Sigma-galant.com

You're not going to drive it like it is?

Have been on and off for the past couple weeks. Pretty much only when I have absolutely needed it. Will need it tomorrow, then can drive another car Saturday, then may drive it to 84GKSIG's place on Sunday to swap out the cross member.

Did take out around the block earlier, and felt much better. But still will need to take it easy till can swap out that cross member.

Ooooh, that ain't good. You were lucky the through bolt didn't start to feed it's way out of there...

I drove the Sigma to go get a cross member yesterday. On the way home there was a strange noise from the engine which sounded like the transmission. Almost home and the power steering went, and was very heavy to steer. Got home and there was power steering fluid everywhere. One of the hoses into the pump looked to be loose. Tried to tighten it up, but the nut was already tight. On closer inspection, the hose didn't seem to be attached anymore.

That's always handy

Took the broken hose out, and can see how it broke.

Had the same thing happen a while ago Cottees, you should also check the pump bracket, the part that bolts onto the engine, for cracks too.

I had another pipe made up and it cracked within a few weeks because that bracket was also broken.



Cheers.

And there goes another hose. It was leaking, but there was no sign of cracks etc. Put some electrical tape on to try and get it to seal better, and that worked. Tried to do it better with proper ring seals. It didn't work. Tried a couple ways, and then started spitting fluid out of the engine bay. Had another look, and the crack finally showed up. Will have to take the pump off and check the bracket etc.

I was down at U-Pull-It, so I was looking at other cars. I saw that the 2WD Triton, around 90-91, it had a similar power steering setup as the Sigma. The outlet for the pump was a beefier connection, so I grabbed the pump, and both hoses. I think the pump is the same as what is in the TR/TS Magna. Pretty much the same base pump as the Sigma one, but with no bottle on the back, and a different connection on the outlet. I then went to the Gilman UPI. I was a little worried about the connectors on the hoses that go into the power steering box since they are different from the Sigma. I looked for another Triton and found a 4WD version. I found a late 80s Triton. It had the larger pump outlet, but the same connector as the Sigma's steering box. Ended up using the Triton/Magna style pump, late 80s Triton high pressure hose, and the power steering bottle from the Triton.





As for the steering boxes, the Sigma and earlier Tritons seem to be all the same, and the inlet and outlet are different sizes. The 2WD Triton looks to be the same, and the 4WD just sits further forward, and the pitman arm is backwards. The early 90s Triton one has both the same size inlet and outlet.

Nice bit of work Cottees - building a hybrid power steer set up! The power steering reservoir being easy to check now is a bonus.

I moved the Sigma and Lancer from the front of the house. Not a moment too soon. The Lancer was almost swallowed by weeds.


Now they are in a better position to be worked on.


Degreased, cleaned up and painted the new cross member.

While you are at it you may as well fit some new engine mounts..I put a set of these urethane mounts in my wagon today.
Prick of a job because of the turbo /turbo plumbing and wot-not. Lot easier if you already have the crossmember out

wuldnt those mounts be less absorbent in engine vibration???

Nothing that you can feel from the cabin.

The GN is now on stands ready for some work on the steering.


And just a double check to make sure all the parts are ready.

Got the LCA out of the side that was having issues, but everything looks ok.


Except for the bolt for the sway bar. It doesn't look to healthy.


Double checking again that I have everything, and they are the right parts.


Got most of it dismantled, except for the tie rod ends. They are being problematic.


Yep, the lower ball joints needed replacing.


Another look at the damage to the cross member.

looking at the pic of the flogged out lower control arm reminded me that at one stage I bought a set of Falcon camber adjusters . Simple way to adjust camber, instead of buying strut top mounts that cost more than the car

Cleaned up the lower control arms, and the left one didn't look quite right.


Looks like the left one is a little bent. I have a set of LCAs from a Starion, so will probably end up using them.

Got the Starion strut stuff out of storage. The almost complete one just needs a good clean, and a respray for the spring.


The rest needs cleaning up etc.



Also found my spare LCAs. Mint!

Got my King Springs out of storage, and started to prep them for painting.




Sanded and ready for painting.


Now it looks better.

Da ba dee da ba die

If I were green I would die da ba dee da ba dai

Scorpma82 wrote:If I were green I would die da ba dee da ba dai

Nup, Starion struts, not green struts!

Have the springs and the callipers painted. Just another coat or so to fix up any missed spots, and they should be ready to go.


Comparison of Sigma vs Starion steering knuckles and lower control arms. The top ones are from the Starion, the bottoms are from the Sigma.

So just to confirm the gn lower conyrol arms are the dame length as the starions. and also my lb hatch has a 2.6ltr in it and your engine crossmember looks identical to mine in the lb. maybe i have a sigma crossmember in my lancer or they just look similar

The Starion control arms are slightly longer than the Sigma ones. That with the steering knuckle being at a different offset, the camber will end up out a little. Since it is only a little bit, it isn't too bad. That, and the angle will make for better cornering.

As for Sigma vs Lancer stuff, they look very similar, but the Lancer stuff is smaller. The crossmember looks the same, but is shorter. The lower control arms in the Lancer are more closely related to the GE/GH Sigmas. The GJ-GN has 4 bolts holding the lower ball joints on. The GE/GH and the LB/LC has a press in ball joint. An absolute pain to change. I have photos of the front end having the same treatment on my LC build.

Sigmaproject wrote:

While you are at it you may as well fit some new engine mounts..I put a set of these urethane mounts in my wagon today.
Prick of a job because of the turbo /turbo plumbing and wot-not. Lot easier if you already have the crossmember out

After getting the cross member out today, I will probably change over the engine mounts. They are ok, but are looking a little tired.

The cross member out, and going to do some cleaning while it is out.


The lower alternator bolt has worked itself loose. Will have to fix that.


Collection of cross members. From a GK (the one going into the GN), a GN and a JA.


Sprayed the factory head shelf with engine paint. Looks better now.


Got one of the front tow points out. The one on the left was on the car, and was bent. The right one is painted up ready to go in.


Thought I'd make a start on the bracket to hold the power steering fluid bottle.


Make sure the holes I drilled are correct. Perfect.


Bolts up just fine.


Cut to size.


Cleaned up.


Cut out a slot as it would have fouled on the air box cover.


Drilled some holes to mount it to the air box. As I thought, it will need a bit of support.


Put in some more support, and another mount hole, and everything fits back together properly.


Latest over view shot of the engine bay.

Starting to look better.

Quick spray of the front chassis for more protection.


Tried to use some Plasti Dip to make some pin striping. Taped up a stencil etc.


Over sprayed, but worked out that Mineral Turps will take Plasti Dip off quite quickly.


Took the masks off too early and stuffed it up.




Cleaned up the mistakes, and tried to fix up the smudges.


Cleaned up after the patch job. Still not too good.


Tried again on the front quarter panel, but will leave it to dry properly this time.

I braved the 4.5C temperature outside and took the masking tape off. Since the Plasti Dip was dry, and pealed off the masking tape fairly flat, it came out ok.

Cool. Plastidip for pinstriping, choice idea.

Don't use masking tape though, use fine line tape as it will leave a sharper edge and shouldn't bleed.