who is wrenching today?

[Howard]

Changed the spark plugs. They look pretty nasty.

 

[KoolAidKid]

Dropped an engine back into my 2001 prelude (car project #2, #1 is a 1991 MR2 with a Gen3 3SGTE in it) this afternoon. I am finishing up an H23A swap. Maybe another three hours' worth of work before I turn the key. My body hurts.

 

[halik]

Put the front end on the ducati back together and torqued everything to spec. Also swapped in the new tank, which ended up being a messy clusterfuck of gas spills everywhere.

 

[SSSnail]

Changed out my coolant, oh, and the entire cooling system with it.

 

[JCH13]

Going to help my old FSAE team on a 'test and tune' day.

Oh how I wish I knew what I know now when I was a driver in college...

 

[BassBomb]

Installed summer set

 

[mvbighead]

Ugh, it's been a while.

Well, I just replaced the catalytic converter on my 05 Equinox. Was throwing a P0420. While I had the cat out, I noticed I could reasonably easily access the back sparks plugs with the pipe out of the way. I had already attempted to do plugs once, the front was easy, but the back was TERRIBLE. I ended up reversing my work and put it off for another day, which ended up being yesterday.

Anyhoo, new plugs and new cat and the car seems to be running a LOT better. While it is no speed demon, it does accelerate noticeably better than it used to.

 

[thescreensavers]

Going to help my old FSAE team on a 'test and tune' day.

Oh how I wish I knew what I know now when I was a driver in college...

lol couldn't of been worse then what happened to me during Autocross this year. Lets just say Anti Submarining belt did not work + under breaking + I am 6'2 D:

 

[JCH13]

lol couldn't of been worse then what happened to me during Autocross this year. Lets just say Anti Submarining belt did not work + under breaking + I am 6'2 D:

Lulz, well it sounds like the submarine belt worked... but you poor bastards got a 5-point harness, not a 6-point. I too have learned that lesson! D:

 

[thescreensavers]

Lulz, well it sounds like the submarine belt worked... but you poor bastards got a 5-point harness, not a 6-point. I too have learned that lesson! D:

Lol, it was never set up right so when I hit the brakes I slid forward 5 inches or so. I couldn't get off the Gas. Had to use the clutch but at the same time I was in a weird position so I had to push my self on the pedals to get back into position. It was ok for most of the track except slowing for slaloms which I plowed though spectacularly.

 

[JCH13]

Lol, it was never set up right so when I hit the brakes I slid forward 5 inches or so. I couldn't get off the Gas. Had to use the clutch but at the same time I was in a weird position so I had to push my self on the pedals to get back into position. It was ok for most of the track except slowing for slaloms which I plowed though spectacularly.

Hehe, I don't know if that's better or worse than shattering your testicles...

How'd you guys do overall?

 

[Pandasaurus]

This thread is too quiet, and it's been fun (for me, at least) to read... So, I hope the semi-necro is OK. (Please no ban? lol)

I replaced my knock sensor on Monday (yay, one DTC gone, only one to go before November!). Rockauto is awesome. Ordered the part around 3AM MST Friday, I think. Part shipped 11AM MST Friday. Arrived some time Saturday morning while I was at work. "3-5 day USPS Ground" shipping FTW? Supposed 5-10 minute job (according to every forum post/Youtube video I watched) turned into an hour. Mostly because of me being me...

It went something like this: *struggles to break bolt loose with a slightly-too-short socket for 20 minutes, finally gives up*

jlee: You know, things are easier when you use the right tools...
Me: Dad, can I borrow a socket extension?
Dad: What for?
Me: To replace my knock sensor?
Dad: It's probably just the wiring, you probably don't need to replace the whole thing.
Me: So... Can I borrow an extension? >.>


With the proper tool, and another 5 minutes of struggling (again) to break the bolt free, it finally came off. Surprise of surprises, just like half a dozen threads on NASIOC suggested, the sensor was cracked (and I wouldn't be surprised if it was over-torqued, with how much effort it took to get the bolt out). Another 10 minutes of trying to squeeze my hand into a space not intended for hands to fit in to get the screw to thread into the hole with the sensor facing the right direction, and it was finally done. Code is gone, yay! Oddly, CEL for the catalytic converter hasn't actually come back yet, just a pending code.

Today, I discovered (partly due to the relevant thread floating around here somewhere) that my car had no cabin air filter at all, which is apparently common on certain years and models of Subaru's... So, I threw one in. I also came to the conclusion that my paint is hopelessly un-fixable (short of the exdeath/jlee type of "fixing" it via either repainting the car, or replacing the car...), so I'll just have to deal with it.

