The Houston 04 SE

[L1ttleBastard]

I hope you are filing a claim with your shippers insurance!

That rear bumper skin is toast

[78F350]

Here's some video of the car shortly after it was delivered. At this point, I had just done a little cleaning and started to apply some leather treatment.
***I can't get embedded video to work in this section of the forum, so here's the link:
First Look: https://youtu.be/H1mdXKpmssE

More video...
Checking the oil filter: https://youtu.be/pn3kTFpY_g8

Opening the Frunk: https://youtu.be/uk8-yJXKUxA

[BRAN]

Originally Posted by 78F350

Here's some video of the car shortly after it was delivered. At this point, I had just done a little cleaning and started to apply some leather treatment.
***I can't get embedded video to work in this section of the forum, so here's the link:
First Look: https://youtu.be/H1mdXKpmssE

More video...
Checking the oil filter: https://youtu.be/pn3kTFpY_g8

Opening the Frunk: https://youtu.be/uk8-yJXKUxA

Congrats, it still looks gorgeous!
How can anybody not love the SE...that cocoa brown...awesome
That truck driver was not the brightest I guess...arg...what a Vertragsamateur (means in nice words: NOT A PRO)
...and what happened to the hood emblem?

Can‘t wait to see this baby being restored again, best of luck 78F350

[Smallblock454]

Damn, that damaged SE exhaust tip is pretty expensive. Over here in Germany they are 500-600 euros - if you can get one.

Regards, Markus

[Oldcarguy]

Tough break with the car hauler guy. He did just about everything wrong he could do. At least it’s a story added to the car’s restoration tale and no one was injured. Kudos for handling it so well.

Top, body and wheels look good. It’s a challenging project but I understand your motivation and the satisfaction that each ‘win’ will bring along the way. Thanks for taking the time to take us along for the ride

[itsnotanova]

Sorry to hear about the shipper. Is that him in the background? Was he driving an old Dodge truck? He almost looks like a guy who messed up one of my cars. That's one of the reasons I try to go pick them up myself if I can. Parts have a tendency to get damaged or disappear when they get shipped. That hood emblem probably was stolen long before he got it though. I get a lot of cars where the emblem has been taken and or show attempts have been made to remove it. Usually its the keys that get stolen at the yard.
If you find water has entered the engine. Before you drain it grab a five gallon bucket and a oil drain pan. Use the bucket to catch the water until oil starts coming out.

[dghii]

Great thread! I wish you the best of luck with this venture. That SE is a beautiful car and has grown on me lately.

...don't know what it is about it but my guess is its the wheels. The interior is great but I'd have never thought about doing a brown interior with silver exterior....

[78F350]

Just a quick post... I'm working on putting together some video from today.
I posted on Renntech for a little outside perspective on my current quandry (Not that I don't value your input as much):
https://www.renntech.org/forums/topic/51832-flood-salvage-water-in-the-engine/


More detail and follow-up here soon.

Is that him in the background? Was he driving an old Dodge truck?

I don't even remember the truck. The driver was the guy in the orange shirt. Blue jacket and ball cap is my friend Scotty (as in Chief Engineer of the Enterprise). The best helicopter mechanic I've had the pleasure of working with.

[911monty]

This simply hurts to see. Back in the 70's (yeah I know) did a lot of boating. Flat bottom hydros, drag boats etc. with low transoms were everywhere. When one would sink ( and they did frequently if the engine died or you didn't goose properly coming off plane to keep the wash from rolling over the transom) the goal was to get it back on the trailer, drain oil, fuel tanks, carbs etc. pull plugs and spin to get water out of the cylinders. Fill with clean oil and get started ASAP. Then run to temp and let the engine heat steam out any oil in the engine. Distributors didn't like it much since marine engines vent there but WD-40 would take care of that, if done quickly there were very few issues afterward. Starters failing might be typical. The clocks ticking on this engine, but I'd get it started post haste. A good Marine engine oil might be a good choice since they are loaded with corrosion inhibitors. Good Luck.

[78F350]

Originally Posted by 911monty

... Starters failing might be typical. The clocks ticking on this engine, but I'd get it started post haste. A good Marine engine oil might be a good choice since they are loaded with corrosion inhibitors. Good Luck.

