What did you do to your other car(s) today?

[Mike W.]

Not a fan of the white, which for all I know is original, and in my paws it wouldn't stay white very long, but other than that, I like, I like it a lot! Nice work.

[tig]

That's seriously impressive.

For my '88 with Linen interior, I used a leather recoloring kit with pretty good results:





I also re-did my steering wheel

[Karl Grau]

Chased down a vacuum leak on the e39. How did I make it so many years without a smoke machine?







Lower intake boot.

[John in VA]

How did I make it so many years without a smoke machine?

Which unit are you using?

[Karl Grau]

Which unit are you using?

From Amazon and it looks like it's gone up $20. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JV ... =UTF8&th=1
It appears to have been assembled from off the shelf parts that probably cost less than $50 but I didn't mind paying $100 for someone else to source the parts, assemble it and ship it to me.

[1st 5er]

Noice.

[gadget73]

plotting a repair / upgrade to the AC on my Continental. Had it working when I put the car back on the road but its been slightly leaky. Currently its charged but just works poorly. The condenser was full of trash and it plugged the orifice tube. Flushed it, but I suspect I didn't get quite all of it and its clogged again.

Plan is to evacuate it and check the orifice tube. Hopefully thats it and I can carry on. A parallel flow condenser thats a drop-in exists for small money so ideally it will just be a case of swap the condenser and orifice tube, then recharge it. If the compressor is not happy with life, I've got a spare one of those too. The leak appears to be one of the connections based on the drool of UV dye, so that should be easy enough to deal with.

[gadget73]

replaced the flukey power window switch on my truck. Super easy job, pop a trim panel out, remove 2 screws for the pull handle, the panel with the switch lifts right out. 2 plugs and 4 little plastic tabs to pop it out. New switch was 16 bucks. I'm sure its crap but at the moment all 4 windows go up reliably so its an improvement.

[e24mpwr]

Replaced the motor mounts on my mom's old Camry (since the last time I visited this thread). I've done a fair amount of work on that car, and have to say it's incredibly easy to work on.

Up next is the same job on my wife's Odyssey, which is not nearly as simple

[Karl Grau]

Replaced the MAF on the e39 to fix a transmission issue.

[Eastwind]

Stare at it, I bought a stupid 84 533i on the spur of the moment. Has a major fuel leak, haven't had the chance to figure out, wants to start, can't tell if the 5 speed is good, something something cylinder by previous owner, looks a mess. I bought it for parts, but now I want to get it to run.

[1st 5er]

Dragged the '84 733i home on a transport.
The trip didn't start that way.

[gadget73]

Changed the oil on the Mark VII for the first time in my ownership. I've owned it since 3/2020, it was changed 10/2019. It was at 3000 miles. Clearly I drive it a lot.

found a soft spot in the floor which I'm not happy about. Will have to deal with that eventually I guess.

[gadget73]

AC leak checked the Continental, ended up being the compressor. Friend used his AC machine to evac it for me, I changed the compressor with the NOS spare I had and changed a few O rings. Pulled the orifice tube and apparently I had a big stupid moment 4 years ago when I put it together, the tube was in backwards. It worked but it was out of position and probably why the pressures seemed odd. Put it all back together and pulled vacuum on it for an hour. It held for an hour over dinner so I'm calling it good. Will charge it this weekend when I visit my friend to help him put together an engine.

[gadget73]

Charged it, but the pressures are funny. Too high on the high side, too low on the low side which is what you get from a restricted metering device. Thinking either it needs the next larger orifice tube size (0.072 vs 0.067) or the tube I have is smaller than it ought to be. At some point I'll have it pulled back down, swap the tube, and see what that does for it. Unfortunately its not really possible to measure these things without destroying them, and any part that costs less than a dollar from China has suspect quality control.

[e24mpwr]

Got started on the family Mazda3 today. My son had an encounter with the edge of a driveway...



Since I no longer trust pretty much anything in the passenger front wheel well, it's getting the works - both sides getting new struts (complete with new strut mounts and bushings) and new control arms, and going ahead and replacing the hub, wheel bearing and knuckle on the damaged side. (I know the knuckle is probably undamaged, but it's not worth the alignments and tires to find out I'm wrong). I took the opportunity to upgrade the struts to Koni Special Actives, which is what I have and love on my Mini Clubman, so the I did the rear shocks as well.





The full kit (minus the new wheel and the two new front tires...)

[Mike W.]

