize transport for the '67 144. Finding shop space to put it in was sort of nightmarish - I was seeing a lot of rental properties available for something like $2500-$3500/mo which is... about how much I get paid.

I got there early to make sure the tires were well-enough inflated on the white car to make it roll. I was expecting a fight, but the one rear wheel that didn't really hold air all that well filled right up and didn't really cause any issues. Cleaning out the drains for the trunk made the seal work properly, it rained a lot recently and I was pleased to find no water in the trunk this time!

I also used the scrap money from the orange 144 to buy Hodgins' set of Coronas, and four center caps. I'm still iffy on the fitment in the front, but I think they could look nice once cleaned up. Most of them have some degree of curb rash, except for one that's basically mint (structurally) - must have been a spare that didn't get used.

Anyway, the driver eventually got there, loaded the car up and I hit the road to beat the truck to the new work space - a shop that is conveniently equidistant from Hodgins' place. So it doesn't really cut down on my commute time but I have a LOT more space to work on the car - plus access to a lift, a bunch of CNC equipment and some powder coating tools, if I can figure out how any of it works.

I had to join a car club to get access - lots of colourful characters. I had actually been to this shop and met one of the club members back in the winter times, you can see it on an older post when I was still working on that godawful white 244. That was sort of my "in" to the club. After my car got dropped off, I ended up hanging out with this guy that's big into Ladas. He helped me push my car, I helped him push his Niva.

Also, we have the world's sketchiest forklift. Powered by a Continental flathead gas motor. It ran out of gas halfway through pushing the Niva, but I just happened to have a jerry can full of 91 in the trunk of the 144.

So that's all for now. Hopefully future updates will be filled with a lot more progress than my home garage experience in Hacked I and II.

 

[Scaramanga]

Great progress! You will make it this time, I´m sure.

Give it a wash?

 

[fatcatbestcat]

Great progress! You will make it this time, I´m sure.

Give it a wash?

Yeah, it definitely needs it - fortunately (as you can see on the passenger side front fender), it looks like the nasty forest gunk that's built up will come right off. As well as most of the paint, probably.

Since it already runs, that drastically simplifies my next steps. I think currently the plan is;

-Make sure the Coronas fit in the front with the wheels turned at usable steering angles
-Clean and throw fresh tires on the Coronas so the car can actually roll a lot more easily than it currently does

-Take the driver's side door panel off and put the window back on the track so it can be rolled up all the way

-Run a compression test on the engine to decide what degree of work it's going to need; if it has good, even compression across all four, I'll probably pull it anyway and reseal and paint it before throwing it back in. Otherwise I'm into it for new rings and a dingleball hone at the very least - or an overbore... or a new engine block.

-Rip the carpet out and power wash the interior and exterior of the car (inside seems to have a couple turds in it and does NOT smell like a fun workspace)

-Pull the motor/transmission out so the engine bay and as much of the underside of the car can be washed/degreased and then painted or rattle can undercoated/POR15/whatever. The brakes need to be redone and I have to weld in a patch for the short frame on the driver's side by the transmission mount, so having the engine/trans out would give me a lot more space to work with.

-Redo the brakes

-Clean out the gas tank and plumb a new hard fuel line to the front

-As little bodywork as I can get away with

-Make the front turn signals work

-Throw an exhaust on it (KLR Simons kit + header?)

-Drive...????

-Possibly ruin it with lowering springs I already bought for some reason???

That list doesn't sound that daunting but I'm sure I'll get stuck somewhere at the beginning.

 

[adomz]

Was surprised t osee that Niva. Cute little thing!

ADam

 

[Scaramanga]

Yeah, it definitely needs it - fortunately (as you can see on the passenger side front fender), it looks like the nasty forest gunk that's built up will come right off. As well as most of the paint, probably.

Since it already runs, that drastically simplifies my next steps. I think currently the plan is;

-Make sure the Coronas fit in the front with the wheels turned at usable steering angles
-Clean and throw fresh tires on the Coronas so the car can actually roll a lot more easily than it currently does

-Take the driver's side door panel off and put the window back on the track so it can be rolled up all the way

-Run a compression test on the engine to decide what degree of work it's going to need; if it has good, even compression across all four, I'll probably pull it anyway and reseal and paint it before throwing it back in. Otherwise I'm into it for new rings and a dingleball hone at the very least - or an overbore... or a new engine block.

-Rip the carpet out and power wash the interior and exterior of the car (inside seems to have a couple turds in it and does NOT smell like a fun workspace)

-Pull the motor/transmission out so the engine bay and as much of the underside of the car can be washed/degreased and then painted or rattle can undercoated/POR15/whatever. The brakes need to be redone and I have to weld in a patch for the short frame on the driver's side by the transmission mount, so having the engine/trans out would give me a lot more space to work with.

-Redo the brakes

-Clean out the gas tank and plumb a new hard fuel line to the front

-As little bodywork as I can get away with

-Make the front turn signals work

-Throw an exhaust on it (KLR Simons kit + header?)

-Drive...????

-Possibly ruin it with lowering springs I already bought for some reason???

That list doesn't sound that daunting but I'm sure I'll get stuck somewhere at the beginning.

I think you have to grind off some material on the calipers to make Coronas fit. It might depend on which type of calipers you have. A thin spacer shim might help.