Simon's NA8 daily/fun car :)

tooch · Postby **tooch** » Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:00 pm

Replaced the clutch hose yesterday, much better now

What an absolute prick of a job though it was to undo the flare nut on the drivers side, and then fasten it up again with the new hose. Took plenty of swearing and dropping of spanners until it was done.
Bled all of the old filthy fluid out in the process, as a result the clutch feels heaps better now. I think the combination of filthy old fluid and a hose which was probably bulging before it broke, made the pedal feel not so good in the last few weeks.

tooch · Postby **tooch** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 5:52 am

So after umming and ahhing about re-painting the BR wheels, I decided to crack into it. The paint was knackered on them, and was getting worse by the day (especially after I guttered one of them during an angry U-turn :roll:

).

Whipped them off yesterday and started the awful job of paint stripping them. Well I wish I'd never started on it to tell the truth. Horrible job, and after 3-4 coats of paint stripper, one of the wheels is still nowhere near stripped. Going to hit it again today and give it some proper elbow grease, but I have a feeling this is going to take a loooooooong time.

I was going to take pics of my progress but it became such a PITA that I couldn't be bothered getting the camera out.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 8:14 am

A lot of panel shops use a hind of hard foam pad for paint removal, looks a bit like like coral? Different colours mean different grades. Alternatively wire wheels or flapper pads mounted I a drill would help.

If its a really sh*t job, could just have them sand blasted.

tooch · Postby **tooch** » Mon Apr 22, 2013 10:57 am

sailaholic wrote:A lot of panel shops use a hind of hard foam pad for paint removal, looks a bit like like coral? Different colours mean different grades. Alternatively wire wheels or flapper pads mounted I a drill would help.

If its a really sh*t job, could just have them sand blasted.

I did try one of those things and a flapper wheel, they sure rip through the paint but are a pain to use on wheels, as they are too hard to get around all the different angles

I'm gonna give the paint stripper another go this arvo but with some steel wool for scrubbing this time, I think it should make it much easier.

Failing this, I'll just bite the bullet and get them sandblasted. Didn't really want to pay to get the tyres removed and re-mounted though, as they are oldish but I'm not looking to replace them yet.

tooch · Postby **tooch** » Mon Apr 29, 2013 3:42 pm

Gave up on the wheels for a while, too time consuming.

Decided to do more important things, like working out why this crap heap is leaking this much oil now:

That's after parking for 4 hours.

There is oil all over the front of the block from what I can see. Decided to pop the valve cover off and take a look down the front. Cam seals look ok, only a very fine mist of oil. It's obviously coming from down lower, oil pump or crank seal. Thankfully the timing belt is mostly clean, only a very very slight bit of oil on the edges.

I want to leave it and not fix it as I can't be arsed, but when it's leaking this much oil as it is now, I guess something needs to be done. Looks like I'll be removing everything off the front of this motor soon enough. I'm going to dump a bottle of stop leak in it and see if it makes any difference at all.

As I was putting the valve cover back on, and doing the right thing and torquing the bolts up correctly at the very low torque spec that is specified, one of them snapped right off. Of course it's the one right in the center of the cover, in the middle of the spark plugs. F*ck that, it's staying as is.

Have I mentioned how much I hate cars?

tooch · Postby **tooch** » Fri May 03, 2013 6:22 pm

Decided to go and get some new shoes for her today. The old Nexens on the stock rims were totally shot, for the first time in my life I was scared to drive in the rain this week. It was fun for a little while, but it got to the point that no matter how slow and carefully I took corners, the back end would come out! Not to mention how easily the tyres were locking up in the wet, I was hoping not to have to brake downhill at all :frown:

. The old tyres still had plenty of tread on them, but were starting to get very cracked and looked pretty dry. They had a build date of '05 so I guess they were just past their use by, and Nexen aren't the greatest to begin with.

I wasn't looking to spend heaps of cash on tyres due to having a wedding to pay for in 4 months time, but didn't want to buy sh*t at the same time. Managed a good deal on some RE001's, $111 each, with the 4th tyre free! $333 for a new set of quality boots, can't complain about that. Didn't get an alignment done today, as I want to double check the ride height first, I think the front is sitting a little higher than the rear. Will get it done soon though, and set up properly.

Also received a front lip for her the other day, the OEM R-Package styled one. Hopefully I'll get around to fitting it up this weekend

tooch · Postby **tooch** » Sat May 04, 2013 5:53 pm

Front lip fitted

Needs a bit of adjustment with a heat gun in a couple of spots, but pretty happy with the fit of it

redna6 II · Postby **redna6 II** » Tue May 07, 2013 4:39 pm

Those gold wheels look fantastic on your car - a real retro racer look. Hope you can solve the paint stripping issue soon.

I considered painting my wheels gold but went with satin black because I rarely wash my car and black hides the brake dust better :lol:

tooch · Postby **tooch** » Wed May 08, 2013 7:44 pm

redna6 II wrote:Those gold wheels look fantastic on your car - a real retro racer look. Hope you can solve the paint stripping issue soon.

I considered painting my wheels gold but went with satin black because I rarely wash my car and black hides the brake dust better

Thanks mate! I think I'm going to have to give in and just get them sandblasted and powdercoated/painted. For now I'm happy running the stockies with my new tyres though.

Got a proper alignment done today at 'Computalign' in Nunawading. Got it done according to these specs http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html
Drive home was through traffic at low speeds, so couldn't really tell what difference was made, although the steering seemed a little lighter than before. Hopefully tomorrow I can hit some hills and test it out