What a fun Memorial weekend.

Well I had a bbq on Friday at work. We basically got paid to eat. Awesome.

Saturday is where the fun begins. Having previously bought a 3 inch downpipe, catback, and rear sway bar, I was eager to put it on. So I went to my buddy's house and we shot the shit for a bit. He had some stuff to do but he was still a great help. He had to change brakes. Once he helped me take off one of the endlinks and showed me the glory of a torch, it was up to me to take the other endlink off. Torches rule. Withing half an hour I had it all off and was putting the 18mm sway bar on. Quick trip to the hardware store got us some new bolts and nuts and I also bought my own torch right then and there. After that it was smooth sailing.

The next part is putting the whole exhaust on. We used torches and impact wrenches on the O2 housing. It came off quick. We didn't bother with the cat. We just took it off the hangars. At the next bend, we took a reinforced cutoff wheel and just sliced the exhaust in two and dragged it out. The muffler went as well. At thie point we start putting the new exhaust on. The gaskets are crap as we come to realize. We have it hooked up halfway and decided to turn it on for some fun. She sounded super sexy. After that we had trouble installing the muffler part. We had to angle it in but we eventually got it. Hooked it up and went for a test drive. Man did she feel free. Spools at 2k RPMs now. Helped my buddy clean up the driveway and went home.

Sunday, I decided to help my buddy paint his 240sx. He's been restoring it to a decent shape and a paint job was in dire need after all the bondo work he did. We washed the car off. Then a trip to Walmart got us about $100 in supplies. We started masking all the essentials first till his friend and girlfriend came to help us out. Pretty soon we started primering it. Had a ice tea break and then sanded it down with 600. Primered it again and sanded it down with 1200. Then we added the flat black which is what he wants. It looked pretty awesome when we finished. We then went to a local meet at Fuddruckers. The people were impressed at the 240 for sure. After food, we had a photoshoot.

Today, I was initially just gonna reattach that ground strap to my exhaust. After putting it in park and hearing it grind in reverse, then doing it several times again to confirm the noise, I decided it was time to change the tranny fluid. I reattached the ground strap and went to work on the tranny. I followed the Hayne's manual and drained it out from the cooler first. Then I worked on the drain plugs. After both emptied, I loosened the pan bolts. Hit myself in the face with the wrench a couple of times. After I pulled the pan and filter off, I went to Pep Boys and got some black RTV, Brakeleen, a new gasket and filter set. I then made a trip to Walmart and got 4 quarts of Mopar +4 ATF. I cleaned the pan with the brakeleen and scraped the old RTV off. I put the gasket on and bolted the filter in place. Had a bit of trouble with the gasket to stay in place on the pan but I eventually got it down. Afterwards I torqued the bolts and drain plugs down. Then dumped a quart of Pennzoil ATF in. Ran it in neutral and had it flush out of the same cooler hose. Then dumped all 4 quarts of Mopar in, reconnected everything and went for a short drive. Initial upshifting is fine but downshifting from 2nd to 1st is hard. I still haven't filled it up but as soon as I can, I will since I ran out of daylight and everything closes at 6 today. I hope the tranny will be fine.