Next up, in "The Broken Subie Saga", we'll start with Episode 5: Learn how to replace catalytic converters! That'll happen some time Soon™. Soon being... Some time before November, when emissions are due. lol

 

[BUTCH1]

I had the dreaded GM PO449 code, "bad evap canister solenoid", good news-the part is only $17, bad news, it's on top of the gas tank!. Not wanting to do a full tank drop I jackstanded the rear and removed 3 of the 4 bolts holding the tank (with the tank supported by a jack), removed the fill hose, evap hose and got the tank just low enough to get the solenoid out, now came the real fun, getting the solenoid on it's slide-on bracket blind. This took about an hour before I finally got it, then I got out Torque and cleared the code! yea!. Thing was with a code set in the ECU the remote-start feature of the car won't work and it's nice to use in hot FL weather. Shop price for repair-$300, my cost, $17. Took 3-4 hours but well worth it.

 

[NutBucket]

I actually took the WRX to the shop yesterday. It needed an alignment 😛

Gotta go back with some adjustable camber bolts though. The rear is a bit too negative.

 

[Howard]

Replaced the front bushing on my 2005 CTS 2.8L rear diff.

 

[JCH13]

Had some car club people over for garage night on Friday... it quickly turned into "JCH13 teaches remedial auto tech" much to my horror.

A guy with a WRX said he needed to replace both front wheel bearings. He was pissed because he had rebuilt the whole front end in the spring and the bearings were the only thing we didn't do himself because he didn't have a press (I do though).

Well, it turns out that one front axle nut had fallen off, and the other was about two turns away from falling off. The only thing actually keeping his wheels on the car was the brake rotor and caliper. D:

They hadn't been properly torqued, nor had the nut collar been peened into the keyway on the axle...

On top of that, his driver's side tie rod end wasn't even close to tight. It allowed about +/-1/2in of wobble in the driver's side wheel...

So I got everything sorted out, horrified to think that he'd been driving around like that for months but glad that no one got hurt or killed.

An Impreza was getting a strut bar installed in the front. A guy, not the owner, asked for a torque wrench that could do 65ft-lbs. Seemed a little odd to me, but I gave it to him (was focused on the WRX at that time). Heard *click... click... SNAP* and then "aww shit..." Turns out he had tried to torque a strut mount stud to 65ft-lbs because "every car I have ever owned used 65ft-lbs there". Turns out it was 1 other car that used that torque spec... 🙄 the Impreza's spec was 14.9ft-lbs. D:

So I removed the strut, popped out the broken stud, and put it back in with a bolt for now. Of course then it needed an alignment because everything had been taken apart and put back together. Turns out it had been running -3deg of camber on one side, and -0.4deg of camber on the other... I asked the owner if they had been corner-weighted or aligned since installing coil-overs... nope.

So I did the best front end alignment I could without corner-weighted struts and put everything back together.

People: for the love of all that is good, please, please, PLEASE follow good instructions for reassembling important stuff like suspension and brakes. I did not think people could be so irresponsible... clearly I was wrong.

 

[T2urtle]

Had some car club people over for garage night on Friday... it quickly turned into "JCH13 teaches remedial auto tech" much to my horror.

A guy with a WRX said he needed to replace both front wheel bearings. He was pissed because he had rebuilt the whole front end in the spring and the bearings were the only thing we didn't do himself because he didn't have a press (I do though).

Well, it turns out that one front axle nut had fallen off, and the other was about two turns away from falling off. The only thing actually keeping his wheels on the car was the brake rotor and caliper. D:

They hadn't been properly torqued, nor had the nut collar been peened into the keyway on the axle...

On top of that, his driver's side tie rod end wasn't even close to tight. It allowed about +/-1/2in of wobble in the driver's side wheel...

So I got everything sorted out, horrified to think that he'd been driving around like that for months but glad that no one got hurt or killed.

An Impreza was getting a strut bar installed in the front. A guy, not the owner, asked for a torque wrench that could do 65ft-lbs. Seemed a little odd to me, but I gave it to him (was focused on the WRX at that time). Heard *click... click... SNAP* and then "aww shit..." Turns out he had tried to torque a strut mount stud to 65ft-lbs because "every car I have ever owned used 65ft-lbs there". Turns out it was 1 other car that used that torque spec... 🙄 the Impreza's spec was 14.9ft-lbs. D:

So I removed the strut, popped out the broken stud, and put it back in with a bolt for now. Of course then it needed an alignment because everything had been taken apart and put back together. Turns out it had been running -3deg of camber on one side, and -0.4deg of camber on the other... I asked the owner if they had been corner-weighted or aligned since installing coil-overs... nope.

