Is my wagon a wagon?

I went and fetched me a hemi 3-banger, bringing it hoam on Thursday.
The scrapyard wanted 300€ for it. The almost 200.000 kilometers claimed was saddening. But, they said, they had no others available.
To my pleasant surprise though, the valve train looked in much better shape than expected. After pulling the head, there were still hone scratches to be seen. I'm now wondering if this was that vehicle's second engine.
I pulled the flywheel and clutch assembly, to get the engine light enuff for exit. I wont need all that anyway, given that the block sitting in my car is hooked up to an automatic. The got it in with a forklift.
I only need the cylinder head for now and will tear down the block, at my convenience, getting it ready with a set of new bearings, just in case

 

In order to remove the camshaft from the damaged head, I needed to pull its gear, in order to remove the fasteners which hold its rear cover plate in place. Avoiding going out to find a proper tool for this job, I saved time and money, through exploiting a skateboard, using it's slightly thicker than 9 millimeter bolts protuding through the board's frame.
Its light-alloy was the main reason for exploitation choice, allowing use of a 25 millimeter wood drill for sloppilly blasting the required hole which allows socket-entry

 

The Speedometer in my Suzuki is now mostly reliable. Sometimes, it won't budge, depending on temperature. The colder it's, the longer it'll take to move. But generally, it now always takes when needed. Incase it decides to backslide, I went and ordered a GPS-oriented digital, for extra measure. Here, it shows my original as not being that far off, at present tire wear. A better accuracy check would need to be taken at higher speeds, though. When it went out of service, I ended up relying on reading the tachometer. Depending on which gear I was in, I could estimate my speed from my vehicle's engine revs

 

My Daihatsu's larger sibling. Those sold locally had a different front end

 

It seems to be inherent to this entire engine series. That recently-acquired engine posed this very same problem. I guess, this is one of those unpredictable glitches that can't get revelated during those million mile test runs. The result of siamesing both exhaust ports became evident with time. I ended up chasing its thread, using an ordinary tap. Thereafter, I'll screw in an undamaged bolt, to see if it'll reach far enough without slowing down in between. If it doesen't take, I'll end up having to find a bottoming tap

 

My request at the shop who supposely regrinds camshafts and presses bearings into line bored heads has never been answered. It seems that ignoring e-mails has become an epidemic, around here. I guess, they don’t need to be courteous, because they’re earning too much money?
In any event, the worn out head and camshaft isn’t taking up critical space. So, I'll put it into storage. Before I do that, I took a few detailed photographs of the trashed camshaft. The amount of wear doesen’t seem typical for an engine with this amount of service. The lobes closest to the engine’s front took most of the punishment, the first lobe even worn from behind. the second journal has all of its scoring on the same side as the most damaged lobe. This makes no sense, since one would expect the opposite to have taken the majority of thrust (second yellow arrow).
Both red arrows point to quite remarkable wear, contrasted by the sharp edges formed as if the camshaft was being forced rearwards



It’s difficult to arrive at any other conclusion for this dramatic scoring on this jounal’s surface would be anything else than the introduction of debris from outside of filtration channels. Either a previous oil filter was plugged full of contaminants, to the point where the by-pass valve allowed introduction of unfiltered oil, or the debris itself was deliberately introduced into the oil filter. Given how plugged what looked like the original air filter appeared to be, it’s highly possible that the dealership of whom this aging lady trusted had also refused replacing the oil filter, during maintenance schedules

 

I'm guessing, the scoring found on my cnnecting rod bearings was caused by a blocked oil filter, causing the by-pass valve to open, allowing un filtered oil to enter the gallery. Therefore, before starting my engine, I was planning on getting both oil pressure- and temperature guages. Both will need access to the oil gallery of which a sandwich plate placed between block and filter will be required. I first ordered a name brand (Mishimoto) plate which was designed for running an oil cooler. When I got it, its securing bolt which also screws onto the filter wasn't included:


Disappointingly, its Japanese name doesen't seem to hold up to its thread machining precision. But more like the usual sort of "precision" common to the opposite side of the Sea of Japan.
Without external plumbing for either a cooler or by-pass, this plate isn't going to work and I won't be hooking up any Parts Unknown cooler or plumbing to my engine:



I then placed it onto where it would belong, in order to determine where and if both switch and thermometer were to get hooked up, only to find out that there are quite narrow limits, either pointing left or right:



Pointing left seems to be the only possibility, because pointing it right would either not clear the combination catylitic converter/manifold or would run the plumbing too close to edit to be effective:



So what I did was to order a flow-through plate serving only to add both switch and thermometer which was specifically designed for a Subaru:


A better alternative wasn't available anymore. I didn't order it back then, because of suspecting Chinesium:


This is how the less expensive plate looks, when bolted on. I might need to have it shortened. But I can only accurately determine such, as soon as I temporarilly drop an assembled mule head onto the block:



If it'll even clear the exhaust, that'll surely be a close one:





I then played around with the possibility of sandwiching both stacked together:



