Ola posted:

post youtubes of spectacular mechanical successses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=364dzVsBs2o

Sponge! posted:

The more pertinant question is: Why don't they rustproof COLLISION MITIGATION COMPONENTS better from the start? Think epoxy hot-dip or several cycles through a nonferrous metal plating bath (nickel?).

Up to the point it fell off (hit a frost heave bump on a lovely road) I had no indication there was anything wrong. I even sat on the bumper within the last month or so. Hit a bump, heard a thud, and then a plastic-on-asphalt dragging noise (not sure if it was better or worse than the "my exhaust is dragging" noise.) and I pulled over. Right side had completely given way, and left side was held on by some plastic screwclips by the wheel, and some rust. I unscrewed it and yanked it free.

Too bad somebody didn't tap my bumper in traffic or a parking lot. Coulda let their insurance buy me a new rear bumper beam.

I had a new in the foam-sheet rear bumper cover from when someone backed into me in 2004 and slightly puckered the one corner of the bumper and smashed out a tail light. Their insurance paid for my body shop estimate, and I directly purchased the tail light, and bumper cover. I installed the tail light, and left the bumper cover for "warmer months" but decided that I might as well hang on to it because the pucker wasn't that big a deal, and I quite literally purchased the LAST Honda Civic Wagovan rear bumper cover in Honda's US parts inventory. I put the extra "labor" money into a timing belt/water pump/head gasket job. So this poor bumper cover has lived in my mom's basement for 7 years. Since I was up in that part of the state when it FELL OFF I stopped in and grabbed it.

Any central PA goons with a garage want to let me rent it for an hour or two to swap it once the part hopefully arrives (it, too, could be the LAST ONE EVER.) All I have is a windy concrete parking lot... Unheated garage is perfectly fine, gently caress the wind.


On an unrelated note, since the bumper is off, I can now peer up into the "frame" box-channel things, and WOOHOO no rust!

for "Any single part of this car can be CARRIED WITHIN this car" vehicles.

I'll post photos of the actual bumper rust carnage this week when its light out and above freezing...

EDIT!

AI Poll: Put new bumper cover on, save old one just in case vs. Put old one back on, continue lagering the virgin one.

Sponge! posted:

Pffft, move to one of our 6 non-emissions counties. Or have someone who lives in one own your vehicle. Is nice.

OSI bean dip posted:

This appeared on my Facebook feed this morning.

Fucknag posted:

Welcome to sunny Florida, where there are no inspections whatsoever. Even cops can't stop you unless it's visibly and hilariously unsafe while driving, and even then they usually won't unless you're also breaking a traffic law. We are not legally allowed to hold a car under any circumstances ; we can refuse work and recommend them to a full service shop, and suggest that they tow rather than drive, but even that we can't require them to do.

Krakkles posted:

That's supposed to be there, right?

sirr0bin posted:

It's called a car hold.

Johnny Aztec posted:

We bought a Dyson like a decade ago, and it's still running strong, and hasn't lost suction.
It's not the ball type. Do the ball ones work okay? I just...I dunno, I just don't seem to trust them. I like this older upright model.

The Door Frame posted:

rippums

EightBit posted:

Tango Down

Beach Bum posted:

Regarding brake failures, this one will forever be my favorite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGuzVk0HTsU

DiggityDoink posted:

That's still not enough 10mms. You should have at least 3 per ratchet size. You should just accept you will lose them because the Devil feeds on 10mm sockets.

Cojawfee posted:

Maybe you shouldn't be such a douche to your wife.

STR posted:

Wait what, you could get those things with a manual?

I would be fine with that, if it can hit 20+ mpg with a light foot. My Saturn never comes close to EPA stated mileage (even the old one only matched it a couple of times on road trips), while every Honda always managed to be within spitting distance on mixed driving and knocked it out of the park on highway mileage. My 01 Accord (F23A1, 5 speed manual, LX sedan... so the lightest car the A1 was used in for USDM vehicles) was rated 32 highway IIRC, and I hit at least 35 in it every time I drove between Austin and Dallas (all highway, usually AC on and cruise set at 85 - my best tank was 37 or 38, IIRC?).

I remember on one trip, I managed to fill up in south Dallas, drive to Austin, spend a week in Austin (plenty of city driving thrown in), and drive back to my driveway in north Dallas, on one tank... that tank still came back as 34 or 35 MPG. It's ~200 miles each way, and I think I put another 100 on it while in Austin. That fucker had a monster of a tank for a 4 pot, I think it was around 17 gallons? Sucked to fill up, but with my work commute at the time (2 miles each way), I only had to fill up every ~2 months or so. Assuming I actually drove.. I walked or rode my bike a bit. One of my regular customers would give me a ride home sometimes (she drove a pickup, so if I rode that day, just toss the bike into the bed).

My Integra usually hit high 30s on the highway, but was rated high 20s highway. I broke 40 on one highway tank somehow, but it was the middle of winter (so nice, dense, cold air), cruise set around 80, and that tank was literally "fill up, hop on I-10 until almost empty, pull into first gas station I spot".

Phanatic posted:

Friend of mine had two artificial hips implanted before he was 30. Avascular necrosis of both femoral heads, bone was splintering off. The fun part is that he'll have to get it redone eventually because he's so young.

