Lincoolns 1986 Fuego Turbo

[Lincooln]

Discussion: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=30707

Well this last weekend I bought myself a 86 Fuego Turbo.

I am getting rid of my Mazda 626 wagon as that was a work car and is now not needed. Besides the Fuego is so much more fun.

So basically I picked it up from a weird kinda guy down in Palmerston North in NZ. I won the auction on it for $955, so a real bargain I was hoping. Got down to it and Yeap, she is all good. Body is alright, no major dents and very few minor ones, rust wise it has had a couple of repairs on the underside of the bonnet and along the bottom of the passenger door. The drivers side needs a bit and there has been a hole bogged up under the petrol filler flap. There are plenty of stone chips and other chips to the paint, and there is plenty of surface rust spots that need attention soon. I was told the drivers side door lock didn't work but so far it has had no problems.

The owner before the one I got it off, replaced all the suspension bushes etc ten years ago, so it all seems to look good underneath. and rides real nice, on some big bumps it makes some noises but its getting less. I think it was just from not using it enough. He did after all only do 1000miles in the last 5 years in it, how ever it has left me with a set of real good tyres. The front half of the exhaust has been replaced and a muffler deleted and mandrel bends added instead of the crushed bends. The new exhaust goes from the turbo back, it is 2.5" dump pipe that goes into a 2.25" system. Standard is just a little smaller. Also the owner before the one who sold it to me cut the paint back way too much and had ruined the clear coat and in places has cut through the paint so now rust is showing through You dont need to cut it every time you polish it. maybe once every few years dammit.

The spot lights don't work for some reason, I think its bulbs but other wise everything else works fine light wise. The left front indicator lens has a hole in it with a sticker covering it, however I have a replacement for that side so its no biggie. The left side rear light has faded in the indicator side and I am trying to source a replacement. The right rear has a crack in the lens but its not too bad.

Interior wise its all very good, a few stains on boot floor carpet but nothing else. No holes either so its all good. the stitching on the drivers side seat is coming apart on the right bolster, however the seller gave me a replacement cover for it too. oh and it has a really ugly looking wooden and leather gear knob on it that been super glues so god knows how that's going to come off Also the radio that is in it does not work, I got it working once but I think the power to it is not working, so will test it and see. Otherwise I will get a new head deck for it. oh and in between the stitches on the roof lining it hangs a little low, but that's just age.

So now to driving. Well my dad said it smoked a bit leaving the guys place and getting out of town but within 15 minutes it was all clear, and have not seen any more yet. (was black smoke) I have been taking it easy as the previous owner did nanna it a lot when he did use it so it needs a new run in period as such. Its coming a live more now though, which is good. Engine runs really quiet, has no noise from the chain or tappets etc. Turbo sounds fantastic too. Oil looks new too along with filter.

The gear box is all good and so is the clutch. Worse part i find with driving it is tat you sit so near the middle there is no where to rest your right leg on long journeys, but at a stretch you can get the door, just leaves your leg on a weird angle. Seats are super comfy and it cruises real nice and is quite as too. Just as quiet as my dads 19's if not more so. another annoying thing is that the turbo gauge is blocked by your hand on the steering wheel, so will swap locations with the computer so its like my dads one.

Well it has plenty of power and no hills made me change down gear at all, just sat in 5th with about 4-7 PSI and it just climbed. Turbo lag is way better than what I was expecting, you just have to adapt your driving to it. such as I went to pass in 5th and the turbo slowly spooled up and I thought I need to get passed quicker, chopped to 4th and it was off like a cut cat. Good thing is that it uses next to no fuel. when doing 110kph it sits at 2500rpm. so barley sipping fuel and it usually has about only .5 psi boost running in it on the flat.

One problem I had was that the wipers at speed would work twice then stop and fly right up into my line of vision. I found that it is the ball joint on the wiper motor that is coming apart. So will need to work out what to do about that.

So work that needs doing:

New: Oil, oil filter, air filter, coolant, spark plugs, leads, rotor, dizzy cap, brake fluid.

