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Rubiks Pubes posted:Got a 2.5" stainless x-pipe installed on my G8, and also got the muffler shop to build a heimholtz resonator in front of each muffler to kill the horrible 100hz drone on the highway. OOOOOOHHHH. I've been wanting to do the heimholtz resonator thing, but I live in a little town and I figure the guys at the muffler shop would just scratch their heads. I don't want to derail the thread, but I want details!
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Jan 26, 2010 21:52
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I did SOMETHING today! Yesterday, I attempted to get both rear struts out of my sister's ZX2 and was foiled by siezed bolts on the bottom of the strut. I started too late to get crazy. Today I went back out, turned the torpedo heater into the wheel well, ate lunch, and then went outside with a propane torch. This still didn't get anything moving with the rattle gun. I broke out the cheater bar, and after the iron was smoking hot, the bolts would creak and snap around in a circle. I did this until they turned smoothly, but they were still requiring a large amount of torque to move. Then I got my dad to hammerfuck the other end of the bolt while I was spinning it with the cheater bar. THAT got those fucks out! gently caress YOU bolts! I used some AutoZone loaner spring compressors, OEM brand. Every time I rent a tool from this store, it's brand new in the box. I got the sissy little GIRL springs off and stripped the rubber bits and mount from the old strut. Then I tossed the old strut and spring in the recycle pile. I assembled the new S/R struts with some new H&R springs. Everything got reinstalled, torqued to spec, and I put all the interior trim pieces back in. I need to chronicle this stuff in an "adventures in domestic econoboxes" thread when i'm done.
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Jan 27, 2010 00:37
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I put a cold air intake on my E36 325i this past weekend. I also deleted the intake warmer when I mistakenly broke one of the antifreeze lines going to it.  Had an awesome day running that in a loop and then bleeding my coolant a bunch of times. Oh well. No harm no foul and now I've got 8 more ponies and a kickass new growl!
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Jan 29, 2010 01:30
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modified the bash plate to suit the new radiator ive fitted, and discovered that my rear brakes are worn, i have an axle seal leaking and my rear diff has shed a piece of gear and makes a god awful noise now... Sigh... 
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Jan 29, 2010 01:43
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Dyno Run!  
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Jan 29, 2010 12:48
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I replaced a bunch of bulbs in the dash and put new screws in my glove box. Ironically, the bulb failure warning light was the only burned out bulb I couldn't reach.  I have to replace the odometer gear anyway, so the whole unit's coming out eventually...For tomorrow: 1. Buy resin, fleece, and carpeting for custom kick panels 2. Cut out sponge to keep glove box from shaking on the freeway (still) 3. Buy yards and yards of black felt and take apart every plastic piece in my car to sandwich it between... no more squeaking! 4. Look into sound-dampening entire car's interior + trunk.
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Jan 30, 2010 09:32
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Bought these fat fuckers to put on the AMG. Mine are worn too far. *sigh*  They aren't even upgrades, just stock replacements. The only possible upgrades were $2900/ea 2-pc floating rotors.
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Jan 30, 2010 21:52
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Nait Sirhc posted:Bought these fat fuckers to put on the AMG. Mine are worn too far. Are those the ceramic rotors?
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Jan 30, 2010 23:21
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Replaced the plastic headlight surrounds, grille plastic & chrome on my 300cd so the front end looks better. The old stuff was pitted & faded from 30 years of use. I'm spergin' because it appears that the grille is a little off center and I'll realign it later.  The Subaru XT got an oil change, wash & wax, it's ready to conquer the air and the snow once again! Bitchin' JDM cloth seats and 13" gold wheels! JCDM Whitney LEDZZ spoiler added by previous owner! 
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Jan 31, 2010 03:08
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I replaced all the lamps in my E36 OBC. I was thinking of trying to do the pixel repair, but with all 4 bulbs in there working correctly I don't think I need to bother. It looks pretty good. It's a rare occasion when I do anything to this car and don't spend more time/money than anticipated.
