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South australia doesnt have ANY inspections for vehicles registered in state. No roadworthy, no Emissions, Nada. As long as you pay your rego on time your free to roll. Unless a cop sees you cruising around in your bomb and defects you. We do inspections on cars coming from interstate though- Mostly from states WITH roadworthy inspections! Cos that makes sense. The number of busted arse magnas with rot holes and a constant haze of blue smoke is staggering. Interestingly the Hyundai Excels have all but vanished from the roads.
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Jul 12, 2013 03:58
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| # ? May 27, 2024 07:31 |
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I installed a limited slip in the rear. Best thing I ever got paid $100+ to do to my truck. (bought rear axle from the junkyard for $137, swapped LSD out and into my truck, swapped my open diff into the rear axle, selling it for $250+)
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Jul 12, 2013 05:06
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I repaired my paint and windshield after a paint bucket lid hit me on the highway doing ~70ish, the top was down and I may or may not have thought I was going to die...click for BIG; Before  . After  . I also did all the glass in the car too while I was at it since I brought out an extra microfiber cloth  . Shiny! 
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Jul 12, 2013 22:35
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You are gonna get the chip in the windshield fixed before it gets worse, right? Most insurance companies won't even charge you a glass deductible if it can be repaired (and from what I can see that looks like a good candidate in size, shape and location). edit: OK, the big one is gone. Is the thing to the left and slightly above it not a chip?
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Jul 12, 2013 22:40
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There are currently two sizeable chips on the windshield, one to the top and left of the birdshit and one that you can see superimposed above the speaker grille. I earned them both within a week of owning the car and I just said gently caress it because thats really my luck with windshields (my first car was massive chips as well, and my second car the windshield wiper broke off in the middle of a rain storm and the arm scratched the hell out of the glass). I honestly have no idea if my insurance covers it because I'm pretty  when it comes to windshields since I have the worst luck with them, I'll give them a call Monday and ask, if not I'll just get a 3M kit with the syringe thing and do it myself before summer is over and we get back into the cold>heat>cold cycles on the windshield using the defrost.
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Jul 12, 2013 22:59
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Replaced both upper control arms and upper ball joints on the F150. Unfortunately I didn't notice them wearing out until one of the front tires was scrubbed up a bit.
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Jul 13, 2013 01:32
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Put the speed bleeders on the front - loosened one at a time and pumped and pumped and pumped - did not get a single lick of fluid through either of them. What the hell.
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Jul 13, 2013 02:02
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Oil and filter change for the 240d, then a Lubro-moly Diesel Purge service. Seemed like snake oil to me, but a lot of diesel guys swear it up and down, including a buddy of mine I trust. Needing a few more dollars on a recent parts order to qualify for a free ship, I bought a can. Hooked the can direct to the feed and return lines on the lift pump, started it up and let the can run dry. I have to say, I feel a difference in the way it's driving. Better low-end torque and it's smoother through the rev range. Couple this with the valve adjust and stem to stern fuel system service from the other week and this car is running like a whole different machine. Tomorrow I begin a 1,700 mile trip with it.
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Jul 13, 2013 03:42
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Had to replace torsion rod bushings to pass the CVIP, they didn't look too bad......oh.... Considering the completely worn one had to be pounded out, i think i'm going to have to wait till monday to get the new ones pressed in.  Speaking of monday, all of the boxes had the same part number, but that big motherfucker on the right was in one of them, really unhelpful.
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Jul 13, 2013 04:33
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Ferremit posted:South australia doesnt have ANY inspections for vehicles registered in state. No roadworthy, no Emissions, Nada. As long as you pay your rego on time your free to roll. Unless a cop sees you cruising around in your bomb and defects you. I remember there used to be a white ( I think) 1st gen Magna getting around Adelaide rather slowly billowing smoke and making a horrible mechanical racket that only a thrown rod or a dropped valve could make. First time I wrote it off as someone desperately trying to get home after a failure. But subsequent times told me otherwise. What did I do... Bodged the Fairlane's cooling system. Fixed the horn on the Niva, wrapped some wire from my recent installation although my tape has gone a bit funny so it's a bit ugly, replaced the blown number plate light and found a whole heap of wheat in the process! At least the PO was on the level about it being a farmer's vehicle before he owned it. I also found the original rubber matting and insulation under the house carpet looks good in the back too.