Good points. I hadn't even though about the starter yet. I have done a rebuild (cleaning) on a couple of those Bosch starters in the past. If this one didn't corrode, I can probably still clean it and lube it back to 'new'.
I'm planning to just flow some cheap oil through at first, then I'll look for a good marine oil - if I get to starting it.

So far, I don't plan to drop the engine and transmission. New plugs, coils should still be good?, engine harness connectors should all get a good spray of contact cleaner, ...on and on.

[itsnotanova]

Any guess on the mileage? The lack of wear on the interior and top has me thinking low miles but the dirt & grime underneath has me thinking 70,000ish. The lighting and flood dirt make it hard to tell from the video

[911monty]

Originally Posted by 78F350

- if I get to starting it.

So far, I don't plan to drop the engine and transmission. New plugs, coils should still be good?, engine harness connectors should all get a good spray of contact cleaner, ...on and on.

As the wise Neil Young once pointed out "Rust Never Sleeps". Now that you've drained the water, oxygen is now working on the iron rotating parts. They will soon look like those brake disks. While rotating the engine will get clean oil to the bearing surfaces, what it won't do is get to the iron rings. The ring face contacting the cylinder wall will clean up easily. What will kill the engine is if the compression ring rusts where it seals to the ring land. Once this rusts there is no way to clean up externally. You can attempt to heavily "FOG" the cylinders with Marvel Mystery oil, then rotate attempting to scrape the oil into the rings, but I don't know how successful this would be on horizontal cylinders. Getting oil to the top of the rings won't be easy.

Edit. As soon as I hit post I remembered the piston squirters. These will help the oil control rings, but I'd still heavily fog the cylinders to get the compression rings.

[78F350]

Progress

Here's what is done so far:
The seats and door panels are out of the car. Initially cleaned and treated, they are starting to look good, especially the seats. For now they are stored in large trash bags, sprayed with Lysol to kill off mold and germs.
Doors, frunk and trunk look good. The trunk looks like it didn't even get wet. The amp and CDC4 in the frunk may be trash. Have not looked at the ABS module yet, but those are usually pretty weatherproof.
Water and oil have been drained from the engine and I refilled it with oil. I have not done anything to disturb the internals of the engine yet. After I pull the spark plugs, I plan to turn it by hand and see how it feels. Now that it has fresh oil in it, giving it some turns will probably be good for it. I have not looked at the fuel system, but I expect some water.
Fuses and relays will all have to be pulled and cleaned before I apply power. I have sprayed it all with a silicone spray.
I will remove the carpet, but for now, it is propped up to ventilate.
The lower half of the dashboard looks like it will be good, but the top part at the windshield is bad. I think that I'll replace the whole dash with a lighter colored leather one, and dye the leather to match.
The rear suspension has some damage, most likely from fork lift handling at the storage lot. Annoying, but not hard to replace the parts.

Most of that is summed up in these videos:
Summary of non-flood damage: https://youtu.be/GiESGzor798

Work on the interior: https://youtu.be/POrNuv438Rk

Draining the oil and water: https://youtu.be/Xhh469sBop4

I need to pull out the center console, check the transmission, check all the electronics, switches, and top mechanism. I should probably open the fuel tank (under the battery) and pump out everything in it. Still so much to do, it hardly matter what I do next.

[Smallblock454]

itsnotanova is right. It's suspected that there will be lots of water and oil in the exhaust system and cats. Also check the intake system.

I would pull plugs a.s.a.p. and turn over the engine by hand. If water has found it's way into the cylinders – which i suspect, than it's important to get the water out there a.s.a.p. Much more important than seats and other stuff.

Because you put the car on jack stands, make shure you've got all water out of the system. Maybe its a good idea to pull the oil pan before putting in new oil.

Seats: don't put them in bags. They need to dry completely. Best would be a warm, ventilated area without sun. Else you get must / mildew in the foam.

Check the ball joints and steering system for water.

Regards, Markus

PS: Problem with filling the cylinders with oil / 2 stroke oil ist that it's a flat engine. So you cannot fill the, up like a inlne or v engine.

[78F350]

Markus. I agree with what you posted, but want to clarify a few things.

Originally Posted by Smallblock454

...it's important to get the water out there a.s.a.p. Much more important than seats and other stuff.

