What have you done to your car today?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Perfect Balance
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Yes - my current three tasks are:

1. Clean engine bay
2. Clean gearbox and Miller
3. Remove Xedos fuel tank

I think we're probably also going to overhaul the engine - gasket change, belt change, service - before it goes anywhere near the car.
 
Please ignore the incredibly dirty engine bay....

Before....



After!



Got a Steeda strut tower brace installed today. Quite the immediate difference it makes!
 
Mmm, it is a bit of a barrier. It's supposed to be unrestricted too, but in anything other than an M5 you don't really get near more than 65. Particularly as it's draped around a mountain and as such is covered in fog 90% of the time. But hey, still fun.
 
Are there any sheep to worry about? The Brecon Beacons have some truly wonderful roads, but how the lads at Evo and Topgear can thrash a car up there without worrying about a straying sheep I don't know.
 
ExigeEvan
Are there any sheep to worry about? The Brecon Beacons have some truly wonderful roads, but how the lads at Evo and Topgear can thrash a car up there without worrying about a straying sheep I don't know.
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Thats because the Stig chases all of em.
 
Looking for a 13b 6port thats running no junk, if anyone knows someone in Ny,Nj and Ct area please contace me. Also, at work I had to polish engine heads, intake, manifold and piston heads on a mack truck. Thats not fun at all but I love working on trucks so I did'nt
🤬 about it.
 
ExigeEvan
Are there any sheep to worry about? The Brecon Beacons have some truly wonderful roads, but how the lads at Evo and Topgear can thrash a car up there without worrying about a straying sheep I don't know.
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Trust you to be concerned about the sheep ;)

And sort of. They wander about freely up there but none seem to be stupid enough to stumble onto the road. Presumably because come 5PM it turns into the Manx equivalent of the M25. To be honest the thing you need to worry about is a Yaris-driving grandmother coming your way - not because she does something stupid and hits you, but because someone stuck behind her overtakes on a blind corner and sends you into a ravine. And they do. I'm sure half the people on the road here are mentally ill.
 
1) Put regular street tires on for my trip to Arizona next week
2) Raised the front of the car 1/2 inch, and the rear 3/4 of an inch in preparation for the same trip.
3) Washed it.... and it promptly rained tonight. :mad:
 
So, exactly like last year, I've had patchy internet access until a few days ago. So actually, all of this applies to last weekend. But for four days, Danger Mouse was replaced with this:

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Specs first, then words. It is:

  • A 2010 Ford Transit
  • Long wheelbase, high roof
  • 2.4 Duratorq Turbodiesel, with 115ps (113bhp) at 3500rpm and 310nm (228 lb ft) of torque between 1750 and 2000rpm
  • Rear-wheel drive
  • Six-speed manual transmission
  • 2071kg kerb weight (4565 lb)
  • A 1.5 tonne payload with capacity to tow a 2.5 tonne trailer
  • A long range, 103 litre (22.6/27.2 UK/US gallon) fuel tank

UK members will have seen hundreds of the things but for those of you in the US, it's probably roughly comparable in size to a Dodge Sprinter. Ford actually do a "Jumbo" version of the Transit too which has the same wheelbase and high roof but an even longer body.

I was supposed to get something much smaller, in fact a new version of the VW Transporter I had last year, but the rental place was tiny and it was stuffed behind four rows of cars, so they upgraded me to the much bigger Transit. Nice being able to see over SUVs :D

Good fun to drive, just like the VW was. Amazing what modern vans are like. Very quiet, plenty powerful enough and handles surprisingly well for something so big. Anyone who's seen the Top Gear segment with the Transit at the Nurburgring will know they can handle!

Even managed 30mpg (24mpg US) over the four days and 300 miles, not bad for over two tonnes of van loaded with people and lots of stuff on top of that, with a good 100 miles of that being city driving too.

Anyway, good though it was it made the MX5 feel like a go-kart afterwards :lol:

Edit: Oh, and it has traction control, but apparently it can be defeated around wet roundabouts...
 
R1600Turbo
1) Put regular street tires on for my trip to Arizona next week
2) Raised the front of the car 1/2 inch, and the rear 3/4 of an inch in preparation for the same trip.
3) Washed it.... and it promptly rained tonight. :mad:
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So you threw the alignment off on your not so low car because you're going on a trip? Sounds like a great idea.
 
Jondot
Trust you to be concerned about the sheep ;)

And sort of. They wander about freely up there but none seem to be stupid enough to stumble onto the road. Presumably because come 5PM it turns into the Manx equivalent of the M25. To be honest the thing you need to worry about is a Yaris-driving grandmother coming your way - not because she does something stupid and hits you, but because someone stuck behind her overtakes on a blind corner and sends you into a ravine. And they do. I'm sure half the people on the road here are mentally ill.
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When you've seen the damage a sheep can do to a car, you'll be concerned about the "wandering white rocks" as well!
 
I'm attempting to put on my new (used) exhaust I got for my car. It's some ugly custom jobby, but seeing as my stock exhaust is literally falling apart, spending $100 for this is better than spending $750 for what I actually want. If this works out I might just cut the riceboy muffler off it and put on something that at least looks a bit better, like a Spoon N1 knockoff. The biggest triumph with this exhaust is that I'll be getting rid of both my converters, one of which is as large as a watermelon, and that results in a quite noticeable power improvement on these rotary engines. Also, flames.
 
