lite_sleepr posted:

Steel wool on glass?

Isn't there a chemical I can buy

VelociBacon posted:

I don't really know where else to ask this - anyone familiar with the best (cheapest) places to buy tires online in Canada? Normally I'd order them shipped to the states and drive down but not happening for awhile.

NotNut posted:

Can you cover up hail damage with body putty when you're repainting a car?

buglord posted:

How does a car move forward?

For a variety of uninteresting non-repair reasons I need to learn how cars work. Can I get a check for understanding and help with the last bit?

As I understand it, a 4 cylinder engine of a typical family sedan can have a 2 or 4 stroke mechanism. 2’s are used for smaller things like motorcycles but have some downsides, they were also made after 4 stroke. 4 stroke refers to the intake of air and fuel (latter being done by a fuel injector at the last moment), compression, explosion, and expulsion of air. Optionally, a turbo *thing* can be added where the expulsion of used air is spins a turbine as it leaves the car, which also sucks in more air from another source to provide more air for the engine.

Also opposite of the cylinders are usually 2 camshafts that have lobes on them which spin around thanks to the cylinders pushing them. These lobes physically push the intake and exhaust valves open so air can move in and out of the manifolds. Then there’s a crank shaft thing on the opposite end of the cylinders which gets pushed by the cylinders, and this mechanical energy had to go somewhere and turn into car-go-forward energy. Is that where the transmission comes in? I’m having trouble conceptualizing that conversion of energy and how it propels a car forward and why transmission is necessary for a car when more gas should mean more spinning disks which should mean more power…somewhere?

Fake edit: Also I forgot to put in that the liters or CC of an engine is determined by the volume of all the cylinders combined. This has some relation to the power of the engine of some sort. Also you can just add more cylinders instead of making them bigger which is potentially easier, which is why you see 4,6,8 cylinder configurations in either in-line l or V shapes (l6,V8). Is that right too?

Lieutenant Dan posted:

Hey AI, I have a series of very stupid questions. I own a (fully paid off) 2011 Jeep Wrangler that I can't drive any more because I was diagnosed with a big fuckoff tumor. The logical thing to do would be to sell the Jeep to pay my medical bills, but the problem is, I was out so long that 1. the battery is dead, 2. I can no longer drive for medical reasons, 3. I can't afford to re-register the car - I was hospitalized after moving to Vermont and procrastinated on changing my plates (I know, I know). In VT, new registration costs "6% of the purchase price or the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) clean trade-in value, whichever is greater"; that amount of money is more than I make in a month since I'm buried under medical bills. Is there any way to sell a car without registering it, if I own the title? Should I replace the battery before selling it? And is it possible to sell a car if you can't physically drive?

NotNut posted:

Is it possible to fix up a car's interior? Looking at one right now and that's a sticking point. It's got falling headliner fabric, cracked plastic and fabric peeling off the door.

smackfu posted:

Our 2010 Mustang has chipping / bubbling paint at the front edge of the hood. The hood itself seems fine, but it’s starting to look ugly. How would that normally be fixed?

smackfu posted:

Thanks! That seems reasonable. It’s black which is hopefully the cheapest color?

nwin posted:

I didn’t see any kind of waxing/car-washing thread so here goes:

I don’t have a lot of time to detail my car (a newborn and a toddler take most of my time) but I want to get rid of some scratches and a few chips on the hood. I try and hand wash the car once a month.

Here’s a link to some pictures. I don’t think they’re too deep but I’m not sure the best course of action. I didn’t take pictures of the chips but they are very small (like the size of a panko bread crumb) and I guess Dr. Colorchip is the way to go for those.

Anyways-what’s the best bang for the buck in fixing these scratches? I don’t think any of them are too deep.

https://imgur.com/gallery/gRNsRt1

sarcastx posted:

Ausgoons: I'm in the States but trying to help my aunt find a good used car for my cousin's first car. Is there something like carsales.com.au but a bit less poo poo and with maybe a better dealer integration? She's mentioned seeing a few specific cars on dealer's lots but then I go on CarSales and there's a really limited view of what's available in her area - like, she'll say she saw a blue Corolla hatchback at a shop but then when I search for Corollas I won't be able to find the car she's specifically referring to.

I guess I'm thinking of like - how AutoTrader or cars.com in the USA seem to sync up with most dealer's inventory so that when you search for a specific make/model/year in a specific ZIP code you have a fairly accurate representation of actual cars you can buy.

She's in the sticks so it'd be helpful if the site allows you to start with a certain scope and expand outwards.

