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Replaced the fuel filter on my RX-4. The only reason this is noteworthy is it involved removing a trim panel in the trunk, climbing into the trunk, and then getting to the filter, because apparently hiding the filter up in the farthest forward corner of the upper passenger side of the trunk was a great plan. Turns out when you're 6'3 with bear paws for hands, you end up knuckle-knocking the trunklid arm assembly about six loving times just putting a new filter in. This car is not shy about getting the required blood sacrifices. With added back pain, because I'm not a loving contortionist.
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Apr 21, 2015 21:24
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Registered it, then gave it the inaugural drive to connecticut   Remaining repairs before inspection: rear swaybar link bracket on control arm, rear right lug stud spinning in hub flange Remaining repairs before regular use: oil pump shaft bushing in timing cover, oil pump cover, possibly new oil pump, oil and water pump seals, balance shaft chain, and balance shaft chain guide
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Apr 21, 2015 22:29
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 Swapped out the '06-07 tails for '04-05s. I like them.
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Apr 22, 2015 02:20
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Professor Bling posted:Replaced the fuel filter on my RX-4. The only reason this is noteworthy is it involved removing a trim panel in the trunk, climbing into the trunk, and then getting to the filter, because apparently hiding the filter up in the farthest forward corner of the upper passenger side of the trunk was a great plan. Turns out when you're 6'3 with bear paws for hands, you end up knuckle-knocking the trunklid arm assembly about six loving times just putting a new filter in. Wow. I believe I would see about relocating that little jewel to somewhere reasonable.
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Apr 22, 2015 21:18
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Replaced a headlight on the civic since it burned out last night while going to work. Opened the hood and noticed a ground wire was badly corroded and fraying so I dealt with that too.
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Apr 25, 2015 13:43
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Putting some of my tax refund to use: I'm still waiting on the custom dash bezel to get shipped out, should look pretty nice once it's all done:  Not mine, but here's a similar one already installed:  I'm also waiting on coil springs and strut mounts so I can finally restore the suspension. I never realized what a pain in the rear end it is to find a set of springs for my car that aren't lowering springs. EVERYTHING is on loving back-order. 
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Apr 26, 2015 09:09
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Spent 4 hours and cleaned my Fusion yesterday. Today it is covered with dirt. Texas, y'all.
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Apr 26, 2015 16:18
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This weekend I stripped the brakes + lines on the Capri, ready for the new stuff as soon as all the parts get here and I learn how to manufacture brake pipe. Here's the rear RH during flexihose removal: None of it was in too bad a condition except for the LH drum swimming in brake fluid. I'm swapping the cylinders too so it's no worry. Additionally, if anyone spots me doing something idiotic in my pics, please tell me. I'm new to it all and welcome the advice.
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Apr 26, 2015 17:21
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Root Bear posted:I'm still waiting on the custom dash bezel to get shipped out, Man, that looks really slick. Wish there was an option like that for my WJ other than awful A-pillar mounts.
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Apr 26, 2015 17:26
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MOT is due on my landy in a few weeks so I thought I better do my annual de-oiling of the handbrake drum to make the handbrake good enough to pass. After a can of brake cleaner it works pretty well. Have done the seals I the past but Don't bother anymore as they always seem to leak again after a few months. It works when full of oil just not well enough for an MOT pass. Doing this is also the one time each year my antique 1/4 whitworth spanner comes out as for some reason the drum retaining nuts seem to need it (nothing else I own fits on them) I also went round and checked, cleaned and adjusted all the brakes. Amazingly no oil leaks other than from one free wheeling hub outer cover (and this is just messy rather than brake affecting) After cleanup and sticking the end cover back on with lots of silicon.  The correct gaskets are NLA. One day I will by myself a vinyl cutter and some gasket paper and make a load up.
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Apr 26, 2015 20:07
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I sold it.
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Apr 27, 2015 03:14
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Dug a broken dipstick out of my freshly rebuilt 4.0 and changed out the oil from the break-in period. No metal sparkles! It pulls to redline (5k rpm  ) without getting rough or pinging!
