What have you done to your car today?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Perfect Balance
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Famine
It's the same wheel in both shots :D
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The powdercoat looks great.




My girlfriend spilled part of an Irish Toffee Cappuccino in my car today. Thankfully, my grooved rubber floormats caught most of the mess; very little landed directly on her, the seat, or the carpet.
 
Boundary Layer
The powdercoat looks great.
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Worth every penny :D

Full story: I decided to get my wheels refurbed. The car is just past 10 years old, and there was quite a bit of brake dust staining - very little kerbing, just general ingrained dirt and grime. I got a quote off a local car-mending franchise (ChipsAway - very good, to be fair) for £200 for all four wheels. Then a mate of mine piped up - he's just started a powdercoating company in Doncaster called "Danum Powder Coating". He said he'd do it for £140 mate's rates - and he's on my usual route. I'd be his first customer...

He spent three days powder coating his own wheels to give me an idea of the finish, e-mailing me pictures... I took the car to him on Friday, took his "courtesy car" (a 306 XS of similar power and vintage - thus neatly demonstrating the difference between French and Japanese cars) and collected my car on the Sunday.

He sandblasted the alloys back to a clean finish, then powdercoated them in a colour matching my specifications (standard!) and lacquered them. I also took the opportunity to put some Mintex pads and Black Diamond grooved discs on the car. Mwahahaha!


To say I'm impressed with the result is an understatement.
 
I adjusted the door latch on the passenger door so now I don't have a light on my dash telling me that I have a door that is open. It was probably the easiest thing that I have done to my car so far. Loosen two screws, move the latch, tighten the two screws. And presto no more light YAY! And I get to go pick up a new part that I have been waiting a week for tomorrow when I take my lunch!
 
Famine

I took the car to him on Friday, took his "courtesy car" (a 306 XS of similar power and vintage - thus neatly demonstrating the difference between French and Japanese cars)[/B]
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And........?


Anyway, I'm hoping my ecu is coming in tomorrow. I still have to figure out how to pull out the pin that was left in the connector when I unplugged the original one.
 
Perfect Balance
And........?


Anyway, I'm hoping my ecu is coming in tomorrow. I still have to figure out how to pull out the pin that was left in the connector when I unplugged the original one.
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You might be able to pull the wire where the pin is out of the connector. I think that napa sells something for that. Or try and find a very small pair of needle noise pliers.
 
Diablomonkey
You might be able to pull the wire where the pin is out of the connector. I think that napa sells something for that. Or try and find a very small pair of needle noise pliers.
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I tried that, The little "clamp" type thing that the wire goes into is completely gone from rust, and the wire basically fell out while I was messing with it. I'm going to just drill a hole all the way though the plastic and get the pin out, and just solder that pin to the wire when I get the new ECU.

And tweezers don't work. It's about the size of a needle, very rusted, and its broken off a little inside the thing, so I can't get anything around it.
 
What did I do to my car today? Sounds silly, but, I hit my starter with a mallet to "unfreeze" it. Now my car starts. Don't ask...
 
Perfect Balance
And........?[/b]
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Well... suffice to say that my car (10 years, 92,000 miles, Japanese) has no mechanical defects of any variety and cruises at up to 140mph (obviously not on public roads) without any mysterious noises or wobbles. His car (10 years, 101,000 miles, French) has a sticking front left caliper, little braking performance, two different mysterious engine squeals unrelated to speed or throttle position, a squeaky clutch pedal, a hissing brake pedal, excessive wheel vibration above 60mph, several new species of moss in the window seals, a broken glovebox handle, wind noise over 45mph from a bent door (not accident related - it's just bent) and an interior which looks and smells exactly like the doorway of a nightclub toilets just after the clientele have been kicked out but before the cleaners have arrived.

When we got back, he commented that it'd taken all of his professional will to not drive my car out on the road (though he was given the option if he'd chosen to - I've driven his old Porsche before), but that from driving it around the car park he not only liked it, but wanted one and asked me for a full breakdown of what to look for and how much to pay... :lol:
 
Famine
Worth every penny :D

Full story: I decided to get my wheels refurbed. The car is just past 10 years old, and there was quite a bit of brake dust staining - very little kerbing, just general ingrained dirt and grime. I got a quote off a local car-mending franchise (ChipsAway - very good, to be fair) for £200 for all four wheels. Then a mate of mine piped up - he's just started a powdercoating company in Doncaster called "Danum Powder Coating". He said he'd do it for £140 mate's rates - and he's on my usual route. I'd be his first customer...

He spent three days powder coating his own wheels to give me an idea of the finish, e-mailing me pictures... I took the car to him on Friday, took his "courtesy car" (a 306 XS of similar power and vintage - thus neatly demonstrating the difference between French and Japanese cars) and collected my car on the Sunday.

