Roy's Garage: '90 2.4-4G64 5-spd D-50

[royster]

Photo Finish

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Ready to close the hood and call it a day.
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View of the house from the garage, just this morning. I bet an old guy is taking an afternoon nap in there with three contented cats while the snow falls.
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[lush90]

Wow, it looks so clean I'd feel guilty getting it dirty. Great job! The snow, while it creates a few headaches, sure looks nice for this time of year.

[royster]

Thanks, L90. I already considered the need for "acceptance" that the engine will get dirty. I'll probably never have the chance again to do so much cleaning and care to detail. As Spring arrives, my focus will turn to the paint job: half the truck was repaired at one time and the paint doesn't match.

It's a project truck, those things will happen. But no point in a project truck that doesn't run. First things first, as they say.

We've had 8" of snow, now, and garage activity is out of the question. Got plenty to do in the house, and since I was out earlier, I'm prepared to hunker down for a few days. The mountain-ish backroads to get in here are very treacherous in these conditions, even for a sure-footed F-150.

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[royster]

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I had bought a grille from a parts truck for my F-150, but found out the one I already had was better. So I made this appropriate-for-a-garage art display out of it. The "headlights" are 1949 Dodge pickup truck half-moon hubcaps. I've had the "Tom Sawyer" plates since the '90's, in various incarnations.

The D-50 parts truck had a nearly-pristine grille, and I now have that on Pony. The old grille will take it's place on the opposite wall where I currently have a graphic I made for that space.

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I mentioned, early on, that the board against the wall above the kerosene heater is a flip down table. In the photo to the right, the table is seen on top of my table saw. I removed the table saw for this project. That's Pollux sleeping on the table, when she was a kitten.

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[royster]

This morning, just before I closed the garage, I took a last look. It's going to be a while until I get out there again: there's no fighting 4-degree nights and 17 degree days with a mere kerosine heater.

I really enjoyed my nights out there, working on the truck. This view shows the parts truck gathering snow, and Pony tucked in for a Winter's rest.
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[royster]

Yesterday at Lowe's I spotted a VersaRack in the bargain bin for $100. I snatched it up without too much hesitation: this will allow me to carry my
24' ladder on the D-50. It's just the sides and cross members...none of the attachments seen on this ad photo, but these racks retail for $300. It was "missing bolts"...which they sell very cheaply over in the hardware aisle.

Score!

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[royster]

View from the garage Tuesday. Forecast calls for more snow tomorrow, and well-below-freezing temps into next Tuesday.
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It's a whole different world out in the garage, way away from the house, and all of it far away from even a little town. And now that my D-50 is running, it is even worse to not be able to go out there and fuss. MyLittleShitty is in a similar situation, as are many enduring this cold snap: we simply can't do what our hearts wanna.

Disgusting as it may seem, this has forced me to wash the dishes, sweep the floors of the house, and take out the compost bucket. All those domestic chores the garage~world allowed me to escape from have come back IN MY FACE like a stink bug on steroids. I even had to change out the cat litter box.

It reminds me of the Beach Boys song, "My Woodie's outside/ covered in snow".

[royster]

A slight break in the weather today allowed me to get a few things done I just couldn't in freezing weather. I got the Sable started and let it get up to operating temperature. The car had been sitting for a long time, and I wanted to keep everything in good order.

I went to the garage and fired up the kerosene heater, then went into town to get provisions. When I got back I started up the D-50. Boy, it runs GOOD! The problem is: it's blowing more smoke than I care to admit.

Obsessive as I am, I thought about this and came up with three ideas as to WHY the smoke. First, the oil is over-filled...1/4" beyond "max" on the dip-stick. Second, the PCV line could be sucking oil from the valve train. Third, I did not set the valve seals properly. I'm prone to think it's a combination of these factors. Though I replaced an intake valve, I don't think this was enough to bust an oil ring...I scruffed up the valve face a little before installing it, to match the wear of the other valves.

I didn't tap the valves seals down, I simply twisted them down by hand. As posted, I had trouble understanding the concept of installing them. I was also concerned about damaging them with too much tapping, pushing them too far down, etc. . The good news is that this means only taking the valve cover off, not the whole timing cover procedure. The bad news is that I have to do this with the head on the engine, but the experience will serve me well.

The REAL GOOD news is that the garage has some heat tonight, and I can go over there RIGHT NOW and fuss with th' Tin Can for a while: the cold snap is going to be with us another WEEK with no end in sight. Getting a D-50 fix in now might tide me over for a couple days: I'm tired of looking at pictures when the real thing is right next door. (This is the thinking that prompts many teenage boys to get telescopes, but that's another topic altogether).

At very least, I'd like to get the brake calipers off so I can order new ones. I don't want to order new ones until I'm absolutely sure of the model. Also, the core on these is expensive...almost as much as the caliper...so I want them in my hands for core when I pick up the new ones.