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Apr 27, 2015 03:22
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Just filed my first claim on this car. Thankfully it's just for windshield damage that doesn't require replacement - caught some rocks off from a rock hauler.  Doesn't cost me a penny, Safelite comes out to me.I need to eventually replace the windshield, it's been sandblasted pretty good over its lifetime (driving into the sun makes it sparkle), but for now I just want to keep the cracks from spreading. My deductible to actually replace the windshield through Safelite will cost about the same as my deductible ($250), so whenever I get around to that, I'll pay cash. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 10:30 on Apr 27, 2015 |
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Apr 27, 2015 10:12
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Tomarse posted:Have done the seals I the past but Don't bother anymore as they always seem to leak again after a few months. That's really funny you posted this. I was just under mine yesterday (finally refitting the back half of the exhaust after 6 months........) and said "drat, I just replaced that seal last year and the hand brake looks like someone vomited gear oil all over it again." Guess I'll just deal with it. I'm actually down to that leak and some power steering leak I haven't bothered to track down yet. I can't believe the rocker covers are still dry.......I must have put in magic gaskets a few years ago.
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Apr 27, 2015 16:55
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Tomarse posted:
Depending on how easily you need to remove it. Loctite 5569 works really well as a liquid gasket. I'm doing a chassis swap on my 90 at the moment to a nice new galvanised one. I was getting sick of welding at MOT time. The old chassis is worse than I thought.
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Apr 27, 2015 22:06
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Saturday I replaced my CCV/PCV, have not checked oil since then but I'm betting that this resolved the oil consumption problem. I know that it now passes the "bag test." And this arrived today... Glad to see my pistons have stopped disintegrating/falling apart/whatever 
drukqs fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Apr 28, 2015 |
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Apr 28, 2015 02:15
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Motronic posted:That's really funny you posted this. I was just under mine yesterday (finally refitting the back half of the exhaust after 6 months........) and said "drat, I just replaced that seal last year and the hand brake looks like someone vomited gear oil all over it again." I don't think it is possible to totally stop oil getting into the handbrake.. One day I might buy one of these Colonel K posted:Depending on how easily you need to remove it. Loctite 5569 works really well as a liquid gasket. I've been using normal silicone sealant. The outer cover on those FWH's is poo poo through as there is only a tiny mating face because for some reason they left loads of holes in the cover rather than making it solid with a nice large flat surface. Mines on an original 60's chassis. I think its gonna be hosed every year but it then struggles through...
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Apr 28, 2015 09:50
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Tomarse posted:
I've got one of those ready to be thrown onto the new t-case and box going in this evening / tomorrow. Everyone I've spoken to who has them seems to rate them pretty well, especially in mud. I'm not sure how the series chassis fail, but mine looked visually ok, with the body on, but off it was a different story. my rocksliders had become stuck inside the outrigger tubes which proceeded to snap off when removal was attempted...
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Apr 28, 2015 10:25
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I decided to make my winter steelies look ridiculous Needs another couple of cans and then clear coat, but way better than "sort of black and covered rust spots"
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Apr 29, 2015 08:24
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Pulled seats, carpet, some remains of a rodents winter stash, and the rest of the dash from the svo. New/old dash harness showed up Monday and with some luck might be able to start putting it back together on Sunday. Though still might have pull the rear seats to be able to put a new rear harness.
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Apr 29, 2015 13:31
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BIG HORNY COW posted:I decided to make my winter steelies look ridiculous Those look great, actually but I'm imagining some sort of dog dish on them. What car are they for?
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Apr 29, 2015 13:44
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Sold these 20s: And put these 19s on my car:  19x9 et33 S5 peelers, 12mm spacers up front, 10mm in the rear, for et21/23 to better fill out those fenders. Currently deciding whether or not to buy a set of 20x10.5 BBS CH-R's for this thing, or just stop being an idiot and be happy with it for a little bit.