That might be the best way out, if I get the round plate shaved down some 19 mm. That'll still give me enough room for both thermometer and switch to clear both that coolant return pipe and exhaust:





Here's what they look like stacked the other way. This would work, without shaving down the round plate. But, would force me to swap out the manifold for headers (not that I would mind, though ), if I could only get quality ones which aren't known to exist. I guess, I could try bending tubes myself, first packing them with sand as did a vintage Italian motorcycle manufacturer:

https://roccitycafe.blogspot.com/2013/08/sand-bending-cb750-exhaust.html

But that's a long way ahead of myself, for now:

 

Questionable part quality continued. I had to order a tie rod and lower control arm for my Suzuki, because inspection says they're worn out. Having pulled on both parts myself, I didn't notice any play. So instead, I replaced a complete set of stabilizer bar grommets, thinking that the inspector meant that one of them was cracked (he didn't specifically write tie rod or control arm in the report). I then took it to get aligned and the mechanic preparing to do so said they were both indeed in need of replacement.
The lower control arm looked right. But the tie rod delivered was completely opposite of the original. Its finish didn't look like something a Japanese factory or any western factory, for that matter, would produce. Both threads looked sloppily cut, as if they neglected refilling cutting oil into their automated lathes. This was a German brand who had these made in the Third World.
The thread's sloppiness becomes visually more obvious, when the image gets clicked to its full size:


Here's what the tie rod is supposed to look like:

 

While I'm waiting to see what they're going to do or not do about sending me the right tie rod in exchange for the one they sent, I've been busy replacing the control arm and Frankensteining together a mirror harvested from a truck. Both looking way over the top over-engineered. The mirror's skeleton is overly- massive and heavy. If it was the same as that of Suzuki's Jeep version (Jimney), I would have known it.
The dealers I got in touch with don't stock these any more. Trying to find a used one isn't going to be easy and looks to end up time-consuming. I've already overstepped my time limit for bringing it back to our inspection center for a final control session.
Here's what it looked like, when I just got this car:



After watching a Youtube video making glass-cutting look easy, I decided to try my luck on a mule piece of glass which a neighboor dumped together with a mirror cabinet into our mutual dumpster.
I took what seemed like a couple hours cutting, before scratching a pattern, using a daimond-tipped cutter. The first cut, which was simply a straight line through the entire pane, was rather successful, except for near a corner:



What resembles cave art is the cutter’s etching of the mirror glass’s rear side, traced from the mirror’s housing. The second break was also rather successful, starting with the rectangular etching at the bottom right of the above-posted image. That was it. From then on, all breaks took place exactly where they weren’t planned to do so. So, I wasn’t going to attempt more than likely ruining a sheet of usefull automotive glass.
This is what the experimental glass looked like, just before breaking commenced:



That’s not to say that I won’t attempt at cutting a valuable piece of glass, after finding out how to get it right.
This is what I started with. The original mirror glass appears to be safety glass-based, sort of like windshields are:



After having removed that white-coloured disc, I simply set the mirror’s mounting frame over the truck mirrors housing and then drilled the 4 holes through, attaching the housing onto it:



The replacement mirror’s glass in held onto its housing by a simple rubber gasket, making it easy to replace the glass, if or when necessary:



Here’s how viewing both original and Frankensteined mirrors look from the driver’s seat. The Frankensteined one was originally mounted sideways from how it’s now attached. One can see more dramatic convection going up and down. I didn’t want to both cause the vehicle to measure wider and didn’t want the visual difference between both original and fake to draw more attention at the inspection center than necessary, keeping the Frankensteined mirror as inconspicuous as possible. Otherwise, when all of that didn’t matter, I would have mounted it longitudinally, as it was mounted on the lorry, despite it hanging out further, intending on replacing it with an original, when convenient. The replacement mirror still has enough convection, mounted sideways, for ample function:



Getting back to the replacement control arm, it's way thicker than the one on my Daihatsu which isn't that much larger of a vehicle, to merit something resembling a railroad track cut-out. After having swapped it, I weighed the original at 500 grams lighter than the new one's 2.3 kilograms, even. There's probably enough metal there for stamping at least one lower control arm for a 1960 Lincoln Continental:



In this price class, I can't expect any forged aluminum control arms like what Audi uses. There's also a stamped steel arm available. But, the image they have isn't showing how the balljoint's welded onto it. That's not exactly the part you want breaking off, because of sloppy welding.
If I can find a forum devoted to these vehicles getting track use, I'll see if anyone's had the idea to drill these out accordingly. Unsprung weight isn't what you want for a comfortable ride and improved handling. Between the arrows is where the most pressure's applied and everythings buffered in rubber anyway:

 

I ordered a set of VDO Single Viu guages for measuring oil temperature and oil pressure. These weren't as redilly available like conventional VDOs were. I liked the styling on these, despite they being more expensive.
These were delivered with both pressure and temperature senders,, the latter not dissappointing and were fairly priced. The guages themselves are overpriced plastic Chinesium toys, shamefully marketted by what once was a traditional company employing locals for producing quality products. Mainstream media likes to complain about rising unemployment figures, while Germany's entire manufacturing is getting outsourced.
Here's what I got:



These were advertised to be able in different lighting colors. Because these are sealed units, access is impossible, withoit voiding their warranties through forcible opening. Some of those connecting pins are reserved for CAN bus connections which may be the only way to summon alternate colors?



