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

[SixBolt_16G]

The thing about all these people with fancy cars is they can’t afford them. They might be able to make a payment but as soon as some real world fix is needed they either humble themselves or complain about the price. It’s usually complain about the price because they have no concept of an actual legal business.
My quick breakdown
2.1hr alternator r&r with parts price $600 cost $1100+ list if even available
2.0hr lower pan r&r with parts price at $200-600 if even available.
Both of those in my parts matrix say unavailable.
LOF probably $120-140
The batteries themselves would probably be $6-800
It has active body control so the struts or components that need to be replaced are super expensive.
Whatever shop rate is XXX
This is just to give a perspective of how fast I can mechanically total a car out with just parts and labor. They will probably not fix it. To get it rolling it’s probably in the $2500-3500 depending on how far and how much they want to do.

Thats what ive been trying to get across to my sister, because my brother in law is always trying to talk her into a German car. I think she gets it now after 2 moneypit BMWs. Theyre fine before 100k as long as you have the money to do the maintenance.. If not they go to shit. For me, I look for the prices of a engine/transmission replacement and head gasket. I figure those 3 equate to the most amount of money i would have to emergency spend if i had to.

 

[TerminalTalon]

Thats what ive been trying to get across to my sister, because my brother in law is always trying to talk her into a German car. I think she gets it now after 2 moneypit BMWs. Theyre fine before 100k as long as you have the money to do the maintenance.. If not they go to shit. For me, I look for the prices of a engine/transmission replacement and head gasket. I figure those 3 equate to the most amount of money i would have to emergency spend if i had to.

I see it all the time. What people drive doesn’t impress me anymore—I’ve seen behind the curtain. I know the APRs, I’ve seen the buy sheets, and I know what people actually owe versus what the car is worth.
If I told someone that every year people take their tax returns and use them to get into cars they can’t afford—just to look good for a couple months before it gets repossessed—they’d think I was exaggerating. But it happens constantly.

We had a lady who bought a BMW years ago and had four repossessions with the same dealership. Every year she’d come back with a bigger tax return. She didn’t even work. I knew because she showed up in a ’98 Grand Caravan with all eight of her kids in it—new hair, clothes, boots, purse. Then she’d get in “her” BMW while the van full of kids followed behind.
And it’s not just one case. You’ve got people from their 20s all the way up into their 60s having friends or family make payments for their vehicles.
From what I see, maybe 25% of vehicles are properly maintained. The other 75%? Someone is paying for it one way or another.

Even “by-the-book” maintenance can be misleading. “Lifetime” transmission fluid usually just means you’ll eventually be replacing the whole transmission. Manufacturer oil change intervals—especially with short-trip driving—lead to timing chains, tensioners, and solenoids failing. None of those are cheap repairs.
When something major fails, most people don’t repair—they replace. And usually it’s with a used engine or transmission from another vehicle that wasn’t taken care of either. Then the cycle repeats.
I get that it’s expensive, but it’s almost always better to do the job right once than to cut corners and end up doing it multiple times—or chasing problems caused by bad parts. That’s the side of things most people never see.

 

[DreamChaser7]

Not working on, just drooling over..

Midnight Purple II 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec

Bid for the chance to own a Midnight Purple II 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #250,806.

bringatrailer.com

 

[Capt Obvious]

My 996 got rear ended last September and even though the damage was minor, it set off the rabbit hole of "well, if it's going in the shop for some paint, I might as well..."

After several months of collecting parts and then waiting for a slot to open with my paint guy, and then trying to find the time to put the car back together I finally have a complete car again.

New rear bumper with the reverse sensors shaved, GT2 front end conversion, headlights sanded down and recleared to get rid of the old age yellowing, some other odds and ends repainted. And finally got the summer wheels mounted again.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Now I can finally work on the Talon again.

 

[diambo4life]

Very nice. This bad boy was at the local Cars and Coffee this past weekend. Will have to put some coins together and get one in maybe 40 years haha...

