Hooray!
I had to run to town for a belt, a gasket scraper, and 2 gallons of coolant. While I was there, I of course picked up some lunch.
I never got that broken piece of plastic out of the block, but it wasn't for lack of trying! I know I spent half an hour on it, but unless it comes around and blocks the t-stat, water pump, or some other orifice, at least it isn't going to rust or corrode. Now that I've experienced it, I can honestly say that that was not a good design on an otherwise well-designed engine. Of course, I have the benefit of hindsight and being an armchair quarterback, so there's that.
For thread sealant I used copious amounts of blue thread locker, even on the 4 smaller bolts that don't go into the water jacket.
After getting the WP bolts tight, I reinstalled the tensioner/alternator bracket. Wow, what a chore! I figured out that pushing both elbows in all the way and then installing the bracket using them as a guide is what allowed the 3 large bolts to find their holes. I had to back off 2 of them to get the 3rd one at the bottom started. Then I tightened them, I added the 2 vertical bolts and then installed the steel triangulation rod atop the bracket.
Next was reattaching the coil bracket and then the grounding wire.
One of the hardest things was the last item: installing the new belt. It fought me for awhile and then I suddenly had a bright idea. I went inside and Googled for the belt installation diagram, took a picture, and then made a few failed attempts. I removed the old belt by working the tensioner toward the firewall and pulling the belt off the alternator, but I was not doing so good getting it back on at the alternator. So I changed up my method and ran it around all of the pulleys except for the AC, then worked the tensioner as far as it would go. It took about 3 tries to get the belt all the way on the pulley, but I got it!
After that, it was "just filling it up". Yeah, famous last words, eh?
😛
I filled a gallon into the rad, added the cap, then filled a little into the overflow. After starting it and watching the needle not even move, not getting any heat, plus hearing "chunk-chunk" noises under the hood, I shut it off. Removing the cap showed that I needed about 2 more quarts of coolant in the rad, but at least the overflow was filled properly.
After I started it again, the needle moved to the center of the range immediately, and there was heat!
I came inside for the evening to rest my weary body and gloat in getting the 2-hour job done in 5 hours. LOL
I really appreciate the input you guys gave! It helped.
