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PREVIOUS PAGE   Air Conditioning Work July 19, 2008 As planned, I worked on the air conditioning system. The goal was to replace the original compressor by a modern and more gentle one (for the timing chains), replace the drying cartridge and then try to put the system back in working order. I'll install the Sankyo compressor that was installed in my other SM, that way I'll know if it works After cleaning, it's better Here is the original York compressor. Even in good shape, it has to be replaced, but this one is jammed A few minutes are enough to get rid of it This is now a useless and defective item ;-)     This is the bracket that was made for the Sankyo compressor, after a "chocolate brown" paint   I initially thought that the exit pipe (here on the left, not yet connected) would be too short, but finally it was long enough Here is the compressor installed and connected The hard work was the adjustment of the compressor position to get a good belt alignment I also had a problem with the air conditioning fan, which was working only when he wanted, and he usually didn't want to. I quickly found the problem, it was a bad contact on the connection of the capacitor associated with the fan, because when I connected the fan directly, without the capacitor, everything was working correctly. The problem is here, the right front fender has to be removed Here is the connection of the capacitor I remove everything and I take a plug from a wire I have in stock Here is the result, with new wires and connections reinstalled Once the compressor installed and the fan back in working order, I went to see an air conditioning specialist. He couldn't find the right drying cartridge, which must be replaced, but he found me a part distributor who let me search in his catalogs and I found the right part using the catalog pictures. The day after, the cartridge was delivered and a few days later I was back with the air conditioning specialist. He started by lifting the car. Then we removed the front grill to have a good access to the drying cartridge It gave me a good opportunity to inspect the under body (see some pictures in the body section) Removal of the old cartridge Installation of the new one   Then came the time to fill the circuit with Nitrogen, to search for leaks As soon as the pressure grew, we heard a leak on the compressor exit pipe It shows some progress but it doesn't work yet. I'm glad that I found a drying cartridge quickly, it's not easy here because of course local part distributors never find any reference to the SM in their part catalogs. But there is a leak, fortunately this one was easy to locate. So I need to replace the leaking pipe, I'll probably replace all pipes, but the problem is that I'm not able to remove this pipe for the moment because its connection on the evaporator is made of brass and could brake easily if I apply the required force with a wrench.

Air Conditioning Work, Continued August 24, 2008 Because of the leak discovered earlier when testing the circuit, I decided to replace all the pipes, hoping to fix the leak and increase the system reliability. I start with the connections close to the evaporator, they are the most difficult to access Disconnecting is not simple because space is very limited I had all new pipes prepared, for my two SM, but it was a mistake because each modification had then to be made twice! Once all pipes ready, I start installing them One modification example, on the compressor, this 45 degrees connection doesn't fit very well Here the condenser and dryer pipes I had to replace the brand new dryer for one with both screw-type connections because modern pipes cannot be installed with bare pipe and clamp I take the opportunity to paint the dryer holders and do a clean installation Because pipes are more rigid and fittings are longer, I can't connect as it was made originally, I have to use two 90 degrees angles On the compressor, it's easier because space is available Around the condenser and dryer, new pipes were very difficult to install After numerous pipe modifications, I'm finally able to connect everything Modern air conditioning pipes are a lot more rigid than the old ones because they are not made with rubber only, they have an inner pipe made of a plastic material like nylon (or something like that). They will be significantly more better, for sure, but having some new pipes made exactly like the old ones doesn't guarantee a good fit. And connections or fittings are longer and reduce the installation possibilities in limited-space situations, like there are many with a SM. So this installation required numerous adaptations and fixes, regarding the length of pipes and the angle of connections and fittings. Finally, I came back to the air conditioning specialist to do one more leak test and, guess what, we found two leaks! The first one is located one one compressor connection. We disconnect and connect again with care and the leak disappears. But the second leak is more tricky. It's located on the dryer and it's due to an insufficient length of the thread, which cause a bad connection. I don't have a solution yet to fix this problem. I used a "soft" pipe instead of the original rigid one, it was perhaps not a good idea. So I'll try to convince my pipe specialist to make a rigid pipe by re-using the original connections, but when I first asked this question he told me that he could not do that. I can't simply reuse the original pipe because it's damaged (bent).

Primary Timing Chain Work February 8, 2009 Winter is here so I forget the air conditioning system for a while to do some more consequent work. In fact, even after the replacement of both secondary timing chains and the valve adjustment done last year (see previous page), this SM still makes a annoying noise when engine is hot. I now think that this noise is related to the primary timing chain, around which SM owners can often find a broken tensioner, a loose chain limiter, or of course a very loose chain. This car has always 50 000 km but it perhaps means that no maintenance has ever been made in that area. So I plan to do something, knowing that this is especially complicated to do so without removing the engine from the car. The goal is to replace the chain, the tensioner and the limiter. I already removed the front fenders and grill, mainly to have the grill repainted (see the body section). As usual, I start by removing the air filters and the inlet capacity boxes Then I remove the cooling system parts The goal is to make space at the rear of the engine, where the primary timing parts are located On the right side, I remove the oil hoses Then I prepare for removing the intake manifold with the injection ramp These pictures will help me putting everything back together, I hope There is now enough space on the rear side to work ... ... and also to remove the timing housing from the top This is only a few pictures but however a few hours of work, especially because of a stuck bolt on the intake manifold, which I eventually removed successfully, without braking anything. The problem is that I cannot remove the water pump cover, it doesn't move at all and I didn't find yet a way to extract it. I hope it was not glued on purpose!

