Wrenching General

OP, i have plans to do some light body touchup on a few vehicles and new struts install so I need to rent a spring compressor from the Irish tomorrow. I'm going to appreciate doing it mostly alone as well.

I just finished doing some new tie-rod ends and front shocks for my truck. My "friend" came to help. He thinks he knows a lot about vehicles when in fact he is basically entry-tier shadetree

>be working on some house shit yesterday
>fiends comes by, interrupts my work (whatever i needed a break), asks if i can help him move some shit on thurdsay
>always asking me to help him move some shit
>well normally I would but I need to do some truck work tomorrow, so maybe if I finish early
>I'll help U, user! I can come by at like 10am!
>doubtful.jpg
>this morning, get a text
>hey can I come by to help at 11?
>sure ya whatever's clever
>comes by at 11:30
>been working on it for about hour and a half
>have the shocks pretty much done
>tie rod ends are stuck in knuckles as usual
>I'm hitting the knuckle with a hammer, made some DIY penetrant to loosen it up
>he watchers me for 30 minutes or so, and has a go with the pickle fork
>let me try the sledge, user
>tell him we're just giving it good whacks to get the penetrant to creep
>no need for hulk smash
>watch him do what i was doing for 10 min.
>hitting the knuckle with a BFH
>decide to finish up shock on other side
>come back maybe 5-10 minutes later
>He started pounding on the tie rod
>it's beat to fuck, the sleeve and clamps are smashed flat
>there_go_my_spares.gif
>well I gotta go pick up my kid now user maybe you can come by later and still help me move that stuff?
>he leaves
>serenity now
>add more penetrant, wait 30 min.
>10 minutes of BFH and they're off

I thought I wanted wrenching friends.
IDK what i want now.

Don't those 3.1's are intake gasket issues?

aren't there things you can get to lock the cam gears in place?

The original engine is known for that, but by the time GM put out the 3.5, the gasket problem was fixed. I am using a 3100 upper for deception purposes.

Holy shit that guy.

I really wish wrenching clubs were a thing in my area

possibly, there are supposedly timing marks on the gears and the mount. if you get the engine to TDC the marks should be aligned and the belt also comes marked to align to timing marks.

If i have the car in gear (its a manual) im guessing i wont have issues with the gears moving.

interesting, thanks

My 4.10 gears I'm gonna install either this weekend or next.

Nothing too major right now, mostly cosmetic stuff.

Bought a 2000 Ford Focus with 118k miles for $1400, exterior is pretty rough and my first order of business is replacing headlights. The seal on the left one has gone out and the left turn signal bulb is already dead, with the headlight not far behind.

After that I need to install a stereo, and then for the future thinking of redoing the paint some time later this summer.

>Need to replace CV axle on driver side of MK5 Jetta
>Find the special snowflake 12 point socket for the axle bolt
>Impact gun does absolutely nothing
>Make sure I'm not turning it backwards, as retarded as that would be
>Find torque wrench
>Bend torque wrench
>Find a breaker bar
>Shear breaker bar off at the socket
>Have bigger breaker bar but not a bigger socket

I thought about letting a shop install it but I don't feel like paying the labor for that bit if I can do it myself.

>Meanwhile, le racecar needs attention to get it moving again
>Both control arms and the K frame rotted out
>Tie rods bent
>Busted CV axle on the driver side
>Remove bad frames and replace from spare pile
>Installed spare CV axle
>New tie rod ends and ball joints installed just in time for the weekend

At least I'll get something done this week.

I'm going to be doing my first ever oil change this weekend. I'm assuming it is going to be a cakewalk compared to replacing both my cv axles.

>have motor mounts I bought last year
>don't want to pay mechanic to install them
>dont have engine lift or proper tools to install them

Maybe one day

Use a floor jack and massage them in.

Gonna buy some jack stands and change my oil for the first time in my life

Wish me luck bros. Any basic tips/rookie mistakes would be helpful

Got wheel hub bearings finally put back on fc rx7. Go to drive it and 10 minutes into the test drive a caliper sticks. Yay. Also my integra dd has a vapor canister issue I've been ignoring. But I did get the mazdaspeed protege alternator replaced. So after a radio swap and a good cleaning it will be ready to sell. The shitbox lifestyle both sustains me and aggrivates me.

shit is it a tough install?
I thought about doing it myself too
Watched a video online shit looks hektik

I prefer the 2x4 and fucking smash them in with a hammer method. Worked on my pickup

Just spin the oil plug off with one finger from a distance so you don't get oil on you. They are all captive, meaning it won't fall completely out.

I got an RSX (base) and dunno what I want to do with it. Its in pretty much perfect condition except cosmetic damage and is great for comuting but at the same time I keep wanting something like a hatchback or some older jap coupes
Only has 112000 miles on it

Gonna go get some new v-belts after one of mine decided to commit sudoku on the highway last night.

Don't spill oil everywhere when you take the filter off. Don't spill oil everywhere just in general.

Have rags on standby. Also, make sure you have a large enough pan to get all of the oil. You'd be surprised how much comes out.

When you're unscrewing the drain plug, put pressure upwards until you can feel it freely spinning, then quickly whip it away to minimize oil to hand contact.

and mount it where? I have a V6 S10

Fuck it, thanks senpai. I guess I'll finally do it

To avoid getting burned, buy the OTC drain plug holding magnet:
youtube.com/watch?v=tRUhlmMU-Gw

I can only say any RWD volvo, plenty of space and retard proof.

