The mystery noise in Earl Burner was the water pump. I ordered in a new Aisin pump a few weeks ago and finally installed it over the course of the afternoon yesterday. All in, it probably took 4-ish hours. And yes, that is the same job as replacing the timing belt, as the belt has… Continue reading Timing belts–not completely terrible…
Author: Rudy
No Fall Fail-iage Tour this year
While I had considered doing both of the last two Lemons Rallies of the year, I decided to wait on the Fall Fail-iage Tour. This rally has happened in previous years, and most likely will be repeated next year or the year after. The Great River Road Rally is still on my radar, about 80%… Continue reading No Fall Fail-iage Tour this year
Sound Deadening, 2022 Edition
This was one of those jobs I told myself I would never do again. So naturally, when I wanted to change out the cheap factory speakers, I thought, “Why not?” The packages of sound deadening, available now as an Amazon Basics product, kept taunting at me until I did some rudimentary math (which is, of… Continue reading Sound Deadening, 2022 Edition
Mystery Noise Lost and Found Department
I hate mystery noises. Ever since I reassembled Earl Burner’s engine, there has been an odd rotating noise that sounds like a bearing wearing out. Yet I didn’t want to start blindly replacing everything. Stethoscope to the rescue. After probing around with it, I managed to hear the mystery noise while locating the probe on… Continue reading Mystery Noise Lost and Found Department
Moar Horsepowerz! Moar fasterz! (Or, how to paint your calipers…)
The old calipers on the CR-V were looking a bit ragged, poking their scaly selves through the alloy wheels. It’s not a good look to have everything cleaned up, yet have something so obviously out of place. Answer? Caliper paint. I looked through several systems until I saw that POR15 had a caliper paint, which… Continue reading Moar Horsepowerz! Moar fasterz! (Or, how to paint your calipers…)
So far, so good…except for the AC (?)
The Civic has been out for a test run, puttering its way up and down Jefferson Ave. for about an hour on Sunday. No issues to report, although I’m really getting tired of that rattling in the exhaust! That was present since the last time I worked on the engine. I am getting a slight… Continue reading So far, so good…except for the AC (?)
The Civic is grounded for the Lemons Rally
Bad Civic did not cooperate, so Civic stays home from the rally. Yep. There it sits, looking forlorn and somewhat disassembled. Wha’happn? One of the holes in the block has stripped threads. I was starting to get all the bolts in place. Got to this last one, and about halfway down it started encountering a… Continue reading The Civic is grounded for the Lemons Rally
Possibly found the oil burning issue…
I finally pulled a piston on the Civic, and found two things that may have been causing all the oil burning. There was a lot of carbon on top of the pistons, as well as the underside of the cylinder head. The first issue? Cross-hatching. Or, lack thereof. Only faint lines remain. The factory specifies… Continue reading Possibly found the oil burning issue…
Dear Buick…please leave my Wildcat alone.
Maybe I’m getting old, but occasionally I find myself internally ranting about something I’ve read or seen online: This is part of Buick’s plan to be “all electric” by 2030. And yeah…anyone who knows me, knows that the Wildcat was a badge near and dear to me. My folks owned a ’65 Wildcat sedan back… Continue reading Dear Buick…please leave my Wildcat alone.
Visited the Supermarket of Necessary Evil
Or in other words, I went to Harbor Freight today. 😁 Depending on what you buy there, the quality can be fairly good. Check out the Wrench Every Day channel on YouTube, where Jared and Tavarish have been comparing tool sets, and another episode where Jared compares some of their welders. For my purposes, when… Continue reading Visited the Supermarket of Necessary Evil