So I did the best front end alignment I could without corner-weighted struts and put everything back together.

People: for the love of all that is good, please, please, PLEASE follow good instructions for reassembling important stuff like suspension and brakes. I did not think people could be so irresponsible... clearly I was wrong.

Holy crap!!! I hope these guys don't actually do any autox or anything. Good thing u were there to help that would of been serious issues. No cotter pins at all?

How did u measure the camber? Laser level?

 

[JCH13]

Holy crap!!! I hope these guys don't actually do any autox or anything. Good thing u were there to help that would of been serious issues. No cotter pins at all?

How did u measure the camber? Laser level?

There were cotter pins in the rod-end studs, the nuts was just never tightened down all the way. Very weird.

They don't do any performance driving that I can tell. Most of them are just 'show car' kinda guys. I'm trying to get some of them to an auto-x at some point... but we'll have to do our own tech inspection the night before.

I did the alignment with my FM Hub Stands. I got 4- and 5-lug plates for it, so I can do many different makes and models.

 

[T2urtle]

Those FM Hub Stands are pretty cool. Sadly out of my budget for my needs anyways. I just wanted a quick measurement of my camber now to see if its changed since i moved my camber arm a little bit.


Yea thats very weird to have cotter pins and not have it tighten. That would of been very deadly, least the have you.

 

[T2urtle]

This happen over the weekend. Rear brake caliper bolts. I pulled left side out to find there was no lube inside and they were sticking. Rust was forming inside. Took a drill bit cleaned it out. Added sly glide and it gotten better. Go to right side and slight turn and bolt snapped!! Had to bring it to a shop to torch it out. Vice grips didn't help.

Would a map/pro plumber torch work for this and other minor rusty bolts?

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Okay, I'm pretty mechanically retarded and I would like not to be. My car is not in any need of even minor maintenance any time soon, but it is expensive to maintain plus I have my list of mods I would like to eventually work through. Looking long term, I don't want to have to be completely reliant on shops to do what mechanically inclined people would consider fairly easy to intermediate jobs. What's a good way to break into all this so I don't end up ruining my car the first time I try to do something to it?

 

[T2urtle]

^ get a cheaper car to toy with.

For people who dont know how to do things, i would not start your only means of transportation or a high $$ car because parts can be expensive and not aviabaly locally.

My best advice for you is to make local friends with similar cars. Get a car that is common or has a strong following. Anyone can fix a civic or get it running again but not everyone can do a E46 m3. Youtube is your best friend. I had to explain to a friend how to change a headlight bulb, i just linked her to it and it was done in 30 minutes.


Goodrevrnd, start easy to gain confidence. Air filter, cabin filter, oil change. spark plugs. Transmission fluids, brake jobs. What mods would you like to do on what car?

Lots of car clubs have tech days beginning of the year. I never went to one but i've seen pictures and i wish i went to some.

 

[GoodRevrnd]

e39 M5 :awe: So, you can see my simultaneous apprehension and desire to actually do some shit myself. If I still lived in LA I could get a better jump start on this because there are dozens of M5 forum members there. In Las Vegas I doubt there are even a dozen e39 M5s let alone forum members I could reach out to, and even regular 3 and 5 series from that era seem uncommon (compared to LA or SF where they are literally everywhere).

Mods I'm working toward: headlight swap, short shift kit, sway bars, steel brake lines, suspension upgrade.

Getting a beater to work on probably isn't going to happen. My house isn't big enough and the wife would never agree to it.

 

[BUTCH1]

e39 M5 :awe: So, you can see my simultaneous apprehension and desire to actually do some shit myself. If I still lived in LA I could get a better jump start on this because there are dozens of M5 forum members there. In Las Vegas I doubt there are even a dozen e39 M5s let alone forum members I could reach out to, and even regular 3 and 5 series from that era seem uncommon (compared to LA or SF where they are literally everywhere).

Mods I'm working toward: headlight swap, short shift kit, sway bars, steel brake lines, suspension upgrade.

Getting a beater to work on probably isn't going to happen. My house isn't big enough and the wife would never agree to it.

Most of that is the bolt-on variety, shouldn't be too hard, you will need to start buying tools, specially a torque wrench and with the brake line change-out you will need to do a brake bleeding.

 

[jlee]

Okay, I'm pretty mechanically retarded and I would like not to be. My car is not in any need of even minor maintenance any time soon, but it is expensive to maintain plus I have my list of mods I would like to eventually work through. Looking long term, I don't want to have to be completely reliant on shops to do what mechanically inclined people would consider fairly easy to intermediate jobs. What's a good way to break into all this so I don't end up ruining my car the first time I try to do something to it?

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And enjoy. :awe: