I replaced a few parts on Margaret's car today.
I like how even the NGK plugs come in boxes marked Honda.
-all genuine Honda parts except for the new (not reman.) axle-
plugs
wires
dizzy cap, gasket, rotor button, fasteners
dizzy o-ring
left inner tie rod & clamp
valve cover gasket -old gasket turned to stone... chiseled out and remaining pieces are in picture.
and an alignment
I made another robot bear from old parts from her car and gave it to her
pic
I bought another car.
I'm not sure why.
It's a CRX Si
I could disassemble the car and sell parts off of it and get about 5x what I paid... if i had the space to do that...
Or I could find a few parts and sell it whole as a POS for 3x at least including purchases
Or i could spend a buttload on it and have a nice stock CRX Si (has sunroof).
Or maybe I can trade it for something. The Honda community seems to be big on that.
Why do I do these things? I have 4 Hondas now.
If the kitty ever gets off of my case maybe I can bore you with my borescope. I'll show you the inside of my rusty muffler or other vehicle related dark places.
Antny gave me an old XP laptop so I just have to figure out how to hook it up and make it a video file on :shudder: Windows XP.
I used it to look at Sean's BMW's brakes today but you can pretty much see those with the naked eye looking through the wheels anyway.
It also comes with a clip on mirror and clip on magnet. The mirror is to see things like bent or burnt valves because you go in through the spark plug hole and the valves are above that. The magnet is there in case you drop a fastener or such somewhere from which it NEEDS retrieving due to being a special fastener, or maybe it fell in a delicate place. Run-of-the-mill fasteners can be easily replaced with new w/out spending an hour or more searching.
I mean... really WOW! + WOW!
I had no idea my old gold box could ride this smooth. Motor/trans mounts can do a lot for ride quality. I think I can make it even better.
It bothers me that I had to add spacers to an engine mount to get this far. What really bothers me is that I got all four new mounts from an OE supplier, which means if I buy Honda mounts at twice the price (wholesale) I might get the same thing.... they might not be the exact mounts the car came with.
I plan to switch the CRX's straight driver's side mount with the Civic's. If it bolts up straight I will buy a new one from Honda to see if it bolts up straight as well.
If it does I'll buy the rear and front mounts from Honda too. The rear mount is a PITA to replace, and its the one I had to shim. I'll have to drop the frame to replace it (again). The passenger side mount appears to be OK at this time (it is new after all- phbbt)
Aftermarket parts often suck. Sometimes its all you can get... even from the dealer. My car is old :(
But at least I know the original owner (mom) and the history. The car is definitely not bent (other than small dings and that dang headlight). The CRX appears to be a little bent. Possibly more on that later... probably much later.
So... I'm stayin' at my mom's about 5yrs ago and she came home in Althea (The Golden Nugget) when I noticed the left headlight was all crooked. The next day it was worse. I think someone she worked with didn't know how to park (or un park).
Anyway, now Althea is mine, and that drivers headlight is still all pushed in and now gaining water.
I picked up a dry one at the pick-n-pull. BTW that place always seems picked clean before I get there. Out of five 92-95 Civics not a one had the connectors for the ECU... all hacked. All four of the 88-91 Civics had chopped harnesses too.
But I got a headlight! -not just a headlight but a headlight "assembly" (comes with the bracket and adjusters).
So I took my bumper off... and some other parts... and installed this assembly. I had to adjust a bent bracket.
It's almost totally straight and holds no water. I'm so proud. My 19yr old car is getting close to being... ummmm.... Wayyyyy better than any other 19yr old car on the road?
I'm still trying to fix a vibration. I think at least one of my four NEW engine mounts is made wrong. I have to compare it to an OE Honda mount. Its less vibraty than before, but I want better.
crooked mount after shimming and adjustment:
My ginormous toolbox is paid for. I decided to use most of my savings to pay it off and save $900 in finance charges.
I think this gives me permission to spend $900 on cool specialty tools.
Next purchase: Borescope- $200
boring youtube video of borescope
Apparently it can also record video... well, it has a "video out" port anyway. I might have to buy a laptop.
And boy are its wings tired.
I took this pic @ work today
Last year Dreya organized a City Crushing Monster Party, wherein several of us built a cardboard city, dressed up like monsters, and proceeded to crush it. Pics can be seen here
and a short youtube video here (loud)
We were going to give away a trophy for the best crusher, but I didn't get it made in time. I gave it to Dreya for making the whole thing happen.
Anyway, although I'm not quite sure how the judging will work, I made a trophy for this year's CCMP.
Sean likes to wash cars in the rain. This is the second time I caught him at it.
UPDATED 01/05/09 w/ pics plus Bonus KITTY
I just ordered a special tool to remove Toyota "spark plug tubes".
It's made by a company called Assenmacher
The numeric designation is 150
So of course the complete tool number from SJ Discount Tools is
ASSTOY150
I'm not making this up.
http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/asstoy150.html
Most tool and car part deliveries I receive come in plain brown boxes with little description. We can only hope this one follows suit, not arriving in a rainbow box with bold print on all sides.