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Jul 13, 2013 04:42
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StormDrain posted:Put the speed bleeders on the front - loosened one at a time and pumped and pumped and pumped - did not get a single lick of fluid through either of them. Did you empty the reservoir before putting them on? Because that will do that.
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Jul 13, 2013 05:12
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Made a "lens" for one of the rear plate lights for the Niva out of a bit of shelf plastic from one of our previous fridges that I found kicking around in some leaf litter. Also massaged the front of the right front wheel arch with a big rubber mallet, a pair of multi-grips and a bit of wood as a drift. Someone did this previously but where they folded the metal there was a point sticking out further that was catching on the tyre under certain conditions. Shame it looks different from the passenger side but it shouldn't rub now. Also put the roof lining back near the hatch as best I could. Not pretty work but functional.
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Jul 13, 2013 09:32
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Onward to the Great White North. Here's where I'm goin, eh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJE3EgTGg9k
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Jul 13, 2013 12:27
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I got the C10 re-registered the other day so that was awesome but it cost me a ton of money cause my town taxes were due also and they wont let you renew if you owe. I also had to pay the fine for insurance compliance when my "friend" never sent my plates back from the GTI when I sold it to him. Then yesterday the starter died at my uncles house who has a driveway with about a 45 degree angle to get out so I had to change it on the ground since he doesn't have a floor jack. That was really fun since I just lowered it and it has long tube headers :/ My super awesome friend came through though by getting me the new starter on his way home from work.
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Jul 13, 2013 15:07
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Blacked out the kidney grilles on the M3. 
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Jul 13, 2013 23:17
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Installed my new license plate. Going to order tamper resistant bolts so it doesn't get snagged at Buffett next week. 
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Jul 13, 2013 23:22
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I drove it cause like half the summer is over and I was missing out. Got some plans for tomorrow though  
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Jul 14, 2013 00:11
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Today was leather conditioning day and redoing my plasti-dipped wheel that turned out poorly. All masked up for the dip. The dip doesn't cover my peeling and lovely chrome well but its better than peeling and lovely chrome.  White shows the brake dirt really bad. The front wheel was washed a week ago. 
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Jul 14, 2013 02:09
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Fart Pipe posted:I drove it cause like half the summer is over and I was missing out. Got some plans for tomorrow though You really need to keep this truck like this. Maybe a little fancier rim with some nice street tires... but the patina is perfect. The lowering kit just makes this the cats rear end. Well done good sir! 
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Jul 14, 2013 02:19
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Grumbletron 4000 posted:Today was leather conditioning day and redoing my plasti-dipped wheel that turned out poorly. Did you use a drinking straw to cover up the valve stem? That's ingenious! 
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Jul 14, 2013 07:31
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Tanz-Kommandant posted:Did you use a drinking straw to cover up the valve stem? That's ingenious! I did. A big milkshake sized one. Beats wrapping tape around it for sure 
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Jul 14, 2013 07:45
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Getting the Niva ready for roadworthy still. Thought I should tackle the wobbly drivers seat. Welded the crack in the cross tube thing. No idea if the weld is any good. They are horrible booger welds. Props to whoever did the beautiful little weld during manufacture. Even perfectly clean the steel was spitting and sparking like nothing else. I also saw something new to me. I was having a lot of trouble getting any penetration on the side piece the tube welds to. The earth clamp was on the side piece. Once I called it good enough it instantly flash rusted. Another first. So I got the zinc paint ready, wirebrushed the weld and slapped the paint straight on. The seat base is kind of wrecked anyway because some clown managed to severely bend the seat rail to the point where it can't be dismantled for repair.
