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Do you have a business license? If not, it may be worth looking into getting one so you can start getting wholesale accounts - especially from somewhere like WorldPac or IMC. They DELIVER! Prices aren't much better than Rock Auto, but they are mostly OEM parts, and getting things delivered a few hours after you order them is killer. There are a few other neat things you can do with business licenses, and sometimes there are tax advantages, but the wholesale accounts are the best part.
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| # ? Aug 28, 2011 16:59 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 03:52 |
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PBCrunch posted:Spray everything with PB Blaster for a few days before you start. If the bolts come out clean it is an easy job. I'm in no rush to do them, They're fine plus the car isn't running right now due to a burned up wire in the main harness. Never lend your car to buddies who think its ok to shove 60amp fuses into 20amp holes.
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| # ? Aug 28, 2011 17:43 |
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CountOfNowhere posted:There are a few other neat things you can do with business licenses, and sometimes there are tax advantages, but the wholesale accounts are the best part.
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| # ? Aug 28, 2011 20:59 |
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I replaced a serpentine belt on a Celica and made a couple bucks. The ball joints in the both of upper control arms I put in my wife's Honda failed after just over a year. They were still under warranty and Rockauto let me swap them for a different brand (old were Mevotech new are Dorman). I had lifetime alignment on her car so replacing the parts and getting the car aligned cost me nothing. I even beat book time on the parts swap doing it in my driveway vs. on a lift in a shop. The bigger news is that I finally got the elusive water outlet gaskets for the Lexus. So I was able to make some good progress on that. I have the water outlet, valve covers, cam pulleys, the lower intake, the upper intake, throttle body, EGR stuff, and a bunch of other little stuff put back on. If I can get the timing belt on by myself tomorrow the car might be back together and running tomorrow. I have only replaced one V-engine timing belt (98 Intrepid 3.2) and the belt was too long for me to manage it with just two hands. The colored zip ties are working like a champ. I just wish I would have done the same thing on some of the wiring connectors. I haven't gotten any connectors mixed up because they have varied colors and shapes, but a couple of things were hard to spot and the brightly colored zip ties would have prevented that. I also have to replace both front axles and drop the oil pan and give the oil pickup a good cleaning (there is probably a lot of oil sludge/gel in there). I have had the parts in the trunk of the Lexus for a while but I want the car running again before I deal with any of that stuff. The wait for machine work and parts really killed things on this project. I am thinking my next thing might be a cheapie performance motor swap on a Honda or Mazda or maybe a Honda Mini-me (single cam VTEC) head swap. After driving the Intrepid more, it is amazing how much better the car is with the subframe bushings. Just SF and inner tie rod bushings really bring an LH car to driving the way it is supposed to. I know they are hated by most of AI but they are just SO BIG and comfortable I love them. I really need to get the Lexus and the Intrepid finished this week. I start school full time after Labor Day and won't have as much time for car projects. College football will also play a role in devouring my leisure time (Go Big Red!). PBCrunch fucked around with this message at Aug 29, 2011 around 02:02 |
| # ? Aug 29, 2011 01:52 |
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PBCrunch posted:College football will also play a role in devouring my leisure time (Go Big Red!). Now you guys are in the Big Ten, you will be playing the Iowa Hawkeyes. If we can keep our players out of jail, it should be a great game. Anyways, have you had any issues with transmissions on these LH cars? It seems like every one and their brother is always bitching about them.
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| # ? Aug 29, 2011 05:00 |
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The bad transmissions have generally shown themselves. If you drive an LH car and it only has one forward gear it probably has a broken speed sensor. Make sure the flui is correct and they seem to hold up OK, certainly better than the complete garbage transmissions Ford used in their FWD cars. I don't worry about the transmission much because if the transmission poo poo the bed I can get one out of a 2.7L car with low miles and a blown motor for peanuts. It would cost me some money and a bunch of time, but it would be a selling point. The Huskers return basically all of their starting defensive line and linebackers but have a lot of losses in the defensive backfield. The offense loses its top back and receiver but returns explosive starting QB Taylor Martinez and has a new offensive coordinator promising a simplified playbook and faster tempo. My mom has season tickets. She is taking my little brother to the Iowa game but I get to go to the Big 10(12) home opener against Ohio State.
