If you’re reading this, congratulations on making it through another Thanksgiving. We’re all either off being lazy somewhere or getting in fist fights for a TV. But hopefully you got the chance to spend some time in the garage or on the road this week – if you did, we want to hear about it!
If you saw anything, fixed something, broke everything, or otherwise did anything even remotely car related that you want to share with your fellow hoon, sound off in the comments.
Have a good weekend.
[Image © 2017 Hooniverse/Greg Kachadurian]
What's your automotive news for the week?
About
32 responses to “What's your automotive news for the week?”
-
Almost useless things I learned this week…
You have to compress the coil In order to attach a quick strut to the UCA on a Stratus. Thus, there is no advantage to buying quick struts unless you opt for those that come with the new UCA preinstalled. They come both ways.
Quick struts will work for a Taurus, but you have to drop the subframe to get them to clear.
Harbor Freight no longer sells $10 spring compressors.-
In its sum, not useless: “rather don’t do it”.
-
Hard for me to justify paying a mechanic to work on cars I got for free.
-
-
I’ll be honest, the thought of a 10$ set of spring compressors scares me.
-
My old set served me well for years, but I galled the threads.
-
A $10 dollar Harbor Freight Spring Compressor just might surprise you with its quality.
True, it might not be a happy surprise …..
-
-
-
Changed both front wheel bearings in the zj, ordered a 4″ lift finally, and have been eyeballing a ’68 J3000 so much that I’ve talked to my bank about taking out a loan
-
http://fr.zone-secure.net/27293/452939/#page=46
Found through Road & Track, but Citroen’s auctioning off a bunch of their collection.-
Wow, there’s a lot to like here. Imagine being a Leno type of collector just saying: “I’ll have this…and that…and…”. I wonder if any of those prototypes are street legal?:
-
If that’s what they are selling I wonder what they are keeping, I’d guess they are thinning the herd of duplicate or similar vehicles, as well as less significant show cars.
Interesting to see multiple Mehari 4×4’s.-
Yeah, seems like they are very short on funds. Lots of 80-90 year olds in states of disrepair, too.
-
I almost wonder if someone went on a “buy every old Citroen” binge at some point. To have those cars out in circulation, back on the road (hopefully!) would be a better outcome IMO
-
-
From spending too much time at [REDACTED] back in the day, I was really excited to see the FAF.
-
-
Those with “avec son certificat” have a title.
“Démarches… auprès des services compétents” is a very French way of saying “no title” (go and see the competent authorities, whatever those are).
The “moquette” is actually “carpeting”, so a mockup with no title required.
I want the cutaway Berlingo, the CX and GS: all together cheaper than most new cars. Leno Light. -
Oh, I 100% want that van, and would like to know what it would take to make it road legal (or where I’d have to get it registered for that to be possible). Then again, there’s a kit becoming available to make Ram ProMaster/Fiat Ducato/etc look like a modern HY, so that’s probably easier and more cost effective.
That said, all the sub€3000 stuff would amount to a neat collection. -
The Tubik is my choice too, but the 4×4 2cv based vehicles are pretty desirable too.
I’d like to have a FAF just to say I had one. -
Citroen Bugatti Chiron Van? I’ll take two.
-
-
-
Van got its annual inspection, and new front tires – those that came with the car this summer had lost 80% of their spikes, rendering them useless to get off the property onto the iced snow we call street. Dealer gave me a deal, and swapped the hand brake wire, too, on warranty.
944 got ordered a short shifter (those that mount onto the gearbox), although I should rather fix the rust – but hey, at 10F you can do only so much, right? -
Don’t bother having your MGB radiator steam cleaned and reassembled. It leaks like a sieve. Better yet, if leaks when you rev the engine, so it slings water everywhere.
On the good news side, the relays for the headlight switch and the electric fan work great.-
I wonder how exposure to hot water could damage a radiator, but I can’t help to admit that it sounds somewhat true to the MBG brand…
-
Those cardboard radiators are great! 😉
-
-
-
A couple of things in the last week or so. Last Tue the wife rear ended someone in her Escape Hybrid. Busted the mounting tabs on both headlights, smashed the impact bar and ripped open the bumper cover. That car was supposed to last through the winter being AWD and all but considering everything else I said screw it and went shopping. Picked her up a 2013 C-Max from my favorite source for beater cars and work trucks the state. I had noticed in the maintenance records that early on there was a RO for “install customer’s confidential plate” and didn’t think much of it. I was quite happy to see the end date was Fri night (even though govdeal’s listing input sheet specifically says not to have auctions end on a Fri night, since they won’t attract many bidders). So I picked it up for a song. the problem is that govdeals auctions require you to pay them directly and by wiring the funds over a certain amount. So I had my wife set up the wire Sat morning but of course wires only happen M-F and the surplus stores are only open T-S. Went and picked it up Tue w/o any problem. However Wed we went to transfer the title and get it licensed.
