Grapeking

Congrats GSRob! Its a good feeling when things come together in the end.
I had success bleeding air out of the coolant system by raising the front end of the car on ramps and running the engine until hot (with the heater set on high). This seemed to allow any air bubbles/pockets to travel out of the heater core and back to the radiator or reservoir.

Gsrob

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll try both when I get home. So far it's running great. I've put about 3 hours of driving in at some pretty descent RPMs, going over the Blue Ridge mountains with the wife to see the colors of fall. Still no leaks, no burning oil smell (except for the initial burn off when I first started it), and it sounds good. Check engine light must have been on for the intercooler pipe leak before. I'm guessing that was also causing my random misfire code. I'll try bleeding it both ways when I get home and hope for heat at idle!

Just a suggestion for anyone about to do the timing belt service on their 2.7/2.8... Look up EWK Tools on eBay if you want a super cheap camlock bar and crankshaft pin kit. I think I paid like $38 with free shipping. The quality was way better than I expected and I got it 3 days after paying for it. Just be careful to differentiate between the V6 and V8 lock bars because the auctions look the same.





I think this is everything I replaced minus the accessory belt that I threw out right away.

jseklund

It doesn't look like you did much when you put it like that

Great job. You definitely were the A student on this one.

deviantirish

Nice. Good to see it back together.

Airbag

hats a good idea.. i did the same job you did and when all was said and done the most frustrating part was getting that f'ing heater hose off the core .. grrrrr