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| # ? Aug 29, 2011 12:46 |
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The Intrepid was throwing a P0401 EGR code. I had the plenum off a couple weeks ago and the inside of the EGR tube looked pretty clear so I figured the EGR valve itself was bad. I removed the old unit and it looked a little something like this: I am pretty sure the vacuum signal was getting lost because of that hole melted in the plastic. I have driven the car a bit since and the code has not returned. The driver seat on the Intrepid had a hole in the fabric, broken down foam, and the track mechanism doesn't allow the seat to go forward and aft all the way. The car has a split bench and column shifter. The fabric is really lovely and all the other ones in the junkyard were no better than this one. The bucket seats had better fabric but that would require swapping in a console and a console shifter. Yesterday at the junkyard I found a New Yorker with a split bench with power seat on the driver side. The car had no battery so I couldn't see if the seat worked, and the seat wasn't far enough forward to be able to access the mounting bolts. So I returned today with my jumper pack and used it to power up the car's electrical system and move the seat. The fabric was pretty badly stained but I figured it would clean up:   After a vacuum, power wash, and wet vac:  I think they turned out pretty well. Oh, and I got the Lexus all put back together. This picture means nothing without the context that the car was backed into the garage this morning.  It wanted to overheat when I took it out. I put coolant in it but didn't burp it. The power steering pump was noisy; the cooling fan on this car is driven by the power steering fluid and a bunch leaked out when I disconnected the fan. The brake light was on but it went out when I disconnected the fluid level sensor on the reservoir (it had plenty of fluid). The check engine light was on P0340 cam position sensor. One of the two wires leading to the sensor broke during my work. I will grab a piece of harness next time I go to the junkyard to fix it. PBCrunch fucked around with this message at Aug 31, 2011 around 02:14 |
| # ? Aug 31, 2011 00:42 |
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Nice find on the seats. What will it take to get them wired up in the Intrepid?
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 00:53 |
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PBCrunch posted:the cooling fan on this car is driven by the power steering fluid  what That's on par with the '80s Mercedes hydraulic actuators for the convertible rooftop locks.
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 01:03 |
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Splizwarf posted:
Toyota did that on the V6 Camry and Lexus through the 80s and part of the 90s (possibly the 4 cylinder Camrys in the 80s/early 90s too). As for why, your guess is as good as mine - seems like it'd be cheaper and easier to do electric fans.
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 02:06 |
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some texas redneck posted:Toyota did that on the V6 Camry and Lexus through the 80s and part of the 90s (possibly the 4 cylinder Camrys in the 80s/early 90s too). As for why, your guess is as good as mine - seems like it'd be cheaper and easier to do electric fans. Don't worry, GM can screw up an electric fan. Consider the trailblazer, with an electric fan that also has a mechanical clutch (which loves to fail).
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 02:13 |
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some texas redneck posted:Nice find on the seats. What will it take to get them wired up in the Intrepid? Should plug right in. These cars could be optioned bit by bit so I am pretty sure they all use the same body harness. If not I just need to supply 12V and ground since the connector is just a two pin. I followed my wife around while she drove the blue Lexus. No smoke!
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 02:16 |
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lazer_chicken posted:Don't worry, GM can screw up an electric fan. Consider the trailblazer, with an electric fan that also has a mechanical clutch (which loves to fail). How the gently caress does that contraption work? I'm trying to picture it, but I just can't. PBCrunch posted:Should plug right in. These cars could be optioned bit by bit so I am pretty sure they all use the same body harness. If not I just need to supply 12V and ground since the connector is just a two pin. I'm used to the way Honda and Nissan do it I guess - every Accord LX of a given model year has the same power options, for example. And my Altima GXE doesn't have wiring for power seats, lighted mirrors, or map lights, even though they're included on the GLE model. Congrats on the successful smoke removal.
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 02:24 |
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I'm pleased you got that engine fixed up so it holds smoke again. Good work!
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 02:54 |
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some texas redneck posted:How the gently caress does that contraption work? I'm trying to picture it, but I just can't. Very poorly. Imagine a normal fan clutch facing the engine and a pig tail coming out by the radiator. http://www.1aauto.com/1A/RadiatorFa...CFZQKKgodNmWvDw Its not a cheap item by any means too. To be honest when we had our Trailblazer, I never actually heard the "electric" side come one. I have said it before and I will say it again, every thing GM could do wrong on a car, it accomplished it on the the Trailblazer/Envoy/what ever branding. Congrats on getting your Lexus done! Were/are you as nervous about doing upper end work now before doing all that work?
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 03:32 |
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BrokenKnucklez posted:Very poorly. Imagine a normal fan clutch facing the engine and a pig tail coming out by the radiator.    What the gently caress GM. And what the gently caress does it need 5 loving pins/wires for?
