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Many cars were broken into on my street last night, these guys visit every few months and clean cars of their electronics, sometimes they break glass. My 86 Subaru was rifled through since it was unlocked, nothing was taken & no glass breakage. They didn't even want my cassette tape converter 
MATLAB 1988 fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Nov 14, 2010 |
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Nov 14, 2010 19:06
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| # ? May 11, 2024 08:30 |
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I put it away for the winter. 
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Nov 14, 2010 21:39
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Got the new WRX washed, clayed, and waxed today in prep for winter as well as cleaned the winter wheels with their newly mounted tires. It will the the old WRX's turn next weekend.
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Nov 15, 2010 00:47
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got my car ready for the winter by getting winter wiper blades and rain x anti-fog glass poo poo and a flask
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Nov 15, 2010 03:06
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MATLAB 1988 posted:Many cars were broken into on my street last night, these guys visit every few months and clean cars of their electronics, sometimes they break glass. Where the hell do you live???
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Nov 15, 2010 03:27
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wav3form posted:Where the hell do you live??? a *~nice neighborhood~* where people are too trusting in society to lock car doors and who keep valuables inside. My next door neighbor who moved in this year has had their cars pilfered 3 times. The previous owner of that house had their car's glass broken last year, and I found a 1990's stungun in my front lawn the day that happened.  Most people park in their driveways, what the thieves do is go down driveways/streets at 3 am and try the doors, grab anything inside of value and move onto the next house. Whoever is hitting this area hasn't been caught in 5 years, if they are even the same people doing it. They are fast and hesitant to take items that could be tracked, such as cellphones. On another note, I took my 300cd on the highway, screams emanated from my instrument cluster and the gauges vibrated. It was either the ghost of the dead original owner of the car or an electrical issue. Upon exiting the highway and removing the fuse box (the most likely culprit in W123 electrical problems) I found a ceramic fuse that had a crack in the filament. Under 40mph it was an okay connection; the engine vibration at greater speeds broke/reconnected the connection rapidly and caused relays to poo poo themselves. Replacing the fuse solved the problem for now. Gooo ceramic fuses!
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Nov 15, 2010 23:23
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Bought a new toy for the Focus. I appreciate it won't be as much use in the UK as it would in some countries but I love awesome car gadgets, it was a lot cheaper than it should have been, and if it saves me once, it would have been worth the money.
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Nov 16, 2010 21:06
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VolumeOverTalent posted:Bought a new toy for the Focus. It will be of absolutely NO USE in the UK. European radar is polarized vertically, while US radar is polarized horizontally. Your best bet for using US radar detectors in Europe is to lie them sideways, but the down angle and limited strength of their radar guns make detection a last second thing normally.. the good news is that there's big white lines painted in the street in the UK before the cameras, and I only failed to notice that once!
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Nov 17, 2010 00:41
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I thought the Valentine units did more than just pick up radar?
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Nov 17, 2010 05:34
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Splizwarf posted:I thought the Valentine units did more than just pick up radar? Two radar antennas and laser sensors. The only thing "more" it can do is give a general idea of whether a radar signal is in front or behind you based on signal strength difference between the two antennas.
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Nov 17, 2010 06:02
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Yeah, I thought it was like laser, lidar, radar, and a Valentine-specific Trapster type of thing. Oh well.
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Nov 17, 2010 06:09
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Mr.Peabody posted:It will be of absolutely NO USE in the UK. European radar is polarized vertically, while US radar is polarized horizontally. Your best bet for using US radar detectors in Europe is to lie them sideways, but the down angle and limited strength of their radar guns make detection a last second thing normally.. the good news is that there's big white lines painted in the street in the UK before the cameras, and I only failed to notice that once! ...hence why I wasn't going to pay big money for one. Enough people use them over here though, so they must be of some use... it's not as if I'll rely on it anyway, it won't change the way I drive, but it's still just a precaution.