PeterCat posted:

I replaced the steering gear and power steering pump on my 73 Cutlass Supreme. The pump and gear manufacturer's instructions for bleeding the system state to turn the steering wheel from lock to lock with the engine running with the wheels off the ground to get air out of the system.

Is this necessary? Everything I've been told says not to run the engine while the car is up on a jack or jack stands.

I'm considering just jacking the car under the engine cross member as that seems to be the most even point for getting the front wheels off the ground.

RadioPassive posted:

semi tires are a lot more expensive, the gap between inflation system cost and additional wear on underinflated tires is probably bigger for semis than hummers

cursedshitbox posted:

Class8 hardware is significantly larger than what is used in a humvee allowing for more robustness via oversized components which reduce wear and failure points.

One is also built for the military at a quality/price point, one built to do a job for 5yr/500k-mi at minimum.
The humvee is also IRS/IFS whereas class8 is typically on live axle front/rear. Fewer moving parts, Lower complexity.

MOVIE MAJICK posted:

A suspension issue has recently got my Nissan Murano deemed unsafe to drive. It's sitting at a shop in south carolina and I'm trying to get a salvage company to come take it and give me money. Problem is, the car has a Canadian title that I never registered in the US. I'm here on a student visa and the temporary nature of my stay rules made it so I could avoid doing this. Turns out this has screwed me as far as being able to sell the car to a salvage company or even get someone to take the drat thing off my hands.

What should I do? Will it take forever to get the car registered?

PeterCat posted:

I finally completed replacing the steering gear and power steering pump on my 73 Cutlass Supreme. Seems like everything is fine, but the steering wheel is a couple of degrees off when the car is driving straight.

Can I fix this by disconnecting the rag joint, rotating the steering shaft a couple of degrees, and re-connecting it?

PeterCat posted:

NotNut posted:

Is it a bad sign when you're selling a car and someone wants to buy it without test driving it, using Paypal or a cashier's check?

Javid posted:

318. a more capable junkyarder than I could probably find one; I struck out locally + on the websites I know (most of which don't even list the part)

Ok Comboomer posted:

How might it have moved that way? Forgive me, I don’t know how the used market works in that area, by which I mean pre-dealer wholesale/etc.

Fender Anarchist posted:

Hiya AI, been a while. My Crown Vic was parked all through last year, and at some point in there, my center mirror fell off the windshield, base and all. There's a big ol block of adhesive still stuck to the glass. Good old Florida heat, eh?

So:
1. What's the best way to get the old glue off? It feels hard, I'm assuming it's some kind of epoxy.
2. What's the best way to reattach the mirror?

opengl128 posted:

Was that written by a computer?

HenryJLittlefinger posted:

Hm, I’ve never heard of that. I have a propane torch and brake cleaner. I like the smoke machine idea but I don’t have the stuff to build one.

Head Bee Guy posted:

Where’s a good place to rent a Sprinter-style van these days? I’m in NYC fwiw and gotta make a run to a storage unit upstate.

The enterprise truck rental in Queens was like “yeah we don’t have anything. Not sure when that’ll change”

Detective Thompson posted:

I don't know if this is quite the right thread for this, but I'm trying to identify a car. I've driven by it a number of times now, but the road is too busy/without a shoulder to pull over and take a photo. I can't make out anything that looks like a name. It's very small, for one person or maybe two in a tight setup. I think it's probably from the 70s, going by the design and the particular shade of orange it's painted. It's wedge-shaped, and fairly flat out back, though I don't think completely flat. Pretty sure it has four wheels, so not some wacky three wheeled car. Large windshield, can't really remember if it has doors on the side or if it's a situation where the front of the car is also the door. Like I said, I can never make out anything like a brand name or recognize whatever ornament it has on the front, but I recall seeing some numbers on the side of it, set up like '40/30', though I can't remember the actual numbers, just pretty sure about the slash dividing them. Hopefully this isn't too vague and someone with knowledge of weird little cars from around the 70s has a thought.

taqueso posted:

The two SDS I looked up, Purple Power and Splash -20, both use methanol. These are kinds I would typically buy. Do I need to switch to something else?

Invalido posted:

If they're sold commercially they're fine. Here the main alcohol used for freeze protection is sometimes isopropanol but most commonly ethanol, but of the cheap denatured industrial kind that contains a methanol fraction too. A little methanol is no biggie, a lot might be.

Head Bee Guy posted:

Where are the preferred places to get a rental these days? Trying to drive from LA to SF in mid january, and I want a non-shitbox to drive up the PCH.

Are the shortages still so bad that it’s “anything you can get”?

Inner Light posted:

Do they have actually good Vettes or are they the base base model? Do they or other non-Turo places have Mustang GT vs. the V6?