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I have no projects, which kinda sucks. I have a 2012 Volvo that just doesn’t break. I added CarPlay to it a year ago, and that was a fun… hour. My other car is a S2000, and it just doesn’t break, and I’m not interested in tuning it. I found a very, very sketchy Fairlady I could buy for almost nothing and spend almost everything to restore it. Should I do it? Financial ruin awaits!
Not exactly my wrenching problem, but it’s becoming my problem. I have an ’08 Escape that I’m “selling” to my nephew who just got his license. I’ve had the thing since new and it’s been pretty trouble free, but since it’s going to a brand new driver, I wanted a pro to give it a once over.
I knew it had a hole in the exhaust and some rusted out exhaust hangers, and paying someone to deal with that corroded mess would have been well worth it. The catch is that it’s been in the shop for *five months* waiting on parts. I’ve been pretty patient, as I don’t need it to get to work, but it’s wearing thin. I raised a bit of hell after the turn of the new year and my service rep told me he was going to call me in “one or two days” on Monday. Hasn’t called yet.
Late as usual because time is a flat circle and life has no meaning, but I HAVE NEW TIMING BELT COVERS FOR THE PARSH: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnTjaWiO6hN/
Extremely excited to have a set where the stupid captive nuts aren’t stripped out.
Does anyone here have experience with putting in a rear camera on a Jeep TJ or similar?
I cannot for the life of me figure out where I want to mount the thing.
Tailgate, my first choice, is a hard no, because there is no way to run wire to it.
License plate is problematical because it already bumps into the bottom of the tail light
Bumper would be weird since the camera is one of those square things and it would stick out and likely get broken.
I changed the oil in our E61 tranny. My wife says it shifts beautifully now and seems faster. This made me happy on many levels.
I like this segment, keeps up engaged.
General question – Has anyone added remote start to a manual? I see the common models bypass the neutral switch and require the parking brake be set. Living in the Northeast, firing up the car to let the frost/snow melt a bit is a life saver.
I was taught, and still do, put car in gear you don’t want to roll (default first), set parking brake, turn off.
What are your experiences? Do you feel comfortable with set to neutral, parking brake, remove keys, wait for door to close to stop motor. Any horror stories of the car deciding now would be great time to lurch forward?
The neutral switch bypass is really the best option, but only on older cars. Most of the newer cars I have driven require your foot to be on the brakes to start is well. I grew up in the northeast and dealt with this myself and would recommend leaving it be. You are either going to forget you left in gear, or your going to wake up with the parking brake frozen on.
Many time I have sat in a freezing car waiting for the defroster to kick in. The DTS is nice, point at car, start, come up and wipe off the remaining frost or loose snow.
Yes I could get out the manual, but with it being in the open with keys in it and running, might as well put a Steal Me sign in the window. For those that can drive a manual that is.
Doing that with the winter cars (awd Subarus) would be an excellent option but I can live with out it.
“Bypassing the NSS” is, as a point of fact, absolutely the wrong answer. People who do this hurt my soul and will eventually hurt themselves, potentially very badly. Even with a parking brake sensor. It only checks if the damn handle is pulled, not if the thing’s actually engaged.
The correct way to implement this is a NSS. “Wait, what? It’s a MANUAL!” Yes, and? Your key safety objective here is ‘car must not be in gear.’ So you implement an NSS, backwards. i.e. it needs to enable when not in gear, disable when in gear.
Now as to how you implement this exactly? This is an exercise left up to the reader, because it’s unique to every car. The two boxes you need to tick are that it needs to function as an electrical interlock, and it needs to have a mechanical interlock. On some linkages, it may be feasible to implement as a simple microswitch that is pushed in by the linkage when the car is in neutral. Or you may use a ‘slider’ or ‘lock-button’ on the shifter assembly that completes a circuit while locking you out of gear.
And yes, this is incompatible with parking in gear. Parking in gear is something I don’t express much opinion on because there’s pros and cons on both sides. And it’s not harmful unless you forget to take it out of gear when starting it. But for remote start? You can’t park in gear, simple as that. Not unless you’ve got something like an Xtrac that can go into mechanical neutral from electrical signal. ;P
This is the system I am looking at for the two manuals -> https://www.compustar.com/blog/can-you-remote-start-a-manual-transmission-stick-shift-vehicle/
It has the run until door closed. So if I leave it in gear, the engine will stall when I get out.
I put remote start in my Civic wagon. I usually park in neutral until the one time I didn’t, the starter motor ran the car into a flower pot pushing the pot into the side of the house. I was able to disable it before the engine started but it did damage the stucco. I am much more careful about parking in neutral now, and I set it up so that only one fob has remote start mapped to it, the one I carry every day doesn’t.
Automobile wrenching goes on hold for a few months in January, and I move to mentoring on a FIRST Robotics team about 15 hours a week (evenings and Saturday). I wish my high school would have had the equipment that this one does. They have a mill, CNC Router, Lathe, Welders, 3D printers, all kinds of metal fab stuff, and this year added a small laser cutting table. I mostly stick to the electrical team, but try to help with other teams when I can. It’s a lot of fun and the kids are great to work with and really interested in learning new things.
Relevant to this morning’s dump, I am replacing all my fuel lines to newer hose that is rated for E85 and wiring in an ethanol content sensor.
Repairing my 62 Lincoln that got hit in November
Getting a 63 Buick Electra 225 to start and run
Pulled the glass on a 63 Impala to metal flake the roof and dash
Custom painting a 78 C10
Quarter panels on a 73 nova
Reclearing a 74 Camaro
Custom painted some motorcycle tins
I have a wrenching question for the Jeep & wheeling crowd. I went down a rabbit hole last night questioning everything I believe about the proper order of which goes first, the spring isolator or the leveling block on front of my lifted XJ. The height is perfect and its a really short spacer, I thing .75″ but the instructions from Rubicon Express said to do go isolator to the spring cup, then the spacer, and then the spring. I was watching something on YT last night and I noticed they had theirs spacer, isolator, spring. That’s when things started unraveling. I must have watched 12 more videos, numerous web forums, and all the instruction guides on Quadratec.com. The only answer I have come up with is that it definitely isn’t one or the other. Its an enigma wrapped in a riddle and now I need to know. What comes first: te spacer or the damn isolator!
*Wish I could post a picture of what I am talking about, but my account would probably get Kinja’d even if I could anyway,
I put spacers on the front of my XJ 24 years ago and I’m fairly sure the spacer was on top of the spring.
Anyone else have some experience with this more recently? I appreciate you sharing your wisdom and that is one vote for isolator, spacer, spring.
I will admit the more I read your comment though, I am not sure what your vote is for…
Sorry, I remember now: from the top, it was the spacer, isolator, and then the spring.
No worries! So now we have one vote for spacer-isolator-spring and mine for isolator-spacer-spring.
I am noticing a trend developing here. Maybe it doesn’t matter since they both have the same shape for the spring to set in? If only there was someone at this site with an engineering degree and a love for Jeeps to clear this all up. HMMMMMM
The real question here is what is the spacer made of?
If it is poly, rubber, or anything else kinda soft it doesn’t really matter but I personally want the isolator on the chassis mount.
Think about what the job of the isolator is; it is to keep the steel spring, with limited contact area, from having direct contact with the body. It is spreading out and softening the load because a spring would just beat it to death and crack it. If you have a poly spacer it has a larger contact area like the isolator so it’s not a huge deal but I like the idea of soft material there.
If you have an aluminum spacer 110% isolator on the body side of it. You want to avoid that hard metal on metal uncushioned contact.
It is a poly spacer like 3/4′ thick. Just slightly larger than the isolator itself. So if I am understanding you correctly you would go isolator, spacer, spring.
It seems like under 1″ they go isolator/spacer/spring, and larger than 1″ goes spacer/isolator/spring.
So, this is actually not a safety/function question, it’s a drivability question.
As was pointed out: metal on metal BAD! Super bad! This will break springs and frames and worse.
But when it comes to the rubber parts? So long as the spacer has a proper lip to ensure the springs stay centered, it’s purely personal preference. If the spacer cannot keep springs centered, then it must go before the perch/isolator. That’s just basic “well duh” there of course.
