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Ferremit posted:Bronze brazing is a VERY useful method of joining poo poo together because it works on dissimilar metals that welding wont! Afaik this was silver, not bronze. No idea where the line is between soldering and brazing though, it appears a bit arbitrary. In Swedish its "lödning" (soldering) and "hårdlödning" (literally hard soldering), and it's basically "did you use soldering iron and tin solder, or something other than tin solder and maybe fire". I've driven it a couple more times and haven't seen any signs of leaks. Will take a much closer look when rust proofing it and clamping it down better, but it seems solid enough. That will wait though as I'm leaving the country for a couple weeks. E: quoting for page break ionn fucked around with this message at 10:34 on Sep 26, 2016 |
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Sep 26, 2016 10:29
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There, I've successfully been on vacation for a couple weeks, and can now get back to car stuff. I was a week on Mauritius, and that place is full of various japanese trucks, a lot of them Nissans. Most are D22 or D40 (Navara), but I did see quite a few D21's too. Usually when I was in a car myself, but I saw this nice specimen parked:  Made me a bit homesick (was driving a soulless rental Nissan Micra/March at the time), and somewhat jealous of it's outward appearance. It may seem like somewhat horrible parking, but it is perfectly acceptable by local standards from what I could tell. This one, as most, were the 4-door variety. Saw one or two regular 2-door ones, but none that were the same "proper King Cab" as mine. Also a bunch of the D22's where even marked "Hardbody" on the back, so it seems to have been used as an official model name in some markets. The thought did occur to me to go to some used parts place or junkyard to see if I could find a replacement steering wheel and then see if that fit in my suitcase, but I never got quite that adventurous. Something I will probably regret for years. Anyhoo, today me and my brother fixed the exhaust leak I had, at the flange that is right underneath the drivers seat. It doesn't make much noise but it does smell a lot of exhaust when stopped. We just took it apart (bolts weren't seized, surprisingly), replaced the gasket, forgot to clean all of the old gasket off, realized it was still leaking, redid the thing a bit more carefully, and now it seems to hold up. It's the kind of joint where one flange has the pipe sticking a bit inside the next one, and I just put liberal amounts of monkey feces (the exhaust repair putty variety) around it. Old gasket, where it appears some exhaust has been blowing by:  The flange with some residue of old gasket and the monkey-poop from the first sloppy attempt:  Also while under there, I did notice something rather broken. I assumed I had just one straight driveshaft from the transfer case to the rear diff, but there's just a short (~40cm) shaft out of the transfer case, a carrier bearing, and then a longer one to the diff. That carrier bearing sits in a thick rubber bushing, which sits in a U-shaped frame bolted to a crossmember, in turn bolted to the frame. And that thick rubber bushing is mostly just gone. Half the rubber is missing, one quarter sits on the bearing, and one quarter in the frame.  It does as a result have some play in it:  It moves about 10-15mm back and forth  (source video)I have no idea how much this moves around when driving, or how close the thing is to self-destructing violently. I would guess this isn't something that just broke very recently but probably was like this when I got it, and I have driven it about 350km (some of it on highway, up to around 110-120km/h) and not felt any bad vibrations. If this was seriously jumping around, I would think it should be pretty easily noticed. I'm getting a new one and replacing it as soon as possible, but that probably means next weekend. At least the part is pretty cheap, about $40 shipped. I would guess it moves a bit back and forth (probably ends up in different places on or off throttle), but when I move it about, the outside of the bearing always hits some rubber, the actual spinning bits don't come into contact with anything. How crazy/dangerous/destructive would it be to drive this for another week (basically 65km back home, a couple short trips for various things, and back here to fix it next weekend) if I limit my speed a bit, and do my best to stay away from WOT or hard engine-braking? I'm going to have the truck inspected during the week. They are pretty good at finding certain problems (suspension bushings, wheel bearings, brakes) so it will be good to see what they have to say about it. I don't think the driveshaft carrier bearings are among their control items though. I also took the trailer hitch off for that. Having it on "unlicensed" means a fail, since the hitch itself needs a separate thing first. I realized upon closer inspection of the installation instructions I found online that I was missing a piece from the original kit. It's an L-shaped bracket that bolts to the inside of the frame rail on either side, to stiffen it up a bit where the hitch bolts in. Whoever took this off the truck it was originally on probably didn't notice, as it's a relatively small piece that is held on by a separate bolt and doesn't come out when you remove the "main part". I'll fabricate something, probably weld together a couple of pieces of 3mm steel plate. Then, I'll mount it and go for the separate trailer-hitch-inspection when I get to it. I tried to change the alternator/water pump/fan belt too. It wasn't in horrible shape but the rubber looks rather old and I want a good one in there as I like having electricity and cooling. The belt on it is 10x940mm (regular V-belt), but Biltema only had 935 or 950mm. I went with 935 as it was closest, but it was just a little bit too tight to get on there. It does have enough adjustment range that 950 will most likely work, but I'll get a 940mm belt at the same time as the carrier bearing (and put the old belt back for now). It also appears that where these trucks are supposed to have a viscous fan clutch, I do not. It's just a pulley with a fan bolted on it, I don't see that big metal thing with cooling fins anywhere. It doesn't really bother me having a constantly spinning fan and it's one less thing to have fail, so meh. Just another quirk of regional differences in the automotive industry. In other non-news, there are still zero signs of any power steering fluid leakage, so I'm calling it a leak-free success. Thanks, bro! ionn fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Oct 9, 2016 |
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Oct 9, 2016 16:17
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ionn posted:Afaik this was silver, not bronze. No idea where the line is between soldering and brazing though, it appears a bit arbitrary. In Swedish its "lödning" (soldering) and "hårdlödning" (literally hard soldering), and it's basically "did you use soldering iron and tin solder, or something other than tin solder and maybe fire". It's temperature. Without actually digging into one of my manuals, brazing is above 425* but below like 800* (all Fahrenheit obviously).