Planned are cutting out the vents circled white. Cutting out both light yellow circled left and the circle closest to the cluster is to be evaluated, as an alternative to placing both of the guages together.
I don’t use these vents anyway, since I don’t have air conditioning and all heat is blowing out either through the defroster or out the bottom of the unit. I open a sunroof when heat is to be expelled

 

As it appears in the last image posted, the steering wheel was indeed blocking vision of the vent on the left. Placing the temperature guage there would have sufficed, since it’s the pressure guage which is more important to have readilly available.

So, what I did was to cut both holes on the right with a 50 mm hole saw (I didn’t have a 52 mm one available) and then perform the final trimming with a copy of a Dremel. I had just enough room and didn’t lose all of the vent’s ribbing.

While I have the bezel out, the vents will remain black, matching the guages, of course. I’m not sure, if I’ll eventually spray it wheel silver, while it’s out or not. Spraying it red wouldn’t seem to match with that grey background, in any case.

The lighting wasn’t optimal for filming the end result, given that glare ruins the image somewhat. It should look better, when everything's assembled

 

I imagine there weren't any aftermarket 'pillar pods' for the gauges that are for your particular car?

 

You've got a point, there. I couldn't find any yet. But, nothing says that I couldn't manufacture one.
I was contemplating taking the hole saw to the trim just uder the windshield, given that this is empty space which would provide optimum view. I then became unsure about what would be underneath that trim, such as maybe sheetmetal. Cutting a couple holes into any possible structure may not weaken it. But, who knows.
I'm happy with where these guages are, even if mounting them in pillar pods would have been preferable. Where they are reminds me of the 1970 Opel GT I used to have, before a motorcycle ran into its rear. I regret not fixing it.
If my windshield would have been more curvy-cast, there would have been the possibility of Frankensteining an entire Opel dash, still available, here:

https://www.opelgtparts.com/ersatzt...e.html?___store=english&___from_store=default



In fact, I could have gotten a combination oil pressure guage and ammeter for a reasonable price, had I searched for Opel goodies. Being a VDO oil pressure guage, there shouldn't be any reason as to why it wouldn't work with my new sensor, given that there is only one sensor of this type available.
Even an overly-ambitious speedometer, of which 2/3rds of it would have been rendered useless, and a tachometer are still available and might even fit into my pod, likely requiring evicting the idiot lights and guages, of course. Yet unknown are if both would be feasably adaptable. If the speedometer is calibrated identicle to the Japanese one still installed and if the tachometer set up for counting 4 cylinders will work with only 3?

 

Getting to the business end of things, I mounted the old head and manifold, as a mock-up for seeing if one or both sandwiches had room and if the new items could get mounted on one or both sandwiches, without needing to tap the block for accepting 1/8" threads:



It looks like both sensors can get mounted far enough away from the combination manifold and catylitic converter.
What I'll need to do is to start tapping-in new threads, based on how many turns are required for screwing-in the original oil pressure switch into the block and then keep tapping the sandwich plate to the point where the new devices screw into the plate at an equal amount of turns as the original switch turned into the block.
The original oil pressure switch screws into the black sandwich numerous turns, to the point where its threads almost disappear, causing me to wonder about the precision applied to this plate’s thread cutting. If it was indeed sloppy, then it was a good thing to order a plate that needed thread-tapping



The mock-up stacking of the silver plate on top of the black one proves that it wouldn’t pose problems, when and if an oil cooler gets mounted. In that case, I’m assigning my temprature guage to make that decision.
I’ll probably never know why Daihatsu designs their oil pans to hold so little oil. My Suzuki requires almost double the amount, despite having an aluminium block and head which dissipates heat quickly.
The only reason as to why the pans on these are so small has probably to do with heating up the oil to operating temperature as quick as possible, so that moisture gets fully released from the oil, preventing acid build-up, when the vehicle is driven between shorter distances?
Siamesed exhaust ports on a 3-banger hemi seems sort of odd, as if these heads were initially designed to be 4-bangers and then had one cylinder sliced off.
Here’s a side view, confirming adequate space for both plates:

 

Messies rule. This is what I get for not throwing everything away.
After having gone through my collection of wires, without success. I then saw one of these power supplies for personal computers that I’ve put aside, waiting for the day when I get my hands on a test motherboard. Trying out one of the plugs, in order to see if it’ll connect to my guages gave me a reason for condemning this power supply to organ donorhood.

Here, after I cut a plug into individual connector sockets:



A second avialable plug provided the missing 6 required connectors: