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I made the front suspension hate me. And then I made the rear suspension hate me.  (the first pic might belong in the 'you put WHAT on your car?' thread...)
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Jun 10, 2012 03:08
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| # ? May 9, 2024 21:23 |
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That's insane! Excellent work.
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Jun 10, 2012 04:41
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Thats a rad as gently caress rig.
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Jun 10, 2012 05:51
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kastein posted:I made the front suspension hate me. Care to tell us why your truck eats drivetrains?
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Jun 10, 2012 07:04
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Sir Cornelius posted:Care to tell us why your truck eats drivetrains? 'Cause they're crunchy and tasty?
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Jun 10, 2012 07:29
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TheKeeper posted:Plasti-dipped blacked out wheels How long does that stuff last?
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Jun 10, 2012 07:46
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dissss posted:How long does that stuff last? To be honest I'm not sure. I would assume quite a while if not nicked by rocks or by running up against a curb. My friend has had it on his Lancer for about 6 months and only had to re-do one wheel due to it getting scratched by a rock kicked in to it by his lawn mower. Once it's scratched it needs to be completely re-done, as water/wind will get under it and make it start to peel. If you simply paint over the scratch it will leave a noticeable divot. The good news is that if it needs to be re-done the current coating will peel right off, leaving behind a very clean and shiny original wheel. The stuff really is pretty risk free.
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Jun 10, 2012 08:15
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dissss posted:How long does that stuff last? Until you have your tires replaced and it gets destroyed by the mounting machine. Although for $5 a wheel I couldn't care less. Its totally reversible and at the worst you need to take a pressure washer to your wheels to remove any pesky remnants. Its literally idiot proof as evidenced by me, and I have BMW 135 wheels which are infuriatingly hard to reach all the inward surfaces.
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Jun 10, 2012 09:55
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Sir Cornelius posted:Care to tell us why your truck eats drivetrains? I have way, way, way too many projects going, and too much horse trading as well. 3 of my vehicles are getting new engines in the near future, two of them are getting new transmissions and transfer cases at the same time. A 4.0 replacing another, a 318/5spd/low-range box/231 replacing a 4.0/5spd/231 in the white truck, a 360/5spd/231 replacing a 4.0/automatic in the blue truck. The axles are another story - it's a combination of my plans changing mid-project, various parts vehicles I have purchased coming with axles I didn't really need, and some I bought just to flip, as well. For instance in the last month I've bought two 90s ford f350 balljoint front dana 60 diffs for $150 each and sold them for $250 and $300 respectively. I owned the second one for less than 24 hours. Having a crane around (and a pickup) really, really helps, I used to use an engine hoist for everything and it involved a lot more wrestling 400lb chunks of metal around, since I don't have a paved driveway. Now I just throw the truck in 4lo, bolt the crane on, pick stuff up, and drop it where it needs to go...
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Jun 10, 2012 15:40
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Installed the non-motorized version of this on my SS/SC. Will never use the "hidden" aspect of it, but I didn't want to drill holes on the front of my bumper. Sure as hell beats the zip-ties I was using before. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFCFqvzZIf8
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Jun 10, 2012 17:18
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I need this for toll roads, but also need a control to drop a curtain over the rear plate.
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Jun 10, 2012 18:24
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Super Aggro Crag posted:Installed the non-motorized version of this on my SS/SC. Will never use the "hidden" aspect of it, but I didn't want to drill holes on the front of my bumper. Sure as hell beats the zip-ties I was using before. I had one of these on my wagon for a few months, but my car was so low that it got mangled. One very low driveway entrance finally took it out. And that Prelude is hideous.
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Jun 10, 2012 18:33
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Not my Prelude. I have a 2006 Chevy Cobalt SS. The previous owner never mounted a front license plate so I didn't want to drill holes in the front of the bumper. I'm getting new struts/shocks/springs soon that will drop the car an inch and a half so I'm kind of nervous. I already can't pull into driveways with steep inclines. I mounted this so its hanging an inch or so below the bottom of the bumper, so at least I'll know when its starting to scrape.
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Jun 10, 2012 19:21
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So I did some digging into trying to find my A/C leak today. Looked at the condenser connection (apparently a common trouble spot) but no dice. Lines looked good. Then decided to start taking the interior apart so I could get a look at my evaporator / expansion valve.   Welp So, it looks like I'll need (at least) evaporator, expansion valve, drier, and I think a compressor, in addition to the used IHKA module I picked up. fffffff Does anyone have any tips on ways to discharge the system at home without being a complete dick to the environment? I'd kind of feel like a giant rear end just venting it, but if there's no other way to do it...
