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What did you do today?


JunktionFET

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my daily driver VW jetta wagon had badly clouded headlights; like most late-model cars, the headlights on the car have a polycarbonate lens that clouds up over time from exposure to UV. i have tried polishing them but only had modest success, so i decided to replace them entirely. while i was at it, i decided to upgrade the lights as well. higher-line jettas have foglights integrated into the headlight assembly, so i got a pair of those from ecs tuning. because my car is not wired for fogs, i got an accessory harness from ecs for this purpose; i also got a new headlight switch since the old one didn't have any way to activate the fogs. this is a pretty common retrofit on VWs, so i had researched this beforehand and knew exactly what i needed.

since i've been pretty busy with work & family stuff lately, i did a little bit of this each day over a few days; the wiring is what took so long. also, to get the old lights out & the new lights in, i had to remove the bumper cover. just finished today, here are the results. the first pic is a comparison between the old headlight assemblies and the new ones:

IMG_8037.jpg

the next two pics are just the new units, hood up & hood down:

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this last pic is a detail pic, showing the new fogs:

IMG_8040.jpg

without any kind of protection, these new headlights will look like the old ones in a few years, so i got some precut lamin-x headlight protectors as well. the instructions say that they shouldn't be installed at temperatures below 70 degrees F (21 degrees C), and right now it's 66 degrees F (18 degrees C) and getting cooler because it's about to start raining for the next few days, so i'll probably put these on in a week or two when we get a warm spell.

andré

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Looks good! Funny how upgrading "while you're at it" seems to be universal. :)

Did you upgrade the bulbs at all while you were at it? Likely can't get too crazy due to the plastic housings, but a slight bump might be nice. Although I've often heard reallty good lights are wasted in big centers since there's always lighting around.

Here in the boonies - good lights are a must.

Rabin

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Looks good! Funny how upgrading "while you're at it" seems to be universal. :)

so true. :)

Did you upgrade the bulbs at all while you were at it? Likely can't get too crazy due to the plastic housings, but a slight bump might be nice. Although I've often heard reallty good lights are wasted in big centers since there's always lighting around.

no, these headlight units came with all of the bulbs preinstalled (including the turn signal bulbs), which was nice. not sure what the h4 bulb is, i'll check it out in the next few days whenever it stops raining here and upgrade it to 55w if it isn't that already. i'll probably change out the h3 fogs for amber at some point since i prefer those. just having clear lenses, though, is a huge "upgrade."

also, you're right -- where i live, having awesome lights is not really a necessity. yesterday, i saw an orange Hummer H3 with at least 12 auxiliary lights mounted on the front end (i lost count)...of course, it had chrome 20s and was immaculately detailed...welcome to LA... :D

after changing those bulbs, my next lighting project will be an HID retrofit to christie's sport trac.

andré

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The new lights look great. Definitely a huge improvement functionally, as well as aesthetically.

Today, yesterday...and the day before, I've been hitting the books hard.

My finals are the Wednesday and Thursday after next. Can you say cramming? :rolleyes:

Other than that, I've been "enjoying" my first week off from intense crew training in the last 11 weeks.

I threw out my back on Monday (facet sprain on my L4, etc..) from half a decade of rowing with inflexible hamstrings.

I had been overcompensating for my inflexibility with my back, which is horrible, but was inevitable with the pure rigor of this past season.

Needless to say, I cannot wait for Christmas break, which will officially begin for me on the afternoon of December 13th.

I'll be starting the break off nicely with a nice PCH road trip in the BMW with the girlie from Santa Monica to San Francisco the following day.

I also hope to be spending the three weeks off working on the Peugeot. I'm hoping that the car can still make it into the paint shop in time given all the recent bullshit that came up regarding the leaky sunroof, and soaked passenger side floors. If not, then oh well, we've got summer for that.

Back to the library,

Sina

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Fitted 4 new ContiIceContact factory studded winter tires to the 89' 505 Turbo this weekend. My buddy Hugh in Alberta rounded up 4x 15" steels for me, and a good friend picked them up for me on his way back from Calgary, so I installed the 185-65-15 tires on those and installed on the car this past Saturday.

Last night we had freezing rain and this morning the roads were sheets of glare ice. The new tires are beyond exceptional! Absolute best glare ice tire I've ever used, deep snow performance, slush, etc etc are all top notch. It's even decently quiet on pavement at speed.

Rabin

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This past weekend was a marathon car fixing spree:

Volvo V70R:

  • New VVT exhaust cam solenoid
  • Replaced 3 of the remaining motor mounts (previously did the front one already)
  • Coolant over flow bottle and cap w/ new hose to motor.
  • Re-installed Drive shaft after having tried to fix the center bearing rubber with 3M Window Weld (urethane) - but the damn thing vibrates too much now... :(

No more check engine lights! For the longest time I was getting the rear O2 code "out of range" after the replacement cat, and when I finally installed a cheater to move the new O2 sensor out of the stream, the code changed to the exhaust cam solenoid and remained on... :angry: No check engine lights now though - WOOT!