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Jul 14, 2013 23:47
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240d emergency battery replacement in International Falls, Minnesota. Had some breakfast at the Coffee Landing and it just wouldn't crank after. It's a bit of a challenge to find a battery in I-Falls on a Sunday morning, let alone a deep cycle for a 31 year old Mercedes. We found a Napa that had one in stock. Hopefully it's just the battery and not the alternator failing to charge it. I lack the tools to test right now. I guess I could have pulled the neg lead, but that sometimes opens its own can of worms.
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Jul 15, 2013 00:31
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Lost my A/C on the way to work this morning, turned out to be a blown fuse. Replaced it and everything works fine for now; hopefully it was just a fluke and not my blower motor dying.
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Jul 15, 2013 00:33
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I washed, waxed, windexed, vacuumed, and otherwise detailed my truck today. Super shiny (until work tomorrow) I also plasti-dipped my front grille, because the plastic "chrome" was oxidized and pitted and looked like rear end. I used one full can on it and will probably take it off and put another couple coats on mid-week once I buy another can, since there are a couple thin spots on the honeycomb of the grille. Super impressed with the results, since I haven't used the spray can stuff before. When I do that I will probably take off that ugly license plate mount, since my state doesn't require you to mount a front plate. Getting new shocks all the way around sometime this week as well. 
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Jul 15, 2013 01:00
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Got halfway through reinstalling the drivers seat and saw the crack. My dyslexic brain caused me to weld the wrong side of the tube. Apparently there was a crack on that side too so it's no biggie. Welded up the big crack anyway. No photos because it is shameful welding. It was all porous and weird, at which point I realised the flow was set wrong on the shielding gas tank. It happens sometimes if I use it a couple of times within a couple of hours. When I turn the gas back on everything looks right but it's just residual gas pressure messing with things. So I laid down good metal nice and hot. I beams in skyscrapers probably have smaller welds joining them but who gives a poo poo? Not me. Seat is still kind of wobbly too. That bent track doesn't help at all. But a lot of the flex is gone. Roadworthy on Wednesday(? I have to double check that) should be interesting. Bet it fails hard. I don't see why it would but it's just the way things seem to go.
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Jul 15, 2013 01:20
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BrokenKnucklez posted:You really need to keep this truck like this. Maybe a little fancier rim with some nice street tires... but the patina is perfect. The lowering kit just makes this the cats rear end. Well done good sir! Thanks! Its gonna look like this for a while. It needs a bunch of little stuff done like the vent windows, some electrical work, the windshield, a little rust repair but I'm gonna keep it like it is for a while. I have some wheels in mind if I can get them cheap enough but for now I'm just gonna drive and make some noise with it. Here it is with my friends 48 F1 and my uncles 69 SJ: 
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Jul 15, 2013 02:42
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 I disassembled it! (a little) Why? To get at this thing:  Which is the A/C compressor bracket. Also the mount point for the driver's side torque mount, as I discovered during disassembly.  This is why it had to be removed:  This should be a threaded hole where you can attach the A/C tensioner pulley. As you can see there is part of a bolt stuck in there. It got that way when I ran out of talent at Lime Rock Park. 7.5 years ago. It has become one with the bracket since then. At first I was thinking it could be E-Z outed but now I'm not so sure. Time to hitch a ride to the Pick-N-Pull.
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Jul 15, 2013 18:18
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Die grinder with a round burr, a center punch, and a selection of drills (starting small, going to large) would easily get that either drilled out or EZ-outed. It's all in getting the drill started perfectly centered and parallel to the axis of the bolt stub. Grind a flat spot with a burr, do a very light center punch, make sure it's centered perfectly (or repunch if it isn't), once you get a centered divot, do it again but really whale on it. Then start with like a 1/16 or 2mm drill, make absofuckinglutely sure it's parallel to the bolt, and get drilling... Once you get to say a 3/16 drill or so, you might try a left handed drill bit, it might even grab and spin the bolt stub out. I successfully removed an M5 bolt stub that was entirely seized into a cast aluminum e-brake cable end this way a few weeks ago.
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Jul 15, 2013 18:23
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Another thing to do if it still won't budge after you've drilled it is to heat it with a touch. The bolt will swell when you heat it, then contract because it's been drilled in the center. After it cools you can generally use an extractor to remove it.
