Coffee Brake: Off Topic
Happy Friday to everyone out there — I enjoyed last week’s off topic free-for-all as the Coffee Brake, so I want to continue that tradition.
Whatcha got planned for the weekend?
Happy Friday to everyone out there — I enjoyed last week’s off topic free-for-all as the Coffee Brake, so I want to continue that tradition.
Whatcha got planned for the weekend?
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Replacing the battery on my B5.5 Passat Wagon, which apparently requires removing the windshield wiper arms and the entire cowl.
Oil change on E350 and Cayenne (120k miles each with nary a glitch, knock on wood), replacing driver's door handle and window rubber on 1987 535is.
Also in the motorized segment, picking up a new zero turn mower since my son blew up the engine on our riding mower. Sadly, I find myself more excited about this purchase than any recent car expenditure.
I've heard that zero turns are the goods. Something about making mowing fun.
Toro has one with front wheels controlled/steadied by the steering system as opposed to being like casters. Now those are the business, especially when mowing by a curb
Patching the 2yr old Walker muffler on the minivan just because I'm cheap. 19/298k and still humpin'.
I need to do a tuneup on the 1.9L WBX in the Westy as I'm tired of the bog off idle once she's warmed up – starts quickly, idles fine when cold and warm (a bit sticky on the decel) idle control switches clicking at the right time. Need to test the single-wire O2 sensor, the TempII sensor, CO adjustment or other. Cleaned the grounds and re-RTV'd the snorkle last weekend. Probably give it an oil-change while I'm in there as well. Also hope to soap / steam clean the engine bay so I can figure out what's leaking and fix.
Independent german mechanic near me has been hoarding Vanagons of all types for years. He's got 10-15 at least, perhaps more tucked away out of view. At the pub the other day he said to come shopping in his yard sometime. I've owned a '70 Westy since about '95. Thinking about taking the T3 plunge.
With a pop top aircoolded Westy, and a motorhome in the collection already, I think I'd actually want a sunroof non-camper.
Well, found the engine braided ground strap got missed last weekend when the grounds were reattached on the LH side of the engine…
So my old man has been driving the same 1964 Ford F-250 for the past 52 years. It's never been off the road and he drives the hell out of it. Well, drove. It finally came in for its '50 year service' about 18 months ago which ended up in total functional restoration. After reinstalling the T-18A trans that my buddy and I rebuilt the other night, she should be back on the road by Monday.
I lost out on a sweet 1972 BMW 3.0 cs this week. I had seen it at a local garage that has a bunch of older eclectic cars. It looked pretty good few rust spots (which means lots of rust on these) but in good running condition. Two nights ago it pooped up on CL for $3,500 I texted the number because it was after 8:30. The next morning went to the shop and it had been sold at 7:30 am.
There is a rusty Jensen Interceptor at the same shop……am I dumb enough? Possibly
@Sean: "pooped up on CL" could describe many car projects I've looked at over the years…
Just rebuilt the carb on my Honda Motocompo. Rebuild progress! Still need to strip the paint off the frame and respray.
Tomorrow will be installing a new (to me) diff in our E36 5.3L Lemons car, buttoning that up, then an exhaust weld repair on the wife's '73 BMW 2002 downpipe. Lots of little stuff.
Annual car show at Mills Mansion estate in Staatsburg, NY. Bringing the '64 Volvo 122 S Coupe.
How 'bout some new readers rides? I am sure there are many DTers with very interesting cars.
Well, I don't really fall into the "interesting cars" category but I did spend most of yesterday afternoon changing the brake pads, drivers' side only mind, on my 1990 Pathfinder. I cannot express the frustration at not being able to find a c-clamp to push the piston back into its bore. I ended up using a 50-year old flatblade screwdriver ( which I expected to snap at any moment) and a sweet 8" drift from my toolbox to wedge and shove back into place so I could slide the caliper over the new pads… The reason that I only did the one side was that the damn glide pins had frozen in place and wore only one brake pad down through the backing plate….ruining a new rotor.
Installed Old Man Emu springs and Bilstein 4600 struts up front with 5100 shocks out back on my driver '98 4Runner. OME 2881 up front and 2890 out back. Also did lower ball joints, outer tie rods, swaybar endlinks front and rear. 2 weekends ago I installed 231mm Tundra brakes up front. Also swapped a transfer case from my parts truck into my driver to try and get to the bottom of a groaning noise on deceleration. TL;DR the t-case didn't fix the noise so that's a bummer.
But the truck rides so much nicer now (a little high in the front, which is by design b/c the winch & bumper will sag it a bit), and it's almost ready to support the ARB front bumper and 10,500lb winch I have sitting in shrink wrap in the corner of the garage.
Next weekend is new tires (thinking either duratracs or KO2s – but will probably end up with Cooper MTPs), then the following weekend will probably be the ARB/winch install.
Ah man, this made me miss my 99 sr5 sport so much. I should have never sold it. It was aging and instead of fixing it up I sold it. Bad decision.
Such good rigs.
I've got an '87 4runner that I've been running an OME setup on for a few years. Ride is good, but I've got torsions up front so I'm sure yours is much better.
Instead of selling mine, I've now been through it a few times. When I take a part off, it's usually something I installed 5-10 years ago.
Next up for that rig is doing something about my very, very, very slow back window (it's had a soft top on it all summer, about time to deal with the rear window and put the hard top back on.) I'm also going to replace the windshield this year. Gasket is shot and leaking, and the 30 year old glass is so sandblasted it should go as well.
