The Automotive Thread

[Road Guy]

I've always wanted to fix up one of the jeeps I had but just never had the money... I can't really comment on what to get... I know if I didn't have 3 kids I would have a jeep XJ (4 door jeep)..... However , What I want is not in the cards at the moment...

I do really want to put a 3 inch lift on the old tahoe I have when I buy new tires for its so I can get some bigger tires, but probably won't just cause it's not really worth it, won't make it that much better for the snow, but would help for off road activities (accessing better less crowded hiking trails)...wish I could defer that decision a year but I am going to need new tire before snow season starts..

Back to smaller decisions..for the plasti dip, did you use the grit? I'm also going to do my rear view windows black for shits and giggles to try and break up the 90's style hunter green....

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

No grit. I just used the plain rattle can plasti-dip

 

[knight1fox3]

Any thoughts on this? Seems pretty reasonable to me. Corresponding Android app is like $5 I think.

http://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Interface-Scanner-Adapter-Android/dp/B005M1AVFQ#productDetails

 

[NJmike PE]

Any thoughts on this?  Seems pretty reasonable to me.  Corresponding Android app is like $5 I think.

http://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Interface-Scanner-Adapter-Android/dp/B005M1AVFQ#productDetails

It's good for engine codes. My neighbor has a similar one. However these kinds don't pick up other sensor codes (ie. abs)

 

[MA_PE]

I bought this one for $20 a while ago.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JTRXKQQ?psc=1

and I use a $5 iphone app called Engine Link. It allows you to reset fault codes. For a total out lay <$30 I thought it was ok.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Fuck this car. Now I have a potential axle failure. Hopefully it's only the boot, but with my luck I'm looking at another $500 repair...

 

[engineergurl]

Didn't you make fun of my 12 year old car? I'm thinking it's going to outlast yours at the rate you are going Dex...

 

[snickerd3]

so did you win csb?

 

[Road Guy]

hope it is just the boot!

sadly some local won the jeep Cherokee.. I was truly hoping it would have been someone from here.. I never win anything so I only bought one ticket but didn't expect to win....

 

[Road Guy]

& that plasti dip stuff is pretty awesome, much improvement over the "DIP" that you had to actually dip from the 90's..

I am going to have to re do my side view mirrors cause I forgot I had (insert random kid activity parent meeting for the weekend) Number 6 Sunday night and it was raining when I left so it got messed up before it fully dried..

 

[Supe]

Fuck this car. Now I have a potential axle failure. Hopefully it's only the boot, but with my luck I'm looking at another $500 repair...

Looks like a boot tear only. If you broke an axle, you would know it. If you're lucky, that's an easy repair. They like to spring load the half shafts, and usually don't bother with C clips to hold it in. My Ford IRS shafts were like that - you could knock them out of the pumpking with a few soft blows of a hammer, and then just push the axle outboard. Its made so you can remove the diff if necessary without having to disassemble the outer hubs.

 

[Supe]

Ordered new rotors and pads for the Astra. Rear pads and rotors were shot after ebrake froze up last winter, and the fronts are nearing the end of their life anyways. Given how I drive the thing, I'm surprised I got 70K+ miles out of them. Ordered from Rock Auto, got new pads, rotors, ebrake cable, and two sets of wiper blades for $211. That's tough to beat! Pads are decent ceramics, supposed to be similar in makeup to a Hawk HPS, so I hope they have better bite than the stock organics which are GARBAGE. They go from nothing, nothing, nothing to ABS kicking in.

May do them this weekend, but I'm about ready to start my transmission installation in the RX7. I need to bench bleed the clutch master, route the TOB line, and bleed the TOB assembly before I install it, but then I'm ready to replace the pilot bushing, bolt up the clutch, measure for correct TOB clearance/shims, and then pray that it all fits togethers. I'm SUPER nervous about that part, since it's all been measuring and educated guessing up to this point... If it fits, then I can fab a crossmember, order a driveshaft, and the drivetrain will be done.

This pic is about two weeks old, but not much has changed other than the seat being mocked up and the pedal pads installed.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing with my brakes. It needs new pads, but about half the people I talk to say I have to replace the rotors because they can't be resurfaced. The other half say I can just scuff up the current rotors with sandpaper and be fine (so long as they aren't grooved). If I only replace pads, I'll probably go with the Hawk HPS. They are the only thing that work on a daily driver that beat the OEMs (most say the OEMs are close to the best I can get).