March 18, 2009 Still on the same timing chain intervention, my main goal is to remove this annoying water pump cover. After a few "soft" solutions, I then tried more "violent" ones. Here are some of them with pictures: This is a home made extraction system based on square tube and threaded studs The effort was perhaps not symmetrical enough. The cover doesn't move I then put a tool inside the cover tubes and I plan to pull on the tool using my crane to rotate the cover... ... but I eventually stopped, worrying about doing too much damage. The cover is still laughing at me ;-)   Still with the crane, I use a metallic wire that I'm able to insert behind the cover handles That way, I try again to rotate the cover, this time with a better effort location. But the cover confirms that he doesn't want to move! So what can I do? The tiny space I have behind the engine reduces the number of solutions I can try to remove the cover. To have more space, I have to remove the engine from the car. There is a way to remove the engine while leaving the gearbox inside, which is a lot easier than removing both, but guess what, to be able to remove the engine alone, the water pump cover has to be removed first, there is not enough space if it's still on the engine! After a pretty long discussion on the French SM Club forum, I finally decide to remove both engine and gearbox. From a "reasonable" intervention I now step up to a major one, with some bad surprises to come for sure, and that could lead me to have two SMs out of order for the coming summer season. I start from front, by removing the radiator for instance Then this is the accessories' turn The accessories driving shaft was loose on the engine side As I remove parts, dirt is appearing, a lot of dirt! A picture that will probably be helpful when putting everything back together Some hydraulic tubes are out of shape, this is certainly not the first time this powertrain is removed I'll not have much space when the engine will be down near the car, so I make space by removing some big parts... ... it will be the occasion to clean everything Same work on the right side The battery box, rusted of course, but still strong Disconnection of the gearbox controls and hydraulics The speedometer cable came out easily, it was much more difficult on my other SM Now the steering column is coming out. I traced its position hoping I'll put it back at the exact same location I use the tools I have to compress the handbrake springs and remove the controlling cable I eventually removed the handbrake calipers, this is easier that way to remove the cable I removed some protection plates to clean them, and the coil bracket to paint it Then it's time to remove the transmission axles Here it is, but I discover that one of the dust cover is damaged And voilà! I now just have to pull the engine and gearbox out I can't wait to clean everything, this is so dirty!

April 20, 2009 I call my friend Philippe for help to remove the engine and gearbox. They came out without too much trouble. I just thought I could let the first exhaust pipes in place but we had to remove the right side pipe, this part was quite difficult. Here is the drivetrain immediately after its removal The engine bay is suddenly empty I put the drivetrain in a more convenient location, but space is limited anyway That's how it looks, and that's because of this limited space that I didn't initially want to remove the engine Overview of the cleaning work ahead!   On the left side, the transmission grease is everywhere, I obviously made a mistake somewhere with the transmission boot Now that the drivetrain is out, I need to find a way to remove the water pump cover. The idea is to drill and tap both cover "handles" and use them as an extractor My father had two taps modified (flat end) and has special extraction parts made, here on the upper right, to screw them inside the handles I had to cut the cover to make space for drilling and taping. Once done, I screw in, both handles bend but the cover doesn't seem to move So I have to create more extraction points. I start from the bottom part, which I think is the most stuck portion It still doesn't move, so I drill and tap more points I now go on with the top part, because it still doesn't move 5 extraction points are still not enough, I even broke the tap I did on the top, because I didn't make it very well So I drill once again to get a sixth extraction point... ... and this time, it works... ... and this f.....g cover finally comes out. I lost a huge amount of time because of it I then go on with the removal of the water pump turbine, with the original extractor that I could borough. Thank you Claude It is of course very good for this special job (because the extraction points are not at a regular angle) The turbine comes out quite easily Finally, here is what I wanted to see for a long time! It seems in very good shape Here is the inside of the timing cover, with the oil pump The oil pan is clean The tensioner still seems in one piece, this is not always the case with SMs The limiter also seems in one piece I'm surprised to find a "thin" oil pump axle, I was expecting the reinforced one, I'll replace it but for the moment I cannot remove it (one new part difficult to remove ;-) On that side, I'll have to be sure I install the right water pump gasket (there are multiple models) While waiting for some missing parts, I start the cleaning operation on the front unit. I start from the inside of the engine bay I remove the main part of the dirt with a degreaser     Here the right side, before cleaning Here the left side, also before cleaning   Here is what I got after the rough degreasing phase... ... and then a more detailed phase with paper towel and an engine cleaning product That's now almost clean, even in tiny spaces ;-) This portion took me a lot of time I'll have to put grease on many parts to protect from rust     NEXT PAGE