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Nov 17, 2010 13:24
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VolumeOverTalent posted:...hence why I wasn't going to pay big money for one. Enough people use them over here though, so they must be of some use... it's not as if I'll rely on it anyway, it won't change the way I drive, but it's still just a precaution. Here's just a rough guess of how well your radar detector will perform against European radar when mounted vertically and horizontally. There's apparently special installing clips available that will mount your radar detector vertically. You're basically looking at 200 ft mounted horizontally vs 1100 ft mounted vertically.
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Nov 17, 2010 17:13
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Mr.Peabody posted:Here's just a rough guess of how well your radar detector will perform against European radar when mounted vertically and horizontally. There's apparently special installing clips available that will mount your radar detector vertically. Silly question: If an American officer ran his radar sideways, would it thwart American detectors?
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Nov 17, 2010 18:30
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eddiewalker posted:Silly question: If an American officer ran his radar sideways, would it thwart American detectors? I'm guessing it would be exactly the same results as the above graph, just reversed for horizontally and vertically, since we do, in fact, have physics in America.
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Nov 17, 2010 19:25
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MrSaturn posted:I'm guessing it would be exactly the same results as the above graph, just reversed for horizontally and vertically, since we do, in fact, have physics in America. I know it's fun to be most smug, but I'm more wondering what stops officers from holding their radar guns sideways like a movie street thug, tilting both their transmitters and receivers together. The root of my question is why there's an orientation difference between continents, not simply between domestic manufacturers.
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Nov 17, 2010 20:15
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Changed oil and the VANOS filter in the M3. That little filter gunks up and is the cause of most VANOS failures. $15 insurance for a $2000+ repair. How much Castrol TWS-Motorsport 10W-60 oil can you buy with $90? .jpg) Click here for the full 948x1080 image. Vanos filter, before and after  Click here for the full 1936x1380 image.  Click here for the full 1811x1232 image.
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Nov 18, 2010 01:08
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1967 Plymouth Valiant: replaced the alternator, ballast resistor, and voltage regulator. Last night I had like a 10 second pause between turn signal ticks so I figured it was done. Pretty easy job, took like 20 minutes once I had the parts.
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Nov 18, 2010 02:20
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eddiewalker posted:Silly question: If an American officer ran his radar sideways, would it thwart American detectors? I'm pretty sure it would thwart his own radar gun, since the polarization is due to the angle of attack. Radar cameras shoot downward at close range, creating vertical reflection is optimal to detection... police guns shoot horizontally at long range, which makes horizontal reflection optimal. Therefore, it seems to me the effective range of the police radar gun would be dramatically reduced, though that's just a guess.
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Nov 19, 2010 17:46
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New exhaust mount to fix the lop sided twin pipes and 'knackered old heap' rattling noise. 6 years finally perished the rubber. Edit: 
blambert fucked around with this message at 00:56 on Nov 20, 2010 |
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Nov 19, 2010 17:53
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Seafoamed it. As promised, it made a hilarious smoke show and I thought the other dude in the auto parts store parking lot was going to die. After stalling it out and waiting for it to cook, I started it - it went GAHUGGA GAHUGGA GAHUGGA FARRRRRRRRRRRRT and emitted a titanic white cloud that smelled like burning pencils. Other dude was like 'Oh dude just what in the HELL' and coughed a whole bunch. Sorry, dude! In my defense, the wind had been going the OTHER way when I started. Also picked up some stuff by Mother's that claims to make the exterior trim and bumpers and whatnot not look like faded dogshit anymore. I will report back on how well it works~
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Nov 19, 2010 22:12
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I did nothing, not even clear the snow off or drive it anywhere, which apparently makes my car a nice canvas. I think this means news of the magnitude of my wang preceeds me.
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Nov 20, 2010 01:51
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PopeCrunch posted:Also picked up some stuff by Mother's that claims to make the exterior trim and bumpers and whatnot not look like faded dogshit anymore. I will report back on how well it works~ It will work for approximately two wash cycles, then it will be gone and you'll have to reapply it. To permanently solve faded trim, try some Forever Black (trim dye) or vinyl spray paint.