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Jan 31, 2010 03:33
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Last Monday a bump on a railroad crossing did this to my car:  Part 2 will be raising the ride height, but I need protection. 1 shipment from Dieselgeek and a Saturday afternoon later:    Bring it.
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Jan 31, 2010 21:11
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After 3 failed attempts in a row I finally got somewhere with replacing my driver's side driveshaft today, except I hosed up and ran out of time and now my car has to spend the night sitting on axle stands with the new driveshaft kinda sorf-of attatched. The reason? I didn't pull the end of the shaft through the hub properly, didn't realise and now can neither attatch the inner end of the shaft to the diff or get the driveshaft nut back off. Then the sun went down and my hands started freezing. *Edit* Also whoever designed the CV joints on the Polo to be just wide enough that you can't get a socket onto the bolts square-on is a cock. jammyozzy fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Jan 31, 2010 |
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Jan 31, 2010 21:28
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Commodore 64 posted:Last Monday a bump on a railroad crossing did this to my car: The new one looks really good, well done! I can't tell from the picture, was the old piece made of plastic? If it was made of steel, what the hell kind of bump did you hit on that railroad, a ripped-up rail?
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Feb 1, 2010 00:25
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ExecuDork posted:The new one looks really good, well done! The old piece was just plastic. A $350 piece of plastic bought new from VW. Coincidently the same price as an all aluminum kit from Dieselgeek (and the kit was stupid easy to install; it took me an afternoon because I'm extra paranoid about my new car). VW made the factory oil pans out of really thin aluminum and gave the MK4's a low ride height. They strengthened the oil pans in latter cars, but the oil pan still sits below the subframe. Thats one of the reasons my teeth hurt whenever I see a slammed/hellaretarded MK4. Also some railroad crossings have speed-bumps in the middle of them.
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Feb 1, 2010 07:28
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I cleaned the air filter, fitted new plastic underbody/fender splash guards, and replaced a bunch of broken plastic pins that hold the existing plastic on. Oh, and I swapped out stock wrx sway bars for Whitelines and holy poo poo, the difference is amazing. I just swapped the sway bar up front and swapped sway bar and end links in the rear. The rear was very easy, and the front wasn't hard, but it was surprisingly time consuming.
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Feb 1, 2010 16:17
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I replaced a timing belt on a Zetec with VCT. While I had it apart, I replaced the tensioner and idler pulleys as well. We'll see if I got the tension setting right, hopefully it won't skip or shred. Whoever designed this engine is an rear end. For starters, you time the cams by turning them so you can slip this specially dimensioned flat bar into the back side of them. It's an extremely snug fit. Second, with VCT being what it is, you've got to be spinning the crankshaft breaker bar with your toe while you jam this flat bar into the intake cam. Then, you've got to get a 1" (or so) open ended wrench and spin the exhaust cam back and forth until the bar snaps in the groove. At this point, you can remove the timing belt. Except, the center cover can't be removed without removing the engine. Once again, gently caress a bunch of that. I took out 2/3 bolts on the center cover normally, but one was WAAAY the gently caress up in there. I ended up using an 8mm 1/4" drive socket, a 1/4 universal joint and a Craftsman 1/4" ratchet. The problem was, I didn't actually need the U-joint to bend. I used a coping saw to take off 3/16" wide slivers of a carpentry shim, stuck them into both parts of the u-joint and snapped them off. Perfect! I only loosened that bolt enough to partially remove the cover, leaving the ratchet combo up against the bolt for tightening. I had trouble getting the timing belt on, but this was caused by it being my first timing belt job ever. I didn't remove the slack when I came off the crankshaft pulley, so I had about two teeth of length missing when I was trying to get it onto the last pulley. Once I had it pre-tensioned properly, and all of the belt just on the very edge of the other pulleys, it popped right on. I was so exited! Anyway, I got all of the crap I took off reinstalled in maybe 1/8th the time it took to take it all off. I replaced the valve cover gasket, because the old one was leaking anyway. Tomorrow: Water pump and possibly thermostat. Then, if there is time, the remaining suspension bushings. It's so close to being done!