Went on an Accord meet+drive yesterday. From going to Concours in Denver that morning to getting home from the drive that night, I'd added 300 miles to the odo, some of it hauling ass through canyons. Only used about half a tank of gas.

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Yesterday, installed a Walbro 255 lph fuel pump. I now know why it's nicknamed 'whinebro'.

Found, after a heavy rain, that the hatch leaks worse than I thought it did. I also tapped a fuel pump relay by accident, which turned the fuel pump on. With the key out of the ignition. Tapped it again, turned it off. On, off, on, off... Replace. Completely by fluke, had a spare.
 
I put it off long enough, but I finally made a paypal account and starting making payments to Jeff for the Miata. $200 for the first one, then i'm gonna try to do $100 a week from here on out.

Personal greed makes it difficult to do so, especially when he says things like "you don't owe me anything. I mean it. It's totally up to you, no pressure." Ahh! I said I would and will. I'm trying to feel good about myself, this helps. :) Besides, I feel spoiled everytime I tell someone it was given to me.

Get this, I was recently given a second car! Free. Sorta.

It's an 89 corolla, my sister-in-law drove it to 286,500 miles before it blew a head gasket. Cost of parts and getting the head machined (didn't get hot, but the head was slightly warped and if I remember there where some surface cracks or something). About $300 total, my brother and I doing the labor. Upon trying to get it licensed, needed new front brake hoses, so that was $45. Changed them in the shops parking lot... I got a slightly irritated vibe from them. :lol: $12 for the inspection, $65 for 1 year registration ($25 late titling fee (BS)).

Literally 15 miles later, disaster strikes!

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Axle. Well mother...... I won't even get into detail all the problems I had while trying to change this thing, but I was so mad/upset the only thing going through my head was killing myself. :dunce: I will mention the first replacement axle I purchased was already damaged. Duralast my ass. A few of the outer splines where slightly smashed, enough to keep it from sliding into whatever it's called. I realized this after already putting the other end into the transmission, a pain to remove. $60 plus a few things learned. Always make sure the the splines are free of defect and do a test fitting. When removing the axle from the transmission, apply pressure with one screwdriver and use one tire tool (all I had) to jult it loose.

I haven't driven it much since I prefer to drive the Miata, but all seems well so far. It's the first car i've owned in the 7 years or so i've been driving with a working AC. Awesome Car. I lie, my MR2 had air conditioning, but I never used it.

500 small ones.

:cheers:
 
I hand cleaned the Mustang... and I cleaned the exhaust. But then I noticed my rents weren't home. So my bro and i decided to take turns revving it. HOLY CRAP! We revved it and the car literally moves when even in park! Like it kinda tilts from side to side! We stepped hard on the accelerator but it had a hard time reaching 5000RPM. Probably because it was in Park. But BOY its loud! And you get that spark noise when you let go of the gas. Man, it sounds great.
 
Torque reaction - the front of the car will want to twist in the direction of the crank, with the left picking up off the deck in extreme cases.

That said, revving a car to 5krpm in park when cold is a brilliant way to break it.
 
Today I installed a plug-n-play tune and it makes a world of difference. Feels like a new car. Power doesn't fall off a cliff above 5500rpm anymore...

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jamSD.png
 
Does seem like it offers a flatter power curve. Must be fun, it's not exactly a slow car to begin with!

I changed the wipers on the MX5 today. Simple job, until I realised that a little aftermarket (I think)* metal wind deflector screwed to the drivers' side blade stopped me fitting the new wiper, which had it's own plastic wind deflector fitted.

Tried unscrewing it, but the screws were rubbish and were rounding off. So out came the saw. 30 mins later and the deflector was gone, another two minutes and the new blades were fitted. All in all it took me about 45 mins when it should have taken two...

Still, Mazda are into the whole "gram strategy" thing and I've probably saved 50 grams today :lol:


*Edit: Actually, turns out it's standard. Whatever anyway, it was looking a bit rusty and manky and it was in the way!
 
Pretty much all the fluids leaked out of our van, so I refilled them.

Oil was at the low end of the hatch marks
Trans dipstick was bone dry
Coolant was dangerously low
Power steering reservoir was empty

Oddly enough the brake fluid was ok.

All 4 tires were low, so pumped them up to 35psi
 
Event
Today I installed a plug-n-play tune and it makes a world of difference. Feels like a new car. Power doesn't fall off a cliff above 5500rpm anymore...
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Why didn't you get a flash instead?
The fact that the chip uses the same exact map for stock car and a modified car should have you worried.
 
dave_sz
Why didn't you get a flash instead?
The fact that the chip uses the same exact map for stock car and a modified car should have you worried.
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They've included modified tunes that take intakes into account. It applies a correction factor for having a bigger MAF housing with an aftermarket intake, so I chose my intake when flashing it. This tuning solution is not meant for fully bolted cars, they're meant for folks like me who would get an intake, exhaust, and MAYBE a new top-mount intercooler.

and it is a flash, not a chip.
 
Got this in the post.
Picking up the gaskets and some new studs/nuts/washers Monday and trying to get in on. Will NOT be fun, given the condition of the factory manifold. Still, shiny!

moto_0065.jpg
 

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