[Redneckmoparman]

When does it smoke? Startup? When you give it throttle? On deaccel? These can tell you whats wrong. startup is valve stem and also deaccel if its on accel its rings thats IF its blue smoke white smoke is water or coolant and that can tell me different things

[royster]

Thanks, RNMM. Right now, in this extreme cold weather, it looks a lot worse than it is. But there's no question it's oil, not coolant, and it is at start-up (most) and accelleration (some). I'm resolved to inspect the valve seals, but I have to wait until warmer weather. This causes ache, because the truck runs SO GOOD I can't feel it running and I want to drive it! Not that I can on these icy roads, so patience it is.

I checked the PCV line for excessive oil, not sure what I was seeing, but this just makes me determined to create a catch-can.

Also will drain some oil to get the level down to "max".

[royster]

Yesterday at Lowe's I spotted a VersaRack in the bargain bin for $100.

It's a Daws Better Built Quantum rack. According to their website, this is a $500.00 unit, though it's shown with all the attachments.
http://www.dawsbetterbuilt.com/shop/.../quantum-rack/

I mounted it on the truck bed last night. I'm sure the cats will have lots of fun climbing on it.

I've modified it in my mind 300 times, so far.

[royster]

When does it smoke?

Sometimes after sex, and always after a meal. Sometimes during sex, if we're both bored (but only .0010th over).


eh, lucky YOU!

[lush90]

If you have the time, you can rebuild calipers quite easily and save some money. Remove calipers, pop the pistons out with a little air applied to the bleeder screw, (cover with a rag so you don't accidentally hit a cat), and inspect piston and bore. Unless there is deep pitting, it just takes a kit and some emery cloth to be back in business. If the bore is pitted, then do an exchange. Could all be done sitting next to the wood stove! Be sure to lube rubber parts with clean brake fluid before installing them. Also an ideal time to flush your brake system of contaminated fluid.

[royster]

Makes sense to me, L-90. Thanks. And the cats thank you, too.

[royster]

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˙sʎɐʍʎuɐ 'punoɹƃ ǝɥʇ uı ǝloɥ ɐ ɯoɹɟ ssɐ ɹno ʍouʞ ʇ,uop sn ɟo ʎuɐɯ ˙noʎ ɟo ɹǝʇʇǝq ǝɥʇ ʇǝƃ ɐıxǝlsʎp ʇǝl ʇ,uop 'uɐd lıo ǝɥʇ ɹǝpun ǝɹ,noʎ uǝɥʍ

[lush90]

Okay, how do you do that?

[BradMph]

My experience with engine smoke is...if it smokes at the first startup, usually valve guides or seal are bad. The engine oil sits and seeps through these areas and a startup after a wait will suck the oil into the combustion chambers. The engine heats up and expands a little to seal the areas a little better. If your trucks warmed up and you step on gas and it smokes, this would usually be rings. Oil seeps past the rings while running and pushing the motor harder cause pressure to push oil past those rings. Sounds like your motor may need a little help soon, or for a few more miles I think there is some type of oil treatment that can help hold a rebuild off a little longer.

[royster]

Thank you, Brad. We'll just have to wait and see: I'd like to run it when the temperature is higher than 29 degrees

Meanwhile, I got calipers off, and though lush90 is right about saving moolah by rebuilding my own, I went ahead and ordered remanufactured. The core on these calipers is more than the cost of the remanufactured part!

The parts truck has identical brake parts, and I am coveting them. The driver-side rotor is seriously scored and should be replaced. Ugh. There's always plenty to keep you busy with these trucks.

Tonight is supposed to be 0ne degree F, tomorrow's high 17, but it starts to rise after that, into the high 30's come Thursday. I'd like to take the truck out and blow all the funkola, crapinski and caca~laca out of its system before making any conclusions. At any rate, the truck is running, which is more than it was doing a month ago.

I DID get a bottle of STP with ZDDP additive. My intention is to add about 4 ounces of this to the engine when it's warmed up...I feel okay about that. It's a far cry from filling the engine up with STP and expecting it to crank on a cold day!!

[royster]

BTW, tomorrow...if all goes well...my D-50 will be back in service!

[royster]

BTW, tomorrow...if all goes well...my D-50 will be back in service!

All went well, but I was a nervous wreck until the first 20 miles passed. The truck did excellent over snow and ice, and once it warmed up the smoking stopped. I paid particular attention to smoke occurring at decelleration, but there was none. Got some fresh fuel in it and drove it around. The only thing I noticed was an occassional hesitation...hoping the fresh fuel helps that out. I'm not confident in the timing: the book says to hook up some wire to a thing on the firewall. I simply used the timing light (once the engine warmed up) and set it at about 7 degrees BTDC. It doesn't seem to have quite the get-up-and-go, but I haven't driven it for (sob!) two months and need to re-familiarise myself with it. Any suggestions as to fine-tuning and tweaking will warm this old man's heart.