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Jun 10, 2012 20:56
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Black88GTA posted:Does anyone have any tips on ways to discharge the system at home without being a complete dick to the environment? I'd kind of feel like a giant rear end just venting it, but if there's no other way to do it... I'm in the same boat as you right now, but I think I might have an idea. I contacted a company fairly close-by to verify whether or not they can perform a simple evacuation to an A/C system in a car, which would be a lot simpler than trying to deal with automotive repair shops (especially in my case, because it's Freon). Hopefully I'll get an email back from them soon, but I suggest you try researching similar places in your area.
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Jun 10, 2012 21:40
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I'd bet most garages will do an evacuation for cheap especially if they aren't busy - they recycle the freon that comes out, so basically you are giving them freon. I'd bring it in, explain what's up, and have them do the freon charge after - they have to re-evacuate the system again before recharging it to make sure that all the air and moisture is out for best performance anyways.
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Jun 10, 2012 23:21
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For what it's worth, I paid $40 for a full vacuum/recharge. I suspected moisture in the system, and also thought it was overcharged - I was right on both counts.
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Jun 11, 2012 00:07
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Hmm, hadn't thought of that. Come to think of it, there's a mom-n-pop type indy repair place around the corner from my house, the shop always has cool as gently caress old cars at it. I bet they'd do it free / cheap. Failing that, there's a hazardous / toxic waste disposal place a little ways up the road that may evacuate it for me. I plan on borrowing a friend's vacuum pump to pull vacuum on it and get the moisture out, so hopefully the shop visit will be a one time deal. I haven't really torn into the car too much yet, so I may take it over to one of those places while I'm waiting on parts to come in. Speaking of which, the following have either been received already, are already on order, or will be ordered very shortly: A/C System IHKA module (used) A/C compressor with clutch Receiver/dryer Evaporator core Expansion valve All A/C system O-rings 5 cans R134A Front End Lower control arms Upper control arms (with spherical bearings instead of the wobbly rubber poo poo) Idler arm Center link L + R Tie rod assemblies Power Steering Pentosin filter Bulk power steering hose (3 sizes) All PS system crush washers Lots of all stainless hose clamps for reassembly of low pressure PS hoses Pentosin Miscellaneous Belt tensioner Also going to have a local hydraulic shop rebuild both high pressure PS hoses. God I hope it doesn't need any more stuff  I guess spending big $$ on it every few years is better than a nasty car payment at least.
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Jun 11, 2012 02:20
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you can't just buy premade PS hoses for it on Rockauto? I'm not too familiar with the car you have but I'm pretty sure they should have them.
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Jun 11, 2012 02:23
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kastein posted:you can't just buy premade PS hoses for it on Rockauto? I'm not too familiar with the car you have but I'm pretty sure they should have them. I looked around a bit, and they were pretty hard to find - Most online places don't seem to stock them, although BavAuto has them for $164 and $136 each. The hydraulic place quoted me $50 - $100 per hose to have them rebuilt (although they said they'd have to see them for an exact cost). The low pressure hoses should be pretty easy to do myself, all I've got to do is Dremel off the crimped on old rubber and put new stuff on with hose clamps. One of the HP lines is behaving itself, but I'm doing it anyway while the system is drained and apart. Guilt by association - every single other line in the system that I can see is weeping from the crimps.
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Jun 11, 2012 02:41
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Lessee... hm. Past few days, bought another land cruiser heater, bought a step drill bit so I can relocate a seatbelt mounting point to where it should be, mounted one tonner ute mirrors, made a door vapour barrier, installed it, put the door card back on. That's for the VW. For the Ford, put some bendix front pads on and fixed some seized slide pins. Ignored every other issue I saw. Next up, who knows. Still need brake hoses for the VW. I think I already have or am waiting on some of the other stuff. Still need to get plywood but I can't do poo poo about that until the trailer comes back home.
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Jun 11, 2012 02:55
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Black88GTA posted:BavAuto has them for $164 and $136 each. gently caress THAT Alright, I'd do exactly the same thing as you are doing. gently caress paying over 100 bucks for a PS hose. I'm used to $25 pressure hoses. Guess I'm spoiled by my rotted out two decade old domestic automobiles.
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Jun 11, 2012 03:13
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kastein posted:gently caress THAT Yeah, I miss the days when I used to say things like "I can't believe a reman alternator is $60 god drat dollars!" and "WTF, $225 for a cat back exhaust?? It's just tubing, gently caress!"  I miss buying parts for my Trans Am. Now I die a little every time I see the equivalent of "E31 specific" next to a part description, because you KNOW what's coming next. "Haha, look at the price, seems they've made a decimal erro....oh"
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Jun 11, 2012 03:43
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Black88GTA posted:
doing it yourself really isn't that hard. Call a local HVAC company and see if they'll let you borrow a vacuum container. I discharged/recharged the A/C on my Ranger when the guy came to check out our air conditioner. They usually have more on hand than they know what to do with. I had to give him a hand when he recharged the house A/C, but just chat them up a bit and they might help you out.