But when it comes to both parts serving both functions? Your choice is one of ride quality. Generally speaking if you put the higher durometer (harder) rubber on the outside, you’ll have a bit more noise but slightly smoother ride. If you put the high durometer on the inside, you’ll have about the same noise but a slightly harsher ride. Enough to notice? It depends on the specific rubbers, the condition of the springs, and far too many factors to give one sure answer. On an older Jeep with worn parts though? Probably won’t notice any real difference at all.
Speaking more generally: offroading can put a LOT of lateral load on the suspension. So when it comes to the spring perch setup, I will by default favor the highest durometer of the two at the inside and the softer at the outside, if both provide equal lip. If one provides greater lip, that’s what I want the springs on to reduce the risk of slip.
Being familiar with Rubicon Express’ parts, I generally would default to their instructions. They know their stuff better than I do.
My CEL on the Sonic is more fun by the week. Last time, another reader pointed me towards some secondary air pump/valve problems that might be causing my p0420 catalytic converter error code, but on further look, it seems those should provide their own error codes if they aren’t performing correctly:
https://www.csmans.com/secondary_air_injection_system_description-2106.html
I did some more digging and saw that Chevy provided a supplemental warranty up to 150k miles, which I’m under by a bit! Fantastic. I called, set up warranty service, only to find after talking to no less than five people that this warranty isn’t valid in the state where I live. Boo-urns. So I paid a dealership a $200 diagnostic fee to tell me my light was a p0420, and they wanted to replace the cat for $3000. At least I got a car wash out of the deal.
Maybe I attempt to change the part myself once it warms up around here.
So my current wrenching needs is basically that I have to get my engine block from the machinist. I keep getting the money for it and then something goes to shit and I need to get tires for the wife’s car, or I need to pay an unexpected bill, or something happens and I’m quietly fucked until I can get the money scrounged up for it.
I have a move coming up in late May, early June and I was hoping to have everything put together and starting to break the engine in by the end of this month but I still don’t even have the block back.
Its… frustrating on many many levels. One of the ones that I’m sure is going to bite me soon is that the longer a vehicle sits, the worse it gets and its starting to get to the point now that the (formerly good, no issues) battery won’t start the truck even when I hook the charger up and let it charge overnight.
I love my Miata, but I miss The Truck.
Perhaps one of the new features for the site should be some sort of gofundme on our profiles for everyones projects? Or the writers can do personalized messages for a fee that goes into a general fund. I still think they are missing out on a huge opportunity by not registering as a religion. If the Pastafarians can do it we Autopians should be able to as well.
The problem with that, is that we have Saab owners. Especially this Saab owner.
What, you think the Porsche has expensive parts? Ha. Not even close.
Go look up the price for the OE 130A alternator for a 2001 Saab 9-3 Viggen. Now go look up the OE reman starter for the same.
And no, the aftermarket listed Bosch is not the same. (OE is SR0476X; 1.45KW with markedly better anti-corrosion.)
I’m just happy when I can find parts for my 1967 96. Even air filters for the two-stroke are becoming more of a challenge.
Ehhh. I’d feel weird about a gofundme for my stuff. Then I feel as if I’d owe people stuff and… ehhhh
While waiting (not so) patiently for my next car to be ready for me to pick up (it’s getting some body & paint work done), I’m contemplating making our sensible family car (Seat Leon wagon with a 1.5L 150hp engine) faster as well as searching for a second hand sidecar for my Vespa. Making the Leon faster would be fun when road tripping to Germany, but not very useful around London given the congestion, low speed limits, and speed cameras. And adding a sidecar to my electric Vespa would be fun, but then I couldn’t lane split on my commute, so also probably not a good idea. My next car better be ready soon before I do something stupid.
Fun – and kinda useless – fact: I needed a clamp to join two 1.5″ OD exhaust pipes in a butt connection (settle down, Beavis…) on a project bike. I searched auto parts stores, eBay, etc. and finally found what I needed on Amazon.