He sandblasted the alloys back to a clean finish, then powdercoated them in a colour matching my specifications (standard!) and lacquered them. I also took the opportunity to put some Mintex pads and Black Diamond grooved discs on the car. Mwahahaha!


To say I'm impressed with the result is an understatement.
Click to expand...
I thought you just cleaned them with a magical wonder polish.
 
Really nice job on those wheels by your mate there Famine. Good luck to him in his new venture.

My 306 had a wonky door too. Bloody French build quality. I had endless things to go over the 4 years and 50,000 miles I had it. 2 years in with my 3 series nothing other than consumables.
 
Sort of the response I expected, but not such an extreme.

I got my ECU in, the car starts now, but idles rough and there's a huge sucking sound from the intake that wasn't there before, or I never seemed to notice it. I don't think it's the latter.

I don't know what it is, but I hope I find out quick, and it doesn't cost me money to fix.
 
Fit some flat wiper blades like these to my car:
900%20ArmFlat-250w.jpg

Put some velcro feet on my bass box because it keeps sliding around in the boot when I drive which is annoying and also replaced my crowded standard number plates with show plates. Looks goood, might post some pics up on members rides tomorrow...
 
Famine
Worth every penny :D

Full story: I decided to get my wheels refurbed. The car is just past 10 years old, and there was quite a bit of brake dust staining - very little kerbing, just general ingrained dirt and grime. I got a quote off a local car-mending franchise (ChipsAway - very good, to be fair) for £200 for all four wheels. Then a mate of mine piped up - he's just started a powdercoating company in Doncaster called "Danum Powder Coating". He said he'd do it for £140 mate's rates - and he's on my usual route. I'd be his first customer...

He spent three days powder coating his own wheels to give me an idea of the finish, e-mailing me pictures... I took the car to him on Friday, took his "courtesy car" (a 306 XS of similar power and vintage - thus neatly demonstrating the difference between French and Japanese cars) and collected my car on the Sunday.

He sandblasted the alloys back to a clean finish, then powdercoated them in a colour matching my specifications (standard!) and lacquered them. I also took the opportunity to put some Mintex pads and Black Diamond grooved discs on the car. Mwahahaha!


To say I'm impressed with the result is an understatement.
Click to expand...


There is another DIY product out there ( my company used to represent them as a distributor ) called " Flitz" its a paste you can put on a polishing ball, and buff the rim with a drill. works amazingly well. i wish I had pics for you.
 

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I'm impressed with the blade I have. I think It's a Trico winter blade, that has one continuous pressure point. It works very well. I may keep it on until June. :dopey:

I haven't had any luck finding a winter blade for the rear, though. :grumpy:
 
High-Test
I'm impressed with the blade I have. I think It's a Trico winter blade, that has one continuous pressure point. It works very well. I may keep it on until June. :dopey:

I haven't had any luck finding a winter blade for the rear, though. :grumpy:
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I got the regular Trico Teflon blades. I may keep the old Ancos on for a while if they improve after the cleaning.
 
Changed my tyre pressures.

I think my front-right has a slow puncture… It only dropped 2psi this week, but a few weeks ago it dropped 17psi in a week (I didn't have a cap for that valve that week so I’m not sure if that’s relevant).

I can’t really afford new tyres atm though…
 
Blake
Changed my tyre pressures.

I think my front-right has a slow puncture… It only dropped 2psi this week, but a few weeks ago it dropped 17psi in a week (I didn't have a cap for that valve that week so I’m not sure if that’s relevant).

I can’t really afford new tyres atm though…
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Maybe the seals aren't seated right? If a car sits for a while, the tires do end up bleeding out, I think. (it happened to my chevy)

My front tires are odd.. The cold weather and going from Fargo to KC and back may have something to do with it, but the front left will be at the normal 29 PSI while the front right will go to 34. :ouch: I always check and equalize the pressure before a long trip. The rears are both at an acceptable 35.
 
I need to go in for a new steering wheel emblem on my mother's Volvo, I had hit the horn so hard on a truck moving into me (on his blindspot apparently) I dented the emblem. :sly:
 
Had to work on my sister's car. Oil was leaking from the drain plug washer so I had to replace it. Drained the nearly new oil and put the new washer on, put the plug back in, thought everything would go smoothly. I go to pour the oil into the filler, with a funnel, and the new oil pan I bought has the crappiest spout ever designed. Instead of going down into the funnel it started to just go all down the bottom of the pan, so I tip it further and it all spills all over the valve cover, down the block, exhaust, etc. Huge mess. I wanted to use a clean, new pan so that I could re-use the oil rather than using my dirty old drain pan, and it backfires. Oh well, what's working on cars if there weren't setbacks?
 
I put new oil and water into my car for the first time. :)

And I passed the 2000 mile mark since I got it.
 
Got turbos off a 2000 Legacy B4 fitted. Pulls way harder on the primary. YAY! No boost after 4000 rpm. At all. Not so yay.

Going to Subaru tomorrow.
 

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