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Feb 2, 2010 00:26
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Finally loving got the driveshaft replaced after much swearing and laying in snow, then all there was to fix was the driver's side brakes binding. Apparently they took offence to being cleaned. Fortunately one 100 mile journey back to uni later and the offending piece of whatever had hosed off. Car repairs on a student budget 
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Feb 2, 2010 00:51
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Drove the five hundred I'm selling around the block a few times, and febreezed the interior and replaced the floormats. added a new-car-smell air freshener. yay!
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Feb 2, 2010 01:15
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I had the dealership replace a cracked blinker led on my side view mirror and the cracked black plastic frame that I hit against the side of my garage door pulling in and slipping on the frozen metal ramp. The best part is the dealership only charged me for the parts at cost. Never underestimate the value of a good relationship with your service manager.
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Feb 2, 2010 23:22
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Mr.Peabody posted:The best part is the dealership only charged me for the parts at cost. Never underestimate the value of a good relationship with your service manager. Always remain cordial with your mechanic. I returned a part today that it turns out I didn't need for my particular vehicle. The receipt states no returns after 30 days, and all returns subject to a 20% restocking fee. Despite buying the part in November, he still took the part back and only charged 10% for restocking. I'm happy to have $60 back, and he can sell the part again for full price.
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Feb 2, 2010 23:27
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Skyssx posted:Zetec Timing Belt I had loaned the car to my little brother and then my uncle and both of them were impressed by what a fun little car it was. Then on the way home it lost 90% of its power and idled and ran like poo poo. I pulled the code and it pointed to the engine being out of time. I pulled the belt covers off and there was way too much belt slack in between the two cams. When you replaced the belt did you loosen the cam pulleys? It is a revised service procedure from Ford to make sure the cam belt has the correct amount of play in between the intake and exhaust cam pulleys. Loosen cam pulleys so the rotate free of the cams, install belt, then tighten pulleys. Apparently you also need to remove the cam holder tool while you loosen/tighten the cam pulley bolts or you can break the cams.
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Feb 3, 2010 00:53
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PBCrunch posted:My ZX2 has been sitting in the garage for a month waiting for me to replace the belt. It has been very cold in Nebraska and I have been very lazy. You should fix it, it's "easy". I used this guide plus the AllDataDIY.com writeup. Neither are complete, but together it becomes understandable. Yes. Don't wrench on the cam sprocket bolts unless you've got the guide out of there. I used a 1" wrench to position the cams, but it was too loose. It's 15/16" or some metric equivalent. A 12" crescent wrench will not work, the jaws are too thick to manipulate the cams inside the groove they spin in. I did not loosen my cam gears, because my belt didn't break or skip time. I DID replace all the idle and tension pulleys. At 118,000 miles, the pulleys were spinning very freely and making a good bit of buzz. The new pulleys were positively stiff in comparison. I want this repair to last another 120k or until the car oxidizes away. I didn't loosen and reset my cam gears, mainly because I couldn't get the crankshaft indexing pin in to verify TDC. You have to remove the catalytic converter, and it's rusted on. Here's a few gotchas you'll run into. The motor mount appears to block the cam gear cover. It is actually a harmonic dampener bolted to the top of the motor mount. Pop it off with a 17mm socket. Buy a new valve cover gasket, it's better than pulling your plug boots and finding the plug well FULL of oil. If your car was driven in salt EVER, you will likely break off the heads of the bolts that retain the plastic splash shield. There are five, plus a screw into another piece of plastic. Out of the five, two have backsides exposed where you can vice-grip out the stud. Be VERY careful, or be handy with a drill. Have a propane torch, the harmonic balancer (crankshaft) bolt just needs a *little* heat and an impact gun will spin it right out. If you have a model year 99.5+, you only need one 70mm idler pulley and the tensioner. If you have a pre-99.5, you need two smaller pulleys and the tensioner. If you have a 99.5+, and you want to replace the top idler (you do), you need to loosen but not remove the center timing cover. This is a gently caress, and normally requires removal of the engine from the chassis.
