The past week in Car repair

[bbrown]

Ooh. That sounds like a good deal too, but I am still mostly waiting on the paycheck from work. Once I replenish the bank account (I just started back work and I had to pay the Car and Truck insurance along with the credit card bill all within the last few days so money is TIGHT) I will definitely get in touch with you. I am still leaning towards new/rebuilt alternator, but if I could find one with low mileage that would be another option. Thanks for the tip.

[sixsracing]

No way to tell what kind of mileage they may have. If it's just the bearings we could pull it apart and see if the bearings are available locally also. There are a couple places on the Perry road in Bangor that may have them.

[bbrown]

I didn't know that you could possibly replace the alternator bearings. On another note, I replaced the catalytic converter and the passenger side tie rod (the whole thing) this afternoon after work. I will post pictures tomorrow. These repairs were mandatory in order for me to get my inspection sticker and the tie rod will hopefully reduce the little highway wobble that I had been experiencing. The cat was easy to replace, but the tie rod was a little hard to replace. It took me and my dad about 2.5 hours to do the job which I thought was pretty good since neither of us have every replaced the actual rod and inner knuckle (we have replaced the tie rod ends before though so that part was a snap).

[gull]

Yeah, I bet it'll improve the highway tracking. Mine tracks straight and feels very "tight", except for a slight tendency to worm around a little on stretches that have bad truck grooves. I think it's because it's narrower than a semi, so two wheels always end up riding on the 'hump' in the middle of the lane. The front/rear track width difference may not be helping there, either.

[bbrown]

Well I passed the Maine state car inspection with flying colors. So now I have another year of trouble free motoring without the worry of being pulled over for an out of date inspection tag. Okay, here are the pictures from yesterday's car updates (cat and passenger side tie rod)

"High Flow" $40 cat from eBay. So far I like it and it didn't change the tone of the car from when I had my "test" pipe in from last summer when the original cat collapsed. The junkyard gave me $90 for the old VW cat, so I am up about $30 since due to the new cat and weld job (I need a MIG welder and not just an AC welder )




You can see through it pretty good being "high flow" and all


Welded up and ready to go on using some muffler clamps


Old "test" pipe. The Honda crowd would be booing me for putting a cat back on, but I like clean air and Johnny Law requires one as does the great state of Maine


The new tie rod assembly




Freshly washed and inspected Cabby


You now what a Maine yuppie has that other Mainers can't afford? An inspection sticker (Courtesy of comedian Travis Wallace off from his "The Way Life Should Be" cd)

[sixsracing]

Actually, this county does not require a converter for inspection. Sorry.

[bbrown]

Well, the guy at Butler's Garage showed me in the State Inspection Manual that all cars manufactured after 1982 must be equipped with a catalytic converter. He failed me for not having one and for the bad tie rod. I replaced both and I got the inspection sticker. Where does it say that Penobscot County does not require a catalytic converter? (I am very interested). Doesn't really matter too much since under "Fedaral Law" the removal of any emissions equipment is illegal. Not trying to be defensive, but I am just curious to where to find out that our county doesn't require a cat (I know you are up to date on a lot of the laws since you are so actively involved in the auto world and thus get a lot of this information that us regular Joes don't). Later.

[sixsracing]

There is no emissions testing in any county in the state except for Cumberland.
You can't be failed for emissions related defects because they can't test for
them. If you wanted to push the issue with the inspection station you merely
state that you have "cleaned up" the emissions via other means and there is
no way for them to verify. It's a mute point. Inspections stations and the whole
miserable conflict of interest is disgusting. You are correct about the federal
statute for emissions related equipment. It's just that 75% of the stations would just
let it slide because the car is almost an antique and is used primarily for recreation.
I have inherited a few of Butler's customers for just this reason. New owners have
alienated some good Maine people.

One more point, because there is no available means for them to test emissions, all
the cars out there with converters that have either been hollowed out by extremely
poor running conditions or by the owners that couldn't stand the rattling sound will
pass inspection because the "converter" is still there. Is that the interpretation of
the law that was intended? I kinda doubt it.

You did the right thing, I just hate seeing well meaning people being taken advantage of.
There, I will now get off my soapbox and return this forum to it's proper use. sorry.

[Briano1234]

Now back to our regularly scheduled threads....

Wanna talk repairs?

1995 Pissan Nathfinder..... remove broken fender, and Drivers door gut the door of all internal parts, start cutting out bent and mangled metal from 1 inch below the top drivers hinge, to 1 foot from the driver side passenger door pillar. Using a sledge beat the hell out of the floor board to "re position" it.

Next week I probably will primer and hang the fender and doors if I get the sheet metal in....

[kamzcab86]

Bringing this back from the dead to announce that I changed the oil and the spark plugs (Bosch W7DTC's, probably the last of their kind).

Now, to repair a minor trans issue...

[sixsracing]

Not my car but a family member of somebody else's here.
03 Neon losing brake fluid, replaced rear wheel cykinders
and shoes. Wouldn't know anything about this would you
Buster?

Thanks for the business, hope school is going well.

[Briano1234]

Well I replaced a top on a cabby last week.
and just this week I had to replace the alternator belt on my blue bunny.

[sixsracing]

I needed the top replaced on mine when I bought it
six years ago. Still needs it.

[Briano1234]

I needed the top replaced on mine when I bought it
six years ago. Still needs it.

That is about the longest that I have heard it can take... I thought that the 3 weeks I waited to do mine was bad.....

[gull]

I put up with the taped-together top on mine for three or four months before replacing it, but that was mostly because I had to wait for warm weather.