Make sure you have a funnel and put some new stuff around the oil filter seal so you don't need to spend an hour getting the fucker out like I had to last week

i'm restoring an old 2 stroke.. gonna start with the suspension then maybe the carb

>just gonna fix the suspension
And then this happened.

some day a 1uz with a w58 and a turbo.

so im debating whether to buy a koyo radiator or fidanza flywheel and some unsprung clutch set up with a good pressure plate and eventually an aluminum drive shaft

it may not shit out a lot of power but i run my cars hard at the track or roads

l-lewd

i'im thinking of getting a jdm wife. thoughts?

1990 Miata
>upgrading brakes to 1.8
>replacing brake lines with S.S. brake lines
>replacing OEM torsion bar with flyin Miata torsion bars

Dodge neon is where I started, then made a career out of what I learned. So I'd say at least for me, that was a good starting point. But the real answer is....... ANY car that captures your passion. Doesn't matter how complicated it is, if you love it, you'll learn it through and through. That neon was my first car, and that's why I loved it enough to learn everything about it.

Find the car you love, you'll learn.

you can't afford one that isn't totally old and clapped out, and the maintenance will kill you

gotta wake up early and do this. draining and refilling e30 trans again. st gets an oil change, and I might do my yamahurr as well. provided it's not raining I might detail both cars

Tomorrow I'm dropping the fuel tank in the parked r32, and replacing all fuel lines. Today, I refreshed the center console cubbies with some fresh satin black, and did some more cleaning and other odds and ends.

About 5 years ago I gutted the interior and like an amateur, brushed on battleship grey to make it pretty. I like the color but it's a horrible brush job so I'm contemplating sanding the interior to metal and doing it properly this time now that I have a proper spray gun. I've also got a ton of other shit to bolt back on that I repainted.

Bonus 4 year old pic

undo drain plug, undo oil filter, attach new oil filter(lube filter's o-ring with fresh oil), replace drain plug, fill engine with oil, start engine for few seconds to fill oil filter, fill the rest of engine oil, done

Hooked up two 8" subs the other day in my ford ranger.

>like 1000 watts rms I believe
>Now I have basically no space in the cabin

But they sound real nice and a coworker sold me the box amp and subs which were part of a kit for 50$ cause he was moving and needed them gone.

I think this weekend I'm going to replace ball joints and control arm bushings.

If you hang out with the DIY crowd you'll meet a lot of people like that, but there are some amazing people out there. Once you find someone who's a complete dumbass you'll have a friend for life. Assuming you're not a dick.

It's me. I'm the DIY dumbass.

Do I work with you?
Been calling it my twerk wench for the past year now, cheers.

>1000w RMS
>8inch
You believe that? Stock alternator is maybe 100amps at 14v which is 1400w max at like 3-4k rpm. A couple of 8s can take maybe 150rms each contiguous and that'd be pretty loud. I run two 10s on a 75w rms* 2 amp in a baffle type setup and it gets plenty loud.

Ordered a knockoff TRD oil drain okig and magnetized drain plug for my T100.

Trying to get a tablet head unit/torque setup figured out. Need to fab an adapter to run 5.25" speakers in the 5" hole.

After that it's gonna be tied between getting my Geo Metro back together, and getting my Legacy back on the road.

Might sell them or the truck once it's all finished.

>If i have the car in gear (its a manual) im guessing i wont have issues with the gears moving.

That's honestly one of the stupidest assumptions I've ever heard. But assuming you're new to engine work, I won't shit on you for it. I'll just let you know, When you remove the belt, the cams are no longer connected to the drive line. And seeing as they are under spring load, on a cam lobe, they most certainly WILL jump to the bottom of the lobe. And autozone does have cam holding tools in their rental tool program, you'll either need to use those, or be prepared to put each cam back in time as you set the belt on it. There are indeed timing marks on the gears, and on some engines they line up with a mark on the head, others you just line up the two marks on the cam gears with each other. And last piece of advice I have for now, getting your engine to TDC isn't the end. It MUST be TDC on the compression stroke. You find that by removing the number one spark plug, then stick your finger in the hole while hand cranking the engine. When you fell the cylinder pushing your finger out with compression, then you can start watching for TDC.

Why go through all that instead of using the factory timing marks? Most cars have some form of marks on the pulleys and something on either the block/head or timing cover. Some don't obviously, but in the case of Audi, in this case, we have the tool that locks the cams. Not every can gear will be under tension, but once again some will, Toyota v6 comes to mind. Also not every car is timed from tdc on #1, Subaru and mini timing marks put all the Pistons in the middle of their stroke. Point is not every car is the same, best bet if you don't know is to look up info on the car.

sneaking suspicion I need to replace my steering rack. god help me.

Anybody else have a dedicated shop computer? Just set mine up, got inspired when I found this case with removable filter and NIB CRT monitor. The laptop is more convenient but it's just comfy having this thing up on the worktable.

For what?

I have to run SAAB and Mercedes WIS on a legacy operating system

Changing front arm bushings on a vw bora. The far end went on fine, the other one is a bitch. Also, i lost A FUCKING NUT

Tru story here
>working on an 89 Lincoln towncar
>knock in the motor
>start unbolting transmission and motor mounts to take motor out
>motor is out after 3 hours
>set motor up on a stand
>remove upper black
>on the last bolt
>motherfucker is locked up tighter than a 12 yr old :^)
>get pissed start screaming at motor
>throw a wrench at the motor
>wrench bounces back and nails me directly in the eye

And that's the reason I'm 36 and wear an eye patch

also, I'm pretty sure is happening to me.

Pics of fucked up eye, or gtfo.