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 04:39 |
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Speed sensor, multiple channel speed control, etc.
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 04:52 |
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Wow, I just read through this whole thread over the past couple days. Great job resurrecting all these old and beaten on cars and giving them new life (and money in your pocket). I think you have inspired me to start up a couple of old projects I have put off. Keep up the good work and good luck at school.
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 11:45 |
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BrokenKnucklez posted:Congrats on getting your Lexus done! Were/are you as nervous about doing upper end work now before doing all that work? I probably wouldn't do a complex head gasket job like this for a customer. It wasn't the complexity of the job, it was the weeklong wait for machine work and the way the project lost steam between the wait for machine work and the missing water outlet gaskets.
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 12:47 |
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This was the outcome I was hoping for when you took the top off, flying in the face of negative comments. I think the experience you gained more than makes up for the reduced profit due to the length of the project and costs.
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 12:54 |
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Splizwarf posted:This was the outcome I was hoping for when you took the top off, flying in the face of negative comments. I think the experience you gained more than makes up for the reduced profit due to the length of the project and costs. Yea it pays in the end, either in experience of "this works" or "welp, that was a stupid idea" as well as being able to tell the potential buyers "I took the heads off to be cleaned/machined instead of just dumping some smoke-be-gone in the engine like 99% of the rest of the world would do - and here are those pictures".
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 14:40 |
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PB: how did you get the exhaust manifold studs out of the Lexus? Did you drench them in PB (heh) first? Rattle gun or wrench? I ask only because I think the gasket on my car might be gone and while it seems like an easy enough job I don't want to shear a bunch of bolts in the process 
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 15:59 |
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I didn't do anything to prepare the exhaust studs. They just came out on their own. The only bolts that didn't cooperate were the ones connecting the crossover pipe to the rearward exhaust. I just left those alone and dropped the whole exhaust complete. It made it a lot harder to reconnect the crossover pipes to the manifolds because that bitch was HEAVY! Before I even really started I tried to pop a couple exhaust nuts loose. They came right off. If they had broken I probably would have abandoned ship and sold the car for the money I had in it. As for the fluid fan, what's weird is that Toyota used it on the 3VZ-FE motor used in the 92-93 models and the 1MZ-FE used in 94+. My 95 Lexus SC400 has a hydraulic fan on its 1UZ-FE V8 as well.
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| # ? Aug 31, 2011 21:02 |
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I did some wrenching for hire work today. The subject was a 1994 Chrysler Lebaron GTC Convertible 3.0L 12V SOHC Mitsu V6 and four-speed automatic. The main issue was the exhaust. It was the loudest car I have ever driven, and seemingly every car I buy has exhaust problems. The flange connecting the crossover pipes to the catalyst was broken. This means new aftermarket catalyst. I unbolted the front of the cat pipe (thank god it came apart) and cut the slip joint where the cat connects to the resonator. I used a piece of 2.25" ID pipe to join the two parts with a couple of exhaust clamps. Exhaust clamps are good enough for the factory so they are good enough for this car. The problem was the donut gasket didn't want to seat evenly. I took the joint apart six times before I finally got an even seat on the donut gasket. The other thing to fix was the leaky valve cover gaskets. Book time is a half hour for the front gasket and 0.8 for the rear. I had the front done including cleaning the surfaces in maybe ten minutes. The rear was a bitch. My service info said to look for a 1/2" square drive on the belt tensioner to release belt tension. I looked and looked to no avail. It turns out you are supposed to put a 15mm wrench linked to another wrench (for more torque) onto the bolt that holds the pulley onto the tensioner. Once that was out of the way I was able to remove the belt and push the alternator up out of the way of the valve cover. I also had to move the ignition coil which was not listed in the service info. The job sucked. I had bid it high in the first place since I didn't want to do it. The lady was overjoyed with the quiet exhaust (the engine still sounded coarse and noisy to me). Here is the car. Excuse my myspace angle "photography".  Portals to a world of luxury and performance!  Non-functional hood scoop:  Massive spoiler for xxtreame downforce.  Letters on the airbag cover so when the airbag goes out little shards of chrome plated plastic will be embedded in your face.
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| # ? Sep 1, 2011 00:34 |
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Hve you tried your hand at welding exhuast? The shop I head to for exhaust work welds every thing. If you get the old guy he will braze (yes, braze) the exhaust. Its almost to pretty to have under the car. If I recall correctly, Jeep Grand Cherokee had a hydraulic fan. Why in the he'll do auto manufacturers do wacky poo poo like that is beyond me.
