So what are you working on that’s NOT your DSM?

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I will testify and agree with that. It would not be something I wanted to do, only something I HAD to do. And INVEST in retirement, I did something right in that also.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I have never enjoyed working on cars. Lol.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I get satisfaction out of it. BUT getting older has made the "drive" to do it diminish.

 

[Oatmealman]

For all the young heads ... live life , but save/invest for retirement . There comes a point in age and after time , when even if doing what you love for a living , is no fun . Certain jobs are still fun , but this had me kicking rocks .

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Oh man takes me back. I was an ase certified master tech for 15 years and finally got out of it. I really do enjoy wrenching still but refuse to do it professionally anymore even with my current job making me a pretty substantial offer to get back into it.. I’ll work on all my stuff and friends,family,neighbors to help them out for a little side cash.

 

[Ludachris]

For all the young heads ... live life , but save/invest for retirement . There comes a point in age and after time , when even if doing what you love for a living , is no fun . Certain jobs are still fun , but this had me kicking rocks .

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I can imagine! It's one of those projects that let's you know how ill prepared your tool count is - particularly when it comes to bigger equipment like specialty jacks and lifting tools.

 

[stealthee]

People at work know me as the car guy and will sometimes pick my brain on issues they are having. When I spout my knowledge I am too often asked why I didn't work in, or run, a shop.

My answer is always the same. If I did it for a living I wouldn't want to do it in my free time.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Absolutely. If you spend your day working on other people's cars, your car will get neglected. It is why I didn't pursue the field also. When I worked at a shop, I never felt like coming home and pulling the trans, or putting in a clutch or maybe even changing sparkplugs. Since I chose a different profession to work in, that didn't affect me and I would get off work and come home and "take care of business" on my beloved car. It is a fact. Some can do it, but I am happy that I learned all about mechanics and car repairs, but didn't go into the field when I got out of college. I was in computers and electronics.

 

[jdxnc]

Started editing some of my photos from WCF this past weekend.

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[Bigbeanbird]

I get satisfaction out of it. BUT getting older has made the "drive" to do it diminish.

.. agreed on the diminishing will to wrench on cars.. in retirement now and got lots of time to wrench but I seem to gravitate towards building a chicken coop or mowing the yards or trapping gophers or playing with the pellet gun out back, anything but knuckle busting..!! But I sure like to drive my DSM and will gladly wrench on it to secure a me a place in the drivers seat.. ran a ford raptor the other day and surprised him cause he thought he was gonna walk me.. .. WRONG..!!!

 

[Spinalsign5357]

I can imagine! It's one of those projects that let's you know how ill prepared your tool count is - particularly when it comes to bigger equipment like specialty jacks and lifting tools.

If it was 2wd , I could have hung the engine and trans from above and just dropped the cradle . It was 4wd , so the transfer case was in the way requiring lowering the entire assembly . My main tools aren't there cause I can't secure them overnight .

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[Bigbeanbird]

Absolutely. If you spend your day working on other people's cars, your car will get neglected. It is why I didn't pursue the field also. When I worked at a shop, I never felt like coming home and pulling the trans, or putting in a clutch or maybe even changing sparkplugs. Since I chose a different profession to work in, that didn't affect me and I would get off work and come home and "take care of business" on my beloved car. It is a fact. Some can do it, but I am happy that I learned all about mechanics and car repairs, but didn't go into the field when I got out of college. I was in computers and electronics.

Lol .. my profession was a cold header set up.. not many people know what a cold header machine is but it was making screws, bolts, rivets, hinge pins and some specialty things for in house use.. it also involved rolling threads so when I got off work, I really didn’t feel like making screws at home so anything I did was out of my work scope..

 

[stealthee]

I took a look at the tires on my Lancer about 2 weeks and went YIKES. I ordered tires last Saturday and they came in on Monday. I made plans with my buddy to get the tires put on and get an alignment while I was at it since I have literally never had the car aligned in 9 years of ownership.

The alignment didn't go 100% to plan as the concentric bolts seemed to be seized within the bushings in the rear. We were able to get it close with some heat, but I told him rather than risking breaking a bolt I'd just order new rear camber arms, toe arms lower control arms and the hardware and we could do it again.

When I came home I did some research on part numbers and ordered all the OEM hardware (bolts, nuts, etc) , as well as OEM toe arm and OEM upper control arm. I ordered OEM like aftermarket lower control arms due to cost.

When the parts come in if the weather is decent I'll probably just cut the bolts off to save the hassle and put all the new parts on then go out to get the alignment dialed back in. If the weather is crap I will just make arrangements to take it to the shop and let them do it.