Body: Fix all the under bonnet rust and get engine bay into primer, and start the panels one at a time. Once it is all in primer with rust removed and rust proofed I will get my mate who is an award winning spray painter to paint it the green form ph2 19's. Should suit the Fuego. oh and remove the tow bar.

Engine: Wind up boost to be like my dads, so should run 14-15 Psi. my dads Fuego had done 450,000km's before we hit a hole and it would never run right, and no one could figure it out. So now its my parts car. other than that not much else needs doing. Just a freshen up really in the long run. oh and replace the rear half of the exhaust.

Interior: Replace the drivers seat upholstery, replace gear knob to standard one and fit new speakers to it, also might fit retractable seat belts to the rear out of my dads Fuego. oh and new boards for the tool holes in the boot floor as one is sagging badly and the other is a hory piece of ply wood.

Wheels suspension etc: maybe lower it, but that's debatable but would like to get a set of 15" BBS somethings.

Next post will have all the photos I have so far. Photos were taken once I got back to Auckland just with tyre shine added to the black trim and the tyres. Have since given it a clean and polished the roof and bonnet and it looks much better for it.

[Lincooln]

[Lincooln]

Well when it stopped raining today for a bit I decided to have poke around under the bonnet, as you do, and found some interesting things.

What took most of the time was when I looked under the oil filler cap there was a bit of water and 'mayo' So i took off and cleaned along with all the oil breather pipes from all over the engine and the oil catch tank thing. So cleaned up engine a bit too. worst pipes were the top ones, no sludge in the sump or in the main oil lines, so I think its from a lack of use and not getting hot properly. The last owner did say he had done about 1000 miles in it in about 3 years, but would start it for 5 minutes or so every couple of weeks, so that's probably where it came from. Will see I guess.

Went to check the spark plugs and I didn't have a spark plug socket deep enough to get them out. They have extraordinarily long plugs in them, so need to find something to get them out. oh and found out the compression side of the turbo is .42 and I already knew it was a T3 flange, and checked the play and it was about 1mm maybe? hard to tell when you cant see the compressor wheel. Tightened up the clamps on the intercooler and turbo too as they were a bit loose and added a couple of clamps to some of the oil breather lines.

Then checked to see why the fog lamps don't work, so checked fuses and they are all good, visual inspection of the solenoids seem to be sweet and notice that in 2001 the solenoid had been replaced anyway. So took of the lens cover and got to the bulb, noticed that the retaining clip wasn't actually even touching the bulb, weird, so I went to pull bulb out and its struck in there, almost like its melted. I then took the reflector and bulb holder out of the glass to find that it had been severely dented in and crushed the bulb holder etc. so I need to get a replacement from my dads car. I ran out of daylight to check the left side but I hope its better.

Found today too that it must have had a shunt in the right front as the paint on the panel is crap, the mag wheel looks newer than the others, CV makes a noise when backing, chrome trim under headlight is pushed under and the reflector in the fog lamp is well bent, but bonnet has had no repairs and neither has the plastic trim. So who knows what the hell it had hit.

Also found out that to gain access to the starter which is under the turbo, you can remove the air cleaner assembly and to undo the mounting bolts you can reach in behind the engine. Bit tight but its do able. Also the wipers do not work at all now. The knuckle that joins the starter motor to the wiper assemblies has worn and so has the hoop on the assembly, the little metal teeth that would fit round the knuckle have almost all broken off, at the moment I get a wipe up and half a wipe down before it disconnects itself. Not the best. Should have a solution tomorrow for it.

Otherwise just found a few specs on it, such as it has a 53/47 Front rear weight distribution, an alloy block and alloy head, LSD diff and that the engine code is A6M, or maybe A5L. Hard to tell. But I do know that A6M has a 9.3:1 comp ratio and A5L has a 8.1 Comp ratio, so leaning towards the A5L engine.

That's all for now I suppose, not much in reality. Haha

[Lincooln]

ok, so a small update.

I have cleaned the engine bay which made a huge difference. found a rust hole below battery as there must have been a leak at some point. Will be getting an powered battery box to solve that problem.

I found that the leads to the solenoid on the starter were a bit loose so took them off, cleaned them up and put it back together. However it made no bloody difference.