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Oct 9, 2016 17:49
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iwentdoodie posted:It's temperature. Without actually digging into one of my manuals, brazing is above 425* but below like 800* (all Fahrenheit obviously). Just found this when randomly googling: quote:By the American Welding Society’s definition, soldering takes place with fillers (also known as solders) that melt at below 840°F (450°C). I think your numbers (425-800) should be °C. Above 800°C, I would guess it mostly becomes welding (and 425°F/218°C is basically "baking"). For welding though, I would hope there is some useful non-arbitrary definition for it since you melt the two materials being joined and not just the filler/solder/whatever. Edit: I just drove the 65km home with the shady driveshaft without issues. There is a slight metal-y "clink" sound that sometimes appears around 40-60km/h around half throttle (not off-throttle or flooring it), that could have something to do with the driveshaft carrier bearing. The sound came and went, and I don't think I have heard it before today. Could be from underneath, it sounds more like from the front but it's as usual hard to tell for sure. It's very faint, and there is no noticeable vibration with it. When there's less rain and more daylight I'll crawl underneath and see if something seems to quickly be getting worse or not. ionn fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Oct 9, 2016 |
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Oct 9, 2016 19:14
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Goddamn it, I was sure I hit "edit" and not "quote".
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Oct 9, 2016 19:20
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News! Shiny new bits! Needlessly long wall-of-text! I bought some used cheap rims a few days ago, and today they arrived. I am very excited by the fact that I have a truck now and can do this:  This is what they look like:  Paint is in pretty bad shape, it has come off in many places and there's a lot of rust instead. Seems to only be on the surface though, I'm just going to give them a round of flap disc and wire brush and then some paint. I'll buy a fresh set of proper winter tires for these. The "all season" M+S tires it came with will do fine in summer but I have no doubt they will be pretty horrible in proper winter weather. Since I will probably mostly drive this thing in winter it makes sense to have proper tires for that, but still have something around for non-winter use. I do like the look of these rims better than the ones that came with the truck too. I also went to the inspection place. End result:    That stuff means it PASSED! A couple of caveats though, of very varying severity. I got a good look underneath when it was up on the lift, and stuff seems to be in generally good shape there. They do have a Pneumatic Violence Machine that wiggles stuff around to check on bearings and bushings and balljoints and whatnot, and nothing was amiss. Only thing they noted on was the front sway bar end links. It's just a couple of bits of threaded rods with some rubber bushings, washers and nuts, and some of the bushings were cracked and rubber seemed about to depart. The link was still hanging on but obviously with a lot of play in it, and needs fixing. Cheap $10 part, ordered it together with the new driveshaft carrier bearing and some other random bits. He almost had to fail me because we couldn't locate the chassis number (VIN), apparently that is something they started taking very seriously pretty recently. The owners manual has a somewhat vague drawing showing it to be near the front on the right-hand side frame rail, but we couldn't find it looking from under the car or from the side through the wheel well. He had given up and went on to other things (not wanting to miss his lunch break), but I spotted it looking down on the frame from the engine bay, partially obscured by the alternator, power steering lines and a healthy layer of crap. Scraped it off and found an acceptable series of digits. Will clean it off and cover it up with some tape or something to make it easier to get to next year. The actual serious issue: The inspection guy said "you're running on just three cylinders", based on the rough idle, engine vibration, foul smelling exhaust, and also the 653ppm HC exhaust reading (my personal record-high on any car I've had inspected). Limit is usually 100ppm, but this one is old enough and truck enough that it doesn't matter, and therefore didn't affect the formal verdict. I never thought much of it before, I thought the rough idle and exhaust was just due to bad fuel mixture or something, and anywhere except idle it appears to run fine. Anyway, I did a quick test by pulling spark plug wires, and sure enough, cylinder #2 is dead when idling at 1000rpm (it runs the same with or without the spark plug wire). It does fire when I tested at 2000rpm though, and though not very easily noticed it seems like the engine "gets better" somewhere around 1500-1700 rpm (unloaded, just fiddling a little bit with throttle). I'll do a compression test whenever I find the gauge thing, but I'm guessing it will be a pretty clear case of lovely compression on #2. So, will I fix it? Nah, gently caress it. I'll drive it as-is for now, and just swap out the engine. I thought about doing that anyway for slightly better fuel economy and less horrible emissions, and if the current engine is bad that's just one more reason to do it. I could just get a used Z24 engine and just toss it in there, but it would be from a car at least as old as mine. If I'm doing it I'm going for a KA24E. A newer, cleaner, more efficient EFI engine with a bit more power that still bolts right in. I've looked around the various junkyard resellers and those engines can be found from about $300-400 (~20y and about 100K miles) up to $1000+ for a newer one. Given the reliability of these engines and the fact that most pickup trucks in Sweden haven't been raced, I can live with getting an older one. There are two decent candidates within reasonable driving distance from here which I'll check out. A Z24i (identical engine but with TBI in place of carb) would be "more similar" to the Z24, but it would be the same amount of work and cost for an almost as old and just as weak engine. Also seems the Z24i only existed one or two years before everything went to KA24E, so they are rare. The much more common KA24E is still a very similar engine overall, SOHC and cam chain and stuff, major differences being per-cylinder fuel injection and also having three valves per cylinder (because why go through the hassle of all four when you can spend just 95% of the effort). The biggest issue is, since these people are in the business of selling car parts, the juicy bits like alternator, starter and ECU are already gone or at least sold separately. Alternator and starter are hopefully interchangeable with the Z24 (or can be found for ~$100 or so), but ECUs seem a bit rare and somewhat expensive and wiring up a stock ECU is a bit of an unknown. So I'll probably go for a Speeduino. I've fooled around with it a bit (and have done other aftermarket ECU installs) and it seems to be decently straightforward on this engine. If not Speeduino for whatever reason, some older second-hand Megasquirt would do nicely. Would need a new trigger wheel for the cam angle sensor, but those are easily available thanks to all the Nissan drifters/ricers running Megasquirt on their KA24 or SR20-equipped cars (they share the same CAS). Making a new wiring harness is reasonably straightforward. I hope the engines I can buy at least have some of it still there, mainly for the various connectors. Suitable connectors can almost always be found, but it's some amount of money and effort. If I were stripping down an otherwise junked car to take out the engine I would just cut cables everywhere and leave connectors on the engine, and if that's the case it shouldn't be a big deal to wire it up. Never done an engine swap on a vehicle of my own before, it would be an adventure. Will dig a bit further to verify the feasibility of things, but the rough plan would be to get a KA24E engine and take my time wiring it up and test-start it out of the truck, and once things seem decently lined up, have a go at swapping it. Until then I'll just limp along on the old engine and pretend everything is fine. I need to get the old Volvo boat engine out of the way first, given the limited space and number of people around the summerhouse/workshop, I would like to limit the number of "project engines" laying around to one (1).
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Oct 10, 2016 21:33
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I don't know if you've done it yet, but it's worth at least throwing on a cap, rotor, set of plugs and wires, and adjusting the valves. Although I dunno if those have an easy valve adjustment procedure, or if you have to swap out shims and all that nonsense. At least that would cover your bases in case it's not a compression issue, and it probably all needs doing anyway if you haven't yet.
