Thanks for the tips! Oil looks pretty clean on the dipstick at least.5w30 is what i run. its a sbc. it will be fine with whatever ha. if you are track driving, different story! and if u are cold starting in -30c, different story!
I track my Z as many times as i can in the summer, and before that was an 86 4+3, i run 15w40 at the track, and only synthetic, due to its resistance to heat breakdown exceeding 300f.
for street driving, long as its clean, really doesnt matter, in my opinion, based on my experience.
On that 86 high miler i had, it wasn’t maintained very good. Lots of hard crusty sludge. Id read a thread on cf about just running the cheapest oil u could find through it because you were only going to let it stay in the engine for a couple heat cycles and then drop change it. This technique worked quite well on that car. when i removed vc’s again a few months later (about three oil changes) it was substantially “cleaned up”. once that was done i then began to run synthetic 10w40 for the track and always had that in there until i sold it.
my high miler had extremely smelly oil! if you dont have nasty oil, you can pretty mich disregard the part about doing a few cleaning sacrificial oil changes
Great points. First SBC, but typically pretty mechanically inclined, so looking forward to the challenge. For sure once the warmer weather arrives, I plan to drive it a bit and also do a full inspection to determine what it actually needs.JJ, one thing to share, is that most c4’s, have at least a couple issues when they change hands. you mentioned you plan on doing some wrenching. I also do mine, as a hobby, because its fun.
you may very well discover a leak requiring you to drain oil or coolant to fix. might be wise to just drive it a couple times to “discover”.
not sure what ur experience level on sbc is but with a bit of googling and some forum questions you can fix most things real quick.
mentioning the hidden bolt under the ac compressror right now! DO NOT strip that bolt by using one size to small torx bit!
Awesome, YouTube University here I come! Watched a few vids, doesn't seem too bad, but certainly the first time I've done it.for ac, on all my old cars, ive bought a vacuum pump set on ebay, quite affordable and has worked great on about 10 vehicles. lots of easy vids to follow on youtube.
need a high side adapter. and low. also on ebay/amazon. the low side adapter sometimes comes with the r134a or r12a kits from autovalue or walmart etc.
work awesome. !
also, i may be able to help you with a 1987 shop manual if you have needright. like 100% of the c4’s ive purchased ranging in price from a $1000 roach to a $15000k ZR1, every one has had empty refrigerant!!
after that connector is back on, put the car to defrost and see what happens.
if it squeals like a pig there may be issuues with the compressor itself. pretty rare. sometimes its just the magnetic clutch not the whole compressor.
but if my experience is any indication, more than likely you will plug it in and nothing will happen. the ac compressor will not engage the clutch.
next thing to do while the car is running would be to find the low side pressure switch on the ac plumbing. its on the passenger side. i cant remember exactly which switch it is but i think its the switch on the larger diameter ac pipe coming out of the evaportator enclosure.
remove the low pressure switch, i *think* its a squeeze and pull type deal.
take a paperclip and jump the pigtail on the harness. not the switch itself in the pipe. (thats no longer connected to the harness!). jump the harness.
if u r calling for ac on the hvac unit (put on defrost) then that ac clutch should engage and now spin. remove the jumper and it should stop. you just simulated as if the system had refrigerant in it.
thats what i did on all my c4’s. hope yours is that easy!
obviously, it is possible there is a leak. (for certain jobs bubba will dc the ac lines and not bother to refill) i always put one bottle of ac stop leak in as i am refilling.
i am *not* a mechanic or ac guy and i am filly aware that what i did deviates from factory refill but.....i have icecold ac. in all my cars. cheers.
right. like 100% of the c4’s ive purchased ranging in price from a $1000 roach to a $15000k ZR1, every one has had empty refrigerant!!
after that connector is back on, put the car to defrost and see what happens.
if it squeals like a pig there may be issuues with the compressor itself. pretty rare. sometimes its just the magnetic clutch not the whole compressor.
but if my experience is any indication, more than likely you will plug it in and nothing will happen. the ac compressor will not engage the clutch.
next thing to do while the car is running would be to find the low side pressure switch on the ac plumbing. its on the passenger side. i cant remember exactly which switch it is but i think its the switch on the larger diameter ac pipe coming out of the evaportator enclosure.
remove the low pressure switch, i *think* its a squeeze and pull type deal.