I replaced the right rear tail light with one from my dads as his was mint and mine had the crack in it. Went to replace one on the left and found it had been siliconed / super glued in so will have to come back to that later. bloody annoying as that's the faded one. Replaced the left front indicator lens with a new one. Found that it is much lighter in colour so is back off at the moment till I can find a matching light. Looks much better though.

Had to do a temp job at fixing the vacuum pipe to the waste gate actuator? as the old one had dried up and snapped in 3 pieces when I tried to move it. time for a manual boost controller. Will paint it matte black to look more standard / not stick out. Also painted the air filter housing as that had heaps of paint peeling, removed the sticker but kept it so will do a proper job of painting soon and replace it.

Did a temp job on fixing my wipers as the ball joint has worn too badly so pops off. Used a piece of some scrap galv sheet I had round and works like a charm for now.

Oh and scared a WRX the other day too on an afternoon drive. haha. I love this car.

Pics:

[Lincooln]

Ok so time for a small update.

not much has happened really.

Just replaced the tail lights, so now they look the same and no cracks. One was hard as hell to remove as it had been siliconed in.

Did a temp fix on my wipers so they would work, and its still there.

I have just fitted a pod filter. did this as a replacement for the standard filter was $65, and a pod was about half that.

Fuel gauge has stopped working somewhat.

Paint is a lot more shiny now.

90% sure the head gasket is on the way out. So will get cams reground, new valve springs and new gaskets all at the same time. That is to be done soon a long with the rust in the engine bay and at the back of the roof. (all surface stuff). Should be done before next warrant in March.

and just other than that deciding on what wheels I will get eventually and how I am going to get it sitting nice and low.

No pics yet, may add some later. Nothing interesting though.

[Lincooln]

ok, so now I have got rid of one of my other old school cars, my Humber Hawk. Still there is now space in the carport for other projects. yay. Time to get to work.

[Lincooln]

Well my original fuel gauge / sender unit thing packed out, the gauge was stuck on a quarter and I ran out of fuel. It didn't start to work again till I filled it 3/4. It then worked for a while, but it soon packed out again, so I took it out. When I pulled it out it all came out in pieces which I thought was strange. I put it back together best I could, but now its stuck on 1.9gallon on the computer and below empty on the gauge and no fuel light on (this has worked in the past)

So I got one out of my dads Fuego and out that in today. that had been sitting in old fuel and all, but it seems to work. Well it says on my computer that it has 13.4gallons of fuel, which if that was true that is way over the complete volume of my tank. and the fuel gauge barely even registers at all, way below empty. So I think that one was calibrated for liters, as in the manual form my dads car it says the computer is all metric units. However my computer is all imperial.

so with that info I now believe that mine is a UK spec model that was sold in NZ new. So just a little different. any way my question is had anybody had any experience with these gauges etc? It is the tube type, not the lever type sender unit. Do you think the reading of fuel is now in litres on the computer? If it is it would seem right to me, just weird how the gauge doesn't work. guess I will see how it goes. It does need some more fuel soon so will see then what happens.

bloody Renaults and their electrics

[Lincooln]

ok, so today I finally got round to removing the broken cv. That broke weekend before last. Got it out finally after some swearing, was harder to remove than the one form my dads Fuego that has been sitting for nearly 8 years.

Heard something in the inner cv so took the boot off and... Oil shit all over the concrete. Bastards can't have put the right oil grease in it so its just melted and turned to runnier shit than gearbox oil.

Outer CV I took the boot off and a ball bearing fell out and found the cage smashed in one place, least the grease was ok. haven't found the piece of cage yet, will take them apart and swap over boots to the replacement tomorrow so long as no rain happens.

Happier news, I ordered my head gasket set from the UK today, so hopefully its here in a week or two.

Will post pics tomorrow and a further update

[Lincooln]

ok, so I have now gopt the new CV in, took it apart and regreased it all and put it all back together, it has been refurbed at some time as you can see heat marks form another time, the ball bearings and teh cage etc all look mint though.