@Sean Scott – This is my 3rd 3rd gen 4Runner and I absolutely love it. So over-built front suspension-wise. They used the same front suspension (the hard bits, anyway) on the 1st gen Tundra and Sequoia as well. I'd still be on my second 3rd gen but my brother in law sent it into a culvert at 40mph. Drove it onto the trailer but the frame is badly bent. You can pick one up for sub-$5k if you're willing to throw some elbow grease at it. I bought my current '98 for a shade under $2k back in July.
@novek – oh man I miss my 1st gens! I had an '86 22R manual steering (power brakes and a tape deck though) and I loved it. I traded it for a '74 Dodge Dart with a 340 / 727 torque flite. This was a poor decision. I (read: my parents to whom I bequeathed it) sold the Dart 2 years ago for $3000, meanwhile the '86 is still pulling farm and plow duty for the guy I traded it to.
I missed it so much that I bought an '89 4Runner about 3 years later. The '89 w/22RE had the absolute decadence of power steering and aircon, but it was just as reliable as the '86. I cranked the torsions up and paired it with some Bilstein HDs but in LA traffic over LA pot holes, it was too much. Sold it to the son of a friend of mine who proceeded to trash it and throw it away up in Nor Cal.
These things are super simple to work on and extremely durable if you live outside of the rust belt – my current '98 has 345k miles on it and is going up daily. Original engine and trans.
My '87 has the 22RE, power steering/brakes, AC, etc. You could almost call it 'loaded'… Original trans, but everything else has been replaced at least once. It was terribly abused before I got it. I pulled the original engine at about 190k. Timing chain guides had failed and the chain cracked the front cover. When I pulled it apart it was such a mess, that I bought a longblock and started over. I've got about 30k on the replacement now.
I'm running 33×10.5x15s and 5.29 gears with an air locker in the rear. OME torsions, leafs and shocks. I've got ball joint spacers on the front so that I don't have to crank the torsions for lift. Really helps the ride quality.
It's a great truck, I can't imagine selling it. It even did daily driver duty till about 2011. These days it's a mountain toy and pulls a utility trailer for motorcycles and yard/home projects.
I once owned a '74 Dart, but it was a /6. I sold it in the days when it was still smog controlled in California. I paid $500, drove it 25k miles, then sold it for $600.
Ryan – a few months back I finally sprung for a set of new BFG AT KO2s for my FZJ80. 285/75R16. I've been thoroughly impressed with these tires. Orders of magitude quieter than the worn out KOs they replaced, with really impressive traction on slippery rocks in the eastern Sierras and Big Bear where I've taken them off road so far. I even forgot to air down both times and was not getting much wheelspin on trails that were populated by Jeeps and FJ40s on 40" tires.
For anyone who's interested, here's my little thread on ih8mud forums. My offroading / camping buddies all have 3rd-gen 4Runners; I'm the only odd guy with a Cruiser.
forum.ih8mud.com/threads/el-duderinos-1994-fzj80-the-crusher.930371/
CFLo – that is a bad ass ride. I really like the picture with the motorcycle in the back. I have to say that my 4runner was much better at carrying toys than my X5.
RyanM – If you need it I have extra aluminum intake tubing that is used to remove the sound box from the intake. One of the silly mods one can do. Let me know if you wan me to send it to you.
CFLO….making me miss my 97 FZJ….I put 265/75 KO's on there and they were perfect for my road/off-road mix of driving. My only beef with that truck was that at 6'3" and 225, I found that the driver's seat legroom seemed to have been built for the Japanese home market. That's a great looking truck though. You had to replace that awesome small hose between the back of the block and the firewall yet? Still have scars on my hands from that one.
@Novek – Very cool. I had the timing chain "death" rattle for a while but it never wore through the timing cover… as far as I knew. Ended up cracking the block, swapping an OM617 in and selling it to a friend's son (who did 90% of the work on the swap).
@CFlo – Gorgeous FZJ! Is it e-locked front/rear or "just" rear? I've been eyeing KO2s vs. Duratrac Goodyear Wranglers. I have 285/75/16 Cooper ATPs now and I had some decent UCA rub before the spacers. Now I have pinch weld and wheel well rub at full lock and while flexing some. So I think I'm going to aim for 265/75/16 because this spends some time on-roads too and it isn't lifted much.
How does your daughter like 'wheeling? My 18 month old son gets a huge kick out of it at first, but fatigues very quickly.
@Sean Scott – ah the ISR mod. I may take you up on that, as my intake tube is cracking and I'm in the process of waterproofing the electrics in preparation for a snorkel – can't have it leaking water into the intake. Question – what did you do for vacuum ports/fresh air ports? (or does the '99 not have any)?
@CFlo – pulled the trigger on some 265/75/16 KO2s yesterday morning from 4WheelParts. $693 shipped and they're arriving tonight (shipped from the OKC location). This after the alignment shop said my battered 285/75 Cooper ATPs (even w/BORA spacers & a lift) were rubbing so hard it caused the tread to wear so unevenly that it was difficult to align…
Is this a completely stupid idea?
anchorage.craigslist.org/cto/5831520026.html
[image src=" images.craigslist.org/01111_4WUwUV4W3hY_600x450.jpg" width="400px"/]
This old van has a running engine, I have moved it under its own power.I just need it gone.