If it smokes on the next cold start, I think I'll replace the rubber (intake) valve seals with the plastic. While I'm in there I'll definitively check the exhaust seals, but it seems to me that if the seals weren't set properly, they'd be dancing somewhere above on the valve stem.

Bottom line, though: it's back on the road, winter-be-damned.


And not one little leak at all...not one drop!

[OG Arrow]

Awesome Roy ! and Congrats.
I know you took the cats out for a ride ,,, right ? LOL

I've found, as Brad said, that you can get a little smoke when the engine sits for a Long time,
then with regular use, it doesn't seem to smoke at all.
Don't be ascared ,,, but keep an eye on things, and any oil consumption.

[royster]

I know you took the cats out for a ride

Wouldn't THAT be something to see, goin' down the road?

Thank you for the encouragement, OG. I remain pretty confident that a lot of the oil burning since I put it back together is from manifold residual and burning off assembly oils. Sitting at idle, getting up to operating temperature is nothing like actual highway load. I knew that the truck needed a good run at high speeds before I started condemning anything.

I had hastily put a quart of oil too much at first. I drained it out yesterday before starting it up, having also added about 4 ounces of STP with ZDDP. (The ticky lifter is completely quiet. now). I checked the oil level when I got back home: it was so exactly on the line I couldn't see it! So I'll sure be able to monitor oil consumption. But like thillskier, I had been having to add oil every 200-300 miles before all of this. In hind-sight, no wonder.

Yes, I'll be watching this like a mother hen. With ANY major repair (after a failure), it takes some time and miles to re-establish trust in the vehicle. But this truck had given me no reason to think it wants to die.

I'M sure it appreciates the money (and care) I've put into its repair. I think "an arm and a leg" is an exaggeration...

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[Komeuppance]

Hmmm, seems I'm a few days late to this thread. Many of the other Mitsubishi engine's tips and tricks are the same across the line up.

A few things I noticed as I skimmed the last few posts, your thermostat orientation is correct with the bleed valve at the top, the sensor in the housing will not obstruct it from opening all the way. I might have missed it, but are you able to set your distributor near the middle of it's adjustment range after you retimed the belts?? If it needs to use all the adjustment up one way, you are one tooth off with the belt. You NEED to ground the timing adjustment wire near the firewall to set the timing correctly, this tells the ECU not to change the timing, allowing you to set the base timing. Having the cam timing off, or the ignition timing off will make it slow.

Smoke at start up only, is almost always valve seals. They need to be seated over the groove of the valve guide, usually they need to be tapped on. Overfilling by a whole quart will not make the engine burn oil. You can clean up your PCV valve with some brake clean usually, it's a simple ball check valve.

BTW, fuel injection engines don't have a choke, but an electronic version which uses a coolant temperature sensor to signal the ECU how much it should richen the fuel mixture.

Your engine looks great, keep up the good work.

-Robert

[royster]

Robert, thank you for your summary. Validating (or disproving) information is important for anyone who comes here to learn or to know.

I feel honored that in three years of your membership, I'm your second post...it's great information. I took the time to edit posts on this thread where your information applies.

I agonised over the timing until it was exact...with the exception of your notation:

You NEED to ground the timing adjustment wire near the firewall to set the timing correctly, this tells the ECU not to change the timing, allowing you to set the base timing.

This helps me understand the process, so I will follow through on this. (My distributor is centered). In writing this thread, I tried to explain the why's of each process, or simply gave an honest observation as I was going through it. When we know why we're doing something, it helps us do a better job. I also had an eye of the future, so I titled the thread informatively. I'm no expert, but I did learn huge amounts about these engines by doing this project. Those experts, like yourself, that have contributed have done a great service to the newcomers who need answers.

Again, my sincere gratitude.

[royster]

Okay! Here's another nit-picky detail I'd like to know about:

Ignition Timing Procedure
The 2.4-liter engine has an ignition timing of 5 degrees before top dead center (BTDC). First, connect a jumper wire between the ignition timing adjustment connector and ground. Then, turn the car on and put the transmission in neutral with the emergency brake engaged. Finally, turn the wheels clockwise and bring the engine to an idle speed of 750 rpm. You can check and adjust the ignition timing after these three steps are completed.
Read more: http://www.ehow.com/facts_7889576_mi...#ixzz2rtWDnlcz

What's with the turning the wheels clockwise (would that be 'to the right' ?) and how do we determine this illussive 'ignition timing adjustment connector'? I'm not finding any connector.

But good 'ol Haynes book gives a very specific photo of the hook-up on a Raider. (I'm thinking that's a D-50 on the cover, guys...)

My contempt of these Haynes books grows stronger every day.

Run, Toto, RUN!