It was supposed to be so easy...

[aeberbach]

I should have changed the water pump when I put the new head on. But I was confident it could be done quickly because I'd done it all once. Having fiddled with all the hoses for a couple of months I was pretty sure the water leak (about a litre a week) must be the water pump bearing, no sign of it coming from the hoses or mixing with engine oil.

First disaster - the distributor cap looked like it had been hit with a hammer - big cracks right across it.

One distributor rotor bolt undid OK. The others would not move, snapping one allen key and rounding off another. I got it off by dremeling a groove through the top and using a big flathead screwdriver.

Then the M6 bolt holding the upper timing belt shroud (to which the distributor mounts) sheared off in the head. The ez-out broke off in what remained of the bolt. Then a drill bit broke off in there too. Three hours later I gave up and left it there, now the shroud is held on with a cable tie.

Local parts supplier quoted > $600 for new distributor rotor and cap! I'll be waiting another ten days while it comes from Pelican.

And I got sunburned doing it. Bad day in the back yard.

And the water is still leaking.

[poolnoodle]

Ouch, I would have been tempted to add a good hangover to the problems after a day like that

[m_jermyn]

Man what a bummer.... Chin up

[aeberbach]

Well I got to spend some quality time with the car, and I got my son involved - he's 7 and was pleased to help.

Fixed the snapped-off bolt with a bent-bolt arrangement that's nice and secure. Now the distributor is square on the correctly mounted cam shroud and silent with new rotor and cap.

Adjusted the valve clearances, checked the oil - it's not using any.

Tightened the exhaust manifold nuts just a little to clear up the slight puff-puff noise it was allowing to escape. Manifold is still nicely painted, new stainless studs and copper lock nuts working like they should.

Cracked open the AFM and moved the wiper down slightly on the shaft so it contacts an untouched piece of the carbon track.

Put new radiator hoses in. With the new water pump this has taken care of the last leak - with 100k over the weekend the water level has not dropped at all.

Installed some new Pagid front brake pads - figured it would take me an hour as I had not done it before. Took 20 minutes, including bleeding! What a genius design those front calipers are. Put in a new wear indicator cable too so no more flickery red light. The pedal is nice and hard.

Took the back wheels off but a 7mm hex key is not in my toolbox (yet) so those pads can wait for another day they have plenty of thickness left anyway.

And with the job done we went out for ice cream. On the way I needed to get into a gap in the next lane. Gave it just enough to drop one gear and it just took off, sounded like a Ferrari echoing back off the van next to us. The joy of driving an E30 is back!

[votivequagmire]

That's excellent news, glad yours is back and happy