At first the engine was not my priority because it had been in that condition for four months. As soon as I drained the water and oil, the condition changed and the internal engine was exposed to air. Then it became urgent.

...Maybe its a good idea to pull the oil pan before putting in new oil.

I would have pulled the oil pan, except that when I drained the engine, only two things came out: Clean water and clean oil. I think that there is minimal residual water in there now and I will flush more oil through, to clear it.

Seats: don't put them in bags. They need to dry completely. Best would be a warm, ventilated area without sun. Else you get must / mildew in the foam.

I have removed them from the bags. The purpose of the bags was to allow a mildew killing agent to seep into the seats without dispersing.

Check the ball joints and steering system for water.

Yes, soon.

...Problem with filling the cylinders with oil / 2 stroke oil ist that it's a flat engine.

Correct, they can not be filled. What I did do was spray 'fogging oil' into the spark plug holes until it flowed back out, then pumped some 2-stroke oil into both sides of the plenum.

vielen Dank

[Smallblock454]

Originally Posted by 78F350

At first the engine was not my priority because it had been in that condition for four months. As soon as I drained the water and oil, the condition changed and the internal engine was exposed to air. Then it became urgent.

Well, problem here is if the valves of a cylinder are open, the cylinder is exposed to air.

I think that is also why you have water in one cylinder, but not in all. If the water was really clean, the damage might be not that bad.

Primary problem in that case are the piston rings.

If the water wasn't clean, than we have a bigger problem, because all the debree is in the engine and that will cause major problems. So our major problem is not only to get all water / huminity out of the engine but also all debree.

In general i would say it's safer to rebuilt the engine; or at least pull the heads and oil pan etc. and clean everything up, just to make shure possible debree doesn't eat up the engine. As you know most M96 parts are made of alloy, not steel.

Hope weather conditions get better soon. But if you can work in a t-shirt it might be not that bad. Over here in Germany we have snow and below 40 degrees F. So no t-shirt weather.

Regards, Markus

[seningen]

Originally Posted by Smallblock454

Well, problem here is if the valves of a cylinder are open, the cylinder is exposed to air.

I think that is also why you have water in one cylinder, but not in all. If the water was really clean, the damage might be not that bad.

Primary problem in that case are the piston rings.

If the water wasn't clean, than we have a bigger problem, because all the debree is in the engine and that will cause major problems. So our major problem is not only to get all water / huminity out of the engine but also all debree.

In general i would say it's safer to rebuilt the engine; or at least pull the heads and oil pan etc. and clean everything up, just to make shure possible debree doesn't eat up the engine. As you know most M96 parts are made of alloy, not steel.

Hope weather conditions get better soon. But if you can work in a t-shirt it might be not that bad. Over here in Germany we have snow and below 40 degrees F. So no t-shirt weather.

Regards, Markus

The valve openings are only so big from a debris point of view.

It seems like you could vacuum out the cylinders through the spark plug hole
anything else left is likely to be harmless or disintegrate quickly.

Mike

[78F350]

I want to start the engine. It could still take me weeks before it's really ready, but running it up to temperature would be good to get the moisture out and get a better idea of the condition. Tell me what I need to do first. Here's a quick list:

• Immobilizer/DME/Key are in hand, ready to install.
• Starting on electronics - removal and cleaning today.
• Open the transmission drain to check for water. Soon.
• Take a fuel sample. Power fuel pump and sample at engine feed line.
• Find the coolant leak and fix it. Haven't even looked yet.
• Replace air filter, clean TB, MAF, and intake tubing.
• Fully drain or just replace the exhaust.

So... what else? I don't want to rush and ruin it all.

[aviorperformance]

Ah I just noticed you were the one that advised me about my CLU issue. And here I was thinking this was your first rodeo lol jk. I hope this one sees the road again soon. This flood took away so many.

[78F350]

Originally Posted by aviorperformance

Ah I just noticed you were the one that advised me about my CLU issue. And here I was thinking this was your first rodeo lol jk. I hope this one sees the road again soon. This flood took away so many.

Don't feel bad, that's what I love about this forum; everyone is quick to jump in and share their experience. ...and I am following your thread - love the calipers.

I decided to take a short break. The throttle body/intake is off and I'm ready to jump the starter when the weather clears: