The Automotive Thread

[FLBuff PE]

It's Wisconsin. They drink like Russians up there, so I don't blame him.

 

[knight1fox3]

^ LOL

 

[Supe]

Got MOST of the racecar in primer yesterday, since we had one day of weekend weather finally. Body is primed, as is the hood , rear bumper, both doors. Still need to prime the fiberglass nose/front fenders, and the rear decklid, but both of those need additional sanding/prep first. A little bit of orange peel texture to the primer/sealer, but all in all, not bad for a Summit Racing brand primer that cost $55/gallon and a $10 Harbor Freight HVLP gun. This thing is going to get destroyed, so I'm not exactly going for show quality.

That said, the primer showed a bunch of pinholes that I hadn't previously seen in the hood, but I hit those with thinned spot putty last night and will see how it sands out before giving another coat of primer/sealer prior to paint.

Oh, and I went super high-tech professional on this one - sprayed it in my driveway.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

The 6th Generation Camaro will be revealed on May 16th!!

http://www.chevrolet.com/2016-camaro/

 

[Supe]

My guess is identical to the 5th gen with a slightly different roof and pointier nose as far as styling is concerned.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

The spy shots I've seen so far show that the car is basically a refresh of the 5th Gen, but is built on the smaller alpha platform (Caddy ATS vs the current Caddy CTS).

 

[DVINNY]

^ exactly.

I was going to add that for it to be considered the next generation, it would need a platform change. That is what defined the difference of the 1st five generations.

 

[DVINNY]

I'm trying to calm my wife down, as I'm currently talking with my uncle about buying his '55 chevy off of him. It would be in addition to my '68. She's not taking the idea too well right now.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

^ exactly.

I was going to add that for it to be considered the next generation, it would need a platform change. That is what defined the difference of the 1st five generations.

I'm pretty sure Gen4 shared more chassis parts with the Gen3 than the SN95 Mustang shared with the Fox. Or if not more, about the same.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

BTW, as for recommendations for a vehicle for RG's kid, either a 98-00 Ford Ranger or a 95-02 Cavalier with the 2.2. Both dead reliable, if unexciting and both are quite safe.

I'd recommend stick for both.

 

[Supe]

Well, the vinyl I put on my rear fender flares starting lifting. ****** vinyl? No. Started lifting the gelcoat. Peeled it off, guess I have to add those into the "prime and spray" pile for the time being.

As for the rest of the vinyl, a good friend of mine who does vinyl has offered to take the car for 4 days when finished, design up a racing scheme for it, and go to town on it. He's a really creative guy, and asked if he could do something wild, so I'm really looking forward to dumping it on him at some point.

 

[engineergurl]

Can a bad wheel bearing really make your tire fall off?

 

[MA_PE]

I believe it'll wobble a LOT and make a LOT of noise before it falls off

 

[engineergurl]

I believe it'll wobble a LOT and make a LOT of noise before it falls off

good to know... THANK YOU

 

[Supe]

In all likelihood, there is still a castle nut that will hold your brake/hub assembly to a spindle. In other words, your wheel could damn near be flapping around and still not come flying off unexpectedly until that spindle/hub assembly itself fails.

On the racecar front, the ENTIRE car is now in primer. I had to remove the vinyl from one of my rear fender flares after it made it abundantly clear that it was not in it for the long haul, and was starting to peel on the edges. Thankfully, some really thinned out spot putty and two coats of primer hid some bad manufacturing defects and some 36 grit sanding scratches without a trace. If next weekend is nice, the RX7 will be satin black and ready for the next phase!

 

[NJmike PE]

So I just bought a bluetooth diagnostic scanner that will work with my phone, so I can clear the check engine codes. I need to run my through inspection, theoretically before the end of the month and here in NJ they only check emissions. Currently, check engine light is on due to a leaky gas cap or some other vapor pressure issue. If I clear the code before running it through state inspection, will it pass or will there be some kind of residual message on the computer that they could see?

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

In CO they used to do a gas cap pressure check with the emissions test, so even if you clear the code the car still has to pass their test. Not sure if they still do.

 

[Lumber Jim]

I believe it'll wobble a LOT and make a LOT of noise before it falls off

good to know... THANK YOU

broken lug nut studs can make the wheel fall off and only makes a bad noise for a short time before it happens... (or so I'm told by the family member that had this happen)

 

[Supe]

In CO they used to do a gas cap pressure check with the emissions test, so even if you clear the code the car still has to pass their test. Not sure if they still do.

In NC, you have to have 300 miles recorded by the ECU after a service light for them to retest. Keeps people from rolling it in and clearing the codes.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

In CO they used to do a gas cap pressure check with the emissions test, so even if you clear the code the car still has to pass their test. Not sure if they still do.

In NC, you have to have 300 miles recorded by the ECU after a service light for them to retest. Keeps people from rolling it in and clearing the codes.

The trick around that is that codes are generated with 3 consecutive faults at start. You can clear the codes and drive 300 miles without stopping and the codes wouldn't regenerate.