Got started on the family Mazda3 today. My son had an encounter with the edge of a driveway...

Ow. All that looks expensive and a lot of work.

[e24mpwr]

Ow. All that looks expensive and a lot of work.

With the tires and the (used/eBay) new wheel, we're just under $2300. There's another few bucks for mounting the tires and pressing the wheel bearing in the knuckle/hub. I'm guessing at a shop I'd be looking at $2K-3K in labor, but hard to say. Honestly the work isn't too bad - the car is pretty easy to work on. I'm OK at "nuts and bolts" stuff - I just can't do anything that requires actual skill or knowledge. An actual tech could probably knock all of this out in three actual-hours (maybe less), but I'm pretty sure I don't want to know what book-hours would be on all of this...

Some of that # above is the cost of the upgraded struts - I could have gotten away with OE shocks and saved a hundred or so up front and all $250 of the rear. But (A) I think these are the originals on an 85K-,o;e car and (B) I love the ride and capability of the Konis, I felt like it was the right choice. I'm also doing more than I absolutely have to. I don't know for sure the control arm is bent (and had mixed feedback about whether replacing both was needed), but it was another one of those "the car has 85K miles, might as well do it now and be comfortable/sure" kind of thing.

(I'm doing the front brakes too )

[gadget73]

got the leaky compressor re-sealed. Learned several things along the way, most importantly that the compressor I was working with was not what I thought it was. Apparently for 2 model years it switched to a slightly different model that fits and functions the same, but is slightly different internally so the seals don't work. After spending too much time and buying a couple of seal kits plus a set of O rings to make it all go, I found someone selling a kit for this specific compressor for 14 bucks. Porsche apparently used it in the 80s too. Whatever, the miserable POS is together and its held vacuum for 12 hours at this point so I'm willing to declare it re-sealed. Also my home-made pressure testing tools and seal drivers worked perfectly. I suspect they will go in a drawer with the other assorted special tools I've made over the years, never to be used again.

[e24mpwr]

got the leaky compressor re-sealed. Learned several things along the way, most importantly that the compressor I was working with was not what I thought it was. Apparently for 2 model years it switched to a slightly different model that fits and functions the same, but is slightly different internally so the seals don't work. After spending too much time and buying a couple of seal kits plus a set of O rings to make it all go, I found someone selling a kit for this specific compressor for 14 bucks. Porsche apparently used it in the 80s too. Whatever, the miserable POS is together and its held vacuum for 12 hours at this point so I'm willing to declare it re-sealed. Also my home-made pressure testing tools and seal drivers worked perfectly. I suspect they will go in a drawer with the other assorted special tools I've made over the years, never to be used again.

That must have been maddening.

I had a sorta-similar experience with the rear shock mounts for that Mazda. I got aftermarket (Dornan) as they were well-reviewed and less-expensive. When I went to put the shock post through the mount, it didn't fit (post was too wide). Odd. I tried to figure out if I was pushing hard enough or if there was something else I missed. I measured the new Koni shock post and found it was 0.5mm bigger than the stock Mazda one. Ah. I debated enlarging the opening in the shock mount, but it's a metal plate encased in a rubber membrane that offers a little give at the top. I thought modifying it would lead to short-term failure of the mount. I checked and the old/OE shocks fit the Dornan mount. I thought to see if the new Koni fit the old (OE) mount. Yup. So I decided to re-use the mounts and just replace the two mounting nuts. Except they wouldn't thread...

This taught me to never toss anything you're replacing until the new one is in and fully functioning. It took me forever to find the damn nuts from the original mounts. Eventually I found them and they went on with the old mounts. It's a pretty easy job when everything fits, so I'll eventually get back in there and replace everything with new Mazda-brand mounts, but what I thought would be 30 min. max wound up being over two hours . Sheesh...

Net: I feel your pain when a nuance extends a job and you have to become a Sherlock Holmes to figure out what's going on...

[gadget73]

yeah, always fun finding out you have the odd crossover part, and just the general fun of dealing with incorrect parts listings. Have bought struts that the holes simply don't line up, and then had to argue about it to get a refund. I spent most of a day troubleshooting power mirrors that didn't work right, only to finally figure out the factory wiring diagram was wrong. Ended up tracing the whole thing out and adding a page to the book.