Was hoping to get a bit more life out of the drive shaft as it seemed really good still, but the center bearing isolation rubber was ripped. fixed it with urethane - but now there's too much vibration... :(

89' 505 Turbo:

  • Installed new water pump (Beck Arnley).
  • New T-stat
  • "New" top rad hose

Had a heck of a time with trying to remove the clutch fan from the shaft of the old water pump. I did it once before, so I was trying to do it that way and I ended up breaking the aluminum flange that holds the fan... (3 jaw puller). Pulled another water pump off another motor in the garage (3 N9TE's on stands now...) that had a better bearing, and then decided to just push the shaft through on the press... Pretty sure THAT is how it's done as it was super easy and it actually pushed out the cartridge from the pump housing at the same time. Cleaned it up and installed on the new water pump and was able to reinstall. Stripped threads on the t-stat housing so I retapped to M8x1.25 and used a different bolt - luckily it was accessible eneough without removing the whole thing.

Got it all wrapped up about 1AM last night, and I finally have proper engine temps! I'll be doing a write up on the water pump as I took over a project Bob Bruce was going to attempt - the Matra Murena forum had a post about using the internals of a 1.6L 205 water pump to fix the 2.2L water pump - so it was a pretty good guess it should work for our cars as well. I've got the 1.6L 205 water pump now - and when I pushed the cartridge out of the N9TE pump I eyed up the two and it looks promising - but the shaft is shorter.

Project now will be to get the matching 205 pulley, then see if I can do a proper magnetic fan clutch delete, new alloy rad, and relocate the TMIC so that it gets better flow for when I install the Dani motor.

Rabin

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@rabin -- if you're having problems with the driveshaft, that means your volvo is awd, correct? i seem to remember reading somewhere that the v70 awd wagon uses a torque tube like the 505, but lots more complicated, making repair/replacement expensive and/or complicated...is this correct?

also, it's funny to think of your 89 as running hot, since you just put studded tires on it. it must be freezing there, right now... :)

andré

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-23C this morning and the 505 started great!

V70R is indeed AWD, but it's a regular drive shaft with CV joints at either end, and a U-joint beside the centre support bearing. Called the dealer this morning - $1495... Going with a rebuilt unit from www.coloradodriveshaft.com instead. David was awesome to deal with, and he pointed me to www.weshipit.com to handle the shipping to my door. Rebuilt unit was $425 + $100 core. Shipping will be ~$100 according to the website.

Rabin

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Yup - I can't beat the price at all, and he's got a great rep in the Volvo circles for providing a great product. I was hoping to just delay the hassles of getting the shaft until it was more convenient, but my quick fix wasn't a fix at all - so I had to scramble to get the driveshaft here ASAP as we always put a lot of miles on during Christmas.

Cost included shipping to www.weship-it.com (correct!), and it looks like his prices for shipping air via FEDEX will be $95 according to his site, and because of the amout of shipping they do, it looks like the cost to me is cheaper than having stuff routed via family and friends due to the rates they get. Pretty neat service, and if it works out - it might become my "go to" place for having stuff sent up here as it would be really convenient during winter especially. This was particular bad timing as I wanted the car sorted before Christmas travels, so getting it here ASAP is a priority.

Rabin

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thanks guys. still here. less than 10 hours left...just about done with that super-crammed "cheat-sheet"...

honestly, really glad that i've only got one more quarter of this engineering track calculus and finito.

also got all of the parties within the next 2 days to look forward to, and of course the drive back to norcal on saturday morning.

first stop beverly hills then back to the 101 up to San Luis Obispo, and we're taking the pch all the way back to SF. :D

@andré - on the leg up we'll be in a hurry to get out of LA ASAP but when I take the 5 back down on jan 2nd or 3rd by myself, down to catch a coffee or kebab?

Sina

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Changed my battery cables on the rabbit. Lost the nut that holds power cable to starter. Couldnt find it or a replacement in my stash of parts. Home depot didnt have the size. Ordered online. Never shows up. I call the parts place, and they check my order, and the guy is confused, cuz it shows up in their computer with an order # of "20" (instead of like 8272621, where they're up to now). Fixes it, gets my order in. It's friday. Hoping it comes today so i can get the car going this weekend (w/o having to push start!)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Was out running errands with my father in Berkeley today, when in the pouring rain, I spotted a MINT delft blue 505 Turbo wagon.

Looked really nice, STI wheels and all. Snapped a few shots on the phone, will upload later.

Berkeley, California really is home to some of the greatest cars of all time.

Within the 10 minutes that I spotted that 505 Turbo wagon, I spotted: several nice E30 BMW, an e28 M5, handful of vintage mercs, and a bunch of cool old Volvos.

Berkeley truly is nostalgic car-heaven.

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Just got back from a concert in Emeryville tonight (right near the marina to the guys who came out this summer).

Took the Peugeot, and the drive back home afterwards on the 880 was definitely a good test for the makeshift sunroof seal.

Not a single leak to the carpets! It's definitely the sunroof seal now for sure.

Good night guys!