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Jun 11, 2012 04:14
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Over the weekend I did the first oil change on the Abarth. 1,400 miles and I changed out the oil for some nice 5w-40 Shell Rotella. It's awesome having a motor that takes almost no oil compared to an Audi S4 (3.8 quarts vs. 7 quarts)
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Jun 11, 2012 19:36
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GramCracker posted:Over the weekend I did the first oil change on the Abarth. 1,400 miles and I changed out the oil for some nice 5w-40 Shell Rotella. It's awesome having a motor that takes almost no oil compared to an Audi S4 (3.8 quarts vs. 7 quarts) How are you liking it so far? I've wanted to test drive one for a while now, but no dealers in my area have one, or are getting one anytime soon, and I'm not committing a non-refundable deposit on a car I don't know if I'll like.
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Jun 11, 2012 20:59
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took my new (to me) '09 335xi for a nice run around some hilly, curvy lakeside roads:  I love driving right at water level, and the car is just amazing. PCJ-600 fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Jun 11, 2012 |
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Jun 11, 2012 21:04
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Dizman posted:How are you liking it so far? I've wanted to test drive one for a while now, but no dealers in my area have one, or are getting one anytime soon, and I'm not committing a non-refundable deposit on a car I don't know if I'll like. I wouldn't expect many dealers (or any for that matter) to have a test drive car. I was very lucky in that one dealer an hour from me decided to not sell their demo car. A $22k purchase is not something you want to do without knowing you're doing the right thing, or maybe it is... I really like it surprisingly. It's no S4 Avant, but it gets the job done for me, plus it's incredibly fun on small twisty back roads. The only time I've really regretted the switch was yesterday when a fart can Civic almost pulled on me.  I either need a tune or a different car.
GramCracker fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Jun 12, 2012 |
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Jun 12, 2012 14:19
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GramCracker posted:I wouldn't expect many dealers (or any for that matter) to have a test drive car. I was very lucky in that one dealer an hour from me decided to not sell their demo car. A $22k purchase is not something you want to do without knowing you're doing the right thing, or maybe it is... Someone makes a turbo kit for the Yaris, there's got to be some way to really put some zip in. Unless it comes with a turbo already, I know nothing about Fiats.
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Jun 12, 2012 18:48
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EightBit posted:Someone makes a turbo kit for the Yaris, there's got to be some way to really put some zip in. Unless it comes with a turbo already, I know nothing about Fiats. The regular Fiat's don't have turbos. The whole idea behind the Abarth is that it's a small turbo motor. I'm sure the European car has turbo upgrade options, it just might be a while before the North American market sees a turbo kit that will work for us.
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Jun 12, 2012 18:59
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GramCracker posted:The regular Fiat's don't have turbos. The whole idea behind the Abarth is that it's a small turbo motor. I'm sure the European car has turbo upgrade options, it just might be a while before the North American market sees a turbo kit that will work for us. The Euro Abarth 500 has 135hp in standard trim, 160hp in the Esseesse version. As you know, the US Abarth has 160hp already, since it has the Multiair valvetrain, which the Euro hasn't gotten yet. But considering there are special Ferrari and Maserati editions of the Euro Abarth with 180hp and an Assetto Corse version with 200hp and 300nm, I'm sure the US Abarth can be tuned to over 200hp with relatively simple work.
