Topic: What did you do to your car today?

[wing]

Vacuumed and cleaned out the truck for the first time in 2 years....  wasn't all that bad actually, but now all that icky salt is gone.

[CanuckS2K]

Changed out the winter rubber on the Wife's Civic today.  She's happy now as there is much less road noise with the winter rubber off.  Not saying much though I guess as a quiet interior isn't exactly a strong point with her Civic.

Also, finally got the S2000 for the first drive of the year.  Every single year I get the car out for the first drive my thoughts are the same......DAMN this is a FUN car to drive.   

[HeliDriver]

Had to quit wrenching early today as it was a gorgeous sunny afternoon and needed to go for a bike ride instead.

So, this morning I just removed the brake calipers and caliper carriers and got one brake rotor off with a BFH. The other three are on solid, so will need to go get some long bolts and nuts to create a press, and hopefully I can persuade them off from the back.

Also realized the bolts I reused for the new control arm bushings are supposedly stretch bolts and one-time-use only. Same for the rear caliper carrier bolts that were all rusted out anyway, so will have to spend tomorrow driving to the city to buy bolts from the dealer.

Oh, and I hit the paint chips with a touch-up pen. First time in five years. She might even get that coat of wax I've been meaning to do ever since I bought it. 

[Firm]

Solid weekend here.

I returned my test car early on Friday night so I could have the Trans Am home for the weekend to fix a leaky power steering pump.

Saturday morning I tore into the Trans Am, pulled the old leaky power steering pump, fought for an hour to pull off the pulley and press it onto the new unit, then installed the new unit and replaced the low pressure line. By mid-day Saturday it was up and running again, leak free!

Still time in the day so I pulled the SLK down off the lift where it's been since early December and took it for a quick drive to blow out the cobwebs. Then spent some time organizing the garage.

Today I took the SLK to a meet in the morning at Engineered Automotive, great meet with some good people. Spent the rest of the day cleaning up the backyard.

Shot from Saturday:

[johngenx]

Realized that I've put over 90K on the Highlander.

[mlin32]

Hit 30k km, but rough day for the car.

Gave it a wash though this evening, it deserved it after all I put it through today.

[HeliDriver]

Another brutal day... Spent the morning driving to the city and back for those bolts, then spent hours fighting to get the brake rotors off. Finally got them all off, then spent some time cleaning up the hub faces in preparation for the new rotors.

Going to leave it at that for the day. Plus 17 and sunny now, so the bike beckons...

[Triple Bob]

Another brutal day... Spent the morning driving to the city and back for those bolts, then spent hours fighting to get the brake rotors off. Finally got them all off, then spent some time cleaning up the hub faces in preparation for the new rotors.

Going to leave it at that for the day. Plus 17 and sunny now, so the bike beckons...

That's why I hate brake jobs, bloody rusty rotors!

[Fobroader]

Another brutal day... Spent the morning driving to the city and back for those bolts, then spent hours fighting to get the brake rotors off. Finally got them all off, then spent some time cleaning up the hub faces in preparation for the new rotors.

Going to leave it at that for the day. Plus 17 and sunny now, so the bike beckons...

Ive gotta say, great work buddy!!

[bridgecity]

Another brutal day... Spent the morning driving to the city and back for those bolts, then spent hours fighting to get the brake rotors off. Finally got them all off, then spent some time cleaning up the hub faces in preparation for the new rotors.

Going to leave it at that for the day. Plus 17 and sunny now, so the bike beckons...

Great work Heli.

I've had days like that.  Makes you think you just should have taken it to the shop.  However, once its all done you'll have a sense of accomplishment and saved yourself a few bucks along the way (if you don't factor in your time spent  ). 

[HeliDriver]

Another brutal day... Spent the morning driving to the city and back for those bolts, then spent hours fighting to get the brake rotors off. Finally got them all off, then spent some time cleaning up the hub faces in preparation for the new rotors.

Going to leave it at that for the day. Plus 17 and sunny now, so the bike beckons...

Great work Heli.

I've had days like that.  Makes you think you just should have taken it to the shop.  However, once its all done you'll have a sense of accomplishment and saved yourself a few bucks along the way (if you don't factor in your time spent  ).

If you don't factor in the time spent... and the stuff I've broken in the process.    Like the windshield ($405!!!) and my iPhone that dropped out of my pocket and got all scratched up as I rolled around on top of it on the concrete floor. 