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Feb 3, 2010 02:40
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Commodore 64 posted:Also some railroad crossings have speed-bumps in the middle of them.
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Feb 3, 2010 06:47
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Skyssx posted:Zetec timing belt talk
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Feb 3, 2010 21:42
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Oh yeah, I forgot. You've got to unbolt the water pump pulley before removing the serpentine belt. Or you can have someone hold the pulley with a strap wrench and go at it from underneath.
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Feb 3, 2010 21:45
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Speaking of timing belts, does anybody remember the post somebody made on here a few months ago about changing a timing belt by chopping the old one in half lengthways and then slipping the new one on? My car will be due a belt change come the summer and I'm curious to see how simple it is.
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Feb 3, 2010 21:45
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So today, since I had the water pump pulley off from the previous job, I decided to replace the pump as preventative maintenance. I have one thing to say: Holy poo poo did the Ford engineers do a good job with their Premium Gold coolant. 11k over the service interval, and the fluid looked almost as clean as day 1. There was so little accumulated sludge in the water pump cavity that I could clean it with 1/3rd of a paper towel. Taking the bolts and pump out was easy enough. Getting the bolts torqued back into the block was a bit harder. Each one required a funny position, one finger on the socket, and about 5 degrees of arc on the torque wrench. One click at a time all the way to 89"lbs. Now the tricky bit is to get the new $15/gal antifreeze into the coolant system without putting it all over the driveway. e: VVVV Zetec motors have over 16° of rotation per tooth. It's virtually impossible to be off. Skyssx fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Feb 4, 2010 |
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Feb 4, 2010 01:48
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jammyozzy posted:Speaking of timing belts, does anybody remember the post somebody made on here a few months ago about changing a timing belt by chopping the old one in half lengthways and then slipping the new one on? My car will be due a belt change come the summer and I'm curious to see how simple it is. It isn't really that hard to get the belt onto the pulleys, especially on single cams motors in my experience You have to be off by somewhere around 15 degrees to get the timing wrong, at least on the engines that I have worked on. If you are paying attention at all this is almost impossible. If I am replacing a t-belt I am replacing tensioners and idler pulleys and maybe a water pump, and the belt needs to be GONE to be able to replace these parts. Also, I have used an Autozone brand t-belt once and Gates on all the others, and the one AZ belt I used was MUCH harder to get onto the pulleys than the Gates belts. The AZ one was also the first one I ever installed, so maybe that was the reason it was so drat frustrating. In that instance I had my mom and my then-girlfriend wife each holding one cam in place with a wrench while I tried to slip the belt on.
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Feb 4, 2010 01:49
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I got a membership to a local auto club, which means I how have cheap access to a garage, hoists, welding equipment, paint booth and gear, and all the tools you can imagine, not to mention the expertise of the half-dozen other guys that are there at any given time. Hopefully that means I'll be making some fixes to my RX7 soon
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Feb 4, 2010 01:58
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It's been 3K miles since my last oil change in the 2K, so.. I dropped the pan and checked for sludge. Just a bit of carbon, but I'm still not happy; oil was nice and clean, though. Gave up on Mobil-1, time for Redline. Air filter was about 10k overdue to be replaced, same with pollen filter. Replaced. Blower motor's acting a little wonky in sub-freezing cold, but I looked at it and decided I didn't care enough since it's in the garage anyhow. Got my replacement SID and seat heater switch; those go in tomorrow.