Horrible biological failures.

LifeSunDeath posted:

Edward IV posted:

I guess I finally have a horrible mechanical failure to contribute. After buying a 2005 Forester XT from a fellow goon and driving it over 150 miles home, for the past week I've been alternating between driving it and my 2013 Impreza so I have the option of getting used to driving stick and driving when I don't want to fuss with it. On my way to work while driving the Forester, I hit some boost to pass someone before getting off the Parkway. When I get to a stoplight, I notice an odd smell that I didn't recognize; definitely not the smell of a burnt clutch or the exhaust. Since nothing else seemed out of the ordinary and I only had a few miles to go, I keep on driving. When I finally pull into my parking space, I'm shocked to see white smoke wafting out from under the hood and begin to freak out. My heart sinks when (because it was raining) I see an oil slick emanating from beneath the engine bay and am greeted with motor oil sprayed all over the turbo side of the engine bay with a nice coat on the hood interior, top of the strut tower, and all over the turbo heat shield.

Unable to determine where the leak had come from, I enlist the help of a coworker more familiar with turbo Subarus but even he's stumped beyond determining that there is no risk of a fire. While I was doing my work, I began to formulate a plan to hire a flatbed truck to transport it to a Subaru specialty shop 30 miles away. Then, another coworker tells me that the company has a well equipped workshop and trained auto techs (the company builds and services ambulances and emergency service vehicles) and I should enlist their help through my supervisor. After all was said and done, the tech and I take a closer look at the car and, after idling the engine for a few seconds, find that the leak was coming from the oil return line from the turbo in addition to finding out that the dip stick was dry.

The tech eventually takes the return line off and shows me the line completely cracked off of the fitting. (I don't know if that was how it was in the engine or it broke off when he took the line off) While it's going to take a little longer to get it fixed since new parts have to be ordered, at least this hasn't turned into as big of a money sink as I was initially expecting. That said, the dry dipstick has me worried. Hopefully, I can get the car working under its own power again and drive it to the shop for a more comprehensive inspection in addition to modifying the exhaust so that it can pass NJ inspection.

Edward IV posted:

NJ inspection involves an OBD scan and a visual inspection of the exhaust. I don't think there is a difference between new registrations and renewing inspections since I went through the same process when my Impreza was up for renewal. The process was a little different with the Forester since I took that one to a different state inspection facility and I didn't get to ride along in the passenger seat like when I did the Impreza. (They made everyone get out and had us wait in what was essentially an enclosed bus stop shelter.) I also don't know if the Eatontown facility where I took the Forester is more stringent than the Lakewood facility where I took the Impreza.

The tech that did the inspection said that he didn't see any cats on the exhaust and told me to come back with the stock exhaust which I don't have. So now until the end of the month to decide between either sourcing a stock exhaust and getting it installed, finding a private shop does inspections and aren't as stringent, or rework the existing exhaust so that it can pass inspection. Either way will involve spending money. I'm leaning more towards reworking the exhaust since I would imagine installing a legitimate cat would cost less than finding the stock exhaust and getting it installed unless the shop happens to have one lying around.

The Forester should be up and running by tomorrow afternoon and I'm planning on taking it to Precision Tuning in Spotswood to do the exhaust. I probably should have contacted them earlier in the week if I wanted stuff to get done on Saturday but I obviously had my hands full. Still, I'll give them a call tomorrow and see what can be done.

Edward IV posted:

OK. I figured there has to be a cat somewhere or else the exhaust would have been much more smelly than it already is. (There is a small hint of gas in the exhaust when it's idling even after a bit of driving but I don't know if that's normal or not.) I'll still give Precision Tuning a call and see what they suggest in terms of shops or facilities I should visit that know what they're doing. Considering how much of an ordeal it was for me to get to the Eatontown facility (I had a few embarrassing stalls including blocking two lanes of traffic while trying to negotiate a left turn.) so I want to make sure that it'll definitely pass.

BlackMK4 posted:

You can space the o2 sensor out further to prevent this

LifeSunDeath posted:

If you burn up stuff, the smoke goes into the sky and becomes stars.

PainterofCrap posted:

That is absolutely going to kill / maim a rider.

mobby_6kl posted:

Couldn't you just put some blocks on top of the QJ? Or it wouldn't be able to lift the car then?

Phanatic posted:

Unrelated question: What do y'all like for lug nuts that aren't made out of Chinesium and will last for more than one set of wheel changes without starting to distort or corrode or gall?

Boogalo posted:

https://twitter.com/mecharichter/status/1417944753937715205

kastein posted:

Motorcycles, RADL, jet engine gang, s2k guys, among others

Zopotantor posted:

Should we be worried about the bloodstains?

Powershift posted:

https://i.imgur.com/8DdD9iN.mp4

NoWake posted:

drat, that's what a new floor jack is supposed to do? Lifts from 3" to 20"? The old Craftsman three-tonner I've been using since 1998 has a usable range of like 5.5" to 13.5"... Perfect as it just about won't get under the pinch welds of my low car, and then barely gets it high enough to slide a jack stand under the control arm mount. And you're saying i can dispatch that pain in the rear end for like $150? This is a game changer.

LifeSunDeath posted:

https://i.imgur.com/S0Etcpl.mp4