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Oct 11, 2016 00:23
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I love that you can pass an inspection on three cylinders  .
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Oct 11, 2016 00:50
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Raluek posted:I don't know if you've done it yet, but it's worth at least throwing on a cap, rotor, set of plugs and wires, and adjusting the valves. Although I dunno if those have an easy valve adjustment procedure, or if you have to swap out shims and all that nonsense. I did replace the plugs soon after I got it (just to have a baseline and see if there was anything obviously wrong with the old ones), and I swapped the #2 wire and plug yesterday too. Plug looked fine, and the change made no difference. I did break the old wire taking it off, so I suppose some fresh ignition bits are in order anyway because cheap and easy. It being so very clearly only one cylinder and the fact that it runs fine on higher rpm makes me not have much hope for that stuff being at fault though. I'll start with a compression test just to see what's up, but this engine just has regular old rocker arms that seem easily adjusted (no fancy hydraulic lifters) and probably worth the effort to check. It will take something a whole lot worse for me to even consider anything involving removing the head for a valve job, and if the engine ever has to come out it's not going back in. SCA Enthusiast posted:I love that you can pass an inspection on three cylinders Finally, driving old crappy vehicles pays off!
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Oct 11, 2016 07:26
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Double check the valve system for sure since you have already done the ignition system. It turned out my MJ was running on 5 cylinders not because of bad plugs (though they were really bad) but because it sat for so long that the #6 intake valve was slightly stuck in its bore, partially open, and the first time I turned it over in 3 years I heard several loud metal CLANKs that then disappeared as soon as it started. I assumed I was going to have to do a new motor soon but when I pulled the valve cover I found that the #6 intake pushrod had simply escaped from its proper spot under the end of the rocker, gotten punted up into the underside of the aluminum valve cover a few times (thus the noises) and fallen into a spot where it didn't get into any more trouble. So all I had to do was unbolt the rockers, put the pushrod back in the right spot, bolt the rockers back on and button the engine back up.
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Oct 11, 2016 18:14
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When I have the valve cover off to check lash, I will certainly poke around and see what gives. There are of course no pushrods, just camshaft, rocker, and the valve itself, but I guess there are critical places where some crud could form if it was left sitting for a couple years. Or maybe a valve spring is busted or something, possibilities are endless! If I were to bet money on this, it would still be split evenly between piston rings and a burnt valve.
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Oct 11, 2016 21:03
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ionn posted:Just found this when randomly googling: I was thinking in C and typing in drunk  I have to inspect enough of the loving things.
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Oct 12, 2016 01:34
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ionn posted:*SNIP* I've had three of these trucks over the years. My first one was a 2WD with the Z24i engine. If you can, avoid putting one in. They're...quirky. Overly complicated (part carb/part EFI...think throttle body injection), vacuum lines, and the weirdest part is they have 8 (yes, 8!) spark plugs...4 in the intake, 4 in the exhaust (for emissions). My favourite was a 4WD with the V6. VE? VG something? Horrible fuel economy, underwhelming power. Just put in a KA24 and be done with it...
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Oct 12, 2016 10:59
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ionn posted:When I have the valve cover off to check lash, I will certainly poke around and see what gives. There are of course no pushrods, just camshaft, rocker, and the valve itself, but I guess there are critical places where some crud could form if it was left sitting for a couple years. Or maybe a valve spring is busted or something, possibilities are endless! haha poo poo, for some reason I was thinking tractor motors still. My mistake, didn't realize it was OHC 
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Oct 12, 2016 16:45
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Captain McAllister posted:Just put in a KA24 and be done with it... Oh, don't get me wrong (or just re-read what I actually wrote), I am going for a KA24E. A Z24i would mean about as much hassle with the electronics side of it, and would give me at best marginal improvements in power/efficiency, with the half-assed TBI. Also the Z24i seems very uncommon here (it was probably only sold here for just a year or so in between Z24 and KA24E). I did consider the VG30E V6 too at first, but it makes only about the same power as the KA24E and doesn't fit with the gearbox and seems to me generally a crappier engine. If I am somehow too stupid to do the KA24E swap and a Z24 (non-i) were to appear for cheap and in good condition, I would maybe put that in instead though. But primary target is certainly KA24E. kastein posted:haha poo poo, for some reason I was thinking tractor motors still. My mistake, didn't realize it was OHC It's a Japanese tractor motor, so it's just slightly more refined. 
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Oct 12, 2016 19:12
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Yeah the VG30E is... not great. It has a bit more torque than the KA24E, but only 10-15 hp over the KA24E (and pretty equal with the KA24DE)... the difference is pretty much offset by the extra weight. And you get to deal with a timing belt on the VG! Though... the KA is prone to timing chain guide failures. They're really easy to change while the engine is out, at least.