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Nov 20, 2010 02:04
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PopeCrunch posted:Also picked up some stuff by Mother's that claims to make the exterior trim and bumpers and whatnot not look like faded dogshit anymore. I will report back on how well it works~ It worked beautifully for me until a couple days of good rain washed it all off and the trim went back to dogshit. I'm going to keep applying and buffing (at least until I run out of what I bought), hopefully it'll at least clean off some oxidation/wax (eventually).
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Nov 20, 2010 02:06
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Sterndotstern posted:It will work for approximately two wash cycles, then it will be gone and you'll have to reapply it. To permanently solve faded trim, try some Forever Black (trim dye) or vinyl spray paint. oh no Well the trick is my trim is sort of a gray, not a black, so I'm leery of trim dyes. Maybe if I can find some vinyl spraypaint that matches, I'll do that. Thanks, it hadn't occurred to me that vinyl dye might come in a form that isn't a thundering pain in the nuts to deal with. 
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Nov 20, 2010 16:35
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I saw where someone used a heat gun to bring the color back on faded black bumpers.
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Nov 20, 2010 17:40
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My 93 K1500 had a bad stumble and would fall flat on its face on anything past 1/4 throttle. Lets check the fuel filter.   The bottom of the fuel filter case looked like it was filled with brownie mix and this filter has less than 5000 miles on it. I hate to think what the sock on the fuel pickup looks like.
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Nov 20, 2010 18:34
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I did this to my car a few days ago.   Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. Managed to hit a corner while backing out of my driveway, fucker sneaked up on me. 3-4cm scratch. Anyone got an estimate of how much this would cost to repair, $400-$500? It's a BMW E60 with a Silbergrau Metallic paint.
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Nov 20, 2010 19:30
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PopeCrunch posted:oh no Was it grey new? Just sayin', mine's grey too. Isn't supposed to be.
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Nov 20, 2010 21:41
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Splizwarf posted:Was it grey new? Just sayin', mine's grey too. Isn't supposed to be. Well, it's a 1988 Mercury Tracer, so.. who knows. Most of the pictures I can find are the same as mine, sort of a faded charcoal sort of thing. I know it might seem a little silly to put a whole lot of time and energy into making a 22 year old econobox look super nice, but I love this thing, and I'm also using it as a learning tool to teach myself more about cars.
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Nov 20, 2010 22:34
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Put a screw in one of the Shelby's front tires. Although that might have been a few days ago, I'm not sure. At least the tire is still inflated.
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Nov 20, 2010 22:34
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PopeCrunch posted:Well, it's a 1988 Mercury Tracer, so.. who knows. Most of the pictures I can find are the same as mine, sort of a faded charcoal sort of thing. Oh yeah, I've seen pics of it.  Content: got my car a replacement side mirror but it doesn't fit, and then immediately a lovely speeding ticket where the officer just walked out and stood in front of me in the road. AI, I'm not sure how to say this but sometimes I'm tired of driving, and cars. Yesterday: dropped the trans pan to put on a new gasket and filled it with new fluid, replaced my trans mount.
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Nov 20, 2010 23:06
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Got a tune. G8 GXP m6, Rotofab intake and Solo Performance catback are the only mods; gained about 30/35 with the tune. It definitely runs better than stock now. 
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Nov 21, 2010 00:11
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Imperador do Brasil posted:Put a screw in one of the Shelby's front tires. Although that might have been a few days ago, I'm not sure. At least the tire is still inflated. Quoting for a follow-up. The screw was only about 1/4 inch long and pulled out of the tire no problem. I sprayed it down with soapy water and looked for bubbles, but none came out. Somehow I lost my tire gauge, so I will have to buy one tomorrow and double-check.