It’s a 38mm x 90mm exhaust clamp from a Seat Ibiza. So the small Japanese bike modeled after a larger British bike will have Spanish exhaust clamps. Olé. 🙂
I have to do my least favorite car-related activity this weekend: put a car up for sale. My crappy little Corolla has become superfluous since I inherited my dad’s car, and I never liked the little shitbox anyway. But it means I have to deal with a thousand stupid questions, lowball offers, amd scam artists. If I didn’t need to get some money back out of it, I’d probably junk the thing, or donate it, even though it runs and drives fine, just to avoid the hassle.
On what day of the week was it manufactured and when were the bushings in the steering column last replaced? I might be willing to offer you $78.50 for it if you’ll deliver it to my house with a full tank of gas and accept an out of state third party invalid check as payment.
Oh, wait, unless it’s a ’95. That’s a well-known problematic year for that model of car, so you’ll need to come down a lot more on the price.
I don’t know if it is the best advice here, but you might deal with less shit on Nextdoor (for selling stuff only–the number of people reporting teens walking near their property or whatever will be frustrating on the rest of the app).
You have 52 new unread notification’s for “mail theft” in your NextDoor app
Haha, yeah, you definitely don’t want to keep the app notifications (or the app) once you are done with the sale.
Unless you want to keep watching for good deals. There do seem to be some clueless sellers, which means you might find something good if you’re willing to browse. You just need to be able to figure out what they have when they just know it is a sedan or whatever.
If it is just a sell it and move on, not trying to solve a debt crisis, sell it to a dealer and let them deal with the hassle. Plenty of 2nd/3rd line lots would like to have something like this for need a car now crowd.
How much of a hassle would it be to get it down to DT so he has something that “runs and drives fine” while he’s waiting on the rest of his stuff that doesn’t?
Not exactly wrenching and more of a snapping a chunk of plastic into some clips, but man am I having trouble finding a replacement plastic roof rail cap for my Hyundai Elantra Touring (the wagon from 09-12 that they sold dozens of).
All of these trim pieces have paint peeling issues, so I recently painted the rails and caps black. And then one of the caps apparently came off while driving, to be lost forever. Very sad.
Unless someone has a recommendation for to source these trim parts other than the various Hyundai parts sites that list these as available, then email me two days after ordering with a “yeah we don’t actually have these and noone does”, then this is just me taking this opportunity to shake my fist at the poorly secured trim-gods.
This sounds like a good reason to get into 3-D printing. Not only can you make your own replacement cap, you can sell replacement caps to the dozens of other owners. 🙂
Are the caps symmetrical, i.e. are the right and left caps identical? If so, you have an exemplar that you can scan to create the file for the printer. If the left and right caps are not identical, maybe you can scan the one you have and flip the image to make the one you lost.
I do have a friend who has messed around with 3D printing. And I do have the other cap, so good point, mirroring the model in whatever CAD program would do the trick. This might be the way to go if I can’t find a junkyard example. It’s a bummer that Hyundai didn’t use the same trim pieces as the Santa Fe of the era, otherwise this would have been an easy find.
Assuming you haven’t had any luck scouring the junk yards, you could explore 3D printing.
HOLY SHIT, IT’S FIXED!
MATT! IT’S FUCKING FIXED!!!
For everyone else wondering WTF is going on, I haven’t been able to access any member content and it has been getting worked on by the tech team.
Someone flipped the right switch, I guess.
Kinda like this:
Oh weird. I still can’t see any of the comments in the old posts such as the bad project ideas linked above:
https://www.theautopian.com/its-bad-car-advice-wednesday-autopian-members-lets-talk-about-your-bad-ideas/
What was missing? Cause I don’t know if I saw a difference, and now you got me worried.
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
My latest project was my most ambitious yet. I wanted to turn a nice, clean ’79 Triumph TR7 coupe in a quick, quiet and comfortable GT kind of car. Tracking down the appropriate TR8 conversion parts to install my rebuilt 1995 3.9-liter Rover V-8 was not an issue.
The real snag came from my choice of transmission. I went with a ZF 4HP22 4-speed automatic, a gearbox never offered in the TR.