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Oct 13, 2016 04:31
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Yeah, I'll certainly check the timing chain and guides out once I actually get an engine. From what little I've read so far, it seems the common failure mode is the tensioner goes slackjawed causing chain rattle, and then the loose chain either skips a couple teeth and valves get bent, or it wears the guides down until they eventually break and then  .Since I will have easy access to the front of the "new" engine, I guess I might as well just do the whole timing chain job. I can buy the timing chain kit (chains, gears, tensioner, guides, random seals and stuff) for about $250 locally. The same thing is like $50 in the US, which would end up at about twice that with shipping + customs. Not too expensive, but I can probably have some colleague in the US smuggle it here for me for the extra cost of a couple of beers. Just buying guides + tensioner (which seems to be the parts that actually wear out) would be a few bucks cheaper, but at that price, screw it. The whole engine swap deal will be a long-running thing though (a couple months in the future at least), but for the time being I can live with the dodgy old Z24. Since I last fiddled with the carburetor, I've been getting just over 20mpg (11.5L/100km) which is what should be expected out of this thing. And while it does seem a bit weak at the top end and idles rough (and smelly) it does just fine when cruising. I can keep going on this engine for a few months or until it blows up. ionn fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Oct 13, 2016 |
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Oct 13, 2016 15:09
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Last weekend, me and my brother did some minor things on the truck. First, I mounted a new fancy stereo system in place of the 26 year old stuff. Replaced the not-quite-functioning tape deck head unit (which had an aux input though) with a $60 cheapo unit with bluetooth, and the grody old factory speakers a pair of slightly larger 2-way pioneer 13cm speakers. Doesn't sound awesome, but decent enough for now. Could use a pair of rear speakers and a subwoofer, but that's for later. I do need a radio antenna though. It's supposed to go in the passenger side front fender (just in front of the windshield), but that body piece has been replaced and there is no antenna to be found, just a cut cable. I want to cover that hole up somehow anyway, and an antenna could be a good way to do it. Also went and picked these lights up for cheap, from someone who lived 15 minutes drive away:  Have been on the front of an Audi Q7 Next, I wanted to fix the power steering lines proper. There are no leaks whatsoever after invalido brazed it up, they just need to be rustproofed and properly mounted, as I hope to never have to deal with them ever again. We drained most of the system, took the hardlines out out, brushed off most of the surface rust, painted with hammerite-alike, and remounted them. Until then I just had it mounted with the bracket on the passenger side frame rail (before it turns to hoses up to pump/reservoir) and the banjo bolts on the rack, now it also has one of the brackets along the front crossmember with fresh rubber. The other bracket isn't there, that was where the bad rust damage and subsequent leak was. It sits where it should and seems solid enough as it is though. Painted before it went back in:  Then, we did a compression test. I was expecting to see crappy compression on #2, but all four cylinders turned up good numbers (11-11.5). I hadn't had the distributor cap off earlier as I was waiting for the replacement part to arrive to do that. I did it now anyway, and the rotor was badly worn and there was a lot of corrosion on the posts. #2 was visibly worse than the others. I scraped the posts off a bit and reassembled it, and that did make a significant change. It still has the occasional single misfire, but it runs on all four on idle (and idle is now a few hundred rpm higher due to having one more cylinder). I still likely have unreliable and weak spark, but it's better, and hopefully new cap+rotor will fix this proper. Didn't have the valve cover off to look at the valve adjustment due to lack of effort and daylight. Will get to that at some point. Next, time to go over the rims I bought. Took the wire wheel to them to get the flaking paint and the worst rust off, as well as the bits of rubber stuck to where it seals to the tire. Some horrible pitting on one of them, but it has been decided that filler or some such for cosmetic reasons just isn't proper for this here truck. It's not so bad that it will weaken the rim and paint will cover it up enough.   They have since been given a round of paint (silver Biltema hammerite knockoff). I'll probably do another layer after mounting the tires, as I will likely make a couple of marks in the process. Mental note: Remember to put new valve stems in before the tires, not after. Bonus action shot of the vehicle being used as mobile support for driving a lamp post into the ground:  This was all last weekend (wrote a post approximately this far and then forgot to post it and lost it in a reboot). Since then I have gotten delivery of some new bits for the truck. First off, new winter tires. Continental ContiVikingContact 6, 235/75R15. These are what they here sell as "nordic winter tires", really soft sticky rubber for snow and ice. No doubt exactly the same as are sold in northern north america. Decent (but not brilliant) in rain, and wear out pretty quickly in warm weather on dry roads. For that, I have the "all-season" tires that came with the truck, but these are what I'll drive on come winter. I looked around at various reviews/tests, and most of them have these and the Nokian Hakka R2 at the top. These were cheaper than Nokian, and has slightly higher load rating (109 vs 105).  I could have gotten a set of 16" rims just as well as the 15" ones I did get, but there was very little choice in winter tires in that dimension, and none that I really liked. 235/75R15 is the same size as the ones that it came with. The spare tire is a full-size 205R16C, and that is also the "stock size" according to registration. I'm guessing it originally came with 16" wheels, but that they were changed at some point for these. I'm fine with either, but now I'm sort of set on 15". I do kind of like the massive sidewalls of these, and I think the "new" rims look better (with the triangular holes instead of the round ones). The distributor cap, rotor and contact breaker I ordered showed up. Will replace cap and rotor as soon as I can. The contact breaker, I'll only do if it seems necessary. I haven't really had a distributor apart before and I'm not quite sure how to properly adjust it. The part was like $5, got it just in case.  Finally, I got a new steering wheel. There was one for about $50 from a slightly newer truck (D22 Navara) that I decided to get, even though it is a slightly different model. Shouldn't look too much out of place though. It doesn't have the same kind of foam on it, just hard solid plastic on the metal frame. It is a bit worn (just worn smooth at 3 and 9 o'clock), but in no way broken or nasty. Will be a lot better than the current leperous one.  Repost of current one, for reference: Still waiting on the driveshaft carrier bearing to arrive. It's not making any noticeable noise or vibration and doesn't appear to have gotten worse when I wiggle it about, but I am a little bit anxious that the driveshaft will just suddenly grenade.
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Oct 19, 2016 22:57
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Aah, a lovely Saturday morning, +6°C and light rain, the perfect opportunity for TRUCKSTUFF. My parking spot is right underneath that maple tree. The rest of the year it means it's very frequently raining tree sap, bird poop or general tree junk, which is why my MX-5 sits under a cover. This truck don't care about that. Now though it means the bed is always full of freshly discarded foliage, that I spread behind me on the highway to amuse my fellow motorists. Off we go with the delightfully simple task of changing out the distributor cap and rotor. I got it a couple days ago but haven't had time or even driven it until now.  Hello there mister contact breaker. I have a replacement for you so you get to retire after 26 long years, but I don't feel like doing that now. Maybe some day when I feel bold. You look like you're doing OK after all.  New cap and rotor on, easy peasy. Only complication was me misplacing my screwdriver and fingers getting cold.  Seems to have made some actual difference. Before, when it was idling on just three cylinders, it ran at about 900rpm. After I just scraped off the worst oxide in the cap and #2 pulled its weight again, it idled at 1400rpm with the occasional misfire. Now, it is up to about 1700rpm, and seems smoother. After a drive to test it warm it up a bit, I turned the adjustment back down a bit to around 1000rpm. I also bought a new ignition coil and the coil -> distributor ignition cable parts, as well as a whole bunch of knives for some reason. I have now replaced all the high-voltage parts in the ignition system (from coil to plugs), and it has made a real difference. It still isn't super smooth at low rpms when warmed up, but completely driveable in every way. Seems to have the occasional misfire once every few seconds. Since it seems to do better when the choke is on, I'm suspecting it's just running a bit lean. I might have a go at the idle mix adjuster screw thing (if that's even what it is), and maybe at some point do the full carb rebuild. Should also check valve lash adjustment when I get the chance, just because. The old rotor and cap that came out, clearly pretty badly worn:   The coil I took out was just rusty and dirty and 26 years old.  I've also realised that I have no wiring diagram that matches this engine. Most of the Z24 wiring diagrams are for that weird engine with two spark plugs per cylinder, and none of the ones I've seen matches my wiring. Not a big deal, it's not impossible or overly complicated to figure out as need be, but it would be nice to have one. What I have is probably still correct for all the non-engine stuff.
