wrenching

Finally got my Ranger (1996) out of "the hospital" after an 11 day stay. It was pretending to be either British or a Harley - marking it's territory for the last several years - due to a couple hardened "O" rings on the oil filter adapter. I broke the exhaust studs removing the "Y" pipe to get access to the adapter bolt so ended up removing the engine (4 liter 5 speed). One engine/transmission bolt didn't want to come out so I had to drop the trans WAY down - and try to pull both together - which was impossible due to the crossmember. - Finally got the impact directly on the bolt and got it out - then the dowel pins didn't want to let go so I made a jack screw to force the bell housing and engine apsrt far enough to get a pry bar in and get it apart. I burned the old studs out of the manifolds, neatly leaving the threads in the castings intact (after breaking off a cobalt bit in one) I found the lower intake manifold was seeping coolant so I redid that and replaced the slightly sloppy 25 year old water pump - managing to only break ONE 6mm bolt. When removing the transmission the clip that holds the hydraulic line into the release slave cyl broke - and I found Ford and Mazda have not stocked it for aver 4 years - leading to the obligatory METAL WORK content!!!! U used a piece of old bedframe angle iron - cut a 0.64" wide slot in one side of the anglem cut it out to the right width to JUST fit into the opening in the bell housing, drilled 2 holes in the end to safety-wire it in position and got the clutch functioning. I also found the heat shield on the "Y" pipe had been rattling and actually wore 2 holes through the pipe so I welded a patch into the pipe and clamped the heat sheild on with stainless steel worm clamps. I made brass nuts to fasten the "Y" pipe to the manifold studs and installed a split flange to keep the exhaust attached to the CAT. (the orriginal flange was pretty much GONE. Recharged the AC and got it done on time to drive it home for supper.