And I'm a little worried about the rear wheel bearings. They seem fine, but man did I have ever have to lay a beating on those rusted rear rotors to get them off. Must have been hard on the bearings...

Still, all in good fun, and I'm sure looking forward to getting it back on the road. At least I'm aware of all the things I messed up and that may go bad in the future, rather than not being aware of all the stuff a professional messed up and might go bad in the future. 

[wing]

You broke the windshield doing the brakes?

[tenpenny]

You broke the windshield doing the brakes?

I've gotten mad before, and broken a hammer, but I avoid breaking the expensive stuff, LOL.


Sent from my Vic20 using Java Moose

[KD]

Another brutal day... Spent the morning driving to the city and back for those bolts, then spent hours fighting to get the brake rotors off. Finally got them all off, then spent some time cleaning up the hub faces in preparation for the new rotors.

Going to leave it at that for the day. Plus 17 and sunny now, so the bike beckons...

Great work Heli.

I've had days like that.  Makes you think you just should have taken it to the shop.  However, once its all done you'll have a sense of accomplishment and saved yourself a few bucks along the way (if you don't factor in your time spent  ).

If you don't factor in the time spent... and the stuff I've broken in the process.    Like the windshield ($405!!!) and my iPhone that dropped out of my pocket and got all scratched up as I rolled around on top of it on the concrete floor. 

And I'm a little worried about the rear wheel bearings. They seem fine, but man did I have ever have to lay a beating on those rusted rear rotors to get them off. Must have been hard on the bearings...

Still, all in good fun, and I'm sure looking forward to getting it back on the road. At least I'm aware of all the things I messed up and that may go bad in the future, rather than not being aware of all the stuff a professional messed up and might go bad in the future. 

That's the attitude! 

[HeliDriver]

You broke the windshield doing the brakes?

No. I broke the windshield doing the front struts.

There's a plastic panel that has to come off to get access to the top bolts on the strut mount. But to get the plastic panel off you have to pull the wiper arms off. Stupid things were seized on there unbelievably tight. I had to pry them up with a huge screwdriver while banging with a hammer. And that was after destroying a puller trying to get them off.

Funny thing is that I probably could have just pulled up the plastic enough to get at the bolts, but I hate screwing around like that and just wanted to have clear access. And once I realized the wipers were on so tight, it was like a challenge and no way I was going to let them win. Figured if I really needed to get them off in a year or three for something else, it would only be worse. Going to put anti-seize on those suckers this time!

[Triple Bob]

You broke the windshield doing the brakes?

No. I broke the windshield doing the front struts.

There's a plastic panel that has to come off to get access to the top bolts on the strut mount. But to get the plastic panel off you have to pull the wiper arms off. Stupid things were seized on there unbelievably tight. I had to pry them up with a huge screwdriver while banging with a hammer. And that was after destroying a puller trying to get them off.

Funny thing is that I probably could have just pulled up the plastic enough to get at the bolts, but I hate screwing around like that and just wanted to have clear access. And once I realized the wipers were on so tight, it was like a challenge and no way I was going to let them win. Figured if I really needed to get them off in a year or three for something else, it would only be worse. Going to put anti-seize on those suckers this time!

Yeah, when I had the lower springs put on I was surprised that the wipers had to come off ha ha!  I'm so glad I got the garage to do the install, I would have truly f*cked it up.

[HeliDriver]

Another slow day: had to make a trip to CT for supplies and got sidetracked with some other stuff. Now the dogs need a walk and I need a bike ride - another beautiful sunny afternoon, so calling it quits for today.

Got one measly rear brake put back together. Why so little accomplished? 'Cause I had to uninstall the rear shock I installed three days ago because it's in the way of tightening the caliper bolts. D'oh!

Oh well, starting to look purdy with the new parts.

[Snowman]

Nice 

[aquadorhj]

new rear rotors eh? nice, heli!

[HeliDriver]

new rear rotors eh? nice, heli!

Yeah, new pads and rotors all around. And I got my caliper bushing kit from Tyrolsport in the mail yesterday. Replaces the stock rubber caliper bushings with solid brass ones: supposed to help noticeably with pedal feel.

Nothing else on the agenda for tomorrow, and it's supposed to rain anyway, so really hoping to get this wrapped up tomorrow. But still have to get that windshield on Friday and I have an alignment booked for Tuesday.