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[pksystems]

Finished gluing the front section of bumper together. It looks pretty massive, but it is the correct size. I may change the route I was originally going. I was going to block sand the plug smooth, pull a mold off, and have 100% carbon body panels. The 3dprinted lambo guy just covered this cheap plastic with carbon and called it a day. PLA (cheap filament) can distort if left in a hot car. I figure sandwiched between a couple layers of carbon can't be much better. I've started printing the sideskirts in a polycarbonate blend, which is rated for ~110C before it starts to deform. I may print the entire car in polycarbonate, and then cover both sides with carbon, using the polycarbonate as a core material.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Haven't had reverse lights in this truck (2003 Dodge Durango SXT) due to a malfunctioning Transmission Range Sensor. Dodge decided to put it inside the transmission for the last year of the first generation. The other side effect is a no crank/no start that progressively got worse over the last year to the point of almost leaving me stranded last week. I had to rock the shift lever back and forth through each gear and usually after 3 of 4 times it would catch park or neutral so that I could start the truck but began to slip out of park into reverse after a crank or two. Got it to start after 15 minutes. Decided to replace it myself since its not a main vehicle anymore and already had the part sitting around for a couple of years. No time crunch.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

No drain plug, so its gonna be a mess. Luckily, I remembered that my mom had this huge 3x4 ft container in the rafters of her garage for just such a job. I still went through a whole roll of paper towel. Shit gets on everything, even with this big ass tub and disposable gloves.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

The TRS is on the other side of this panel.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

This plug made me confused at first. But I got it quicker than I thought I would. Red safety comes down, white lever comes down while pulling up. It sits in a very tight spot and this photo is taken from this angle because that's the only view you have.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Out! But have to note that this is the most amazingly clean thing on this Rust Belt Salt Bucket. Really need to ditch this truck before it becomes a safety issue because the rust is horrendous.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Old sensor

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

New sensor installed and back up we go!
I used RTV the first time around and I missed one little spot that it leaked from, so had to remove it, clean it up and use the gasket instead. No leaks!

AI lied to me. I rounded off one of the trans pan bolts and overnighted a pack of bolts from Amazon. The smart Claude AI said it was 25mm long. The slightly dumber regular Google AI said 32mm. 12mm. It's 12mm

Checked underneath for leaks after coming back from a short drive down the street and noticed that my driver side ball joint ripped open at some point and slinging grease everywhere. Then went to check the drivers side and there's a big wad of grease under the shock on that side...

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

So here we are with another weekend project replacing ball joints. I now have 3 cars that need alignments. But this garage is starting to feel big as f*** with all the parts that I've gotten out of here and actually on cars now. A shame that this truck has so much rust and its taken me this long to experience the joys on working on a vehicle that is so simple. For as rusted as this thing is, everything has come apart easily.

 

[TerminalTalon]

A couple interesting ones today and I’ll be honest as always. I’m getting burnt out on the intermittent issues and the amount of time it takes to shoot some of this stuff. It’s going to translate into way more diagnostic time for the consumer or strictly diagnostic techs making bank which I hope is the case .
First is a Maxi for the BCM power on a Focus. Assuming heat on a drive. Park it. No Key Detected. Over and over. I found this ever so slightly moving the ends. It felt weird so I ground the face off. Sure enough a crack and seperation. This can’t not be it. 50A that feeds the BCM. Put two new ones in that feed it. Start her up. Let it idle until hot. Turn it off. Same thing . I’ll get back to that turd tomorrow.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Second set is chasing bad readings and simple things that annoy me because they should have been done right the first time and weren’t. This is from my own shop but not me and every hand that has ever touched a vehicle to repair. Halfassed and misinformed or just lazy. Clean the f*****g terminals and cable ends. It’s 5-10 minutes and $.37 in resources. Linear service clean and shiny. I’ve fixed so many big and small issues with cleaning or tightening a battery it’s sad.
So battery tested good twice. It stalled on him and shifted weird. Had numerous (40+) codes for all sorts of stuff.
Grill Shutter
Rear wheel speed sensors
Parking Brake
Communication.
No definitive path in the wiring that made sense as to why.
Even the codes wouldn’t erase. Multiple times. I do that when it’s like this to see what pops first. 5V and bad parts do crazy things.
I used 3 scanners. One needed a login. One a dealer update. Then the last one worked. I erased the codes. Mind you it came in on a hook and didn’t drive but as soon as I started on it it moved in drive and reverse fine so the initial issue wasn’t even there to begin and I always get happy a story so it’s always a fight. Cleaned the ground clearly an issue and not even tight because the stud was frozen in it. Apparently we put the battery in and that pisses me off more but everyone messes around with stuff and forgets. It could have been the customer. Who knows . Anyways it was better. Took it for a drive no issues. I come back and scan it again for issues. That’s when I saw a random voltage PID go to 0V. I go to start it and it’s sluggish. I tested the battery twice and it was good. I tested it again after I cleaned and tightened the 6/24 battery and it’s now testing bad. Interesting little battles that nobody sees or hears about or ever wants to pay for when it happens to them .