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Nov 21, 2010 00:52
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Finally got around to replacing the belt on the AC compressor of my 88 Accord. Jesus gently caress, that's more of a pain in the rear end than it has any right to be. Jack it up, remove front-drivers tire and then underpinning to get belt access, unbolt PS pump and move it out of the way, undo 4 bolts, 2 of which are in ridiculous locations that require inching them out, then undo the tension to get the belt off/on. The most fun part? Putting tension on the belt. There's a small 10mm headed nut-looking "thingy" attached to the tension bolt. However, you can't get access to it except by bending a hand incredibly uncomfortably around a cross-beam of the subframe to get access to it. I'd rather not take that off and screw up my alignment to get a ratchet to the tensioner. Ya, maybe I could have hit it with a tiny box wrench, but I don't own any and gently caress putting my car back together to go buy one on the off chance that it would have fit in that tiny space. Good news, though, is that I now have a much firmer grasp of just how much time it's going to take to do my timing belt, and can plan it out accordingly.
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Nov 21, 2010 01:31
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Not mine: I helped Pleads put his winter tires on. No problems at all, once we figured out the way to unstick the summer tires after the lug nuts are off is a couple of good swift kicks. The roads here have been more or less repaved with ice, so I can't fault his timing.
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Nov 21, 2010 04:18
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Did some stuff to each of my cars: 1) I bit the bullet and bought a complete polygraphite front-end rebuild kit for my Malibu. After 32 years on the road, the control arms have got practically zero rubber on them. Ditto for most of the other rubber bushings (which are just bushings now; no rubber harr harr). Make a left turn and CLUNK. Make a right turn and CLUNK. Bounce at any given time and squeaky squeaky CLUNK. Cost me $250, but hey, free shipping! I'm going to park it until I finish the job. Ahh, the things we do for old cars. 2) The front bumper on my Tacoma has been rattling terribly for months at low idle, but every time I thought I fixed it, the rattle would return. I pinpointed it to the bottom two screws which secure the lower plastic to the frame, and they were nothing more than plastic screws holding it on very loosely. I broke those suckers off, went to ACE Hardware, bought me two bolts and nuts, four fender washers, and two thick rubber grommets and bolted that plastic motherfucker to the frame with the grommets acting as vibration suppressors. It worked! I also went to clean the battery terminals on the truck, and the positive terminal practically fell apart in my hand. I completely removed both corroded terminals (hacksawed the negative terminal off cleanly since it was one piece and non-removable unlike the positive side) and put brand new marine terminals on each. That cost me $0 since I had the terminals just laying around. For some reason, the battery looks bitchin' now.
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Nov 21, 2010 06:01
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Got a new battery because the colder weather lately (-16'C) has been exposing how lovely the previous owner's Energizer from Walmart was. Went to Canadian Tire after not having any luck finding a battery that fit anywhere else; they had a pile of used batteries from this week alone that reached drat near to the ceiling. I guess other people must be neglecting their starting needs as well. Last battery they had that fit was a NASCAR-branded Motorcraft one. Now I have a Subaru with a NASCAR battery, and have been noticing a significant ease in turning left. Why the hell is Canadian Tire sponsoring NASCAR?
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Nov 21, 2010 21:07
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I've gathered the part numbers to replace every suspension bushing on my XT with polyurethane, I might order those this winter if I feel like dumping more money into this car (which is worth <$750, and nothing to an insurance adjuster.) Perhaps I'll go autocrossing and impale some cones or Miatas. Today acquired a good passenger's seat from a wrecked 50k mile XT, I wanted to replace my driver's seat & retain the original fabric pattern. Upon further inspection, I'll have to undo the seat's hog rings and swap out the foam & fabric, instead of just swapping my driver's seat bracket onto the new seat. I was too lazy and decided to wash the car instead. I  my econo-polygon.
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Nov 21, 2010 23:34
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Swapped my boring wood trim with a friend for his aluminum trim. He was going to wrap it in carbon fiber dinoc, so we swapped and he wrapped my old wood trim instead and I got his aluminum. I've been wanting to do this since I got the car, so this swap worked out perfectly and didn't cost me a dime.
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Nov 22, 2010 01:57
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