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Apr 29, 2015 19:50
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Mr-Spain posted:Those look great, actually but I'm imagining some sort of dog dish on them. What car are they for? First Gen Outback. My first attempt at painting anything, really - thought I'd try it with something I don't care if I screw up (like winter steelies). I was going to do some more painting today but our streak of nice weather has ended and it started to rain / hail. I almost want to find some tires sooner than later so I can get going on fixing these monstrosities that are currently on the car  I think I want to do a dark paint with them after they're cleaned up
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Apr 29, 2015 23:40
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Today I got some new tyres put on my Celica. I decided to go with some Michelin Pilot Sport 3s. As it was before I had 2x Chinese brand tyres on the front and 2x BFG G-Force Sports on the back - I had pretty much zero grip in the wet, even though my tread was fine. It feels so much better now. This last weekend I changed the transmission oil and also got around to replacing the 'lift' bolts in the engine. The 2000-2003 Celicas had an issue with a couple of bolts on the camshafts that are essential for the engine's 'lift' capability. The bolts were of a poor design and were prone to wear and shear off prematurely. Lift is basically Toyota's version of VTEC. Unfortunately here in Australia it seems that the Toyota dealerships are not aware of this issue - there was a TSB in America where you could get the bolts replaced under warranty but I don't think we got that here. If you can get Toyota to replace your bolts I have heard they will charge around $900. Anyway, I bought the bolts for something like $2.50 for the pair and finally got around to installing them with my dad. As it turned out, one of my bolts had sheared off:  We ended up drilling a small hole in the sheared off part of the bolt and then managed to extract it using a torx head screwdriver. After installing the new bolts 'lift' kicks in with much more power. I also don't mind the $900 saving.
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Apr 30, 2015 11:28
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CharlesDexterWard posted:Today I got some new tyres put on my Celica. I decided to go with some Michelin Pilot Sport 3s. As it was before I had 2x Chinese brand tyres on the front and 2x BFG G-Force Sports on the back - I had pretty much zero grip in the wet, even though my tread was fine. This is a 2ZZ-GE? That would be VVTL-i Variable valve timing and lift, as opposed to just VVT-i which is just variable valve timing. Not a bad engine. 180hp from 1.8l N/A. Hits the magic 100hp/l number exactly.
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Apr 30, 2015 12:30
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Vanagoon posted:This is a 2ZZ-GE? That would be VVTL-i Variable valve timing and lift, as opposed to just VVT-i which is just variable valve timing. Yep! I'm pretty sure all 7th generation Celicas in Australia came with the 2ZZGE engine. My dad used to build engines for motorbike racing teams, and commented that it was quite similar to a Yamaha motorcycle engine (who actually helped design the 2ZZGE IIRC). It's my first fun car and it's got me into how cars work and doing my own work on them, so it was fun and interesting to get it done over the weekend!
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Apr 30, 2015 13:14
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Scary to see a cam bolt get torn in half like that. Didn't know that was a problem on those cars, something to look out for when hammering used Celica prices down.
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Apr 30, 2015 19:14
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Seat Safety Switch posted:Scary to see a cam bolt get torn in half like that. Didn't know that was a problem on those cars, something to look out for when hammering used Celica prices down. It really only affects the engines ability to switch to the high cam profile so you just lose some power at the top end, still, the extra power is kind of what separates the U.S. GT and GTS so you really would want it working! I haven't read any stories yet of a bolt breaking and causing catastrophic damage fortunately. There is a Lotus car that use the same engine and I believe the lift bolts are specified as a routine replacement item, I think you should do it every 50,000 kilometres or so.
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Apr 30, 2015 22:13
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 98 Silverado New bushings and balljoints in the upper and lower control arms. Had to grind down the ends on the bushings to get my balljoint press on them. Also had to cut a flat plate of steel because the adapters took up too much space. I did new tie rods, adusters, and new steering box yesterday. Ramsus fucked around with this message at 04:09 on May 1, 2015 |
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May 1, 2015 04:05
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Did something that will be unpopular with AI, but I drive on a lot of dark residential roads, and often drive in pretty nasty storms. HIDs in the foglights. And only in the foglights (if I ever put them in the headlights, I'll use proper HID projectors retrofitted into the stock housings). I need to block off the upper (or would it be lower?) 1/4 or so of the lens to keep from lighting up the trees (probably use some foil tape to reflect the light back into the reflector), but I only run them in the above mentioned scenarios anyway, I never run them in traffic. My first thought when turning them on: "OW MY RETINAS". Yellow Nokya halogen bulb on the passenger side, retina-destroyer on the drivers side. And as mentioned, I plan to block off at least the  Total out of pocket cost: $4.99 (had a $25 Amazon gift card). Plug and play, wish I'd gone with a warmer color though. e: finally tracked down the projector retrofit kit I've been looking for for months, just couldn't remember where I found it or what the name was. The projector actually screws in place of the stock bulb - so no aiming required, no glare, just a true HID projector that bolts in place of the stock bulb (have to open up the housing, of course, and remove the little plastic shield that goes over the stock halogen bulb). Looks like the Morimoto Mini 3.0 projector. Under $300 for a complete kit, and a few hours to rip the housings apart and get them back together again (in reality I'll probably just order new housings, so I can swap the stock ones back on if I ever need to... they're dirt cheap and come off in about 10 seconds). randomidiot fucked around with this message at 08:09 on May 1, 2015 |
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May 1, 2015 07:09
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I changed my first wheel today. In all my time driving I've never had a flat that I changed myself (only have had one flat in the past - and I discovered it while visiting a friend who helped change it). My brother got a flat just around the block from my place, so we limped it to my garage and I changed it for him. The funny thing is last weekend I asked him if he ever checks his tyre pressure and he said no... After I got his spare on, we went to the petrol station around the corner and put some air in his tyres, which had pressures ranging from 22 to 26. It was pretty fun.