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Oct 22, 2016 20:11
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I'd toss the old coil under the seat... way nicer to be able to simply bolt it back in and keep driving if the new one suffers infant mortality instead of being SOL on the side of the road. I do the same thing with super critical sensors on EFI motors (crank position, cam position, throttle position) and serpentine belts. Has saved me before.
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Oct 24, 2016 16:45
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kastein posted:I'd toss the old coil under the seat... way nicer to be able to simply bolt it back in and keep driving if the new one suffers infant mortality instead of being SOL on the side of the road. There is already a plastic bag of "various used parts that might come in handy some day" behind the seats. Some bulbs and fuses, half an ignition system and the old PS belt. It's also equipped with a portable set of somewhat crappy but mostly usable tools and stuff for roadside repairs. Whenever I actually plan to work on it, I bring out the better stuff. Driving it in the rain the other day, I got two suspicions confirmed or strengthened. First, the tires are about what I expected. Not horrible or dangerous, but +5°C and wet roads and they start getting a little bit too slippery for my taste and will just get worse from here as it gets colder. Will have the proper winter tires on in a couple weeks though. Second, my automatic locking hubs in the front seem to not be releasing. I noticed turning through a tight intersection that it understeered very oddly (not just "going too fast into a corner" understeer but more different). I haven't actually jacked up the front of the yet car to confirm, but I suspect everything is constantly hooked up and spinning, and that there is some LSD action going on that caused the understeer. It seems the usual failure mode of these hubs is that they start slipping and don't lock at all, while mine are the opposite. I think they have unlocked on occasion just based on the noises I've heard up front when going in/out of 4WD though. My brother said he read something about the grease in those things getting old and dirty and gumming up in the cold, so I'll try to take them apart to check them out.
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Oct 25, 2016 15:36
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So, this morning I went and bought a thing:  It's a KA24E engine out of a D22 a couple years newer than mine. Gone about 170000km. Complete engine minus starter, alternator and water pump, cost me SEK2500 (about $280). I'll buy a JY starter, new water pump, and move alternator and water pump pulley + fan over from the old engine. The starter from the Z24 should fit, but I don't want to have to move that around. As soon as I get a starter I'll do a compression test just as a sanity check (and I can return it if it's no good). It has most of the engine-side of the wiring harness, just cut off. There are some sensors and things that don't have connectors, but most of it does. I'm not in a big rush to do this, the actual swap likely won't happen until next year. Want to do a few things to it before it goes in (wire up Speeduino ECU, replace timing chain, EGR delete, clean all the things), and this thing is lower priority than a ton of other things. For now it's stored in the barn/garage/workshop with our Mazda 323 junk racers, one of which we were working a bit on today. Replaced a bunch of ignition crap hoping that will get it past the emissions test.
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Oct 29, 2016 18:10
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More truck stuff this weekend. My brother had been nice enough to give the rims a final coat of paint, so we mounted the new winter tires. I do prefer the look of these wheels to the old ones. My tiny compressor is to weak to inflate the tires, so we did the ether fire-explosion trick. Never done it before, it was unnecessarily exciting. When I got back home a couple hours ago there was some snow on the ground, and the tires performed admirably well. It's been years since I drove something RWD in the snow, it's still hilarious. Also tested 4WD-ing around, it wasn't really as much "fun" as "efficient".  Installed the new steering wheel. It's so much nicer than the old one. It's a newer model and doesn't have just the right shade of grey, but it fits in well enough. Also my alignment is probably off, the steering wheel is mounted one spline clockwise off-center to make it point straight.  Then, the main event, replacing driveshaft carrier bearing. Extracting the front part of the drive shaft was straightforward enough, and getting the old bearing off was easy. Old and new bearings for comparision:  Shortly after this picture was taken, I hosed up. The rubber bushing bit was clearly marked "front" on one side, but I had a brainfart and forgot which way the driveshaft went, so I put the bearing on backwards. Somewhere when pounding it to get it off again, or smashing it back on, I damaged it. It spins, but not very easily. I mounted things up anyway, since at least it's in one piece. The bearing gets pretty warm when driving, and will probably seize spectacularly in not too long. I ordered another $25 bearing thing, will have another go at doing this properly. Possibly here at home in the parking lot. Then I replaced the old somewhat cracked alternator belt. When doing that, I noticed that the alternator was kind of strangely mounted. It didn't sit quite straight and there was a small screw weirdly wedged in between it and the block, and I couldn't move it very easily to change the belt. Most alternators I've seen have one long bolt that the alternator pivots around. This one seems like it should have two short bolts; the mounting hole in the block doesn't seem to go straight through, and it's threaded on both ends (so, it seems like it's two holes). Something is a bit bent, and I was only able to thread a bolt in one of them at a time. It was mounted in the rear one earlier, but I elected to go with the front one as that sits in the same plane as the belt+pulley and tensioner bracket. The alternator is obviously replaced. It has penciled-on markings of a junkyard item number, and the bolt holding it in had a 16mm head which doesn't exist on this vehicle from factory. Replaced it with a slightly longer 17mm-headed one. Will get attached more properly on next engine, but for now, meh. While I was there I also decided to remove the inlet connector part of the block heater wiring. The connector itself is broken, I'll have to get a replacement or splice something together. Will be useful having a block heater though. Since that meant removing the grill, I took the opportunity to remove the headlight washer+wiper stuff. It lacks both wiper arms, and probably doesn't work right anyway. Since it's just in the way, out it goes.  I've also gotten some better towing straps and a ratchet-jack thing that can also winch, since this is the season of everyone sliding off the road. Many people are still on summer tires, everyone just started rushing to get them changed a couple days ago. And since most people don't actually change tires themselves, there is often a week or so wait to the tire-storage-and-changing places. However, I feel pretty prepared for winter driving.
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Nov 6, 2016 23:10
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Throw a couple of bags of sand in the bed, and a sealed container filled with a 75% dry sand 25% salt mix. It won't freeze solid, and works really well to help break up ice. The bags are there for ballast. I've got 250# of lead bricks and 300# of sand in the back of my truck once winter hits, and it's a huge difference.