Funny thing is that the driveshaft from my dads car that I have put in is actaully thicker and ihas a different spline that goes into the CV to that of mine, however gearbox and hub ends are the same. Also the CV casings are different looking too. I will get my old one refurbed at some point too and will take out the other drive shaft from my dads as the left and right are the same. Replacement parts are out of a 84 NZ spec model.

Pics below.

Note the shape of the inner CV casing in this photo, on the replacement one it is just a solid round.

Drive shaft thicknesses on the input to the CV side

Not that the casings of the CV's are different

[Lincooln]

Ok so the other day I started to get the head off the Fuego to do the head gasket change. I got the turbo and exhaust manifold off. Found turbo to be an AiResearch Brand, which is an early garret, so must still be the original. Shaft has about 1mm play so not bad but the oil seals are starting to go. However I won't be doing these yet I will wait till I can get a brand new turbo to help reduce lag etc.

Today I got cracking on it more as the weather was fine and I had some time. So got the radiator drained, removed intake manifold off the head and got all the things unbolted form the head. Next I removed the rocker cover and got the rocker assembly out too. I then had to remove the radiator hoses, the water pump and alternator belt and a few other bits and pieces. To hard so had to remove radiator, to do that had to unbolt the radiator support panel, then the intercooler, then some of the hoses. One was stuck and I didn't want to break anything so left that attached and moved the radiator out the way. Got the head off alright and did find a few place a few suspect places on the head gasket where it might have been leaking coolant. Looks old as, so no surprise there really.

I will drop the head off to the Cylinder head Shop Next week to get it pressure tested and if need be fit new valve guides. Just to make sure that the head will be all ok for a while to come. Getting nervous about putting the head back on as its says that if once the gasket is placed on the block and / or the head is paced on there and it is moved you have to then do ita ll gain and start with a new head gasket. So I will have to be ultra careful.

Also started to remove the heater hoses so i can remove that and paint in that bulk head and make sure its all water tight and rust free. I will also sand, get rid of the rust and prime the left hand suspension strut tower and around the tray part and the firewall a bit. Once engine is back together will do the drivers side too.

Pics below:

Ok So I also need to drain the gearbox oil as its got engine oil in there instead. But I can't get this nut off. It is a 10mm Square nut. I have tried all sorts and broke two 10mm spanners trying to get it off. I have got the fill pug moving. If I could find a 10mm 8 point socket that would be perfect, any ideas where one may be? Also any other ideas on how to get it out?

Cheers

Lincoln

[Lincooln]

Well I got the head back from the shop yesterday. Cost was $190. had it pressure checked, then had it machined as it was previously hand sanded and turned out to be a bit out, and he removed the water pump and a few other bits. Not bad price. I used The Cylinder Head Shop on Sunnybrae Road. The guy also recognised the head so it was a good bit of confidence. I have also got my Mazda head from there too.

Anyway as it was my day off today so i got cracking on getting it back together. took ages to clean off the old gaskets off the head and intake manifold. but got the new head gasket on, all the turbo and exhaust manifold on, valve clearances done, rocker cover on, dizzy in, intake manifold on but it needs tightening. Also painted the intercooler and the top intake piping too.

Left to do: Oil, coolant, heater unit, intake manifold tightening, radiator and intercooler to be fitted, new belts for power steering and water pump / alternator, then warm it up, cool down, re tighten head bolts and its all done. Might get a new thermostat too. Just in case.

Pics:

[Lincooln]

Ok so the Fuego is all up and running, done all the tightening and re tightening of the head bolts, given it a run and it all seem good. Temp is a bit higher than before but it seems to be a truer measurement than before. Will get a thermostat asap though just in-case.

Goes in for a warrant tomorrow, so fingers crossed it will be used on Thursday and/or Friday.

[Lincooln]

hell yea, Fuego is now all road legal. Engine bay is a bit crap looking now as I went to a stricter WoF place so i decided to get rid of the surface rust on the strut towers. so is now in blue zinc. on te plus side I have found the colour I will paint it.

Pics later on

[Lincooln]

I like the blue so one day I will get the engine bay finished in that blue. Will do an area at a time till its done I guess over a few weekends.