If I have to replace the rotors too, I'm thinking of going with some Stillen drilled/slotted. They aren't that much more expensive than OEM but have better cooling.

 

[Supe]

My $.02, don't use drilled rotors. Slotted are fine. Drilled rotors are notorious for a) caking up with garbage, and b) cracking around the holes. Even when they don't crack through, they craze crack, which wears your pads down faster. There really is no advantage.

 

[Road Guy]

Supe, where does the 8-track go?

Man I don't know if I have the patience to do that type of build but it does look pretty sweet!

 

[Supe]

Supe, where does the 8-track go?

Man I don't know if I have the patience to do that type of build but it does look pretty sweet!

Believe it or not, the dash actually goes back in there, and covers everything in there except the tops of the master cylinder reservoirs in the middle of the windshield.

I don't have the patience to do it either, I guess thats why I don't do it for a living anymore...

So I go to put my clutch in this weekend, when I see a suspect helicoil in the crank bolt holes (I knew there were two in there, one looked "weird".)

So I look closely at them both - one was installed incorrectly, and only has about three usable threads in it. The rest are mangled in a ball down in the bolt hole. Had to fish that one out, re-tap, and install a new helicoil.

Now the other one... the asshole drilled the hole too big! The coil could literally be pushed in by hand, and didn't even attempt to tighten up! It must have cross-threaded itself last time the flywheel was installed to have even snugged up.

So, I have ordered an EZ-lok insert, which is a 9/16-12 outside thread, and a 7/16-20 inside thread. Because its such a thin insert, you actually have a shorter thread engagement on the OD, and have to oversize the hole juuuust past 9/16 before tapping. I ordered the correct tap, drill bit, and insert off Amazon, should be here tomorrow.

If that doesn't work (with a f*ckload of red loctite), then I'm SOL and will likely need a new motor (rebuild after removing/replacing crankshaft isn't worth it). I should note that another Helicoil or Timesert won't work, because the OD of the hole would result in too much material removal to accomodate a 7/16" ID bolt.

 

[Ble_PE]

It's not quite on the same level as some of the things your folks are doing, but I changed the transmission fluid and replaced the spark plugs in my cr-v this weekend. I've got a few other things I need to do now that it's over 100k miles, but it's still running great and I plan on driving it for several more years.

 

[Supe]

I also did some work to a CRV this weekend (2005 model). The GF's window regulator failed. The support cable has two little ferrules on the ID of the plastic piece, and one of them snapped. Dealership wanted $500 to fix. I called bullshit.

Ordered the part for $65 off Rock Auto. Honda did a nice job with the door design. Had a huge hole in there to remove/install it through. 1 electrical plug, 3 10mm bolts for the motor, 4 10mm bolts for the regulator assembly, 2 10mm bolts attaching the glass to the regulator. It took longer to figure out how to get the damned door panel off and on than it did to replace the regulator. Took me about 45 minutes altogether, all I needed was a single socket, a small pry bar, and a phillips head screw driver to do it. 15 minutes of that was me trying to figure out how I f'd up the door lock, but then I realized it only "works" when the door is latched...

I barely even had any parts left over when I was done!

 

[Road Guy]

I waxed my Tahoe old School yesterday (by hand-no orbital buffer, I must have sold it before I moved at our garage sale from hell). wasn't too bad, I applied the wax and then delegated the removal to my 3 kids. really saved me a lot of time I just had to supervise.. made them put two coats on the front and rear where it takes a pretty good beating when it snows..

it would look nice it if wasn't green...

Im getting new tires this week. getting the Pro-Comp version of the BF Goodrich Al Terrain-winter tires.. 4 Wheel Parts is offering me 1 free alloy rim if I have a whole set put on with the tires. So that would make my $800 tires run about $1200....

Someone talk me out of the black alloy rims?

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

There are much better tires out there than the BF Goodriches for the same (if not lower) price. The All-Terrains have been riding their name for 15 years and haven't changed anything, whereas most of the other brands have been improving treadlife, grip, compounds, etc and can far exceed the BFG's now. The BFG's do look good though.

We use the Bridgestone Dueller Revo's on Mrs Dex's Jeep and they are absolute rockstars.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Dueler+A%2FT+Revo+2