That is where the problems started. Remember that whole confidential plate thing? Well that is done for deep undercover cars and finding dirty cops. So when that confidential plate was put on the vehicle a second title was generated that is purely fictitious. So when a citizen files a request of information form or someone dirty runs a registration check what they get back is a fictitious name and address. Once the vehicle did its undercover time it was put back in the general fleet. However it appears that they didn’t redo the title and they sold me the vehicle with the original title. So when the new person at the licensing office entered the VIN it didn’t match the title that I had. So she called the state multiple times and eventually told us they would issue a new title in the state’s name that they would send to us and we would have to then get that one signed. In the mean time the trip permit was going to expire. She wouldn’t say exactly why this was the case. I eventually pushed back and pushed back so she sent us over to the manager.
The manager then got on the phone with the same person and someone got them to agree for her to do a new title and actually make it happen that day. Otherwise we would have been w/o the use of the car for at least until Tue when I could go to the surplus stores and see if they could figure it out.
So I did have something automotive to be thankful for and that was that she forced the issue and made it happen. The other problem with the car was the fact that the Bridgestone tires they had put on it were total crap in the rain. Sure they had 70% of their tread but they just wouldn’t stick to the road. So on wed before the trip to the licensing agency I had the tires from the Fusion she wrecked before the Escape put on. That too was a bit of an ordeal since I went to Sam’s club and they don’t normally mount tires that you bring in. I told them I had bought them from them but for my other car so they were tires that I had purchased for them, I just wanted them to change which wheels they were on. Again I am thankful that he called the manager and they made it happen, as long at they were in good condition. -
I see this as my confessional. I get into messes but by dumb luck, doesn’t cost me a fortune or my license.
Last weekend, driving the Mustang. Made a wide left onto the frontage road too close to the car ahead. Hit a curb flat on with the right side. Steering instantly off. Cursing all the way home I didn’t feel anything more than the alignment was off. Further inspection showed one 10th anniversary wheel was damaged badly, the other with a hint of flat. Both tires damaged. Checked with American Muscle and they do not have those 18×10 wheels any longer.
Options, get the wheel(s) repaired at $200 per wheel. Shop for new wheels, either 1, 2 or 4. Still $$$.
Start looking at CL wheels. I see an old ad with my exact same wheels in black. $250.
I send a note, he STILL had them. Never mounted. Said I can have them for $120 cash. What are the ODDS?
WHEW. Toss the bent wheel, 1 as a spare. Run 2 black on one side, silver on the other. Trackcar.
Alignment. I took the splash shields off for cooling and that puts the tie rod ends at the hot disk causing accelerated deterioration. I did cover with foil. But I had bump steer tie rod ends to install. Knowing I’ll need an alignment soon anyway, I installed. The alignment was almost corrected by my ham fisted installation. I was concerned about a bent strut. Looked good.
The Mustang is out of the motor pool until I get it aligned. The Ranger is up for inspection but would fail on the tires showing cord. New Goodyear Wrangler Radials and we’re good to go.
Thing is, I quit driving the truck often since at 40-60 it rattled badly. It was a headache to drive. Been this way for 4-5 years. New tires and a good balance means it’s back to as-new. Or close. It’s so much fun to drive now.
Just a second of inattention and this is my payoff.-
Sounds like a pretty light escape at least.
-
-
TIL it takes 4 shots from a Mosin Nagant to split a rusty brake disc. This falls under “remotely car related”.
-
I have no questions about the circumstances whatsoever.
-
lol. I was hanging with a friend on his property way out in the sticks. Rifles were brought out. While I was plinking some soda cans and clay with my .22LR, my buddy was punching 7.62-sized holes in old car parts he had laying around. He has two Mosin Nagants, one from WW2 that’s gorgeous and another that was dragged through a jungle in Korea. I only felt *slightly* underpowered.
-
Underpowered? Slow gun fast, then!
-
-
-
-
I changed the front pads on my DD Insight. This first time the car has had its brakes changed at over 100k and still a lot of life left on old pads. I bought the Insight slightly used (12k mileage) and will attest that it is an awful new car purchase but a screaming deal used (45mpg average /no reliability issues/parts are cheap) . Next up, changing 8 spark plugs (that’s right the 1.3L Honda L series engine has 8 spark plugs) and changing the external trans filter.
-
Definitely a bonus of running a hybrid!
-
The original Insight only has 3 plugs, but makes up the cost difference by requiring expensive racecar-style indexed plugs!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/191e9008d09951f7cb6464097be709323921511d171ec69c6bac50cfc97cf70a.jpg
-
-
washed my car for the first time in 5 weeks
Leave a Reply