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Jun 12, 2012 19:56
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KozmoNaut posted:The Euro Abarth 500 has 135hp in standard trim, 160hp in the Esseesse version. Yes, we already are getting a few people with the TMC tuning box and the Magnetti Marelli box. 190hp should be easily achievalbe considering the 160hp it's rated at in stock form is actually 160 wheel hp. What did I do to my car today? I got so bothered by the Civic thing I put it up for sale (as a feeler ad, of course) http://www.fiat500usaforum.com/showthread.php?5919-FS-2012-Fiat-Abarth&p=561751#post561751 GramCracker fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Jun 12, 2012 |
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Jun 12, 2012 21:18
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Last summer I celebrated 180,000 miles on my 02 wrx by gutting the suspension and putting in fresh struts and mounts, tie rods ends, ball joints, thicker front and rear sways, and all new polyurethane bushings to replace the nearly non-existent stock rubber ones, and the motor and transmission mounts were replaced with stiffer group-N mounts too. While I had the whole thing apart, I figured that I might as well do axles and brakes as well. So I put in all new rotors, calipers, pads, and stainless steel brake lines. I live in the northeast, so rust was a concern. Since I'd pretty much removed most of the undercarriage anyway, I took a wire wheel to the crossmembers, subframe, control arms, and everything else that I could clean, and painted it all with almost a gallon of POR-15, and a coat of black rustoleum to protect the POR. I put everything back together, bought a lifetime alignment, and it felt like I'd just driven it off the lot. It felt fantastic. About six months later, the exhaust started sounding like poo poo, which made sense since it was the stock exhaust which had 185,000 northeast miles on it. I put up with it until this month, and gutted the exhaust. Everything from the headers on back came off and went to the scrap pile in the back of my truck. Sensing that it was going to be my temporary daily-driver, my truck promptly began a cacaphonous symphony of rod-knock, and is going to need a rebuild. But that's another story. So to celebrate 190,000 miles I tore everything exhaust-related off the car, and replaced it with sweet, sweet stainless steel. The only pieces that went back on were the exhaust manifolds, because by that time, I was running low on money and couldn't afford the Borla headers. I had the manifolds bead-blasted, put a coat of header paint on them, and did a sloppy heat-wrap job. It's not my finest work. The crosspipe was replaced with a ceramic-coated grimmspeed unit. The headers mated up to the turbo via a ceramic coated grimmspeed catless up-pipe. Also due to money, I couldn't replace the turbo, but the original one didn't seem to have much play in the shaft, and I figure that it will probably last the 6-12 months until I plan to replace it. This way, I can track down a factory turbo, send it off for a p&p, and replace it at my leisure. Attached to the turbo was the most expensive piece, a Cobb bellmouth downpipe with high-flow catalytic converter. Beautiful piece of exhaust. The welds looked amazing. I was torn between installing it under the car, and strapping it to my roof rails for visual appeal. I eventually decided to attach one end to the turbo, and the other end to a Borla Hush cat-back exhaust. I got a set of the low-hanging kartboy polyurethane hangers, but I'm not sure if I'm going to keep them on there. I feel like the exhaust is hanging lower than I'd like. I dug out my accessport that I haven't used in 6 years, and flashed the Cobb OTS stage 2 map. I am very pleased with the car. The exhaust isn't loud, and even at WOT, sounds nice and deep. For the first time, I can really hear the turbo, and it sounds beautiful. And the power increase is quite noticable. All the old exhaust and catalytic converters went off for scrap, which netted a nice wad of cash which I spent on a new head-unit, a JVC KW-R900BT, which I installed today. You may be shocked to learn that it sounds better than the factory stereo/tape adapter combo it replaced. Next month will be the car's 10-year anniversary, and will be getting some nice new wheels, wrapped in the best summer tires I can afford. The stock wheels will be getting snow tires, and will hereafter be my winter wheels. While I'm not going to jinx myself by speculating what the car's 200,000 mile celebration will be, the rust bubbles appearing on my wheel arches tell me that it's most likely going to be a paint job. Eventually, I plan to take it off the road for a few months and pull the motor for a teardown. Computer Opponent fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Jun 12, 2012 |
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Jun 12, 2012 22:25
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GramCracker posted:Yes, we already are getting a few people with the TMC tuning box and the Magnetti Marelli box. 190hp should be easily achievalbe considering the 160hp it's rated at in stock form is actually 160 wheel hp. I just have to say, it's nice to know there are people with car ADD as bad as me.
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Jun 12, 2012 22:34
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Crustashio posted:I just have to say, it's nice to know there are people with car ADD as bad as me. My best friends is 26 years old - he's owned 17 cars since he was 16. It's pretty silly.
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Jun 12, 2012 23:05
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I had my buffer out to fix some paint runs, and decided to take some poishing compound to my headlights. it worked better than the dedicated kits. 
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Jun 12, 2012 23:54
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Put the drums, shoes and springs on my $200 Sentra that have been in my trunk for six months. No more horrible grinding noises! Next I have to try and cheaply address the rattling, clunking, clicking and squeaking noises.
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Jun 13, 2012 11:15
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I got a nice sunburn restoring the headlights on the STi as well as washing it and the G8. Two rounds of the abrasive foam disc and two rounds of polishing/protectant made the headlights about 99% better. I left a couple of scratches in a weirdly angled part of the one headlight, but I will re-do it in a few months if it's still bugging me.
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Jun 13, 2012 21:20
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Took it to the body shop to get the "learners permit" damage repaired and they gave me a Prius
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Jun 13, 2012 21:25
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| # ? May 9, 2024 21:23 |
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GutBomb posted:Took it to the body shop to get the "learners permit" damage repaired and they gave me a Prius I expect to see pictures of a prius in the air by the end of the week.
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Jun 13, 2012 21:32
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