Maintenance Blog

Started 10-28-2007.

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Date: 2007/10/28
Mileage: 84743
Maintenance:

• Oil/filter change
  • Mobil1 10w30 full synthetic
  • K&N oil filter
• Compression test:
  Not fully warmed up, not corrected for altitude
  • #1 - 137, 135
  • #2 - 130, 132
  • #3 - 140 (?)
  • #4 - 126, 127
  Fully warmed up, corrected for altitude (divide raw by 0.8)
  • #1 - 172
  • #2 - 172
  • #3 - 172
  • #4 - 165

Notes:

• Oil pretty dark. 2k changes probably are a good idea. Was also 1 quart low as usual.
• Didn't do a boost leak test. Last test was between this and previous oil change, and boost held as good as ever.
• Plugs looked great.
• Plugs seemed a bit loose.

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Date: 2007/11/01
Mileage: 84778
Maintenance:

• Fixed driver seat front/back adjustment lever

Notes:

• Plastic part broke. Epoxy'd it together.
• Screw had vibrated out of the metal part. Luckily it had rolled under the carpet under the seat or I would've vaccuumed it up a couple weeks back.
• Guess I'll see if it'll hold.

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Date: 2007/11/07
Mileage: 85024
Maintenance:

• Fixed driver's side dome light.

Notes:

• Hasn't been working right for about 10 years. Turns out it was just a bulb. Didn't think that was it, because for a while I could hit the headliner next to the light and have it come on. Eventually, it just stopped working altogether.
• Posted how to easily pull the dome light assembly without any tools and change the bulbs in this post.

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Date: 2008/2/12
Mileage: NA
Maintenance:

• Finally pulled the heater/AC fan off to get whatever the little bastard mouse decided to store there (fan would buzz/moan when I went to fan level 3, and it spat a tissue or napkin out at one point). Got it off, and there was about a cup of catfood in the fan.

Note: The secret to taking the glovebox off is to remove the little padded stoppers that keep the glovebox from opening too far. They clip in through the side-walls of the glovebox and just snap loose. Then you can let the glovebox hang and get at the two bolts and two screws holding the bracket...or you can unscrew the glovebox from the bracket (not possible without removing the clips and dropping the glovebox all the way down).

Also, someone said you had to cut the switch wire for the glovebox light to get the glovebox all the way out, but there's a clip that you can access through the 3" diameter hole cut in the dash (hidden behind the panel to the right of the glovebox).

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Date: 2008/2/22
Mileage: 86499
Maintenance:

• Changed PCV valve. Checked the original, and it's just fine...
• BLT: Holds strong. Leaks at 0.25psi/s from 20psi. The 1g BOV pops at about 21psi.
• Checked shaft play: Barely any side/side, no in/out.
• Cleaned K&N filter. What a fuxin' PITA. Used a hair dryer to speed up the drying process after cleaning and before oiling. Instructions said not to use a heat gun, but is a hair dryer a heat gun? To test if it was dry, I took my little battery-powered in-home weather station, set it on the counter and put the K&N over it. Humidity reading didn't change, so I figured it was dry .
• Checked plug torque spec. Still as tight as 18ft-lb. That fuxing mouse had crawled under the spark plug cover and left a few dozen turds in there. No sign of it gnawing on anything. Vaccuumed up the poop.
• Rearranged the reducer/coupler between the Dejon intake pipe and the turbo. Stupid to sell that pipe to someone with a 2.125" inlet turbo. Wondering about Dejon more and more.
• Spent 1.5 hours, half a roll of paper towels and the better part of a bottle of Shiraz cleaning the engine bay.

Notes:

• Car got about 15mpg last tankfull, so I thought for sure PCV or something was leaking boost. Drove a 1/4 of a tank worth off today mostly cruising @ 65-75mph and got close to 30mpg. Whatever.
• I'm glad that mouse died slowly. Mouse piss spots were all over the engine bay. Cleaning them made me notice that the smell in my cabin was mouse piss.
  

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Date: 2008/3/09
Mileage: 86620
Maintenance:

• Installed G-Power 3" turboback
• Broke down stock exhaust (yes, it's possible) for storage/hoarding/pack-ratting

Notes:

• Put a post together that is almost tech-article-ready
• Took it to the pizza place with the kids (they helped a bit on the install) and boosted a bit a few times. After the 3rd time, I pulled my head out of my ass and looked at the boost gauge. 20psi! Need to find out if the MBC just needs adjusted or if this is creep
• Car is too loud now. Need the Magnaflow muffler. Hope it helps. Or maybe I'll just get used to it and the neighbors won't get mad.
• Managed to get the stock exhaust apart without destroying anything but a couple of bolt heads and nuts. Stowed it so I'd have all the stock parts for Barrett-Jackson in 30 years.

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Date: 2008/4/13
Mileage: 87740
Maintenance:

• Fixed driver's side window. Turns out the front track was badly bent. No idea how that happened. Every time I'd get the front guide back on track, it would throw the guide when the window went 3/4 of the way up. finally saw the bend from above. Smashed/bent/clamped it back into shape, sanded down the edges so the plastic guide wouldn't wear out, reinstalled. Works like a charm.
• Fixed the passenger side window. Front guide was off the track. Never noticed the window wasn't closing all the way until a week or two ago. Closes properly now.
• Sanding down the rim lips. Lots of corrosion and most of the clearcoat is gone. Still have one rim to go.

Note: Finished polishing the rims. Turned out great!

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Date: 2008/5/18
Mileage: 88343
Maintenance:

Cut out the fender well behind the SMIC. Bit of measuring, marking, then cutting with a jigsaw. Cleaned it up with a file first, then used an XActo knife to make the rough edges smooth. Stripped a couple of the bolts holding the fender well guard in place, one of the plastic clips is a bit shot, and one is MIA. No problemo. Hope it makes a difference in performance.

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