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Nov 7, 2016 01:24
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sharkytm posted:Throw a couple of bags of sand in the bed, and a sealed container filled with a 75% dry sand 25% salt mix. It won't freeze solid, and works really well to help break up ice. The bags are there for ballast. I've got 250# of lead bricks and 300# of sand in the back of my truck once winter hits, and it's a huge difference. I'm not sure about the idea of just adding weight, as it could make the thing a bit too tail happy and just means more mass to stop. If I need "driving traction", I can just kick it into 4WD. At least I'll go without ballast for now and see how it behaves. Having some sand and salt back there is an excellent idea though, I'll get that for sure. Useless Sweden trivia: A mix of sand, fine gravel and salt is locally known as "Huddingeblandning" ("Huddinge mix"), Huddinge being a suburb of Stockholm. It's usually just a few percent salt in it though, for general "spread it everywhere on the roads any time" usage.
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Nov 7, 2016 15:20
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Today I went and had a bit of a winter truck adventure. Last night and today Stockholm (and that whole part of Sweden) got quite a bit of snow dumped on it. Stopped snowing today during the afternoon, and when I got home my truck looked like this: It's just above freezing, so that snow is pretty dense. That was just as it was getting dark at around 4 PM, this is from half an hour later:  That particular road had been somewhat plowed, but there are snow berms allover and not-yet-plowed roads where people get stuck. Even other 4WD/AWD cars would be stuck due to low ground clearance or lovely tires. Not me! While I knew this was a pretty capable vehicle, I am surprised by how easily I got through where others had no chance. 4WD loving owns, that little green light on the dashboard is my new best buddy. Also it is clear that my new tires really do work. I don't think I have ever driven anything on wheels with this much grip in snow, studded tires included. I went to my sisters place to get their poor V70 out of the snow (just a shitload of shovelling), but on the way there and back I pulled three other vehicles out that were stuck in various awkward spots. First up was a bigass Ford Transit van. It was stuck in a weird place in a parking lot blocking some cars from getting out, and driver was utterly clueless but nice. Looked like it had some kind of useless all season tires on. I had to look in the manual to find out that the screw-in tow hook thing was stored under the hood. Then it still took me a while to thread it in (while the driver of the van was untangling his nasty old towing line), it turned out THE loving THING WAS LEFT-HAND THREADED! Anyway, once hooked up pulled that sucker right out. Decided that if I need to do that again I'll use my own tow strap thankyouverymuch. Which I did twice, a V70 and a Passat that got nowhere (one right by my sisters house, one a neighbour as I got home). Just hook them up and off we go, easy peasy. I live by the E4, the main highway going north-south through Stockholm (though where I live southwest of Stockholm it goes east-west). It has been at almost a complete standstill all day and evening, this is what it looked like at around 9PM:  Normally I can always hear some traffic noise from my balcony, about 100m away. Now it is strangely quiet outside, only the low rumbling of the truck diesels and the occasional honking between them (some kind of mating call I think). It appears to be moving at a couple hundred meters per hour. I'm happy I'm not stuck in it, that I don't need to drive to work, and that the subway runs mostly fine.
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Nov 9, 2016 23:25
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The weather has been interesting in Stockholm today for sure. Luckily I could work from home today. This is what my poor old mazda looks like right now http://i.imgur.com/ysvFYb6.jpg It's going to be fun to dig it out.. I'm glad I have proper studded winter tires on, but it's going to be a pain in the rear end anyway. Looking forward to all this snow melting and then freezing up again to blanket the whole loving place in ice, as is tradition in Stockholm.
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Nov 10, 2016 00:08
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Yesterday we went out to the garage/barn out in the country to work on the old rear end in a top hat Mazda 323, and I gave the "new old" KA24E engine a closer look. Took out plugs and sprayed some faux WD40 in the cylinders. Just in case there is some corrosion or dirt or badger feces inside the cylinders, didn't want the pistons to go there all dry. A couple of liters of literally the cheapest motor oil I could find (Biltema mineral 10W-30). Cranked the engine over by hand a few turns, felt all smooth and nice, and then went for a starter. Plugs were old and dirty, but showed no real signs of engine horror. Ignition leads were old and nasty and I broke a couple taking them off. Since there is no bellhousing, I could only bolt the starter to the motor plate. Bolted up the motor plate well to the engine too, and stuck a piece of wood between starter and block so it wouldn't flex as easily. Had no bolts short enough, but could cheat something together anyway.  I have a simple "wiring harness" made from a couple old starter cables where the clamps broke, with a starter button and even a fused ignition switch (made it to test run the old B20 earlier). Hooked it up to a battery and ran it. Worked fine, didn't see anything flexing from my crappy mounting. Compression test was mostly good but somewhat confusing; got 10.5 - 13.0 - 11.0 - 10.5. So, cylinder #2 is strangely high. I'm pretty sure bad rings or valve seats won't increase compression, so I think the engine is basically fine, but what would cause that? Internet suggests either lots of carbon buildup (which sounds unlikely to me), or valve lash adjustment being wrong (which sounds more plausible). Is maybe 13.0 fine and I should give no fucks about it? I squirted some oil in a couple other cylinders just to see if it was the other three that were low, and that just got them all to a solid 11.0. Also had the clutch off. It is somewhat worn, still some life left in it but well worth replacing when I have it all out. There are some nice marks on the flywheel where the clutch plate has been sitting for a few years, but the surface looks fine. It also seems I have the exact same clutch size/specs on this one as what is in the truck. For KA24E-engined D21's, some parts resellers said such a truck should have a 226mm clutch, but this one has a 240mm one (same as I drive with now), and that size also has a lot more to choose from. I'll pick whichever flywheel looks best out of this one and the one coming out with the Z24.  So, since it has good compression (or at least not low compression), this engine should be a keeper. Will commence replacing timing chain and main seals soon. Got the distributor off to try and figure the CAS out, might need to replace the slotted disc in it to work with an aftermarket ECU. Overall, it was a pretty nice day:  After it got dark we drove off with the 323, realising only after a while that a rear wheel was stuck. It would just drag the crappy old tire on the snowy road, but as soon as it was stopped it couldn't get going again. At least I had something that could tow it back easily enough. Just the handbrake lever on the caliper that wouldn't return (due to some ice or something), just moved it back and lubed it up a bit.
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Nov 13, 2016 22:01
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Dearest brother has a tendency of driving slightly too fast in my opinion. This happened just now:   Ionn is okay, just in bad mood. His plan A is to ask around among the neighbors with heavy machinery and see if there's help to be had. Otherwise we might have to get creative with whatever winches, chains, straps, jacks and snowchains we have available. Hopefully this incident ends with a good cautionary tale to tell, a new peice of steering linkage, a bumper and a fender in a new and exciting color, but it's too soon to tell.
