The Automotive Thread

[Supe]

No, but it's a Mazda street car. Has plates and everything...

Should come in handy. My buddy just ran Roebling Road down near Savannah which is on our events list next year. He makes about 100 hp less and in a car that weighs about 500 lbs more, and he was hitting 140 mph on the 5/8 mile stretch before you dive into a 180 degree turn. Sure hope the dang thing works!

 

[Capt Worley PE]

You gonna put a TypeR sticker on it? Those things are worth 50hp at the wheels.

 

[Supe]

No, just going to fit as many VTEC stickers on it as humanly possible.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

^It's kickin' in, yo.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

+50hp right here...

 

[Rockettt]

ill send a bowtie decal for xmas?

 

[Lumber Jim]

Changed out a front strut on my car last night. What a pain!! I had a few chioce words for the engineer that designed the mounting in regard to the lack of serviceability after hour 2. Will be attempting the other front strut tonight but with scabs on my knuckles from last night...

if there was about a 1/2" more travel in the assembly, it would have been a cake walk!!

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

I've got a couple fun projects lined up for me on the car. The first being the installation of a separate clutch fluid reservoir. The factory system has the brakes and clutch systems utilizing the same system, but for $60 in parts you can separate them to keep the brake system from slowly eating through the clutch (and vice versa). The second project is the installation of bushing inserts for the subframe and radius arm mounts on the car. They're supposed to help with body roll and tighten up the steering.

 

[pbrme]

The wifes car is finally showing signs of needing replacement. She drives a hand-me-down 85' firebird with a 350/400. She went to start it on Monday on her way to her clinical site and ended up having to take a cab. I got home and got it into the garage, the starter or flywheel seems eff'd. It cranks for a little, then *wzvvvvvvv* stater spins out. Try again, same thing. From previous experience, this is either a broken tooth on the flywheel ring gear or on the bendix gear. Told her I'd look into it on the weekend, but she doesn't want to invest time/money and is ready for something new. I don't blame her, rolling up to work as aspiring Nurse Practitioner while displaying the throwback 80's motif isn't encouraging.

We're waiting for our house refi to close (couple days) and then we're going shopping. I'll probably put some time/effort into fixing up the bird, so we can at least try to unload it. Will be looking at 4runners for replacement.

 

[blybrook PE]

Yeah, that sounds like a chipped tooth. Pretty easy to check for it, just pull the starter and look inside the housing. Had a car do that for quite a while; we just put it in gear and pushed it 5' to 6' to get it to where the starter would catch again.

Usually they are a pain to fix, either have to pull the engine or drop the trans. Good luck.

 

[MA_PE]

rolling up to work as aspiring Nurse Practitioner while displaying the throwback 80's motif isn't encouraging.

That's because it's downright intimidating. Is it a Formula?

 

[envirotex]

Had a car do that for quite a while; we just put it in gear and pushed it 5' to 6' to get it to where the starter would catch again.

Been there, done that.

Also, while in college and too poor to buy parts, had to bypass a bad solenoid with a screwdriver to get the starter to turn. Nothing gets more looks than basically hot wiring your car in the parking lot every time you go some where.

 

[Supe]

Changed out a front strut on my car last night. What a pain!! I had a few chioce words for the engineer that designed the mounting in regard to the lack of serviceability after hour 2. Will be attempting the other front strut tonight but with scabs on my knuckles from last night...

if there was about a 1/2" more travel in the assembly, it would have been a cake walk!!

That probably won't hurt as bad as having to pay for these stupid Ground Control coilovers for the RX7. Suckers are $1700! Going to have to save my pennies up for a while to get them.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

rolling up to work as aspiring Nurse Practitioner while displaying the throwback 80's motif isn't encouraging.

That's because it's downright intimidating. Is it a Formula?

The sad thing is that as much as I love ThirdGens, my Malibu Maxx has more hp than all but the 350 TPIs.

 

[Lumber Jim]

Changed out a front strut on my car last night. What a pain!! I had a few chioce words for the engineer that designed the mounting in regard to the lack of serviceability after hour 2. Will be attempting the other front strut tonight but with scabs on my knuckles from last night... if there was about a 1/2" more travel in the assembly, it would have been a cake walk!!

That probably won't hurt as bad as having to pay for these stupid Ground Control coilovers for the RX7. Suckers are $1700! Going to have to save my pennies up for a while to get them.

You're right. I don't remember who on this board suggested it but I got a smoking good deal on the parts at rockauto.com (one of them was half price and the prices were already lower than anybody around). Total cost was $230 for monroe struts and mounts for the front. The auto shop quoted me ~$1000 dollars for the same parts with labor to install them!!

By the way, I got the other strut installed last night and only busted my knuckles once! Still took about an 1.5 hours of messing around and prying though...

 

[Lumber Jim]

^^^^ $230 included shipping from Texas!!

 

[blybrook PE]

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I've been getting parts from Rock Auto and recommend them to others. They got the best prices when compared to local shops and shipping to AK is better than anywhere else.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

I remember it taking me and my brother the better part of a Saturday to install a 2" lift kit on my Pathfinder a few years ago. The suspension was old and needed replaced, and through some research discovered that it was cheaper to install a 2" lift than to buy factory replacements. I think we paid ~$800 for shocks/struts and springs. The challenging part was trying to get all the bolts removed as they had been untouched for almost 80k miles.

 

[blybrook PE]

Dex, that's when you break out the blue wrench. It's the best tool for most jobs dealing with rusted / old / crusty bolts. Just be careful with it; otherwise you'll set the rig on fire or melt the wrong wire.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

We had a 2' breaker bar in full force by the end. That and probably a gallon of WD-40...