[stevemir3]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2nZQ7qs]

Cleaned my 71 2002 and got it ready for tomm's morning drive

[gadget73]

Charged it, but the pressures are funny. Too high on the high side, too low on the low side which is what you get from a restricted metering device. Thinking either it needs the next larger orifice tube size (0.072 vs 0.067) or the tube I have is smaller than it ought to be. At some point I'll have it pulled back down, swap the tube, and see what that does for it. Unfortunately its not really possible to measure these things without destroying them, and any part that costs less than a dollar from China has suspect quality control.

Did this, AC works fine now. Not frigid cold but it works adequately, and the pressures are not stupid.

Re-foamed a sub for my friend, he put the interior back in my Towncar for me so now its actually drivable and doesn't require motivation on my part to deal with it.

replaced the passenger window switch trim on the Continental. Ford mounts their power window and power lock switches to the trim panel with two screws and the plastic around one of the screws was totally blown out. The door pull on the driver's side ripped out too. It doesn't attach to the door skin, it mounts to the 35 year old brittle plastic backing of the door panel. It now has a rivet nut installed in the door with a custom spacer I made from some 12mm hex bar to make it sit at the proper depth so the door pull actually pulls the door instead of the plastic.

[vinceg101]

Got to play Family Mechanic and did some work to my parents' 2007 Hyundai Sonata over the Thanksgiving holiday:
-New Plugs & Coils
-Oil Service
-Air Filter
-New Trunk Lift Shocks





Still have a few things to do, and at 69K miles it's due for some Cooling System overhaul as well as other vital fluid services.
I have to say it was a weird sight and vibe having a Hyundai in The Hangar.

[Karl Grau]

Replaced the windshield trim on the e39 for the 2nd time under my ownership. Went with URO this time.
The two rubber triangle thingies and the bottom cowl seal thingie also need replacing. *sigh*.








Also made a shopping list for the X5 that I just bought to replace the Cayenne from hell.

[alabbasi]

Recently replaced the carb on my 68 Deville with an Amazon quadrajat (yes you heard it right). Spent the day dialing it in, setting the timing and the idle speed.

[Mike W.]

Recently replaced the carb on my 68 Deville with an Amazon quadrajat (yes you heard it right). Spent the day dialing it in, setting the timing and the idle speed.

Yes, spelling aside, does it now work like it should? Not questioning your skills, and I've bought plenty of parts from A, but a carb that's not even spelled right would make me nervous.

[alabbasi]

In fairness, that was my spelling error and not theirs. The carb seems to function okay but i'm getting some dieseling when I shut it down. It could be a stuck float as i've seen it blow fuel out of the carb when I shut it down in gear. I don't know much about carbs so I'm trying to figure if it's a defect or an adjustment. I have about a week left in my return window to figure it out. It's got great power though and now lights up the tires.

http://w108.org/images/Caddy/681.jpg
http://w108.org/images/Caddy/carb1.jpg
http://w108.org/images/Caddy/683.jpg
http://w108.org/images/Caddy/682.jpg

[Mike W.]

In fairness, that was my spelling error and not theirs. The carb seems to function okay but i'm getting some dieseling when I shut it down. It could be a stuck float as i've seen it blow fuel out of the carb when I shut it down in gear. I don't know much about carbs so I'm trying to figure if it's a defect or an adjustment. I have about a week left in my return window to figure it out. It's got great power though and now lights up the tires.

http://w108.org/images/Caddy/681.jpg
http://w108.org/images/Caddy/carb1.jpg
http://w108.org/images/Caddy/683.jpg
http://w108.org/images/Caddy/682.jpg

Wow, sharp looking throwback car. Back when the marque meant something.

Dieseling. On American cars from the 60s, somewhat earlier than yours, I've run into vacuum leaks and timing as culprits. No expert on them to be sure, but just something to look at.

[gadget73]

idle set too high does it too. Not sure what spec is, but probably not over 800 rpm. Often the idle isn't actually set right either even if its at the right RPM. If the timing is set late, the throttle blades have to be too far open to make it idle. The usual clue there is the mix screws don't have much effect on how it actually runs. If thats what its doing, advance the timing a couple degrees and back off the screw holding the throttle blades open.

Make sure the advance mechanism works properly too. Should have both mechanical and vacuum. Often the weights will get stuck and not advance properly, or they get funny and it won't come all the way back down to base timing. When it does that you'll find that the idle doesn't settle down to the same spot each time.


this is probably my favorite generation Caddy, the late stacked headlight models are cool, before they turned into the tacky barges they became in the 70s.