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Dec 11, 2016 10:01
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Oh poo poo, that's no good. Wish I could do anything to help but I only have a lovely mazda and nothing with a winch. Good luck getting it out of there.
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Dec 11, 2016 12:28
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Truck is out of the ditch and heading home under its own power. It steers very poorly.
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Dec 11, 2016 13:00
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Got some random pics of broken bits but lack the effort to phone post properly. Anyway, I slid off the road at about 40km/h and landed in a ditch, and then slid into a tree. Only broken parts as far as I can tell are front right fender, the rim (tire seems fine) and the link joint thing (whose true name I do not know) at the rear end of the lower suspension arm.
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Dec 11, 2016 17:32
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ionn posted:Got some random pics of broken bits but lack the effort to phone post properly. Anyway, I slid off the road at about 40km/h and landed in a ditch, and then slid into a tree. Only broken parts as far as I can tell are front right fender, the rim (tire seems fine) and the link joint thing (whose true name I do not know) at the rear end of the lower suspension arm. Way to taco a drag link there Super Mario. If you're planning on re-enacting the rest of my high school driving career, just make sure to duck when you tuck an 80s Audi into a ravine.
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Dec 11, 2016 17:36
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ionn posted:(tire seems fine) I wouldn't count on that until it's on a new wheel and aired up. You may find some bubbles in the sidewall, which means it's trash (broken steel cables in the tire). Sucks that it happened, but a lot of us have been there and done that at least once. Ran over $2k to get my Civic driving again after a similar incident, though that was with having a shop do the work and not repairing the body damage.
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Dec 11, 2016 21:53
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OH THE CARNAGE It had snowed throughout the night, temperature was just above freezing so no ice anywhere but just slush. When driving up to Stockholm this morning from our quaint little countryside cottage, unbeknownst to me I was going too fast through a corner and realized this as I slid off the road. I was going around 40km/h when I noticed I was understeering, brakes did just about nothing, and off I went. Had tested grip (braking and zig-zagging a bit) just before and found decent grip, but coming over the crest the slushy mess on the road was just worse. Not a very violent crash, one big jolt when I landed in the bottom of the ditch, and another when I went into a tree. I was in 4WD, and this would obviously never have happened had I been in 2WD as I would just NEVER LIFT and drift through the corner. Though had I gone in a bit more sideways I could quite likely have flipped it. Ditch is pretty steep Pics of me in ditch:   In the second pic you can see the turn signal light laying beside the car (a little grey thing in the mud). That thing seems strangely unharmed for some reason. Haven't given it a closer look, but the place in the fender where it went is annihilated. It might be a true survivor. After a nice man with a 4WD John Deere pulled me back up on the road (having good use for the slings and chains I kept in the truck), me and invalido changed the front right tire. I was somewhat surprised at the lack of broken poo poo, most stuff seemed pretty ok except for the rear mount thing for the lower control arm. With four wheels on the ground, it actually sort of drove enough to get it back. The wheel was pointing 15° or so out, and the whole thing was very reluctant to steer and just wanted to veer right. Figured that it was slippery enough there wouldn't be that much force on things to gently caress it up much more, so I drove it ever so slowly the couple kilometers back to the house, barely able to keep it pointed straight at times. Considered putting a rope to my brothers car up front to provide some general direction, but it turned out alright anyway. We jacked it up and took the front wheels off to inspect the carnage closer. Most obvious is the front right fender, which is beyond repair. Somewhere there where it is the most smashed in was the turn signal light which remarkably seems to have survived. The bumper was a bit bent, but some straightening out and paint will have to do. The "inner part" (the red bit, some original body) is a bit bent but not badly so. As long as I can get the headlight reasonably straight, I don't think it needs a lot more. That orange thing is not a light (just reflective) and not a big deal.   This is what the wheel looks like. Rim is obviously dead, but I find no visible damage to the tire itself, neither where the rim damage is nor anywhere else where it was "crinkled up" after being deflated. Will know more once I get it remounted and inflated, but I'm hopeful.   Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:I wouldn't count on that until it's on a new wheel and aired up. You may find some bubbles in the sidewall, which means it's trash (broken steel cables in the tire). Then, suspension damage. I had expected to find bent steering linkage and twisted control arms, but surprisingly it seems straight. Only obviously broken thing is where the lower control arms mounts to the frame in the rear. The thing is called a "compression rod" in the service manual, and it's basically a little metal piece (15cm or so) that bolts to the control arm in one end, and a threaded rod that goes in a bushing in the frame. It has just sheared off by the hole for one of the bolts in the control arm. The paint rubbed off a bit as the tire occasionally rubbed on it driving it back, and somewhere there is also where we reckon the wheel hit and got smashed in.  Other than that, I can't spot anything obviously broken. Things don't look badly bent, and I can't spot anything different between the two sides. Some more random pictures:     Non-broken left-hand side for comparision:   Seat Safety Switch posted:Way to taco a drag link there Super Mario. I fully expected to see some hosed up steering poo poo, but none of it looks bent or out of place to me. Center link, tie rod and idler arm all look straight and it appears to be symmetrical. Will give all those things a more thorough look though. Somehow when going off the road I also managed to bump the left-rear tire (the one furthest from the other damage). I first thought it was deflated, but it had just been pushed off the bead in one spot on the outside. It popped back in place as I got pulled out of the ditch, but there is still grass and poo poo stuck in between the rim and the tire. Not sure how that happened, but looks and seems all fine now. I haven't found that "compression rod" bit (or whatever it's called by normal people) anywhere reasonable, but I can get a whole JY lower control arm for about $50, with that rod and all the bushings. It would probably be easier to just replace the rod to minimize the number of rusted-stuck bolts I have to deal with, but it also is probably a good idea to get the whole thing out to check for damage. Stuff could be bent where I can't really see it easily, and I guess I might have damaged a bushing or two as well. There are pattern parts made for this truck so a new fender is maybe $150, and I can get a wheel for cheap (and hopefully not need a new $130 tire). In all, not a very bad crash. Noone to blame but myself, but I'm physically unhurt and the truck should be repairable for a reasonable amount of money and effort. It'll be out of commission for a while, hopefully I'll have the necessary parts before christmas so I can work on it then.
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Dec 11, 2016 23:31
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That's not so bad of a crash, all told. Hopefully the damage doesn't grow past that when you start taking things apart. Glad you're fine.
