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Achtane wrote:Good job! Yeah, you really do end up saving a shitload of money. I just replaced my inner tie rod ends and after returning the special tool, it only cost me $25 in parts. I was quoted $650+. It was very easy.

I got new tires on Friday, and the shop tried to upsell every damn thing they could find. The one thing I did bite on was the driver side inner tie rod. It's not something I know much about, and I was hearing some odd sounds in that general area, so I decided to let them overcharge me. They only wanted $125 to do it, and I guess that's not horrible. Now I'm going to research tie rod replacement.

Wow, that's not a bad price at all. Surprising.

With the tool kit, it was a piece of cake.
Tips:
-A special tie rod/ball joint remover tool is not needed. Especially avoid the fork-style tool unless you're replacing the end with the rubber boot anyway. You can flip the castle nut on the outer tie rod end upside down, thread it back on there, and whack it with a mallet until it's free.
-Remember that you'll need a replacement cotter pin for each side.
-Count the number of times you spin the outer tie rod until it comes off, and spin it that amount when replacing. That way your alignment won't be extremely off afterward. You'll still want to get an alignment though.

I decided to try replacing a tire by myself. Mistake. I was able to get the tires switched on the rim using a couple tire irons (the pry bars I had been using sucked) but the tire is like so tightly on the middle of the rim that it's impossible to seat the beads. I tried the ratchet strap thing and I'm not trying the starting fluid thing
Oh well.

I just bought my first brand new vehicle. A 2020 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. Super excited; it's going to be so nice! Also, stoked to be in debt some more for the next 5 years!

Tried to trade in my fiancee's 2012 Nissan Versa. She drove it for work for a few years so it's pretty far up there in km's. I knew it needed new brakes and that the transmission has acted up in the past. Well it drove to the dealership with no issues. I actually started thinking it would run fine a few more years. They went to take it for a test drive to appraise it and the transmission was totally shot. Can't even get it to go more that 5-10 km/h now. I have no idea how it drove so smoothly all the way there to just die immediately when I parked it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b1AxI_YK_Y[/youtube]

Bought another timing light on craigslist teh other day, since the inductive pick-up of my old one is AWOL. I expect to come across that in the next week or three. Exact same 1970s Craftsman.

My car has been timed (by ear) to 1.5 degrees before top dead center. I need to chase down a sort of blatty rattle that is driving me bonkers. I think the innards of my muffler may have expired, or some cooling tin is shaking in the breeze.

-Replaced leaky power steering pressure line (surprisingly not awful)
-Replaced blown stupid little license plate bulbs
-Attempted to adjust junkyard headlight and snapped a piece of plastic crucial to its adjustment mechanism (yay), but used steel wire to get it in a good fixed position for the time being
Let's see if I get rejected again! (Likely)

James Hetfield owns this. I think we should go steal it.



This too:

I saw that hetfield was doing a museum thing at the Petersen.

Got the suspension on the mustang. Insane day and a half of doing that in between of like six other things. Did the rear end, front suspension, arning drop, could springs, leaf springs, changed wheel bearings (to add spacers which was nuts because my new bearings were wrong), disc brakes all around, sway bar, Monte Carlo bar, Bilstein shocks all around, new wheels, new cross member, new steering box, upgraded steering, and adjustable bump steer. Now to pull it off and finish painting now that I moved it to the back yard haha.
All to get disc brakes and 5 lug wheels.

Also did the stucco behind it. And half painted those window trims.

Picture is too small, but I put Moroso and Bilstein stickers on the door window.

Built three flower beds too. Just redwood, but they look ok.

Started my truck for the first time in three years. Dude is Mr. Reliable. Even the cassette played just fine.

Wow. How did you do all of that in a weekend? I'm so jealous of your productivity...

It's not as impressive as it sounds.

The car was a Thursday/Friday thing. Saturday was moving it (which is crazier than it sounds because I only had 3" on either side and the garage is kind of too short). The previous sat-wed was everything else. Only mentioned the stucco and paint because they are in the picture.

Working on cars is easier when it's stripped of everything which I did over a year ago.

The six other things was like keeping family entertained and other stuff like that haha.

Eh, still though, that's more than I do in a week

I removed the intake manifold on the Grand Marquis and discovered that I needed to replace a valve cover gasket as well, so I've been working on those lately.

Got one side on, minus the fasteners, and I got down to the last bolt on the other side. Dropped my wrench and it didn't hit the ground so I called it quits for today. It's kind of an annoying job made worse because the book wants you to remove the brake booster (nope), wiper cowl (nope) and AC condenser (lol no). But I've almost got it.

Who just drove 2 hours away to buy a non-running 27-year-old pickup?
This guy.


Nissan D21 "Hardbody" with near-zero rust on the underside!!!
According to the seller, it has a "new" engine with 110k miles, new plugs 'n wires, and a new clutch. It was $800 but since it was running up until today (supposedly), I talked him down to $500 and a free tow. Lol.

It turns over but just doesn't fire up. I'm pretty confident I can get it going though. I love these trucks and have always wanted one.

There's a pleasant minimum of electrical fuckery rigged into it save for one thing -- it has a push button start

At the very least, it was a nice little road trip.

Nice hardbody, I've always liked those! Any ideas why it won't fire up?

Thanks! My first instinct is crankshaft position sensor, maybe? It has this funky diagnostic on its computer involving flashing lights and a screw to be turned... Hopefully that will help.

I'm about to go push it into the backyard 'cause it's sitting on the street with no plates

https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotiv ... prototype/