The past week in Car repair

[CR500Rider]

Installed a stereo. I went with the Clarion FZ150 from Crutchfield. The stock VW speaker connector plugged right in and is wired the same. I had to use the connector that came with the radio for power. Soldered and heat shrink wrapped of course.

[Briano1234]

Installed a stereo. I went with the Clarion FZ150 from Crutchfield. The stock VW speaker connector plugged right in and is wired the same. I had to use the connector that came with the radio for power. Soldered and heat shrink wrapped of course.

I like....

[CR500Rider]

In preparation for the new convertible top, I built a rear shelf. I was digging around in the warehouse and found an old mixing console case. It's a cheap case that came with a console I bought years ago. I immediately put the console in a more "manly" case and threw this one in the junk pile. The lid is slightly bigger than what I needed, perfect! I used 5/16" wooden dowel but it seems to be pretty flimsy. I'm thinking I need to go to a metal rod. Any suggestions?

[Briano1234]

mmm Steel all thread works and may be cheaper, but how about using conduit, then terminating that in a bolt on both ends.
Steel conduit is cheap, very durable, and you can cap it or weld a nut and insert a 1/4 screw or what to go in to the clip. Shoot PVC would probably work as well.
There are a ton of ways to attach it. How expensive is that 1/4 hollow threaded rod they use for inside of lamps to hold them together?
36
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lamp-parts-36-a ... 2ecb1a878f
30
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/230294103632?lpid=82

You would need 36 1/2 inches on the wide side and 33 1/2 on the narrow. But the kicker is they make extender rods

[Briano1234]

Wreck number 3 to the greenie happened last night. Woman pulling out of a parking lot kissed the rear bumper on the drivers side.
Fortunately the PO shop when they replaced the bumper on after the pain job, only used 2 clips to hold the bumper skin on. So the clip broke, and the bumper slid off the rebar with minimal damage... So I suppose I need to get some new clips, as I have it wire-tied in place. Till I can get the clips in...
cost of Damage to my car, 18 bucks 8 clips with shipping.
Damage to the other car, dent and a scratch + 200 for the failure to operate a car in a safe manner, Texting while driving, + 200 for Improper lane change.
Now if I bill the insurance company.... how much will that cost on top of that....

[CR500Rider]

After driving around a couple of years with about 2 rolls of Gorilla Tape holding the top together, I got a new one on. Now I can finally get carpet and upholster the seats. I'm digging it.

[Briano1234]

Looks nice. But white is a beatch to keep clean.

[CR500Rider]

Looks nice. But white is a beatch to keep clean.

I couldn't agree more but it was with the car when I bought it.

[karmannut]

took Bunny out of moth balls put her battery in. new tags on and went for my first top down ride of the season life's good!!

[xrayjr900]

So the cabby is the only car that dind't require any wrenching in the last week.

Here's the tally:

Jetta - New veriable intake rod bushings and new cam positioning sensor

Beelte - New plug wires and then repair to coil pack after awesome display of fire works (read arching) due to cracked coil tower for #3 cyl.

87' Rocco - New fuel pump and then hours of fun tracking down funky dip in rpm at idle. This involved swapping ECU's from my 88' to to the 87', adjusting idle air screw, throttle stop screw, unplugging throttle switches and a host of other crap. Have part of it narrowed down, just not sure why it's causing the problem.

Cabby - Nothing, it's actually running well for a change.

All in all it was a productive weekend. I also managed a trip out to the pull-a-part and scored a nice A2 e-brake lever for my rocco. Much better in the looks department and it's a tad longer so there is some leverage bennifit. Cristines rocco already had this upgrade and I found ot very nice. Also scored some perfectly intact sunvisor clips, some misc switches and guages.

It's taken over a year, but I'm back in the groove as for working on the dubs.

for the funky rpm dip can you explain because my 87 cabby did the same thing but stopped

[Briano1234]

learned more about the 10V stabilizers, and fuel sender/gauge circuit than I ever wanted to go into depth about. Then the 75 mile drive Topless Round trip down town I gots sunburnnnnnned, and lovin it while I am drinking a cold yeasty beverage, and typing all about it......
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH is all I can say.

[Briano1234]

Green Cabby started acting the ass......
The Idle would fluctuate, and if you pulled up to a stop it would DIE.
Timed it.
Clean and Gaped the plugs.
Trimmed the ends of all vacuum hoses.
Replaced the ISV with a spare.
TAAAA DAAAA it was the frigging Idle By-pass O-ring.
Gee I just replaced it aaaaaa about 5-6 years ago...
I suppose I should change the blue one now...

Glad I have the Harbor Freight Assorted o-ring box, best 8 bucks I ever spent.

[Briano1234]

Now I have to change the starter in the Green Cabby as it died at a Gas Station... Having an Auto Sucks a bit, but the Heat Soak relay makes it very easy to diagnose....

The good is that it take about an hour to replace, the bad is that the LLW "Free" Starter won't be here till tomorrow.

At least it beats last week, a Bad Battery and an Alternator in my Silhouette, and you have to lower the engine to change that.

[Briano1234]

Long story short. Replaced the Starter and the Drive Plate, why because the ahole mechanics placed a >1977- mid 1990 automatic starter on my 92.
So it shreaded the spoked gears.....

So I now have a solid Flex plate and the replacement starter that is also correct for a Solid flex plate. So now I have a solid flex plate and a solid flex plate starter....

Getting the flex plate off the car in the "yard" Thursday dang near placed my butt in the ground.... 98 degrees and 85 percent Humidity in the yard, no sun shade tuckered my ass out.

[Briano1234]

So lets recap.... in the last 3 weeks I have needed 1 battery 1 alternator, 1 flex plate, 1 starter, 3 front wheel bearings, 1 rear wheel bearing 2 ball joints, tie-rod end and 5 tires. Oh, and 1 3 cent o-ring.