Sterling #S009

[Brett Proctor]

I'm curious on how this smog test is going to go.

The car is registered as a 1969 vehicle, but it has a 1998 engine.

Will they use smog specifications for a 1969 or 1998 vehicle.

I have a temporary permit for 30 days to drive the car around to get the necessary info to get it registered. Maybe I'll take it out tomorrow for a test drive

 

[Brett Proctor]

Took the car out today.

Like to say it was uneventful but it was anything but that.

First just getting it out of the driveway was a somewhat challenge. Front nose kissed the pavement as I was backing out.

Got back and had a leaking coolant coupler. Then the overheating light came on but the scan tool showed that temps were within tolerances. No signs of overheating while driving it.

Oil pressure light came on while driving it.

Throttle position sensor was not sending out any signal to the ecu so the car went into open loop. Had a spare. Put that on and its working.....for now

Years of running the engine in the garage and not one problem yet one trip around the block and this happens.

 

[ThreeTimeTom]

Took the car out today.

Like to say it was uneventful but it was anything but that.

First just getting it out of the driveway was a somewhat challenge. Front nose kissed the pavement as I was backing out.

Got back and had a leaking coolant coupler. Then the overheating light came on but the scan tool showed that temps were within tolerances. No signs of overheating while driving it.

Oil pressure light came on while driving it.

Throttle position sensor was not sending out any signal to the ecu so the car went into open loop. Had a spare. Put that on and its working.....for now

Years of running the engine in the garage and not one problem yet one trip around the block and this happens.

Brett, Welcome to Kit Car heaven.

 

[Brett Proctor]

For the oil pressure issue I'm going to pull the back of the car off so I have easy access to the engine and pull the oil pump to check it out. Also I'm going to pull the oil pan and check the oil pick-up to see if there are any leaks in it.

The fun hasn't ended.

 

[Brett Proctor]

Not going to take any chances.

Ordered new oil pump and a high-volume water pump (all oem, no aftermarket), along with all the seals, gaskets and o'rings that are needed.
Should be here next week

 

[Brett Proctor]

Think I found the oil pressure problem
This is a first for me

Oil pickup touches the bottom of the oil pan

not enough clearance for oil to get sucked up.
Did a search for how much clearance is required and the average censes is 1/4"-3/8" clearance is needed.

This is the pickup that came with the oil pan.
I heated the tube and made adjustments so it has the suggested clearance.

 

[ThreeTimeTom]

Think I found the oil pressure problem
This is a first for me

Oil pickup touches the bottom of the oil pan
View attachment 10485

View attachment 10486

not enough clearance for oil to get sucked up.
Did a search for how much clearance is required and the average censes is 1/4"-3/8" clearance is needed.

This is the pickup that came with the oil pan.
I heated the tube and made adjustments so it has the suggested clearance.

That is great work.

 

[farfegnubbin]

Oh wow! Good for you; shame on them.

 

[farfegnubbin]

Regarding scraping your nose, I was worried about that, not because your design is worse for scraping than the original but because the original is terribly prone to scraping and your design looks like it has about the same clearance.

I’ve often thought about putting a skid plate or maybe even a caster wheel at the corner of the nose of my cars. I thought about going with an airbag suspension in the front so I could adjust it higher for low-speed maneuvering. All that said, I haven’t tried either on a drivable car.

 

[Brett Proctor]

I got 2 ways I'm looking at to fix this

First
Higher profile front tires. The next size up from what I have will give me 1/2" more clearance.

Next would be to add air shocks to the front (if I can find any).

I put those height adjusters on the torsion tubes but those are proving to be worthless.

 

[Brett Proctor]

To address the height of the oil pickup issue I figured I had 2 options. Make a new one or take the one I have and adjust the height on it.
Decided to adjust the height on the one I have.

After doing that I checked how much clearance I had.

First I covered the pickup with aluminum foil.

Then I put some clay around the pickup

I then position the oil pan in place and removed it and checked the clearance.

Clearance is now 0.35"-0.48" which should work.

 

[sector]

I am surprised you have to use shortened pan. I am using standard suparu pan and have plenty clearance. Even when I had the original VW chassis there was always at least 5" clearance under the pan even when car was lowered. As shown the photo, the pan bottom is in line with lowest point on the chassis. So do you really need that shortened pan?

 

[Brett Proctor]

Wow
That looks to be sitting high in the chassis compared to mine.
Got mine sitting on jacks while I work on it. Tomorrow it should be back on the ground and I'll take pictures of it then.

I have lowered the chassis. I'll get a measurement from the spring plate to its stop when I get it on the ground so you have something to compare it too.

 

[Brett Proctor]

Clearance from oil pan to ground 5.5"

Gap at spring plate to stop

Got the engine back together and got it started

Oil light came back on.
Pulled the sending unit (new) and there was oil on it, so I figured there's got to be oil flowing.
Went to harbor freight and purchased a oil pressure test kit. Hooked it up and fired the engine back up. Pressure reads 100 psi. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Disconnected the wire to the sending unit and the light stayed on. Well thats not suppose to happen.
So now I suppose I have a short somewhere in the system I need to find.
Interesting that I never had an issue with this before. The engine harness is old/used so maybe its somewhere in there.

So maybe I didn't need a new oil pump.

 

[ThreeTimeTom]

Your journey continues. I wish you an easy and quick remedy.
Enjoy the Holidays and the Family.

 

[farfegnubbin]

Perhaps the old oil pump was good. But I’m glad that you found the problem with the suction tube because that could have led to a sad and expensive day down the road.

 

[Brett Proctor]

Thats the positive side to look at this.

Thanks
Brett

 

[Brett Proctor]

Well got it back together.

When I spliced the pulse signal circuit into the speedometer circuit I screwed up and spliced it into the oil pressure circuit. One circuit uses a dark green wire, and the other circuit uses a light green wire.

 

[farfegnubbin]

…so I’ll ask the question that must be asked: How fast is your oil going?

 

[Brett Proctor]

Took the car out yesterday to see if the changes worked.

No more issues with oil pressure and the speedometer works now, but the engine stalled once and I got a DTC P1507.

One interesting thing to mention is while out for the test drive I passed a car (going in the opposite direction) made a quick U turn and started to follow me.