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Dec 12, 2016 03:32
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That's not bad, really. I did a lot less body damage, but a hell of a lot more suspension damage. The RF wheel was rubbing the rear of the fender on mine, and I learned while making a hard turn that the brake line to the caliper was also... uh... no longer long enough to reach the caliper during turns.  I'd go with the complete junkyard control arm. You won't know if the old one is bent until you try to get it aligned, and like you said, you can get everything you need that way. That wheel looks repairable, but at least in the US, that was such a common design that they're plentiful and cheap. I'd assume they were common there too.
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Dec 12, 2016 06:07
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I might have a go at repairing that wheel, will have to inspect it further. What I'll do for now is to take one of the summer tires off its wheel and mount the snow tire there, and deal with it later. Apart from that "crease", it looked to me like quite a big part of it has been deformed. It might never get anywhere near balanced, and it is probably not worth paying someone to work on it. For now I'll use other rims and postpone the wheel fixing/finding business. I've ordered a control arm and fender, with some luck I'll have them before the end of this week so I can hopefully make some forward progress next weekend. If not, I'll at least start taking poo poo apart to see what's what. I've just got the parts that I know are broken, but I'll certainly check everything out for further damage. I like steering and brakes and stuff. Furthermore, while I'm busy wrecking my truck I'm also gathering poo poo for the engine swap. I just got the timing chain kit and new trigger disc, as well as some new head bolts. Ordered those to a colleague in NYC who just smuggled them over here. Gasket set didn't fit in his bag (head gasket is too big), that will have to come later.
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Dec 12, 2016 21:02
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Spent Saturday fixing broken poo poo. Had a closer look at all the suspension and steering bits on the right-front corner, and nothing looks damaged except for that compression rod. A corner of the sheetmetal in the lower control arm is bent out a bit (when the rod went and was bent out towards it), but that'll hammer back into place. The rest is straight and neat. The control arm bushing has seen better days, but it'll work for now. I should probably replace all the bushings on both sides and possibly the tie-rod ends, but that'll have to wait until I have nothing better to do. I did replace both front sway bar links though. Rubber bits were gone or falling off, I had new ones laying around, and was done in a couple minutes. Other than that, I could see seems loose, bent, or misplaced. That rod itself is a bit of a problem though. Here's what it looks like after being taken out:  (for reference, the flat portion is 28mm wide, the somewhere around 200-250mm long, and next to it is a 1/2" breaker bar) It is obviously sheared off at the bolt hole, but it is also pretty bent over at the threaded portion. Also the bushing is pretty damaged. There was a metal tube bit inside the bushing that I lost somewhere taking it apart, but I assume I can find it somewhere under the truck. I ordered a replacement control arm from the Swedish Junkyard Network (bildelsbasen.se) already last weekend, and it showed up early last week. I ordered the one right-front lower control arm that had a picture, and showed the bit I needed. Problem was, when it showed up the rod bit was missing. I can return that one, but it still means I'm without the part I need. I've contacted a couple others that had a few control arms in stock, hoping to score something useful. Probably will, eventually. I'm thinking about the possibility of repairing it though. Can save me some downtime, and is more in line with the spirit of this vehicle. It's regular mild steel, I can probably weld that together straight enough and there is room for some reinforcement on the outside of it (it will still fit inside the control arm). Then, just heat it up and try to straighten it out. At least it's worth a try, it's not going to get more broken. Then I'll have to fashion some bushing-like thing out of generic bits of motor mount / bushing / hockey pucks. If I can convince myself that it won't break on me while driving, I can at least live with that until I can score a proper replacement. Mostly got to work on the body. The front fender was just all wrinkled up, and the front of the "main body" was pretty bent.    This is after I removed the headlight and cleaned it up to see what was going on. Between the fender and the body was 26 years worth of gunk that had got up past the fender liner or in behind the headlight or something. The headlight was fine, but the bezel thing it mounts to was bent, and the headlight itself had pushed more sheetmetal out of its way. I took the bumper off, it's just bent a bit and can be forced back into shape. I'll give it a coat of paint while I'm at it, and mount a new license plate holder thing. It has those round-head square-neck carriage bolts holding it in place, and a couple of them just spun around (making square holes round) so I had to cut them off. I then just mounted the new fender, and used that as a template to straighten the rest out, as well as using the left-hand side as reference. Took some bending, pulling and hammering, but it lines up well enough. It fits together and the headlight, while near the end of its adjustment range, looks straight enough. Good enough!   (this is before I was really done, some vigorous use of a slide hammer pulled it out a bit more) Took the fender up to the house for painting. I'm planning to paint the whole truck matte black (cheapest easiest paint job available), so I started on this one, just with a roller. It comes painted black, but that's basically just "transport protection". Turned out not too bad, but not too good either, which is basically just where it reasonably should be. Better than that is just vanity, and I'm having none of it. I also took the front part of the driveshaft out for the third time to fix the carrier bearing. First time I damaged the bearing by installing it backwards and smacking it around too much while remounting it. Second time, I realised too late I was missing a little shim that goes between the bearing and the flange (that bolts up to the u-joint on the rear shaft), and the staked nut was badly busted and ugly. It's not supposed to be reused, but after three rounds of "locking and unlocking" it it can no longer be trusted. Now, I got a bearing kit with a shim and new nut. I didn't change the bearing, just put shim and nut on, and it is now nice and snug without squealing. Hopefully the last time I get to see this piece out:  I realised when taking poo poo apart that the orange thing on the bumper is indeed the turn signal light, the light next to the headlight is just parking lights. I thought the one in the bumper was just a reflector and all the lights where up in that side pod, but obviously not. The turn signal light is more or less disintegrated, so I'll have to dig up a new one. Can get by with something cheap and generic from Biltema for now and source a proper one later. The parking light is only lightly damaged (somewhat amazing since the fender behind it is completely smashed in). The "lens" and reflector are intact, just some bit of bezel snapped off. I'll just pop it back in and see how it looks. Only really need to have it working for next yearly inspection, as I never use that light anyway. If I were to park somewhere strange and actually need them, the front right is arguably the least useful corner anyway.
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Dec 19, 2016 13:57
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Sucks about the crash. I wouldn't try to repair that bendy bit, source a used or new one. Also for your compression numbers, generally that's done with the engine warm so I wouldn't worry too much about the numbers at this point. They're good enough and might even out more when everything is warmed up. Definitely resurface that flywheel when you replace that clutch.
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Dec 19, 2016 14:29
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