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

I guess that I'll sleep on my stomach for a while. I was riding a 650 through my neighborhood like I aways do, but someone went flying out of their driveway at full speed. Since I was cruising 50mph and it was raining heavily, I had a very split second to make a decision. Either mash brakes and slide right into them or try and go around. I chose going around which of course included hitting a ditch and tumbling/flipping around. Somehow I landed on the street again past their vehicle (after unrecognizable movements) and it chewed through my jacket and road rashed my shoulder and spinal area a good bit. Since the bike still ran I ran home for a quick shower which was beyond painful but I needed to avoid infection tonight. Last time I got skinned up by asphalt it took over a week to recover so I expect all stomach sleeping, lukewarm showers, and breathable shirts for at least a week. Such is the life of a rider. Some of you should understand.

 

[steve]

It's situations like that, troubles cause by others, that made me swear off two wheelers. Crossing my fingers you don't have any complications and heal quickly.

 

[r3dmak]

I had similar experience with asphalt rash. I was on the road bicycle going at pretty good speed while making a turn when a tiny rock went under my front wheel and that was enough to lose all the traction and slide across to the other side of the road. My right leg and arm hurt for weeks after that as I was riding only in shorts and a t-shirt, luckily I had gloves, .

 

[Capt Obvious]

I've gone down on street bikes twice over the years and I've gotten VERY lucky both times with only minimal injuries despite being in my squid gear both time it happened (the first one made me start wearing proper gear when I rode and the second one was a "eh, I'm just going around the block for a test ride I'll be fine...").

 

[pma1123]

Thanks for your posts on this 2 wheeler topic, I've been getting a little casual lately and needed the reminder.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

I ended up going to the doctor. After missing a lot of sleep because it was stinging so much. They said I would probably be fine in a couple of weeks and gave me a 7 day dose of cream which really hurts to apply but should stop infections or complications. I tried a couple shots of whiskey last night which put me to sleep but it was short lived sleep. I've been trying to stop drinking lately too. I won't be riding in the rain on street tires anymore. They don't have enough grooves or depth on the existing ones to get a decent stopping distance or make swift maneuvers when wet. I knew this already, but it wasn't raining when I left for the ride and I didn't check the forecast first. Luckily all the bike needs is new grips, new blinker housing, and repaint of the side cover. With the way it tumbled around I thought the damage would be severe but the initial impact was on grass then slid back onto the road as it lost momentum.
I kind of wish I had this on video.

 

[Capt Obvious]

Thats what ive been trying to get across to my sister, because my brother in law is always trying to talk her into a German car. I think she gets it now after 2 moneypit BMWs. Theyre fine before 100k as long as you have the money to do the maintenance.. If not they go to shit. For me, I look for the prices of a engine/transmission replacement and head gasket. I figure those 3 equate to the most amount of money i would have to emergency spend if i had to.

Late to the party on this conversation but...
I love my German moneypits, but friends and family are always surprised when they ask me about what cars they should buy and I always tell them that they should absolutely not buy any of the cars that I love and drive. They're only reliable and cheap to own for me because I can work on them myself. The second you have to pay someone to deal with all the little things that I can take care of no problem they will suck your wallet dry.

 

[pauleyman]

Late to the party on this conversation but...
I love my German moneypits, but friends and family are always surprised when they ask me about what cars they should buy and I always tell them that they should absolutely not buy any of the cars that I love and drive. They're only reliable and cheap to own for me because I can work on them myself. The second you have to pay someone to deal with all the little things that I can take care of no problem they will suck your wallet dry.

Thats funny as I tell people the same thing. Only exception is the toyotas I have owned. Buy those. I did buy a mitsu for my oldest child but only because it was pennies and his first car. Figured he would crash...nope. had it 10 years and it just got old. He may still throw some money at it and drive it some more. Ralliart lancer, older one.