take a paperclip and jump the pigtail on the harness. not the switch itself in the pipe. (thats no longer connected to the harness!). jump the harness.
if u r calling for ac on the hvac unit (put on defrost) then that ac clutch should engage and now spin. remove the jumper and it should stop. you just simulated as if the system had refrigerant in it.
thats what i did on all my c4’s. hope yours is that easy!
obviously, it is possible there is a leak. (for certain jobs bubba will dc the ac lines and not bother to refill) i always put one bottle of ac stop leak in as i am refilling.
i am *not* a mechanic or ac guy and i am filly aware that what i did deviates from factory refill but.....i have icecold ac. in all my cars. cheers.
Well this is awesome. Just printed off your instructions for my notes. Thanks!also, i may be able to help you with a 1987 shop manual if you have need
note that if your compressor has grenaded, system will need to be flished! you should be able to tell if comp has grenaded though from the sound as you jump low pressure switch.i feel the same. been a long cold winter here too. sometimes i go out and sit in my c4 just to be in it. lol. lame i know.
i have never flushed it and ive had no problems.
there is all sorts of differing opinions on the stuff. my work truck is an 06 tacoma. my ac compressor seized and when i replaced it, i refilled with this same emzone stuff. working great.
what i really like about it is the fact that im self sufficient with it now.
I hope to be as self sufficient as I can on this one as well.i feel the same. been a long cold winter here too. sometimes i go out and sit in my c4 just to be in it. lol. lame i know.
i have never flushed it and ive had no problems.
there is all sorts of differing opinions on the stuff. my work truck is an 06 tacoma. my ac compressor seized and when i replaced it, i refilled with this same emzone stuff. working great.
what i really like about it is the fact that im self sufficient with it now.
Will do. Still a few months out I guess. Got a pretty decent "to do list" though already lol.note that if your compressor has grenaded, system will need to be flished! you should be able to tell if comp has grenaded though from the sound as you jump low pressure switch.
report on how it goes and i can walk u through it.
Fair enough. As I mentioned above, I thought creating a separate thread for the issue would be helpful to get more eyes on it. Here is the description I gave in the dedicated thread about the leak, and what I know so far. I'm in the process still of trying to track down exactly where it is coming from.You did not specify where the leak is from, tailshaft (seal), side cover (gasket) possible housing crack. Check it out carefully.
Well the good news is there are about half a dozen other things it could be before we have to start thinking that way hahaI hope not...but you might have a hairline crack in the casing. May have to pull transmission to check it out.
Congrats. Better pics eh. Go with Michelins - put on all the vets I've owned - on my fifth. Good luck. My home town in London.Hi there everyone!
A new 1987 C4 owner from Kitchener-Waterloo, joining you here. Just picked up our Nassau Blue (Medium Blue) C4 last week, we trailered it home since it's so cold here! -15C is not ideal weather to be loading a car, but you do what you have too.
The car is blue on blue with about 117,000 kms on the odometer. 4+3 Doug Nash manual, which I believe was required in '87 for the Z51 packaged. Overall, optioned pretty highly. The last owner only put about 3,000 kms on it in the last 3 years, so needs full servicing and tune up to bring it up to our standards. In good shape otherwise, though.
One thing I'm already learning from reading some of the last threads here, is the availability (or lack there of!) of 255/50R16 tires. The DOT dates on the current Dunlops is 2003, so they are just too old to try and eek any further life out of them. I've been searching everywhere for BFGooderich g-Force Sport Comp-2 tires, but there are just none available. Don't want to give up on them, but seems it's also true they may no longer be produced. Hope they change their mind! Anyone heard any further updates? My sources here say they have no production date set in the system.
I'm aware of some of the Toyo Proxes options (RA1 and R888R), however, my plan is to regularly drive the car from May - Oct. Not sure how well these tires would be on the street, especially in the Spring and Fall temps. The final option is looking at 245/50R16 tires. These are not that common either, but I do have a source for some Cooper Zeon RS3-G1 tires in stock and available. The car has the 9.5" wide tires, so I understand the 245 might be right at the minimum.
If anyone has an other tire ideas, or comments on running either the RA1s, or running 245s, I am all ears!
Look forward to learning as much as I can from all of you, and thanks in advance for your help.
Josh