Archive for the 'car' Category

Page 28 of 39

1951 Chevy door shaving

Published on April 26, 2009 in car by derek. Closed Tags: .

So after friday eve’s rumblings about shaving the door handles on J’s ’51 Chevy, the call went out to do it in the afternoon, when its not as hot.

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So the basic idea is to smooth the lines of the car by removing the exterior handle.

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Lots of Cut! Weld! Grind! involved.  Lots of re-learning how to weld.

It all went pretty fast, and after the project, we’re pretty confident we can do more difficult projects, like frenching the headlights, or replacing the doorskins.

Heres a video of the project.  Five hours in 3 minutes.

[flashvideo file=media/chevy_door_renewal.flv /]

Difficultly: Moderate (you need someone that can weld)

Stuff required: Welding gear, angle grinder, Bondo, and related accesories

It Ails

Published on April 23, 2009 in car by taro. Closed

Curses. Checked the AE86 this morning since when I got home last night after break in drive it was sucking water. Filling water int almost dry radiator yielded a puddle on ground as water came seeping out of water pump. Nuts, guess its going to be another week before it goes anywhere. See what happens when you clean and flush stuff, you upset the delicate crust layer holding everything together….

It Lives!

Published on April 23, 2009 in car by taro. Closed

The AE86 is rolling again! This past weekend was spent changing the brake rotors and pads in preparation of going for safety check. Things conspired to keep me from taking the car out to break in until tonight. I recharged the battery too, so the car started right up. Didn’t sound or smell beautiful, but it was running.dscf2467 dscf2449The brakes before were lousy, and there’s no surprise looking at how crusty they were.  Here we got the rear on the left, and the front here to the right. Discovered the front rotors are a little more involved to replace than on my other Corolla. Continue reading ‘It Lives!’

Midnight Leak Repair

Published on April 14, 2009 in car and rant by risu. Closed

Just finished taking a second shower and popping open a St. Pauli Girl.  After finishing my form 1040, it was around 22:30 and I wasn’t feeling sleepy, so I went outside and fixed the leaky heater hoses on the FJ80.  Essentially, the ends of hte hoses that go to the thermostat neck and water pump were deformed from age and reaction to various fluids and had started to leak.  The OEM Toyota wire-style hose clamps were deeply cut into the rubber and not providing enough squeeze.  I undid the clamps, pried the ends of the hoses off the barb fittings with a flat screwdriver, cut a couple of centimeters off the ends with EMT shears, cleaned the fittings with a kitchen scouring pad, and reassembled the hose ends.  Thankfully, there was enough excess play in the hoses to allow for this.  After tightening everything up and refilling the radiator and reservoir, I ran it up to operating temperature and everything seemed to be holding.  Damn, I’m tired now… Continue reading ‘Midnight Leak Repair’

Yaris Power!

Published on February 16, 2009 in car by taro. Closed

This past Sunday was the final regular race of this season’s SCCA Solo II auto-cross. I’d missed the last couple events due to events, which I’m sure if you’re reading this blog you know about. Stewing in my brain the past weeks was the thought of racing Mom’s Yaris. I really wanted to do it as something of my tribute to her, so I made up my mind on saturday. I tried fitting my 13″ race compound tires, but the Yaris brakes are too big. Imagine that, this little subcompact weighing the same and smaller than my FX has bigger brakes.  Anyway, instead of trying to swap the 15’s of the FX, I decided to go bone stock. So except for taking out spare wheel, tools, wheel covers, and running gas until almost empty (almost too empty!) the Yaris was exactly like off showroom floor. Continue reading ‘Yaris Power!’

See? See Not!

Published on February 12, 2009 in car and rant by risu. Closed

Dropped by Toyota today to grab a now-tiny oil filter for the FJ-80. While I was there, I stopped by the showroom. I sat down in the new Matrix. It looks pretty nice inside, except for the non-DIN opening for the radio, but I know there are at least 2 adaptors available. The forward-folding front passenger seat looks like it would make it big enough inside for a DH/FR bike with both wheels on to fit, but the liftgate appears too narrow to accommodate a long fork and wide riser bars. The reach to the shifter might be a little far, especially 3 and 5. The one thing I disconcertingly noticed was the view out the windscreen. The hood line is so high and the seating position is so low that you probably won’t be able to see the road immediately in front of you! The bottom edge of the windscreen is about 108 cm (42”) above the ground. Continue reading ‘See? See Not!’

Wrong Way Ranger

Published on February 10, 2009 in car and rant by risu. Closed

Stuck in traffic on the Eastbound H-1 this past Saturday morning between Pali and Punahou? Well, I’m not sure what exactly happened, but it’s this guy’s fault! There were no other vehicles visible nearby that could have also been involved.

Bye Bye Hybrid

Published on December 7, 2008 in car and Review by taro. Closed

For a while back, the Prius had been giving us sporadic error lights. Usually would go away and run fairly normally after a few restarts. Finally it stopped and was towed to Toyota. After being taken back twice, Toyota finally replaced the main battery pack. A sizeable cost if not under warranty. Since then it seems to have been running ok. Until last weekend when my mom picked me up from airport. I got in to drive it home, when cranking it gave the array of check engine and warning lamp. I tried power of and on cycles three times. Still had warning, and drove it home ok on surface streets. Next day it seemed normal. But my parents were worried of more problems cropping up, so there was talk of replacing it. I suggested they look at the 3 door Yaris. Continue reading ‘Bye Bye Hybrid’

FloTool Coolant Funnel

Published on November 18, 2008 in bike, car and Review by risu. Closed

I picked this up in the automotive section at Wal Mart for a buck – really, $1.00 USD! It is rare to find a common houseware like this that isn’t made in the PRC, and no less for a dollar! Of course you can use this for it’s intended purpose of getting automotive radiator coolant into the tank or reservoir, but I got this to use with sports drink powders. Most kitchen funnels have really small openings, generally around 8 to 10mm. Dense powders like Endurox R4 or Cytomax have difficulty getting through openings that small without tapping or shaking the funnel. I was looking for a jar funnel, but those are difficult to find, and the ones I have seen have openings that don’t fit in the neck of a standard sport bottle or liter-sized Nalgene. The 25mm+ opening on this funnel lets powders through unobstructed! Once you use it for coolant, don’t use it for anything else! Get two if you need one for coolant and another for sports drinks.

Highly recommended

Four out of four techno monkeys

$1 USD plus tax!

The Rice Lives

Published on November 3, 2008 in car and rant by taro. Closed

So, one of my left side rear brake lights has been out for a while. Been lazy, but safety is this month. Got home early tonight and checked it out as I was unloading cargo. Pull the socket out of light assembly. Hmm, the bulb is shattered, and the socket is rusted. Use a rag, crack of most of the other jagged bit of bulb left, and managed to extract the bulb. There’s water in the socket. I pull the other bulbs out, there’s moisture inside the lower housing, the other bulb and socket is rusted together. Continue reading ‘The Rice Lives’