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Jul 15, 2013 18:46
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I generally don't heat the bolt, I will heat the part that it's screwed into though. If you use enough heat, fast enough, the part will expand away from the bolt and you may even be able to spin it out by notching it and using a flat blade screwdriver.
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Jul 15, 2013 18:51
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kastein posted:I generally don't heat the bolt, I will heat the part that it's screwed into though. Eh. We heat the bolts here at work. As an industrial mechanic, I see my fair share of broken hardware. Whatever works really.
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Jul 15, 2013 18:55
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I've got no problem with "if it works, run with it", I've just always gone the other way for some reason. I guess it's probably a lot easier to heat the bolt than the part it goes into when you're working on something huge. What kind of equipment do you work on? Sounds like a blast.
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Jul 15, 2013 19:00
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If you're a *real* daredevil, you can blast it out with quick bursts from a cutting torch (the casting acts as a heatsink). I've done it with exhaust manifolds, but I don't recommend it.
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Jul 15, 2013 19:03
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I dropped it off at the mechanic. Or, more accurately I had it picked up on a flatbed and brought to the mechanic. As I was making a left turn after leaving work, I heard a loud *bang* and the right rear wheel locked up. I managed to get the car halfway up onto the sidewalk, leaving a big fat skidmark all the way. There's no apparent damage, nothing looks broken, but the wheel is absolutely fixed in place, won't budge a millimeter. I can't wait to hear from my mechanic what happened, my guess is that it's either the wheel bearing or the handbrake.
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Jul 15, 2013 19:37
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kastein posted:Die grinder with a round burr, a center punch, and a selection of drills (starting small, going to large) would easily get that either drilled out or EZ-outed. Although I don't doubt this can work I would wind up buying so many bits that I could probably just buy a replacement for the same or less money with a lot less labor. e: also i lack a bench vise
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Jul 15, 2013 19:59
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kastein posted:I've got no problem with "if it works, run with it", I've just always gone the other way for some reason. I guess it's probably a lot easier to heat the bolt than the part it goes into when you're working on something huge. I work in one of the world's largest polyethylene plants. If you buy Tyson chicken, Nestle Bottled Water, or Pepsi, I've seen the plastic it comes in. We extrude the plastic (blown extrusion), print it, and either slit it into sheeting or convert it into bags. It's sometimes fun, but in the summer it's about 110ºF all the time, especially where they extrude the film. Each extruder is basically about half a ton of chrome plated steel bits heated to 400ºF. During the hottest days, the handrails on the upper levels (blown extruders are 2-4 stories tall) get so hot you can't touch them with your bare hands. I enjoy the challenge of my job, I do everything from troubleshooting PLCs and servo controls to changing bearings 3 feet in diameter.
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Jul 16, 2013 07:15
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Bought some replacement reflectors for my Z months ago. Finally got around to getting it done. Before, with the ugly orange Now smokey grey. Now to do something about the countless rock chips in my bumper 
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Jul 16, 2013 18:40
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Imperador do Brasil posted:Blacked out the kidney grilles on the M3.
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Jul 16, 2013 19:44
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| # ? May 27, 2024 07:31 |
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KozmoNaut posted:I dropped it off at the mechanic. Or, more accurately I had it picked up on a flatbed and brought to the mechanic. It was indeed the brake shoes, so it needs to have those replaced, luckily nothing else was damaged. The mechanic asked me if they should go ahead and replace the discs+pads as well, as the backside of the discs was looking pretty bad, I told them to go ahead while they had everything apart anyway. Caliper sliding pins were nasty as well and caused the pads to wear unevenly, so figure in a repair kit as well for both sides. Total cost will be ~$1150, but I guess that's what I get for dropping it off at a dealership. It needed to go there anyway for insurance work, so I figured why not. Ouch. I forgot that insurance doesn't cover it since it wasn't a crash or an accident, purely mechanical damage. So it's all out of my pocket. Oh well, at least now the rear brakes will be in great shape.
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Jul 17, 2013 12:54
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