What did you do to your other car(s) today?
-
- Posts: 2043
- Joined: May 29, 2008 2:25 PM
- Location: Charlottesville, VA
I hate plastic car parts.
When my new clutch master arrived for the M5 I was surprised to see it was mostly plastic. Turns out the old failed one was too and it was an 11/2002 so I guess it might be okay.
Other than having to fit my big head and long arms up under the dash it was an easy enough process to swap them out. On my first car(truck) I could sit on the inner fender to adjust the carbs, change spark plugs, whatever; and work space has been heading downhill ever since. Anyway, easy peasy done. Fill reservoir and press pedal to check the feel and CRACK!!! POP! "D@//M" I had apparently broken the compression spring "bracket" on the pedal.
So it's late Saturday night. I have one more nice day, a Sunday, to find this cheap a$$ piece of plastic that I didn't have lined up quite right when I put everything back together.
Cold moves back in Monday.
When my new clutch master arrived for the M5 I was surprised to see it was mostly plastic. Turns out the old failed one was too and it was an 11/2002 so I guess it might be okay.
Other than having to fit my big head and long arms up under the dash it was an easy enough process to swap them out. On my first car(truck) I could sit on the inner fender to adjust the carbs, change spark plugs, whatever; and work space has been heading downhill ever since. Anyway, easy peasy done. Fill reservoir and press pedal to check the feel and CRACK!!! POP! "D@//M" I had apparently broken the compression spring "bracket" on the pedal.
So it's late Saturday night. I have one more nice day, a Sunday, to find this cheap a$$ piece of plastic that I didn't have lined up quite right when I put everything back together.
Cold moves back in Monday.
-
- Posts: 2043
- Joined: May 29, 2008 2:25 PM
- Location: Charlottesville, VA
-
- Posts: 5568
- Joined: Jul 11, 2010 1:17 PM
- Location: Ohio
- Contact:
-
- Posts: 5616
- Joined: Sep 10, 2006 7:06 AM
- Location: Melbourne, Doooown Under
Installed this stuff into a 2013 Boss 302 with 9sec Duhe
1. Long tube S/S headers with 3" X-pipe
2. Removed the 24lb. flywheel in favor of an 18lb. unit adding a ceramic puck disc & upgraded pressure plate.
3. Rear coolant connector between cylinder heads to cool
# 4 & # 8 when tracking the car.
4. Installed a carbon fiber drive shaft
,
Pitched the 120hp 4 cyl in the boat for an LS2 Aluminum V8 which weighs in 350 lbs. less wile producing 225hp more, it was a busy weekend.
1. Long tube S/S headers with 3" X-pipe
2. Removed the 24lb. flywheel in favor of an 18lb. unit adding a ceramic puck disc & upgraded pressure plate.
3. Rear coolant connector between cylinder heads to cool
# 4 & # 8 when tracking the car.
4. Installed a carbon fiber drive shaft
,
Pitched the 120hp 4 cyl in the boat for an LS2 Aluminum V8 which weighs in 350 lbs. less wile producing 225hp more, it was a busy weekend.
Replaced the touched up LF hub on the Rat. Three wheel studs loosened up. I noticed that there was an issue coming home from getting some used mufflers from Mario L. A clunk in front end when I used the brakes. So I stopped using them and puttered along in the right lane. Made it home w/o incidents . Clunka noise was a floppy wheel. Two studs loose in the hub. The wheel could just flop. It couldnt come off. I got them off. One with a hammer . Brute strength and ignorance as Charley Lach used to say. The second resisted the hammer and the blows were beating up the wheel. I drilled the face of a nut flat with an 1/8 bit.. Then another 180' off. Next, I split the nuts with a 1/2" cold chisel
This weekend was spent fixing the paint on my 88 Mercedes Benz 560SEC. I shot this car in metallic paint about a year ago and made a real pigs ear out of the sides. It was the first time I shot metallic and I had the pressure turned up too high on the gun which caused runs in the base and the metallic flakes to pool. By the time i figured out what was wrong, it was too late for the sides and it took me a year of messing around before I got back to it.
I've been spending a couple of hours / day sanding it back down at 600 grit and then re-shot on Friday. I was using a new gun which I bought for not a lot of money (more then the purple HF guns that I usually use). It turns out that the purple HF guns are much much better, this one was like painting with a garden sprayer. As a result, I got some runs in the clear but these could be fixed with wet sanding.
Next job is the bumpers and cladding and I bought a new HF gun for that purpose.
As the 560SEC is now in the garage, I had to leave the SL outside. Because there's always a car behind it, I never this car so even though it's raining, I've been rocking it all weekend.
I've been spending a couple of hours / day sanding it back down at 600 grit and then re-shot on Friday. I was using a new gun which I bought for not a lot of money (more then the purple HF guns that I usually use). It turns out that the purple HF guns are much much better, this one was like painting with a garden sprayer. As a result, I got some runs in the clear but these could be fixed with wet sanding.
Next job is the bumpers and cladding and I bought a new HF gun for that purpose.
As the 560SEC is now in the garage, I had to leave the SL outside. Because there's always a car behind it, I never this car so even though it's raining, I've been rocking it all weekend.
