Well the Christmas and New Year's Holiday was good - we had an excellent time with our kids, and a lot of in laws and out laws showed up. I had planned to spend some time in the shop since I would have a few more days off for Christmas but my plans were made in vain. I looked at my calendar and most recent post... it has been well over a month since I have accomplished anything out there. Anyhow, I decided to fire up the diesel "turbo" heater in the garage (you know the kind - it sounds like a jet aircraft taking off and when you run cheap fuel in it you gag over the fumes :w00t
. I have owned the one I have for 5 years. I believe it is 210K BTU and all if you run the higher pressure. Over the past 5 years - no problems... until tonight. I hit the switch and the spark plug makes it usual noise, then the fan and fuel pump engage, but no FIRE... when I look inside the cavity--- there is raw fuel on the bottom and it eventually runs out and down the side of the tank. What gives? I thought "Well, that's probably the fuel being sprayed that would not ignite so where else could it go?" I look at the display panel on the side of the unit and wouldn't you know it, the panel reads "E1". I get out the trusty manual and it looks like it could be a dirty photocell that needs to be cleaned off. No biggie. I take off the top cover of the tube and have a "look see". I was shocked at the condition of the two fuel hoses - no wonder the thing was leaking fuel. I took pictures of the hoses and posted them below. Dry rot central. I have never seen rubber hoses go so bad in only 5 years and with very limited use at that. I guess I should have inspected under the cover each year before firing it up just to check on things, but there never has been a problem with this thing and I keep it very clean. Word to the wise if you own one of these units - the manufacturer uses CHEAP hoses and get this... NO CLAMPS!!! on a fuel pump that runs 8 psi!!!. I looked through my bins and found two, new, fuel injection, automotive grade hoses to install. Much more rigid and probably overkill. Suffice to say, the unit fired right up when I put it all back together and we were ready for action.
After the garage warmed up a bit, I decided to drill the drain holes for the front cross member and take a look at the Internal Frame Coating product from Eastwood (is it a 14 oz load of crap or is it the real deal? - I have no idea). Anyway, the idea is that the long narrow hose attaches to the aerosol can and using the 3 hole tip on the end, the user can slide the hose into the frame and coat the interior walls of the frame as he pulls the hose back out while he is spraying. Let me tell you that if you have any notion to use this kind of product, be prepared for a mess! :crazy: I believe it worked well. As you can see from the photos, I did enough heavy coats to have the product coming out the drain holes of the cross member. It was messy enough that I need to go back and repaint the satin black on parts of the frame, but that's no bid deal. This cross member is going to out last my lifetime that is for sure! I already have the upper and lower control arms painted so we are getting close to beginning reassembly. I need to get the car rolling again so that I can move it in and out of the shop for body work.