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| # ? Sep 1, 2011 00:52 |
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Oh my god. I can't believe that's all that's wrong with it.
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| # ? Sep 1, 2011 01:40 |
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Oh that wasn't all that was wrong. First of all it is a Chrysler Lebaron so it had all the structure of a wet noodle. The tube going from the radiator to the coolant overflow tank had a bolt jammed in the end of it so the coolant tank isn't connected to anything at all. And the coolant tank has a little crack in it, so it was dripping all over my floor. The plastic half of the EGR valve (back pressure transducer?) was disconnected. The electrical connector was still hooked up but the three vacuum lines were not. Speaking of vacuum lines, someone put one of those cone-style air filters on this car and left a couple of lines disconnected so the car hisses when it is running. Chrysler fuel injection runs on a MAP sensor so it adjusts for vacuum leaks pretty well, so the car runs better than I would expect for all the horrible repairs that have been done on the car. A guy dropped off money for me to order a timing belt kit for a 2005 Chrysler Pacfica 3.5L. I have done a timing belt on an Intrepid with a related 3.2L motor. The biggest difference is that the motor was longy mounted in the Intrepid and the Pacifica is transverse.
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| # ? Sep 1, 2011 13:31 |
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I swapped the New Yorker seats into the Dodge yesterday. It was not fun. The old driver seat would not slide all the way forward. I had to move it as far forward as I could and then turn the bolts out with an open end wrench 1/4 turn at a time. As the bolts really started to come out I had to lift on the seat back to get enough room for the wrench. And it was 90*F at 9:30 in the morning with unbearable humidity. And I did have to make my own wiring for the power seat. First I tried connecting it to the cigarette lighter circuit. This kind of worked; the seat would move if there was no weight in it. So instead I wired it into the constant ignition circuit up by the steering column. Not a particularly easy place for me to contort myself into since the lower dash is not readily removable on these cars. When I was driving it around with the AC on it was overheating. When I got home I saw that only one cooling fan was working. Also, fluid was spraying around when the fan would kick on. So I got a pressure tester. The overflow tank was leaking around the neck where the plastic tank meets the metal neck. And the radiator was leaking at the passenger end tank. So I got a junkyard overflow bottle and a new radiator from Advance for $53. I also replaced the water pump since the system was drained, the pump was right there, and it only cost $12. Easiest water pump ever. No water pump:  Old and new pumps:  New pump installed:  The radiator was a huge pain in the rear end though. There was little room to work and the fan assembly, radiator, and condenser were all held together with very lovely u-shaped clip nuts. After this work I had a cooling system that could hold pressure and not leak. The fans are supposed to come on together so obviously something was wrong since only one was coming on. I took the harness apart and jumped each fan to +12V and both fans worked. This meant there was a bad connector on the shroud assembly. So I did some splicing and put it back on. I went for a test drive. The fans did not work at all. This was worse than when I started. So I looked at everything and found that I had failed to plug the shroud harness into the main engine harness. Once plugged in both fans spun up. This car sucks and I am going to be lucky to make $500 on it. The radiator and the subframe bushings have destroyed the budget on this one. And this was dropped off with me today.  The guy has been calling me every ten days or so for the last month saying he was going to drop it off when he could use his friend's trailer. It has a broken timing belt. So today he shows up with a fuckoff huge Ford diesel truck and this car on a lovely little dolly. As he is trying to back it into my driveway the strap holding one of the wheels breaks. So we have to back the car off the dolly and push it into my driveway. My driveway is halfway between flat and steep so my guy, my wife, my neighbor, his girlfriend and I pushed the car into the driveway. I am busy tomorrow but timing set and water pump on Sunday.
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| # ? Sep 3, 2011 02:25 |
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And the thread finally comes full circle with a ZX2 with a broken timing belt.  PBC, I gotta hand it to you, you are living my automotive dream. Keep up the good work, bro!
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| # ? Sep 3, 2011 05:24 |
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Timing belt done. The car runs, but not as "smooth" as the red one or the green one I had. I think the car needs a tune up. The plugs had oil all over them and two of the spark plug wires didn't click onto the plugs very well. I went to pick the blue Lexus back up from my mom's house. After sitting for almost a week there was still no smoke at startup. The back tire was pretty much flat so I had to leave it there. The tire had been flat when the car was started for the first time after putting the heads back on so evidently it needs to be patched.