01/05/09 updates
Removal and Replacement: Engine
My boss asked me if I was their new Jaguar specialist. I said no. Laughs were abundant.
#1 Be careful using an Oxy/Acetylene torch
#2 NEVER wear Nitrile gloves or any other latex/rubber type glove while using a torch. Take them off.
TAKE THEM OFF!!!
#3 wear elbow high leather (or equivalent?) gloves while using a torch (I probably won't do that, but I'll avoid the melty stuff).
So I got an ouchie. I'm told it looks bad. I've seen worse. I've had worse.
But now i'm wondering what is equivalent to leather or other animal skin but is not. I'm reminded that so many Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) specify animal products as a special tool (leather gloves, leather hammer, leather welding cloth/jacket, shamois). Do you ask your mechanic if s/he uses animal products? Would s/he even know for sure? Or would you like to pay extra (probably quite a lot) for one who finds a way not to?
I won't be the one, but it seems like a niche, or at least an eye opener.
What kind of glue holds your furniture together?
my 1st bottle tree
12 bottles doesn't seem like enough
it was kinda fun to make
there's a pic of the painted tree frog w/stand if you click to the flickr photos
I took these 2 pictures in the dark. The electricity was off at the shop. It's supposed to be back on tomorrow. I was gonna make another bottle tree, but instead took these pictures and came home. The colors and background are somewhat edited.
This is our last month in the Alpinis Court garage. The CRX is running, the Austin is safely back at the house, and the shop is all but empty. I still have the welder, workbench, and torch. Mwahahaha!
Dreya and her roomate will have a booth selling their artwork at a fair in Dec, so she asked if I'd like to make some stuff she could try to sell for me there. Cool. I'm working on it, and I have lots of room.
I made another dragon, a stylish crocodilish, another gearhead, and another, ummm... manbearpig?
after jump
You may notice a change in this picture from the previous two full frontal shots of Le Peu.
I spilled a little antifreeze.
oh yeah... and the car is on the ground! Running!
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Next is a picture possibly best described as "shrinkage". Click for bigger ;)
This shows the serious difference in the intake systems between the two engines I've swapped. You're looking at the two different air filter box tops.
Smaller, more restrictive intakes generally make for better low end torque, but worse horsepower ratings.
One more pic after the jump, in which I believe you might see a difference w/o me describing anything.
OK
I know this picture looks very similar to the one I posted below.
But it is very different. Trust me.
I hooked up the exhaust, the shifter, and the clutch cable.
I installed the axles and I added transmission fluid.
I fixed the fuel leak.
hmmm, that doesn't seem like as much work now that I wrote it down. Hmf.
anyway...
I started it up and shifted it through all its gears... except i think I forgot to check reverse... but yeah, it's workin' all righty!
I still haven't installed the radiator or any hoses, belts, yadda-yadda.
Now I need to study as many pictures and diagrams as I can get ahold of so I can hook up all the vacuum hoses right. And I still have to wire up the EGR system. Oh yeah... this engine uses EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation). The other engine didn't need it.
Running such a lean mixture makes for higher emissions (in PartsPerMillion).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaust_gas_recirculation
There's a 3 wire sensor and a 2 wire solenoid I have to wire up, and some extra vacuum hoses.
LePeu is FAR from roadworthy, and I still haven't put any belts/hoses on or the exhaust, or... pretty much anything....
But the engine runs!
And has a pretty bad fuel leak. It's just an O-ring seal. I'll try to fix it sunday maybe.
I was worried for a little while. I bought a new distributor to match the new multi-point fuel system and computer, and NONE of the wires were the right colors.
I had to trace each wire from the harness back to the computer to I.D. it
AND disassemble the new distributor to I.D. its wires.
I mixed 2 up 'cause I thought "oh, look, they got one wire in the correct color" but no, they didn't.
When I cranked it the first time it went "wa-wa-wa-POP-wa-wa-wa-POP".
I knew by the sound That I likely had only 2 wires switched... but which 2? Each of 4 components inside this dist has 2 wires (-in/out-)
I should have started with the ONE wire I thought was the right color, but no, I didn't.
I swapped 2 and the cranking sound was more like "rrr-thud-wa-popitty-pop-rrr-wa-wa-thud-pop".
I put them back the way they were.
The thud was a dead giveaway of course.
Engines don't normally go "thud".
2 more resulted in a similar sound.
Then 2 more. "wa-wa-ROARRRR" Hooray for open exhaust (loud)!
Then I shut it off 'cause the fuel puddle was getting pretty big and I needed a cigarette ;)
Sorry for all the technical jargon. I'm just kinda excited. I really don't even know if it runs well yet... just that it starts and runs.
I'll try to add some pictures (done). And maybe another entry for Sunday.
I sold the Camry to Dreya's EX/ current? S.O.
good luck with that.
