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The Pink Panther
So this is my wife's car:
IMG_20110701_210907 by link5186, on Flickr
IMG_20110701_210922 by link5186, on Flickr
Sarah has had this 1997 Aspire 2 door since she started driving in high school. Her parents bought it brand new and then handed it down to her. Three speed auto, a/c, and pretty much all original down to the radio and wheel covers.
The snag in the front bumper was my fault. Boy did I hear it after that. Backed into it with my old Tracker. Tow hook did it. Yowch. The paint issue is a side effect from local environmental conditions where she grew up. Dust and byproducts from a nearby aluminum recycler stripped clearcoat off of a lot of cars in the area. A lot of cars got repainted, this one didn't start getting too bad until it sat for a while.
I recently bought an engine from a 95 aspire from 91mcnasty. I went ahead and used my manifolds since they were clean. Unfortunately the 97s just so happen to use a differently cast oil pump. The only difference was a place in the casting to mount a crank position sensor.
Heres a comparison, 97 then 95:
IMG_20110611_125431 by link5186, on Flickr
IMG_20110611_125415 by link5186, on Flickr
The 97 engine is clean. I rebuilt it about a year and a half ago but couldn't shell out the $200 for the oil pump and was in a rush to get it back on the road. I paid for it. So it sat for a bit. Anywho, here's what I needed to mount up on this baby:
IMG_20110611_125408 by link5186, on Flickr
The crank position sensor seems to be an OBD-II only thing. Regular magnetic pickup that gets lined up with a 4 toothed plate that sits right behind the crank pulley.So about my fix to it to make this work. I made a bracket out of one of the extra wire mounting brackets from the other engine. I used an existing hole in the thing as a mounting point and cut it down with metal shears. I then bolted it in place with an oil pan bolt and bent it up into position. I removed it and took it to the 97 for a bit of comparison, made a few adjustments and marked a spot for a new hole. I marked it with a punch to keep the drill from walking and drilled a hole. The existing bracket had a bolt hole punched through using protruded metal to center the hole. I drilled to accept this section snugly and ran a bolt through it. The new bracket is visible in the above pic. Here is the whole get-up mounted and ready to go:
IMG_20110611_125759 by link5186, on Flickr
It's been out on a few test runs, but isn't back on the road yet because we don't have current plates yet and it's idling a little rough when it warms up. I'm replacing the vacuum lines soon since all of them are a pretty loose fit.
IMG_20110701_210907 by link5186, on Flickr
IMG_20110701_210922 by link5186, on Flickr
Sarah has had this 1997 Aspire 2 door since she started driving in high school. Her parents bought it brand new and then handed it down to her. Three speed auto, a/c, and pretty much all original down to the radio and wheel covers.
The snag in the front bumper was my fault. Boy did I hear it after that. Backed into it with my old Tracker. Tow hook did it. Yowch. The paint issue is a side effect from local environmental conditions where she grew up. Dust and byproducts from a nearby aluminum recycler stripped clearcoat off of a lot of cars in the area. A lot of cars got repainted, this one didn't start getting too bad until it sat for a while.
I recently bought an engine from a 95 aspire from 91mcnasty. I went ahead and used my manifolds since they were clean. Unfortunately the 97s just so happen to use a differently cast oil pump. The only difference was a place in the casting to mount a crank position sensor.
Heres a comparison, 97 then 95:
IMG_20110611_125431 by link5186, on Flickr
IMG_20110611_125415 by link5186, on Flickr
The 97 engine is clean. I rebuilt it about a year and a half ago but couldn't shell out the $200 for the oil pump and was in a rush to get it back on the road. I paid for it. So it sat for a bit. Anywho, here's what I needed to mount up on this baby:
IMG_20110611_125408 by link5186, on Flickr
The crank position sensor seems to be an OBD-II only thing. Regular magnetic pickup that gets lined up with a 4 toothed plate that sits right behind the crank pulley.So about my fix to it to make this work. I made a bracket out of one of the extra wire mounting brackets from the other engine. I used an existing hole in the thing as a mounting point and cut it down with metal shears. I then bolted it in place with an oil pan bolt and bent it up into position. I removed it and took it to the 97 for a bit of comparison, made a few adjustments and marked a spot for a new hole. I marked it with a punch to keep the drill from walking and drilled a hole. The existing bracket had a bolt hole punched through using protruded metal to center the hole. I drilled to accept this section snugly and ran a bolt through it. The new bracket is visible in the above pic. Here is the whole get-up mounted and ready to go:
IMG_20110611_125759 by link5186, on Flickr
It's been out on a few test runs, but isn't back on the road yet because we don't have current plates yet and it's idling a little rough when it warms up. I'm replacing the vacuum lines soon since all of them are a pretty loose fit.
Honestly though, it's an awesome car. Interior is in pretty good shape, but I need to stop blowing the speakers. Hopefully will be plated and insured soon so I can cruise hatchback style for awhile.
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