 

[SixBolt_16G]

Late to the party on this conversation but...
I love my German moneypits, but friends and family are always surprised when they ask me about what cars they should buy and I always tell them that they should absolutely not buy any of the cars that I love and drive. They're only reliable and cheap to own for me because I can work on them myself. The second you have to pay someone to deal with all the little things that I can take care of no problem they will suck your wallet dry.

Ive done a little bit of minor work on a few 3 and 5 series. Easy for what I was doing. My sisters 535i goes through a continous Chassis Stabilitzation Malfunction, that I want nothing to do with, leaking oil pan, oil filter housing. I think with everything she got a $10k quote. ... Nice car for someone like me because id have no problem ripping it apart, but not for her

I tend to gravitate and have love for cars that have been historically deemed as unreliable cars. DSMs, 3rd gen RX7's, F-Types...

 

[Wun-jee Claud]

Finished a set of steel wheels for an unnamed troll car... They were originally painted gloss black... It rained and moisture got to one of them. So stripped it down and the pattern was perfect... Stripped down the rest to match... All were raptor clear coated. Tomorrow will do a set of 18" steelies for the talon...

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[Canadian_CD9A]

I haven’t worked with drum brakes much in my life before, but I would be grateful if I didn’t ever have to work with them again. The wheel cylinders on my folks’ Corvette were all toast, so total disassembly on all four (one disassembled itself when I had to rip a seized drum off - fun). Some adjusters were seized, the design is stupid, and they are just a nightmare to put back together.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Cooling system similarly cooked. Wholesale service.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Chrome shines up nicely though. Not bad for 64 years old.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Coker white lines installed, M&S rated for all that mud & snow usage that classics see.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Give me a 90s Mitsubishi. Please.

 

[Wun-jee Claud]

I haven’t worked with drum brakes much in my life before, but I would be grateful if I didn’t ever have to work with them again. The wheel cylinders on my folks’ Corvette were all toast, so total disassembly on all four (one disassembled itself when I had to rip a seized drum off - fun). Some adjusters were seized, the design is stupid, and they are just a nightmare to put back together.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Cooling system similarly cooked. Wholesale service.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Coker white lines installed, good for all that mud & snow usage that classics see.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Give me a 90s Mitsubishi. Please.

Hope you never have to see irl on a few antique cars they had drilled the drums similar to performance rotors.. they actually stopped well... But after a few rainy seasons and a winter hiatus... Brother I FEEL that pain...

 

[Canadian_CD9A]

Hope you never have to see irl on a few antique cars they had drilled the drums similar to performance rotors.. they actually stopped well... But after a few rainy seasons and a winter hiatus... Brother I FEEL that pain...

I only read this as "disc brake conversion imminent".

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I grew up before alot of disk brake stuff so that drum brake is a cake walk for me. Easy stuff, but have the right tools, like every job! Loving the car

 

[Wun-jee Claud]

I grew up before alot of disk brake stuff so that drum brake is a cake walk for me. Easy stuff, but have the right tools, like every job! Loving the car

Fair enough... I'd only do it for my 66 New Yorker... Everything else has discs...

 

[SixBolt_16G]

Back at it on the Durango. Had to wait through some upper 100+ heat index days, work meetings and getting smoked out by the wildfires. Rust hasnt been too bad so far. Just some problems with spinning shafts when trying to torque ball joints and tierods ends, but i figured it out.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Shocks were the easiest. Bottom bolts both came out easily. 2 attempts on the top bolts convinced me that it was nevee gonna happen, so i just cut through them with my angle grinder.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

The rear shocks are terrible. Rear end is banging coming off of speed humps, so assuming theyve been shot for a good while and shouldve been swapped at least 2 years ago. Expecting that I will either break all the heads off the bolts or round them off and will to have to cut through all 4 bolts.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I have my I35 Infiniti on the lift. While driving home from eating out, the car suddenly got louder. The flange that mates to the headpipe is corroded enough that it won't hold the muffler pipe, which has a bead to hold that flange, tight. I can either unbolt it and weld the bead up bigger, to hold the flange or get a new Walker muffler, as the car is 22 years old. That muffler is almost $200 at our local AZ store. That is CHEAP compared to the muffler my Hustler Super Z needs ($515 ). I believe that one will get welded up. No way I want to pay $500 for a lawn mower muffler when ear muffs are about $20
When the weather is appropriate, I'll take that off and get the welder out.
Marty

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.