Okay, I guess that it's time to fess up. I owe it to those of you who were so kind as to throw in your two cents and good advice. So the story goes, I was prepared to pull the head and get it magnafluxed, etc, etc. Well I was borrowing a space in the shop of a friendly mechanic here in Toluca, he said, let's think about this for a minute, it doesn't add up. We both agreed that it didn't add up but were just left scratching our heads. I won't go into all the details, you can search the old topics to see. It was called "revisiting the radiator issue", I think. Anyway, I pulled the radiator, and fan, then the water pump. I stopped to look at the water pump to see if it might be THE source of the problem or at least part of the problem. It looked fine, but then we looked closer, and compared it to another that he had in the shop from the same approximate year 4.6 Liter motor. Well, here it is....The guy who had owned this motor before me had put on the wrong one!!!! Serpentine belt variety I guess, with reverse rotation. I never thought to look at that when I bought the motor last August. I pulled everything apart and just put it back together. My bad!!! So I merely purchased the correct one, and the beast runs great! A testament to the durability of the inline six, that you can run around for 9 months like this and it didn't kill it. And point #2, lesson learned, thankfully not the hard way with a blown head or worse. Thanks again to all for your input. Take care, Rob

That's great news! Congrats on the find. I've had lots of problems with waterpumps, but never a reverse rotation situation! Enjoy the sun down there!
John

Hey Rob, glad to hear it. REALLY glad you didn't pull the head, put it back on and STILL have the same problem. Maybe thats why you got such a good deal on that engine! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

could be right, they might've thought they were stickin it to me good.....stupid gringo that i am, hahaha. anyway, now i can concentrate on makin' her look perty. new floor pan on the way, as i'm falling through. anything i should watch out for when having a new one fabbed. how about those body mounts, can i just bolt them through the floor? rob

When my neighbor was fixing up his jeep so his daughter could drive it to school, (he didn't want to spend much) I helped him fab some floor pans from some light sheet metal he got at the local hardware store (Lowes). I had done the same thing on an old J10 pickup I had that was falling apart (much easier). 'Twas a challenge to fit the sheets in but with patience and a good pair of tin snips we did it. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" /> We then used pop rivets to hold it in place. A BUNCH of pop rivets. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" /> When we painted it the epoxy primer we used filled in all the holes in the rivets and it came out pretty good. At least feet and homework can't fall through any more. If you get something made thats strong enough I don't see why you couldn't bolt through for body mounts. There has to be some kind of stiffener/frame though or they will just tear through eventually, I imagine.

i'm planning on using that stuff that looks like the "tread bright aluminum" that people put on their rear corners, only in metal, about 14 gauge. any comments?
(it seems that i've hijacked my own thread here!)
rob

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> You might want to practice with a piece of cardboard. When you get a good fit use it for a pattern. Have fun and good luck!

good idea, thanks...rob

I have done a few of these and all were carpeted. I glassed all of them and then put the carpet back in.. Easy, cheap, strong enough and anyone can do it.
Big Jim

hmmmm, thats a thought. didn't it contribute to flex? not that's a bad thing, just curious. did you rip out the old floor first? or just glass over the crappy one? my problem i believe is greater as the rust has penetrated all of the seams, and around the roll bar (i have the early type). rob