I need to look at my drivers front though. There is no camber adjustment, but for some reason the driver front was at -1.0* while the passenger was well within spec. I might just loosen the strut bolts, wiggle some stuff and tighten it back up to see if it gets any better. Worst case I might slot the knuckle to give some adjustment so we can get it close.

All in all I spent about $380 on all the parts for the rear. Once those are replaced my entire suspension will have been replaced. I did the struts last summer. I did the front LCA's this summer. I'll keep this thing rolling as long as I can.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I was back under the hood of the LT1 Z28 today. I pulled the new sparkplugs, sprayed the cylinders with fogging oil then got out TWO batteries and 2 sets of jumper cables. I started by pumping out the 15 year old gas, ready for fresh 91 (with a little E). That old shit made fuel for a stump I am removing but it had no "whooomph" left in it.

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Then I hooked the 2 batteries together onto the cars battery cables (it has no battery) and TURNED THAT MOTOR OVER for the 1st time in about 20 years, to clear out the oil. It gave me immediate 50lbs of oil pressure and is very close to 1st start and breakin I slapped the plugs back in and just need fuel and a battery basically. It's one build that I can't wait to hear and drive!
Crossing fingers the old fart that built it knew what he was doin'!
Marty

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[stealthee]

And today ordered more parts for the Lancer. I already knew the aftermarket LED rear bumper lights were half burnt out and was just putting off replacing them, but while the car was on the alignment rack I noticed the 3rd brake light was 2/3rd's of the way out, so I went ahead and ordered replacements for both. I think while I am doing to the bumper lights I am going to add connectors to save some work for the next time I inevitably replace them.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Well, I got the Z in place to push it into the shop for final touches. I was informed by my partner IN the car that the brake pedal goes ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR......so, there is more to do than just get the motor fired up. Dam. I couldn't see any leaks under it but maybe its DRY. It was last tagged in 2014, so....
Pops

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[Bigbeanbird]

Well, I got the Z in place to push it into the shop for final touches. I was informed by my partner IN the car that the brake pedal goes ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR......so, there is more to do than just get the motor fired up. Dam. I couldn't see any leaks under it but maybe its DRY. It was last tagged in 2014, so....
Pops

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Oh I hate those fees.. kinda takes the wind out of your sails for a bit

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Just an ADDITION to the "List". Good thing my son said, Uh, Dad, it doesn't have ANY BRAKES. I mean I'm sure i would have noticed but dam glad I know BEFORE we push it into the shop, I don't need a new hole on the other side.

 

[Spinalsign5357]

Adding on ...

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[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Buttoning up little things AND FORGOTTEN BIG THINGS on the '86 Z. The tag on her is from 2014.....my memory only remembers it when I see it.
I cranked her over after fogging all of the cylinders without any plugs and using just jumper cables HERE.
Pops

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[Oatmealman]

Went to Menards bright and early and got 30 bags of cellulose and a blower and blew 700 lbs of insulation into the walls of today, what a hateful job to hang the netting, especially around the knee braces.

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[TerminalTalon]

99 Silvia in for tierods and alignment a couple weeks ago. It’s a cool story. The kid got it in Japan and had it shipped here with his new command. It needs work but don’t they all.

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[CrackedDSM]

99 Silvia in for tierods and alignment a couple weeks ago. It’s a cool story. The kid got it in Japan and had it shipped here with his new command. It needs work but don’t they all.

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I honestly loved my S13. I wish I could buy another one, but I am not about to pay in the 5 digits for an abused, stripped POS. Sad day.

That is a ridiculously clean S15 though, man.

 

[TerminalTalon]

Eh. Thats where a lot of people get got. It was originally blue. It has rust on the front supports in front of the shock towers. The rails they said were good aren’t. There’s a patch in the back floor/frame. It’s a driver that needs love.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Finally finished replacing the front right axle on my '15 Ford Edge. The axle replacement itself was easy, but what an idiotic design by Ford. It's reminiscent of a DSM's driver's side front axle/half shaft, except the Ford design is one piece. Not two separate pieces. And both sides of the axle's cups are essentially welded on to the shaft, so the only way to replace a torn boot, is by replacing the entire axle or investing $400 into a quality CV Boot spreader. Stupid.


This is all caused by the Pirelli tires separating the tread from the tire itself, and the resulting cord of tread tore the axle boot.

Anyway, finally got the new axle on and the replacement tire on and she's back. But man what a stupid series of events. Lol.

 

[Stapl3]

Picked this up for $500. Stick shift, 130k miles. Everything seems to work just needs a good cleaning.

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