What are you working on today?
- Thread starter Amkeer
- Start date
Have the Polaris 550 semi complete now. Deglazed the cylinders, washed them up, installed pistons and rings. The gap came out at spec of .016. One jug bolted on and still waiting on the reed valve to come in.
1998 Pontiac Sunfire
-front brakes needed attention
-replaced LF wheel bearing
-replaced rear struts
-replaced a rotted OEM muffler strap with plumbers tape. Given our locale, I actually think this will last several years or more. The car's got 280k mi, so.......
-front brakes needed attention
-replaced LF wheel bearing
-replaced rear struts
-replaced a rotted OEM muffler strap with plumbers tape. Given our locale, I actually think this will last several years or more. The car's got 280k mi, so.......
Just did a timing belt and water pump on an EJ25D Subaru. I also did the valve cover gaskets. I didn't have enough coolant, so I'll get another bottle of Zerex Asian Green tomorrow
On the '98 Sexy Sunfire:
-installed new left window crank
-attempted to improve the ignition key cylinder but failed miserably. Going to have to source a new one.
-replaced lower hinge pin bushings on left side. These long doors sag in time
Shield your eyes, this thing is amazing. He says he has a line on a new fender but it sure made it easier to service the hinge!!
-installed new left window crank
-attempted to improve the ignition key cylinder but failed miserably. Going to have to source a new one.
-replaced lower hinge pin bushings on left side. These long doors sag in time
Noticed a shredded boot around an inner tie rod on the 91 626. That tie rod was changed out in 2013 so might as well change it out while putting on a new boot. Have several pairs on NOS Mazda inner rods in stock. As soon as I get the old one out in can see a difference in length vs. the non-Mazda rod. This will no doubt change the front alignment, and it did, so that means doing the driver's side also. However late start so that one will be for tomorrow along with an oil change in the Mazda 3.
Put new headlights and markers on an '04 F250. Somehow this is the first time I've encountered these infamous headlight clips and WOW ‐‐ Engineering Team TTB never disappoints 
The lenses were all furnished by the owner and don't appear to be CAPA certified. They're Taiwan COO but I've seen some really low quality lenses from Taiwan, so it's hard to say
New on the right
Compared to old on the left
The lenses were all furnished by the owner and don't appear to be CAPA certified. They're Taiwan COO but I've seen some really low quality lenses from Taiwan, so it's hard to say
New on the right
Compared to old on the left
After 15+ years in our house we finally got around to getting new countertops. Went from 1991 fermica to 2025 quartz. Now the boss wants the electrical stuff updated. Working on that this weekend. Boy it's expensive to upgrade these items. Glad I'm doing this work myself.
Just put a Hopkins tailgate torsion bar in this '04 F250. This is the fourth or fifth one I've done now, although the first Ford -- the others were 2nd Gen Rams and GMT800s. Once again, results are impressive. You can close the tailgate with two fingers.
Highly recommend for elderly drivers or anyone who has become accustomed to today's newer trucks with assisted tailgates from the factory.
Downside: makes tailgate removal impractical
Upside: makes tailgate theft impractical
Highly recommend for elderly drivers or anyone who has become accustomed to today's newer trucks with assisted tailgates from the factory.
Downside: makes tailgate removal impractical
Upside: makes tailgate theft impractical
Well the driver's inner rod was a different animal. It has actually bent the tie rod removal tube without even budging the tie rod, while using a 6 ft breaker bar, and has zero corrosion. Looks like the car will need to be put back enough to park it till I come up with a way to get it off. This inner rod was extremely loose unlike the other side.
Can you get a blue wrench in there? Feed it all the way out to keep the heat away from the rack seal, and cut the bellow off -- you can easily replace it in the course of the job.
Heat is your friend
Did a 4 corner brake job, pads and rotors on my aunt and uncle’s 2020-ish Volvo something or other. XC60 sounds right? Had to put it into a service mode which I did with the help of a YouTube video, by pressing the ignition button, parking brake button, and accelerator pedal in a certain sequence. Volvo used red Loctite on all of the caliper bracket bolts which made them a whole lot of fun getting off. Definitely tested my upper body strength as well as my breaker bar.
Not a horrible job but getting those bolts out made it a little more of a pain than it needed to be.
Not a horrible job but getting those bolts out made it a little more of a pain than it needed to be.
This one can't be seen from top or bottom only from the wheel well where it is buried deep in there. So one is heating the ball socket but not the back where it screws in. A propane torch might not even reach.Can you get a blue wrench in there? Feed it all the way out to keep the heat away from the rack seal, and cut the bellow off -- you can easily replace it in the course of the job.
Heat is your friend
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Going to run another 16oz can of the Berryman Intake & Combustion Chamber Cleaner thru the wife's 2018 Honda Accord with that GDI-T 1.5 engine to try and clean out some carbon, if it has much or any. Certainly must have some with that design. I have done it a few times since we bought the car. Not really as often as recommended but each time , it seemed to have less soot come out so it must be working.
CleanSump
Site Donor 2026
Have you considered trying Yamaha Ringfree+ in it?
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Not really. This is more of a predicative / preventive maintenance item I do with that car just because of the type of engine and I rather not have to deal with too much build up (I really do not anticipate much) due to the way those engines are designed that can allow build up on the valves & rings. The car is actually running really well and often gets between 39 to 44 mpg on interstate. I have actually seen it reading 49mpg one day in cruise doing 72mph. No, known issues and I use HPL oil with short oci. Thanks for the suggestion. I will keep that in mind and look into it if the need arises.
Just finished changing that (original) leaking valve cover gasket in my 2012 CRV (50,000 miles). The rubber material was very noticeably harder than the new one. I was already in there so I checked the valve clearances and they were still spot on. (Honda recommends valve lash check every 100k miles.)