Picked up a new accessory for the X5 yesterday; a BMW roof-top ski carrier pod.
Best part was the price. Free, as in beer. My sister is relocating to AZ, and they've had this thing sitting in their garage since trading off their X5. The one thing that's missing though is the key for tightening the clamps to the rails. I figure if I can't get a replacement from the dealership, I might be able to get one from a sporting goods shop; the key that unlocks it says "Yakima" on it, so it's probably just standard Yakima gear. And if that doesn't pan out, I'll probably just replace the bolts in the clamps with some stainless socket cap bolts.
A bigger challenge right now is figuring out where to store the thing. It's big. Not terribly heavy, but I don't want to try carrying it solo; I'd surely scratch the crap out of it. It needs some cleaning right now, but it's in nice shape. I guess that's part of the trouble with having nice things.
Best part was the price. Free, as in beer. My sister is relocating to AZ, and they've had this thing sitting in their garage since trading off their X5. The one thing that's missing though is the key for tightening the clamps to the rails. I figure if I can't get a replacement from the dealership, I might be able to get one from a sporting goods shop; the key that unlocks it says "Yakima" on it, so it's probably just standard Yakima gear. And if that doesn't pan out, I'll probably just replace the bolts in the clamps with some stainless socket cap bolts.
A bigger challenge right now is figuring out where to store the thing. It's big. Not terribly heavy, but I don't want to try carrying it solo; I'd surely scratch the crap out of it. It needs some cleaning right now, but it's in nice shape. I guess that's part of the trouble with having nice things.
-
- Posts: 580
- Joined: Dec 04, 2012 2:06 AM
It rained all day here. Thanks.
I discovered the easy way to change out the CPS sensors on the back of the S62. Just pull the transmission. Makes for plenty of room for hands AND tools AND sensors. I still have all the skin over my knuckles and the guards/shields went back on this time too. Plus I get to run the car sans exhaust.
Now if it stops raining tomorrow I can get everything back together.
I discovered the easy way to change out the CPS sensors on the back of the S62. Just pull the transmission. Makes for plenty of room for hands AND tools AND sensors. I still have all the skin over my knuckles and the guards/shields went back on this time too. Plus I get to run the car sans exhaust.
Now if it stops raining tomorrow I can get everything back together.
-
- Posts: 1648
- Joined: Nov 08, 2011 11:02 PM
- Location: West Bro, MA
-
- Posts: 1585
- Joined: Feb 12, 2006 12:00 PM
- Location: Ottawa, Canada/North Carolina
-
- Posts: 580
- Joined: Dec 04, 2012 2:06 AM
-
- Posts: 6135
- Joined: Aug 05, 2007 4:57 PM
- Location: 24477
I didn't do anything for my cars this weekend, but did more to other cars than I have for a while; my church had our Spring Oil Change & Safety Check for single moms and widows. Last count I heard (had to leave a little early) was 105 cars went through the bays. I worked with two other guys, and we worked on 6 cars between 8 am and 1 pm; a pretty easy day compared to last fall. We did the same program and had about 200 cars roll through the 15 service bays we set up; we worked our tails off that day. And froze them off too (I think the high that day was 40° with nasty northerly winds.) Saturday was pretty pleasant; about 60° with a little sunshine and 5-10 mph winds.
We saw quite a variety of cars, everything from a rustbucket Chevy S10 to a nearly new Honda Odyssey with 15,000 miles on it. The best part of the day was putting 5 quarts back into a beat up Buick LeSabre after draining maybe 1-1/2 quarts out. Second best was bringing a car back to its owner, going over the checklist with her, and her crying over the new wiper blades we put on her car.
There were a lot of rolling wrecks that came through on Saturday -- lots of overly bald tires, bad brakes, etc... -- but we were only equipped for so much... About all we could do is make recommendations and referrals.
I went home afterward and changed the oil in my daughter's car, then put her summer tires on; she was home for the day, and was overdue for both. I'm gonna have to schedule some time with her to do some more extensive work on that car though; the front sway bar mounts are rusted and one of them has broken loose (common e36 problem I guess.) Great. Pretty sure it'll need new rear shocks at some point and probably front struts too.
We saw quite a variety of cars, everything from a rustbucket Chevy S10 to a nearly new Honda Odyssey with 15,000 miles on it. The best part of the day was putting 5 quarts back into a beat up Buick LeSabre after draining maybe 1-1/2 quarts out. Second best was bringing a car back to its owner, going over the checklist with her, and her crying over the new wiper blades we put on her car.
There were a lot of rolling wrecks that came through on Saturday -- lots of overly bald tires, bad brakes, etc... -- but we were only equipped for so much... About all we could do is make recommendations and referrals.
I went home afterward and changed the oil in my daughter's car, then put her summer tires on; she was home for the day, and was overdue for both. I'm gonna have to schedule some time with her to do some more extensive work on that car though; the front sway bar mounts are rusted and one of them has broken loose (common e36 problem I guess.) Great. Pretty sure it'll need new rear shocks at some point and probably front struts too.