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May 1, 2015 09:27
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I messed around with my Miata's suspension again. I'd actually been meaning to fix it since pretty much after the last time I changed it but moving and new jobs got in the way. I did have the NB8 Bilstein suspension on there before but being a much lighter NA6 it was riding pretty drat high. I did buy a set of lower springs second hand but they came on matching fancy "sport" shocks. The hardware was all clean so I put them in as is. Unfortunately the shocks were either rear end to begin with or had become rear end over time so I needed to put the springs on the perfectly fine Bilsteins like I'd been meaning to in the first place. Also weirdly the back was sitting just a little lower than the front. Today I did half of what I meant to do, maybe two thirds at a stretch. I got the springs on the right shocks on the front but I ran out of sunlight and impact driver batteries (screw hand wrenching spring compressors, I'd rather poke my eye out manually thanks) so I tossed the bilsteins in the back as is. The result was a smooth enjoyable ride with rake like the Mad Max car, which actually looks kinda silly on a Miata. Otherwise, I'm half tempted to keep it like this.
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May 1, 2015 15:37
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New flexible brake lines so I don't die. Vacuum bleeding is tedious.    Also cleaned it the day after. Looks nice and glossy until the water dries, and then it's back to really dull paint. 
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May 1, 2015 22:52
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Just threw money at it via eBay: pair of new aftermarket front turn signals/hazards and a 50 pc. bag of door panel retainer clips. Sun visors from Mexico finally made it stateside with a tour of New York and New Jersey before heading to Kentucky. 
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May 3, 2015 05:22
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Did the passenger side bushings and ball joints today. I should have the truck drivable tomorrow. Still need to put the shocks in the front and bleed the brakes and steering.
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May 3, 2015 08:23
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Washed the truck with Dawn, taped a line down the middle of the hood, and clayed the driver's side of it. Could definitely feel the difference between the halves. Then I washed the clayed section with Meguire's Gold and followed it up with Meguire's Ultimate Compound by hand. Got to work on my technique and do it on a cooler overcast day because my results were not great.
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May 3, 2015 23:16
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Arriviste posted:Just threw money at it via eBay: pair of new aftermarket front turn signals/hazards and a 50 pc. bag of door panel retainer clips. Sun visors from Mexico finally made it stateside with a tour of New York and New Jersey before heading to Kentucky. Are they OEM clips? I got some ebay door panel clips for my e36 and they made 20 year old german plastic seem soft and flexible in comparison.
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May 4, 2015 01:35
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Just finished replacing the leaky radiator in my 94 ford ranger. Would have been easy if one of the steel transmission cooler lines hadnt been welded(figuratively) in place.
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May 4, 2015 01:40
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Crustashio posted:Are they OEM clips? I got some ebay door panel clips for my e36 and they made 20 year old german plastic seem soft and flexible in comparison. Nope . IIRC, I could have bought, like, 6 OEM clips (shipping not included) for the price of the bag of fiddy with shipping. Probably a good case of you get what you pay for. I'll find out by next week! 
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May 4, 2015 02:15
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Annnnd murdered a ballast already. Heard something scraping the ground, got out, it'd been dragging for who knows how long. Plugged it back in, hit the switch, and the magic smoke escaped from that one.
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May 6, 2015 06:54
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