Let me begin by stating that I bring my problems on myself. I'm a big dumb animal. That being said, today was supposed to be a good day. I have a box of parts for the protege that I have been waiting for fair weather and available time to coincide to install. That was today. Nothing major mind you. Just regular tune up stuff. Distributor cap and rotor, plug wires, and plugs for topside; new swaybar endlinks and an e-brake cable for bottomside. Most of this is simple stuff. My only real worries, in my mind, were figuring out how I would get the old endlinks off (especially the broken one) and whether or not doing the front cable would be easier if I unbolted the cables from the calipers at the back.
Anyway, I decided to start at the distributor. The cap is held on by two screws. Looks simple enough. I get the front one loose with relative ease. The second one is more of a fighter. I apply more torque, as only a big dumb gorilla can and snap. Literally. I broke the ear off the distributor. I was upset by this but not horribly, as the junkyard is littered with replacements and it is a simple swap and the o-ring needed to be replaced anyway as it was leaking oil there. I don't let it get me down. I move on to the plugs. Two of the four have been cross threaded by the previous owner, it would seem. I replace the two that aren't and then begin the slow tedious process of 3 steps forward, two steps back. The first was #4. It went pretty well for awhile but then it hit so much resistance that I decided to give it a break. I moved on to #2 and began working with it. It seemed to be working a bit better. At least it was until it snapped. The ceramic, electrode, and the upper bolt head (sorry, but I don't know the correct term for this) came out, but the threads are still in the block.
So, I've quit for the day. I don't know what to do next. Part of me wants to just go find a LX DOHC and put it in there, but I really don't have the money for a motor. Then again, I really don't have the tools or ability to deal with a spark plug cross threaded and broke off in the head...
FML
Anyway, I decided to start at the distributor. The cap is held on by two screws. Looks simple enough. I get the front one loose with relative ease. The second one is more of a fighter. I apply more torque, as only a big dumb gorilla can and snap. Literally. I broke the ear off the distributor. I was upset by this but not horribly, as the junkyard is littered with replacements and it is a simple swap and the o-ring needed to be replaced anyway as it was leaking oil there. I don't let it get me down. I move on to the plugs. Two of the four have been cross threaded by the previous owner, it would seem. I replace the two that aren't and then begin the slow tedious process of 3 steps forward, two steps back. The first was #4. It went pretty well for awhile but then it hit so much resistance that I decided to give it a break. I moved on to #2 and began working with it. It seemed to be working a bit better. At least it was until it snapped. The ceramic, electrode, and the upper bolt head (sorry, but I don't know the correct term for this) came out, but the threads are still in the block.
So, I've quit for the day. I don't know what to do next. Part of me wants to just go find a LX DOHC and put it in there, but I really don't have the money for a motor. Then again, I really don't have the tools or ability to deal with a spark plug cross threaded and broke off in the head...
FML
Comment