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| # ? Sep 5, 2011 00:38 |
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That is great it was just valve seals and not rings or anything like that. At least a patch is an easy fix for a tire. By the way, nice performance on your Huskers. Looks like the Big 10 may end up being a good fit for them. Iowa on the other hand...... Not gonna go there.
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| # ? Sep 5, 2011 05:44 |
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The Lexus tire was flat because of corrosion of the chrome plating around the bead. The tire shop buffed it off and put some bead sealer on it. I replaced both front axles on the blue Lexus. The boots on the outer joints for both sides were broken and the car clicked when making left or right turns. The axles were held on by six bolts each. All the axles I have replaced before have been held on by little c-clips so this was different. I had to pack the inner joint full of grease and then bolt the axle in place while trying to keep the grease from escaping. While doing this I noticed the front pads were shot. There was a line of rust on the inside of each front rotor so I had them machined at the parts store. I bought pads on Advance Auto's website for in-store pickup (coupon code for 20% off plus a code later for $50 off $100) but the store closed an hour early for labor day. My online classes start today. English composition, trigonometry, psychology/human growth. I am also taking a biology class in person. It meets for eight hours every Friday.
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| # ? Sep 6, 2011 13:27 |
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I finished the brake job and drove the Lexus today. It was the first time I have driven it with no weird noises or smoke. I just have to figure out how to fix the bad leather seats and repair the ABS light in the dash and it will be ready to sell. I went to the junkyard and grabbed a new plug to fix the check engine light set off by the bad cam sensor plug. It worked just as expected.
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| # ? Sep 7, 2011 00:05 |
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So what are you into the Lexus now money wise, and what do you expect to see in return? Seems like this one has been taking up a lot of your time! Also I am probably going to tackle the axles on my 92 Accord before a vacation to Florida - anything I should look at/replace while I do the job? I have already done the brakes...
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| # ? Sep 7, 2011 13:14 |
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PBCrunch posted:... the ABS light in the dash.... What kind of scan tool are you using? I would like to get a scan tool that would do ABS with out spending my first born.
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| # ? Sep 7, 2011 15:36 |
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I will be borrowing my neightbor's fancy-pants Snap-On scan tool. As for axles on an Accord, inspect the ball joints and tie rod ends before you start. If any of them are bad now is the time to replace them. It may also be time to change the output shaft seals on the transmission. Avoid detaching the top mounting bolts on the struts as it could disturb the alignment. Spray the pinch bolt on the bottom of the strut with some penetrant a couple days ahead of time. Those bolts like to break sometimes. When dealing with any ball-and-socket type joints (ball joints or TRE's) put the nut back on before hitting the knuckle with a hammer or using a ball joint popper tool This will help protect the threads while using your tool of choice. The Lexus has been a big job but also a learning experience. I am hoping I can sell the car for $3500 or so once the ABS light and the seats are fixed. The car only has 140k miles and the exterior is in very good shape. PBCrunch fucked around with this message at Sep 7, 2011 around 22:40 |
| # ? Sep 7, 2011 22:36 |
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I have been trying to get way ahead on my online classwork so I have not been doing a lot of car stuff the last couple of weeks. The main thing I did was a wrench for hire job replacing a timing belt and water pump on a 2005 Chrysler Pacifica. Plastic intake plenum:  View with upper timing cover removed. This was a lot more work than it should have been. The upper engine mount needed to come out. There were two idler pulleys mounted to the upper cover, plus the power steering pump needed to be unbolted to access the last timing cover bolt.  Lower timing cover and crank pulley. You need a special tool to remove the crank pulley.  Alternator about to fail. The alternator has a little clutch on it. The clutch had a lot of slop in it and there was this red dust all over the place. I advised replacement and the customer agreed.  I took a break to enjoy some delicious meat that I smoked myself and watch the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers squeak by the Fresno State Bulldogs.  Back at it, old and new water pumps.  Water pump hole, very clean.  Timing marks made more visible by paint pen.  New water pump.  It was a bitch to get the new belt on properly by myself but I did it. Assembly is reverse of removal, but more of a pain in the rear end because the power steering pump was a pain in the rear end to line up and bolt in.
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| # ? Sep 14, 2011 17:42 |
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What's the purpose of putting a clutch on the alternator like that?
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| # ? Sep 15, 2011 17:57 |
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Taco Box posted:What's the purpose of putting a clutch on the alternator like that?
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| # ? Sep 15, 2011 18:03 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 03:52 |
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I had never heard of an alternator pulley clutch either, but it seems like it has something do with NVH? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EXYP1CmL9Q
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| # ? Sep 16, 2011 05:10 |
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