I used the flexplate and associated parts from a classic Range Rover. The bellhousing needed to be modified because in the Range Rover it tilts the transmission 6 degrees or so to the left. I had the bellhousing cut, rotated and welded so that the gearbox mounts flat, like God wants it.
From there, I had a new crossmember and driveshaft made. I used the dipstick and shifter linkage from a 1986 BMW 7-Series, a Jaguar rear tailshaft flange and a Volvo rear transmission mount.
I found a TR7 automatic and scavenged from it the correct pedal box and shifter assembly, so it all looks stock.
The last thing I did was install a TR8 3.08 rear axle.
All this took a lot of time to work out. But, man, the car is everything I hoped it would be. The 200+ horsepower is plenty to motivate the 2,500 pound TR quickly. The engine is turning over around 2,400 RPM at 70 mph, so not even sweating.
Oh…and the taillights. Well, they have the orange inserts, just like the factory intended.
Don’t discount the TR7, fellas. There’s nothing wrong with that car that more cylinders and more power won’t cure. And, hey, ’70s cars are pretty damn cool these days.
That’s my story, and I am sticking to it.
I’d post some photos if I could figure out how…
I thought TR7s were silly until my favorite uncle bought a convertible and did a TR8 conversion (and then replaced pretty much all the 4 cyl parts with upgraded parts that could take the power of the hot-rodded 3.5). It was a fun little car on British B roads…You get thumbs up from me.
@DavidTracy You’re the most likely candidate I can think of to need wrenching therapy. So let it out. How are you dealing with wrenching withdrawal now that you’re in LA? Have you found a place to indulge your addiction? Are you ok?
I’m overwhelmed in almost every way. Too much stuff happening.
Can we help at all?
This seems to be a pretty resourceful bunch.
Yes. The best way you can help us is to send us cool car stuff that you see: tips@TheAutopian.com.
Also: Thank you!
Nothing some quality CPT counseling couldn’t help.
…do we need to send a RX-7?
Car wise my 79 Fiat Spider doesn’t need rear wheel bearings like i thought, it needs a differential… now the question is do i love the car enough to buy a whole rear axle assembly to rebuild and swap in or do i let this ugly duck of a spider go on to be the rusty parts car it probably deserves to be
Motorcycle wise the list is too long
Ouch. That is a rough choice with no good answer.
Sometimes the hardest answer is the best one, let it go and keep others projects live?
And has anyone used Spaccer for a body lift? It’s one of few options for getting a little lift for my Niro, but I’m not sure if they are worth it.
Hmm. A body life on a unibody vehicle? Is it like a subframe lift or just a spacer at the tops of the struts?
Spacer at the top of the struts. It’s probably not worth it, but there are a couple parking lots here that I scrape under the front bumper entering/exiting.
Sorry, I misspoke on calling it a body lift. It’s a suspension lift spacer option. If I could find better suspension, I would do that, instead.
(Also, I am an idiot when it comes to lifting vehicles.)
I’m an idiot in general.
Me, too. It’s just that the lifting vehicles portion of my ignorance was relevant here.
I am a Professional Idiot, do not try this at home.
I know people lift Subaru’s by adding spacers to the sub frames. But the Niro probably doesn’t have a rear sub frame since they are FWD. You could probably Carolina Squat it though if you wanted.
I definitely do not want the Carolina Squat, though it would likely solve the minor issue I have. I will probably just live with it. If I can reduce tire noise, it’ll solve my biggest problem with the car.
Looking at the rear assembly, it shows a rear subframe, but I don’t think it would work like the Subaru.
https://www.kniro.net/components_and_components_location-1290.html
yea since there is a diff and half shafts back there on the subies.
This is an interesting question, so I went looking for photos of the Niro’s suspension setup.
TL,DR: “no, no, no. Hard no. Do not.”
It’s not that the Niro is a unibody, it’s that it’s a very specific style of MacPherson/IRS design. In order to lift it without changing the geometry DRASTICALLY you would need to shim the strut hat, space the front crossmember, redesign the engine mounts, and pretty much design an entirely new rear subframe. (It uses mixed vertical and horizontal mounting, and is structural, so you CANNOT throw shims in it.)
