'76 exhaust area: shielding and... what's this?

So... working on the project car. I got around to the trunk area - took off the trunk lid etc, removed the first floor and fiberglass insulation below and found some rust.

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?res...authkey=!AIgRrgAYun0lDLE&v=3&ithint=photo,jpg

OK, so not too bad. But since I'm going thru the entire car, I'd like to check underneath this and address any rust below as well, so I crawl underneath where the exhaust area is and there's the heat shielding. I want to remove this so I can see what's on the underside of this rusted metal:

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=fa6278a93c95bbdd!486633&authkey=!APIFS8bMhikDTN4&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg
poor photo from back

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=fa6278a93c95bbdd!486631&authkey=!APA4WI8PChtD6Lw&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg
left/drivers(N.A.) side
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=fa6278a93c95bbdd!486632&authkey=!ANQ0XEZd1w8PV6A&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg
right/passenger(N.A.) side

So the question is: how do you remove this? Seems that the central piece won't come out until the side pieces are out, but the certainly seem to be glued on or something. At this point I think I'm just gonna POR-15 the trunk floor since it's not that bad and hope for the best, but it still drives me crazy both not knowing how to remove that and if there is rust underneath.

Then, while down in that area, I saw this this steel braided wire that, at least in my case, wasn't attached to ANYTHING!
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=fa6278a93c95bbdd!486634&authkey=!AOcAfaYt1zzf_ok&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=fa6278a93c95bbdd!486635&authkey=!AEhOtpO8Tfskz4E&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=fa6278a93c95bbdd!486636&authkey=!AIvbhuGGS0IMHpo&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg

It sure looks like an O2 sensor, but this is a 1976. Didn't think that was part of the deal. I know the car came with a catalytic converter, but doesn't seem that it'd fit anywhere.

Any one of you X1/9 gurus know what this is? I can trace it tomorrow. Maybe it's aftermarket?

Thanks for any info.

darwoodious said:

Then, while down in that area, I saw this this steel braided wire that, at least in my case, wasn't attached to ANYTHING!
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=fa6278a93c95bbdd!486634&authkey=!AOcAfaYt1zzf_ok&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=fa6278a93c95bbdd!486635&authkey=!AEhOtpO8Tfskz4E&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=fa6278a93c95bbdd!486636&authkey=!AIvbhuGGS0IMHpo&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg

It sure looks like an O2 sensor, but this is a 1976. Didn't think that was part of the deal. I know the car came with a catalytic converter, but doesn't seem that it'd fit anywhere.

Any one of you X1/9 gurus know what this is? I can trace it tomorrow. Maybe it's aftermarket?

Thanks for any info.

Click to expand...

Perhaps a thermal probe? Does your car have a "slow down" light in the instrument cluster?

Looks aftermarket to me

I have never seen a wire run through the trunk like that.
It does look somewhat like a thermal probe.
An exhaust gas temperature gauge?

Removing heat shields

To get the exhaust heat shields out, the side ones have to come out first, as far as I can recall. There is a piece of metal at the lower end of the rear tire wells that is riveted to the body, and I kind of remember having to drill out those rivets to get that piece off, then the side heat shields would come out. Here is a picture of that metal piece in place.


Once you remove that, then the aluminum shield piece can drop down and you can wiggle it out. Then the main large piece comes out by bending down the tabs above the cross piece.

Yes, thermal sensor...

It would cause the SLOW DOWN or CAT light to glow. This was a kind of overheat warning for the CAT. Found the same thing in my Scorpion.

It is indeed a cat sensor

Like Greg said. It is a cat sensor. If the cat is still there you will find a hold on the end that would accept the probe. The lead runs around the engine bay into the spare tire well and terminates into a thin white plastic device mounted on above (IIRC) the relays. The probe connects to the device with two old school horseshoes, then the device has a plugin to the harness.

I pulled this whole setup out of my 78 that is in the midst of an engine swap. I did find a couple pictures from my 78.




Do you need another sensor???

looks to be "slow down"

I do in fact have a "Slow Down" light. Interesting. Thanks Greg.

Thanks for the heat shield info Rodger - I know you did a total body rebuild, so you ought to know!

don't need senson

Thanks Jim,

I don't need another sensor - I'm doing an engine swap myself. I do know that the sensor wasn't plugged into anything. My guess is that the PO removed it and shoved it up in the heat insulation (that's where I found it).

I haven't even gotten to the interior yet as I'm doing the break-down in stages, but your photo is very informative.

BTW - what do members here do with the engine when they've done a swap? I bought my 76 from an area guy who also did an engine swap. He didn't want the original 1300 from his and threw it in with the deal. So now I'll have 2 perfectly good running 1300's (engine+4speed) in Seattle.

how are you gonna replace those rivets?

Rodger,

You said you drilled out the rivets. I'm curious: are you going to re-rivet the heat shield back or use screws or something? I have an aluminum rivet gun, but never used it on a car. I'm tempted to drill them out just to see what's going on under there. I'm also tempted to just do nothing and hope for the best (POR-15 the top of it and be done with it).

I probably should do the later as I have more than enough on my plate, but then again the piece of mind is pretty nice. Not like it adds much more than 1% or 2% to my total project timeline (not that I'm keeping track)

No rivets in the heat shield

The three rivets just hold that small metal piece to the fender well, but that piece is shaped like an "L" so there is about and inch or so that extends under the car towards the rear. That extension is what holds up the side aluminum heat shields. I have a rivet tool from Harbor Freight and will just pop rivet it back in once I reinstall the heat shields.