Bean

I do like 10-15 pumps min. You might also want to pull the speedo cable out of the transmission as it might be making noise since it’s speed related. That’s a cool set up for testing the car - I may have one, but it doesn’t have instructions. Probably gets covered in the FSM? If it has instructions can you scan them? Rabin

Can you take a pic of the pin out tester? I’ve never used one and it sounds awesome. Abs brakes on these are fantastic - even by modern standards as I used to rallycross my car and even in loose surface driving they were just so good even when it was super slippery. Whining / whistling you might want to make sure that torque tube Center bearing is well lubed. Might also want to remove the console and trans cover, then use a mechanics stethoscope to see if it’s trans or torque tube. Sound can transmit strangely when connected rigidly like the 505, so isolating the sound is time well spent. AC - Might make sense to convert to 134A which would mean new oring seals, expansion valve, and new oil. If system has been open I’d clean everything out real well to, but it’s a pretty easy system. Get them to pull a vacuum before charging and if it holds tight you should be good to go. Rabin

Tires will never flex at the top, so guys have fit 215/60-15’s that just barely take the paint off with no issues. I usually run 205/60-15 on my turbo sedans that I would auto cross with, and 195/65-15’s on other cars. Careful with the timing- I tried bumping timing on my cars, but anything more than 10degrees caused it to buck / cut out on my cars. Best running I found was stock timing or just barely over, TPS adjustment bang on, and new vacuum lines for boost control. Rabin

Welcome to the forum! The milky oil is usually from a head gasket failure which is fairly common with XN series motors as the head bolts don’t get retorqued to specs. When you do the valve adjustments you might want to do the head bolts just to make sure. If you get the milky oil again it could be head gasket. Another thing to check is the pcv screens are clean and in place, and that the car is getting up to temp with a good drive to boil any moisture out of the oil. Short trips can cause some condensation which will be enough to cause the milkshake on oil cap. Rabin

Beautiful car Gerry - feel free to post up LOTS of pictures if you want, and good luck with sale! Rabin

Sunroof cable sheath splits which causes the non-op. Should be a guide on the site that should help. It’s a brake compensator attached to the roll bar, the more weight in the car the more rear brake bias - it doesn’t apply brake, just allows more brake if that makes sense. What size / brand / model tires did you go with? Tach signal is off coil I thought, so might want to check connections there. AC - I used to be quite unsure about AC and would always hire it out. After abysmal work/service after a condenser replacement that would only last a season and that eventually took out my compressor when an print blew because of a crappy install. I tackled the fix myself, replaced compressor, condenser and an AC line. Has a buddy evacuate and charge with 134a last summer, just tried it yesterday after a LONG winter and it blew cold. As long as all the parts are there I’d say fix the AC - I won’t ever be afraid to tackle any AC system. Rabin

My brother has done this with his 505 v6 - coil over sleeves on stock shock bodies, and his other car is running sport springs. He changed his hubs to 6x140 and runs 17x8 rims on his car. Nobody makes anything so anything you want will need to be custom fabricated. Rabin

Welcome to the forum Tashko! I had 2x 504 wagons in high school MANY years ago now and have a very soft spot in my heart for them. Gas or diesel? Auto or manual? Keep us posted on progress (Maybe do a build thread?), and take lots of pictures. Strut housings are usually fairly easy repairs if you’re handy with a welder since it’s usually just the spring perch that rusts out. Would be pretty easy to either repair or use a different perch if you can’t find a good replacement. Rabin

Wow - can’t believe how time flies. Tough to say what you should do, and not idea what kind of market exists there for selling it, but selling it has the least time commitment! Maybe some amateur drifter wants a very unique car to compete with? Turbo the motor and it might be a great drift car. Rabin

Wow - Gorgeous wheel! Is it a manual car? ‘Cuz a matching shift knob would look fantastic. I love a nice wheel - had Momo’s on both my 504 and 505’s. Rabin

I reached out to Brian and he said: “Between the valves is where the diesels crack. If it's only on one cylinder it's probably not too deep yet. 3Ts seem the best of the diesels in resisting cracking.” Brian can be reached at 8zero2-7nine3-7one68 - I’d call him and discuss specifics. Rabin

I thought Brian was still some selling parts, but is still a wealth of info. If memory serves cracks between valves was common and a non-issue, but I can’t confirm. xd3p should be the same motor, and I know Tata (in India) was making a copy of the motor for years that they eventually made direct injection. There was also talk of the marine xd3 with an iron head… Brian Holm might be your best bet, but if you called around any good shop capable of aluminum head repairs should be able to fix it, but it’d be fairly pricey to remove the seats, fixt the crack, then replace seats etc etc. I’ve never actually heard of anyone needing to fix any diesel heads except for getting the surface machined, so kinda thinking the cracks are normal. Only caveat being that piston protrusion should always get measured to ensure the proper HG is used. Rabin

