Friday September 16. 2016 Guerneville CA.
And I think I solved the van’s engine idle problem
My repaired heater core for the van was supposed to be ready today. So when I got up, I gave Dave a call and yes it was, so I said I’ll be there soon. Once I got it going, I headed for Santa Rosa to Dutton Radiator and sure enough, Dave had my core repaired.
Right away, I noticed he changed how the input and output pipes were supposed to be and screwed it up. The top pipe used to come out along the front of the bottom pipe, but Dave straightened it out to look nice and moved it so now it won’t work. But not to worry, I suspected he might do that and didn’t say anything as it was more as it likely should have been in the first place and I had a plan. See how nice he lined the input and output pipes up, nice and straight. So, what he did was rotated the pipes ninety degrees from how they used to work and now won’t go through the hole in the van’s metal floor.
Did some other shopping too
I needed some other stuff for the van too so I headed on over to Pep Boys auto parts and found some nut clips I want to use on the new electric radiator fan installation.
And I think I solved the van’s idle problem
I also picked up a new PCV valve as I noticed the one I had, had a crack in the plastic and realized it is what is likely causing the van’s new engine to hunt around during idle. It’s effectively an intake vacuum leak which is known to cause this problem. I also picked up some engine oil so I will have enough when I finally get my break in miles on it when I will do an oil change.
I headed on home after that for a nap.
Went outside to work on the van
And eventually I went outside to see what I could do to enlarge the hole in the van’s floor so he heater would fix.
So, the plan was to cut out the hole in the floor to accommodate the change. Only problem was it was a tight spot to cut a hole in the floor. I drilled a hole to start the jig saw and used a metal blade to cut the hole larger on the bottom and then used pliers to bend the lip down to smooth things out. This should work now. Messed my new paint up too.
Testing the fit
Here’s how it goes in. Looks like it should work, I’ll just have to make a bigger floor seal for it. 
It got dark on me, so I had to quit, but tomorrow I hope to get the heater stuff all back in and get the new electric fan installed.
Dave says don’t use the plastic pins through the radiator fins
By the way, while I was talking with Dave at the radiator place I asked him if he had been seeing any repairs on radiators where they used the plastic pins through the radiator fins that come with the electric fan to mount it.
He said yes, don’t do it. Make a bracket instead, which I’ve already done. He said after a couple years or so the pins can wear through the radiator fins from vibration.
That was my day.