Also re did the in take side and added a scoop from under the car to help feed cold air to the filter. Next will be to wrap the exhaust and or get a turbo beanie to cut down on the heat in the engine bay. To re do the filter I hacked up the intake from our wrecked 19.

Cant really see it in this pic, but the sill I repainted black along with the tow bar at the back too. Bumpers are next

[Lincooln]

ok, so I removed the ball bearing and spring from my boost tap thingy and hey presto, reliable boost now. Running about 11-13psi now, so up on the factory 9. Pulls quite a bit harder now. Happy as. can still safely go to 15 so might do that this month. Might try to get to a winter dragwars event this month, just for shits and giggles.

[Lincooln]

ok, so I have been having a few issues. I am waiting for Simon to help me test it but it looks like the cylinder liner seals have broken on the trip down to FAMP. so it keeps using lots of water and I can't have the oil breather connected up otherwise it fills up with mayo shit. So basically its been parked up for the last couple of weeks now.

Also I have had numerous problems with coolant and radiator hoses giving problems. So they all need replacing along with fuel lines, all heater hoses, radiator hoses, vacuum and boost hoses, oil hoses etc.

I have a question though, should I try and replace whatever hoses I can with silicone ones? get proper radiator hoses but get the rest in silicone? Found a good cheap company to deal with for silicone hose out of the UK autosiliconehoses.com I have heard a mix bag of feed back on silicone so wondering if anybody on here as experience with it.

Cheers

Lincoln

[Lincooln]

Well another pictureless update.

Its still running, got a new radiator hose so its not leaking from there now. Need to pressure check cooling system as I believe that the cylinder liner seals have started to leak a bit. Which is gay. Hope not though a I don't really feel like (no money to do) a rebuild of the motor. But I guess if it has to be done then I will do it properly with a custom cam, new pistons rods etc. Will also paint engine bay if engine is out as it seriously needs it.

Picking up a spare set of wheels, a rear subframe and some wiper blades for $40 next week to. Spare wheels will go onto my dads Renault 19, after I have tidied them up a bit.

[Lincooln]

So this Saturday I am having a working bee on this and getting the engine out and hopefully prep the engine bay ready for some paint.

Engine will be stripped and inspected, Should only need new cylinder liner seals, new rings, cam regrind, new internals i turbo, new head gasket, new head bolts and a new timing chain. apparently everything else is bloody strong from factory and should not need replacing.

Will be awesome to have back on the road, Stripping the engine myself so I am a bit nervous as I have done a few heads before but nothing below that, so all new to me, will be reading the manual and then I will also be getting help from a friend who is a Renault enthusiast to help me strip and inspect it when I need it, he will also help me put it all back together.

Goal is to be able to run 15psi all day long, do some track days and the like and generally be a bit fresher than before.

No pics at this stage sorry.

[Lincooln]

Sweet well the engine is out now.

Went all good and was easy to do even with only me doing the work.

Left engine mount fell apart once engine was out and right side is not far behind so they will have to be replaced. Clutch is down to the rivet things just, so glad I caught it now. Flywheel has some grooving so will need a skim and I will be getting a new clutch kit, no idea where from, probably mix and match from stuff.

Otherwise it is just the rings, liner seals, timing chain, head gasket. I have got all the paint and stuff needed for tidying up teh engine bay so that will be done too.

Will be taking the engine apart over the next week hopefully. So, so far, so good.

Pics:

Discuss: http://www.oldschool...hp?f=18&t=30707

Edited February 9, 2013 by Lincooln

[Lincooln]

Well some real progress for a change.

 

I have ordered a set of pistons, rings, liners and connecting pins for about $800nzd including shipping from France. So one step closer. Now I need a new cam chain and the engine can be stripped and re assembled completely.

 

Other things to buy include Turbo, Clutch, machine flywheel and engine mounts.

 

I have been painting the engine bay lately and today I got some colour on it. Wet sand it during the week and polish it. Not too bad for my first time spraying anything let alone 2k. Prep work let me down a bit, but not going for a show car look so not too fussed. looks heaps better than it did before. 

 

Photo drop below.