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Feb 4, 2010 02:32
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Sold it! 
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Feb 4, 2010 04:43
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Me too! Today I sold somebody else's car for $1,500 over KBB and made a $750 commission off of it. And I don't even work at a used car lot! Not technically my ride, though I was caring for it.
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Feb 4, 2010 05:13
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thewheelsteve posted:I got a membership to a local auto club, which means I how have cheap access to a garage, hoists, welding equipment, paint booth and gear, and all the tools you can imagine, not to mention the expertise of the half-dozen other guys that are there at any given time. Hopefully that means I'll be making some fixes to my RX7 soon How does the club work? I'm asking because if it's reasonable in terms of time commitments and costs, I'd like to have access to somebody's garage at some point. My one good friend in town with a garage doesn't have heat in there, and has to negotiate with his girlfriend on my behalf if I'm going to put my car in there. He's not particularly enthusiastic about me working there - he was a great help when I changed the thermostat in December, and he *says* I can come over and do simple stuff like an oil change whenever, but I don't want to strain the friendship. How did you find out about the club you joined?
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Feb 4, 2010 05:18
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ExecuDork posted:How does the club work? I'm asking because if it's reasonable in terms of time commitments and costs, I'd like to have access to somebody's garage at some point. My one good friend in town with a garage doesn't have heat in there, and has to negotiate with his girlfriend on my behalf if I'm going to put my car in there. He's not particularly enthusiastic about me working there - he was a great help when I changed the thermostat in December, and he *says* I can come over and do simple stuff like an oil change whenever, but I don't want to strain the friendship. It's on Canadian Forces property and you either need to be a CF member or endorsed by one to get a membership. I paid $60 for a year, then you pay per-hour for bay usage (with hydraulic lift = $10/hr, without = $5/hr). Borrowing tools is free, but you have to pay for consumable stuff like welding gas. There are long-term project bays where you pay per week at a decreased rate with a time minimum, also there's long-term storage outside in a fenced area. It's a pretty sweet deal.
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Feb 4, 2010 17:46
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New Bridgestone RE-11s were mounted for the RS 4 today, replacing the worn out PS2s. They should grip better, but are also heavier. So it'll be interesting to see those forces play out and how the car will feel in the turns. I can't wait for spring. Old versus new:   
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Feb 4, 2010 18:54
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On the G8 I had the Heimholtz resonators shortened because I'm an idiot and did the math wrong at first. Totally works now and killed the annoying 120hz drone I was getting at 65-70mph on the highway. On my other car (2001 Grand Prix) I found that the front valve cover gasket is leaking, which is a common thing with those cars. At least the gaskets are cheap, and it'll give me something to do.
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Feb 4, 2010 23:21
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Instrument panel bulbs are a huge pain in the rear end. Part of this ZX2 is that the wiring supplying the license plate lights fuzed and fried every bulb in the car before blowing the fuse. All the easy ones got replaced, so the panel lights are left to me.
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Feb 5, 2010 00:39
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Rubiks Pubes posted:On my other car (2001 Grand Prix) I found that the front valve cover gasket is leaking, which is a common thing with those cars. At least the gaskets are cheap, and it'll give me something to do. I'm not sure about the 01's, but my 98 was part of the engine fire recall which involved that valve cover gasket. Is yours covered?
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Feb 5, 2010 03:03
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Changed the oil in the wife's Fit, and in my Ranger. My Fit is up for sale, now that its been repainted and looks brand new.
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Feb 5, 2010 03:05
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GET EM SLUGGER posted:I'm not sure about the 01's, but my 98 was part of the engine fire recall which involved that valve cover gasket. Is yours covered? It is. The recall removes the two black spark plug retainer brackets and zip ties the plug wires out of the way, but in most cases they don't replace the gasket under the recall. I'd just as soon do it myself considering how rear end backwards redneck terrible my local Pontiac dealership is.
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Feb 5, 2010 04:02
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