Sina

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Installed a replacement muffler on the Ami6. Very weird in shape like the rest of the car! The front muffler hangs under the transmission. Basically 2 briggs & stratton mufflers welded together and just as bizzare. 20 minutes to swap out.

The drive home today in my truck resulted in the power steering pressure hose letting go. Besides the mess under the hood, driving a 7500 lb. 4WD around town via manual steering was a real treat. My local Napa auto parts had one in stock. Easy fix in 15 minutes. No wonder I like working on this older older stuff.

post-57-0-54451400-1356825470_thumb.jpg

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today i added a bed extender to my wife's truck. her ford explorer sport trac is nice, but one downside to it is the short bed...ford anticipated this by making a bed extender a factory option. when we got our 2001 sport trac a couple of months ago, it came without a bed extender but we figured we would add one shortly. a few weeks ago, a guy on craigslist was selling a used factory unit for US$50 (they usually go for $100-$150) so i drove out to west hills (40 minutes or so each way) and bought it from him. it was an extra he had for his 2002 sport track, he was selling it to make room in his garage so that he could work on two cars he had there, a chevy camaro and a ford mustang (both from the late 60s). he was a nice guy and it was fun talking to him.

if one is adding a factory bed extender to a sport trac that doesn't have one, you have to purchase a mounting kit. i got it off ebay for US$35:

mountingkidbedextender_zpse2114bf1.jpg

the whole installation took about 20 minutes. here are some photos of the bed extender in both positions:

IMG_8055_zps12eb5c67.jpg

IMG_8056_zpsf4e7120f.jpg

IMG_8057_zps8f3af639.jpg

the bed extender is easy to remove, but it can only be installed/removed when the tailgate is open so it can't be (easily) stolen if it is up and the tailgate is locked.

andré

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  • 3 weeks later...

New Years eve we hit a deer in my V70R - crested a hill at night to find two deer on the other side, and sadly hit one of them at about 70 KPH. Insurance appraisal for damages was $6000. Found out today that they valued the car at $5800, which really shocked me at coming in low. (I was thinking $7800ish)

I submitted an additional $4K+ in parts bills for the last year, so depending on how much they decide to credit us - the car could still get repaired. If not I think I'll buy it back and repair it myself. The last 18 months I've been refurbishing it for another 200K of service as we really like the car and we decided to keep it and make it 100%.

With the prospect of it possibly getting totalled I've taken a look at the current crop of vehicles to see what we'd like. I've been eyeing up a 2008 R350 CDI 4MATIC, but when I called today a deal was already pending on it. Called the dealer to see if they had anything, and the invited us to look at a 2013 R350 Bluetec 4Matic they just got in. Went to look at it and I was really quite impressed with modern diesels. On the test drive a little bit of that diesel growl fought it's way through all the NVH measures they implemented, but man was it a nice drivetrain. What I didn't like was the adjustible air suspension. Comfort made it wallow, sport was too stiff, and in the middle still wasn't what I would prefer. Turning circle was fantastic, as was interior room. Seats were OK, but I really liked the heated steering wheel.

If we decide to upgrade into a newer car I still might keep it on the list, but it wasn't as nice as I thought it was. I get back into the V70R and the smoothness of the powertrain and the suspension that just feels right really make me hope we can just keep it.

The R350 has interior space, and economy that trumps the Volvo however.

Next up is to see if I can find a later BMW 530 XI Touring to test out to see if it can sway my away from Volvo, and then to get into a newer XC70 Volvo to see what they're like.

Rabin

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We've been skiing in Eastern Canada all this week. Apparently this is the coldest week they've had so far this season. Today was -24°F when we first went out and I think it's up to -5°F now.

Everyone knows that I'm a fanatic who will ski in anything from rain to -50, but even my wife skied at least a few runs every day, and she's more of a beach person than a ski fanatic. Yesterday was even a little colder but there was no, or at least very little, wind yesterday so today is a little more challenging to keep warm. I have been coming on this trip every year for nearly 20 years the same week. I have brought the Peugeot a couple of times in the past and we did consider it this year, but the Grey one needs a few things that I didn't get time to deal with, and bringing a diesel into these temperatures and leaving it outdoors at night is kind of a risk, especially since the grey one doesn't have a block heater like all my earlier diesels had. So far no troubles with the Honda. It made kind of a whining sound yesterday when I first started it but that went away within a minute. I think it might have been the power steering pump. Once I let it warm up, everything seemed to function normally. I did find that the GPS puts up a garbage screen and doesn't function until it warms up and then I have to pull the plug and wait for it's battery to die to get it to reset. Even if I take it in at night it does that when it's been sitting while we're in a restaurant. Having lived 5 years in New Hampshire and 5 in Rochester NY, I'm not unfamiliar with cold weather, and this isn't the coldest I've dealt with, but it's right up there near the top of my recollection. I know it's not such a big deal for Rabin, but even the Canadians here are staying inside, if they can, so we really have the ski slopes to ourselves. Now I've finished my lunch and I'm headed back out to get in some more skiing. I think my wife is in for the day now.

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