Excellent answer, would love to hear your thoughts on my spring, isolator, spacer question about my XJ.
Thank you. I can now stop looking for ways to make it work. I thought I just couldn’t find a way because I don’t know what I’m doing.
Soundproofing a vehicle due to excessive (to my ear) tire roar. Anyone have any experience with dynamat vs noico (or other options, if I am missing something good)? I’ve read reviews and such, but I trust Autopian readers more than the average reviewer.
You should be able to find a generic version of Dynamat that will work just as well. That’s what I did with my Jeep. This site recommends the Noico: https://soundproofliving.com/dynamat-alternatives-comparison/
What level of noiseproofing? Dynamat’s real value in going ‘brand name’ over the competition is better adhesive, not better insulation. (So better installation, in other words.) But if that’s not good enough, boy do I have options for you.
Which are all the wrong answer, in all honesty. If the primary complaint is tire noise, the only thing you should do is change the tires. Dynamat is not going to help with that.
The problem has persisted with one change of the tires, though that change was due to an unintended circumstance and I had to settle for some tires that the Les Schwab staff said were quiet and a good ride. They didn’t have the Pirellis I was going to order. Perhaps I will order those and see if that helps.
But you don’t think some sound dampening in the trunk, especially the wheel wells, would help? Or just that new tires would be a more efficient fix?
+1 on the tires – in my primary vehicle, the Bridgestones were a big part of the problem. Replaced with Michelin LTX asap and was a huge improvement. It also helped the additional sound proofing be more effective (I could actually hear road noise instead of tire noise!). If you already have tire noise, anything you do will just make it quieter – but it will still be there. The best bet is reduce the source of the noise first (budget allowing).
Good experience with both Dynamite and Noico. The biggest thing was a good install (used those metal rollers to make sure it adhered, etc.). If you want alternatives – Mass Loaded Vinyl might be part of your strategy. I put some on the floor above the Noico and it quieted it some more. Downside – it is typically sold in big (heavy) rolls, so if you can find a local supplier, you can save a bunch on shipping.
I have had mixed success with the spray on stuff – I wouldn’t use it as a replacement for dynamat/noico, but it was useful for hard to reach spots or external areas (one car I did had plastic wheel well liners – so putting some spray on soundproofer on the non-visible side worked great).
I want to make it clear that this space here is basically wrenching therapy. LET IT ALL OUT. We’re here for you.
Re: your editor’s note, I wish you luck. Perhaps you should be searching for cheap running vehicles now, just in case.
Who says he isn’t already?
Who said he was limiting it to running cars?
Selling a car to DT.
DT: It runs, pfft.
Me: *hits motor with hammer, sprays with salt water to promote rust*
DT: Perfect.
All in good fun, keep being you. It that brings you joy, live life to the fullest.
Running around LA with bad suspension/alignment is certainly going to tear up some tires, I hate to say it, and I know it’s out of character but it might almost be worth the money to have someone else put new bushings and ball joints in if you just can’t find the time/place to do the work yourself. As for the replacement headlight bucket, seems about right for most aftermarket stuff these days for classic cars. It can be a real crapshoot if you’ll wind up with something that’s a bolt and go, or requires some amount of tweaking/massaging to fit and function correctly.
I’m sure there are dozens of Mustang places out there, probably even some junkyard type spots that specialize in Mustangs, but my favorite was National Parts Depot. They’re in Ventura. I redid the springs and most of the bushings in The Truck while I was TDY out in Port Hueneme and they helped me out tremendously with more than just the parts. I seem to remember that they helped find me a garage or two to help do some stuff I didn’t have the tools for at the time? Been a while, but I definitely remember them going above and beyond
Good luck with it.
Find me a damn warehouse that isn’t measured in goddamn acres, isn’t priced like it’s full of BMW heated seats, and doesn’t act like I’m trying to build nuclear weapons when I ask about installing lift(s.)
Oh, and lube the latch and rods. White lithium for the latch, something equal or heavier for the rod pivots. It’s from the drastic change in climate plus time.