It just presses in... If the motor was every in a manual car before you'll likely need to replace the bearing. Rabin

I have a feeling driving in Nairobi Kenya is substantially different than we see in Canada, so what would be considered overly aggressive here could absolutely be par for the course there. Years ago now, but driving in India 15 years ago went against all common sense, but you HAD to drive like that or you'd never get anywhere. As for the Tito's videos - I'd rather hear and see the cars in depth rather than them side by side like that. Here street racing is very much frowned upon which is why you have Mike T's reaction above, but there also video after video on "Mexican" street races here as well that are MUCH worse, so even by North American standards - two 90HP cars on an open highway didn't even illicit a reaction from me. Rabin

Sorry Dave - Just saw this. Pretty sure cracking between valves is very common on these motors, it's when the cracks go to water jacket like they do in the N9T** motors that it can be an issue, but you might want to call up Brian Holm to make sure. @wadehilts Might also know? Rabin

The fittings if the fit and threaded in properly would make very quick work of straightening the flare out and seating it properly. The look square on the pipe, but the pipe looks to have a slight bend which shouldn’t affect it. The fittings not actually screwing in properly is still the red flag for me. I’ve used vacuum bleeders before and the air leaking in from the threads doesn’t make sense unless the fluid was harder to pull through than air would be - which shouldn’t be the case. Fluid should be easily drawn out with little to no restriction. I’d get a thread die to ensure it cleans up the old fittings as well as it would the new ones. Old threads appear to have a much sharper thread point where the new ones looked rolled / rounded more. Long shot, but what about applying hydraulic pressure to the caliper bleed to push brake fluid up from caliper to reservoir to find the leak? I use a similar technique when doing the clutch bleed on the 505 - use a line from the left front caliper bleed to the clutch slave bleed. Pump brakes and it pushes clean fluid up through the clutch system (clutch reservoir line into a container so it doesn’t push old fluid into the brake reservoir). Rabin

Have you verified the thread dimensions with calipers and a thread gauge? If be curious if the OD was maybe slightly larger with the new fittings. Would you have the matching tap to chase the female sides? Or can you make one out of an extra fitting? As for bleeding - Do you know anyone with a Motive brake bleeder? It attaches to the reservoir cap and basically provides brake fluid under pressure. Sounds like there’s definitely a leak, but getting those fittings to thread in normal and tighten at the end is key to ensuring it’s done right. Rabin

The column cover looks like another stalk should have gone there, but even the euro headlight levelling system was on the dash. Maybe @SRDT knows? Torsen diff works great with the manual - you really just need the trans and the torque tube (different length) to make the swap, but make sure to check the splines on the shaft that go into the transmission. The pilot bearing in the crank to support the manual transmission input shaft will be the only thing Blackie needs aside from the donor car parts. Btw - just the clutch and brake pedals should just need to be swapped - I’ve done the whole pedal box assembly before but they were identical except for the pedals that just have the pivot bolt holding them in. Rabin

Not sure what “Yeah it is” is answering? The spot the light is on? That’s just a blank cover / filler on my car as well. Rabin

The light looks like an aftermarket alarm system light - definitely not stock / OE. Rabin

Look on the engine side under the brake booster/abs system to make sure on blackie as it looks like there might be something visible on the other side. If not - the part that mounts to the firewall should unbolt and transfer over - you can see the body colour of the firewall and the panel separately here:

The hole is in the panel mounts tbe booster, and that panel should bolts to the firewall as well. So if it’s not there on Blackie it should still unbolt off the other car. Can you take a picture? My ‘86 auto had the studs to mount the clutch slave and everything. Rabin

The only thing you would need to do is to install a pilot bearing into the crank end for the manual transmission to work, everything else is a bolt on affair, but a fair bit of work. Ideally you need a parts car for all the parts like pedal assemblies and such, but it does all bolt on. All holes are there. Rabin

Apologies as I’ve been out of commission due to a bad back - was a full stop on renovating and no trips to the garage for the last 4 weeks or so! Mobility is much better now, so will try to make good on my offer to see if the manual has some detailed troubleshooting documentation. Should be able to grab an ohmmeter check in at least two knock sensors as well. Spring is coming here as well and I hope to make progress on mine too! Rabin

So once the engine is assembled and installed - how close will it be to driving? Rabin