The Automotive Thread

On the white car, it looks like it'll probably need a door skin, I'd guess ~6 hours repair on the quarter so they'll need to drop the bumper, R&I the tail light, take the quarter glass out etc. It looks like it might be a pearl white so they'll want to blend the paint into the front door. All in, I'd say about $3000-3500 depending on labor rates. Get me the VIN and some more pics and I can write up a complete estimate.

On the truck; remove and disassemble the front bumper. Easy repair and repaint the upper bumper cap, replace the textured wheel flare (can't repair those) minor repair on the front edge of the fender. ~$1000-1250

 

Quick question: I know that vehicles are usually plumbed with the wiring for options, even if they're not originally equipped with that option. Does anyone know if my Camaro was wired that way? The antenna is really starting to annoy me being up all the time and I'd like to upgrade it to a factory power antenna. I'd also like to add the factory driving lights although I know this is probably going to involve changing the nose and the light switch panel. But right now the antenna is my main concern.

Also, I finally got my iPod touch working (Which was a struggle in and of itself. I tried for a week to sync it and it just wasn't happening. What data did get transferred was corrupted and unusable. Finally I decided the cable must be bad and ordered a new one. Once I got the new cable, it synced up with no problems.)....anyways, with the iPod the stereo sounds awesome. It could use a little more low end, but it definitely sounds like a $1K upgrade now.

 

Toytoy, this is GM we're talking about, a company that is notoriously hit-or-miss with some options. I can't tell you how many times I was surprised by either A) Some option, feature, etc. that WASN'T supposed to be there, or B) Something conspicuously missing (did you know that all '90-up F-bodies are SUPPOSED to have 28 spline axle shafts? Well, my '92 Camaro didn't, and neither did the three other '92s I checked in the junkyard one day.).

To tell for sure, I think you're going to have to take off the back panel and check.

But why bother? In my experience, power antennas are more trouble than they're worth. Have you considered a hidden interior antenna?

 

I finally got the plugs and coils swapped out in my F150 last weekend. That was a pain in the ass. I broke 3 plugs while the engine was hot.

If any of you have to deal with this in the future, the Autozone kit to remove the broken plugs is complete shit. This Lisle one works really well.

Thank you to Dixie and everyone else that helped with suggestions!

 

Hey, I'm happy to help out. I guess you could say you got "lucky" with "only" three plugs breaking (I saw a guy break all eight of them once); I was worried about that, and I wasn't even the one doing the job.

Is the truck running better now?

In other news, I've been working on the exhaust system for Jungle Julia's LS swap.
Since I have no tubing bender, my method is thus: Starting from the exhaust manifold flanges, I cut out the appropriate sections and bends from some existing exhaust parts that I've saved over the years. It might not look as fancy as a one-piece pipe setup, but it is effective; the whole exhaust system on my Firebird was made that way, and I've used the same method for other vehicles over the years.
I've been making almost everything out of the Tahoe donor-vehicle's exhaust system, and an F150 tailpipe.

Since it's made from 100% recycled materials, even tree-huggers can be happy with this no-catalyst exhaust!

I'll have some pictures in a few days; right now it's tacked together, but I need a new tank of argon for my MIG welder to finish the beads.

 

Overall, yes, much better but it's a bit sluggish when accelerating. I also cleaned the throttle body and replaced the throttle position sensor. There are no codes now, but I was figuring that I will replace whatever you call the other part on the other side of the throttle body. Any other ideas on what I should look at?

 

That's actually really impressive...right back to the roots of hot rodding. I wish I had the space, ability, vision, flexibility and hair line (OK, that last one wouldn't help me at all, but I still want my old hair line back) to still do something like that. Kudos to you and GTE for keeping the hot rodding spirit alive and well. Now all I can do is throw money at someone else to take care of shit for me.

Speaking of which...someone walked up to me and asked to buy my Camaro the other day. I just laughed and told them they wouldn't want to pay what I'd have to have out of it. It took about $7K above the purchase price & shipping, but everything is sorted out. The only problem now (As Dixie predicted) is little shit breaking every few days. Today some sort of spring came off the outside door handle...it still works, it just doesn't have the correct tension and kind of rattles. My eyes are not up to seeing what the fuck is up with whole situation and if it can be fixed, so I just ordered a new handle. Luckily these cars were stupidly popular, and so parts are cheap...I have a new handle assembly on the way for $9.99 shipping included. Sadly I'll have to pay someone to swap it out....if I did it myself, my back would be fucked up for weeks. Getting old sucks.

 

I mis-spoke when I called it a spring....it was a pin of some sort. About the same length as the door handle, I can't tell if it just somehow worked loose or broke. The poor car spent it's whole life in a salt air environment, so I'm guessing the pin is fucked up and broken. I figure if I replace the whole assembly with new I won't have to worry about it again in my lifetime.

As far as your Jeep door handle...that may be a left over from the AMC days. I hit up every boneyard in 100 miles once I discovered that every door handle that I replaced on my AMC was going to break before long. If I remember correctly they were made of pot metal. I do remember that every 6 months or so I was tearing shit apart to replace the door handle again once the car hit 15 years old or so.

 

Toytoy, that is an anti-rattle spring, and it broke on my Firebird, too. A new handle will fix it.
Fun fact: the door handles on third and fourth generation F bodies are interchangeable; in fact, putting 4th gen handles on a 3rd gen gives you a cleaner look.
I put 3rd gen handles back on mine only because they were cheap, and I couldn't get the 4th gen handles immediately.

 

I know we've been through the cross drilled rotors thing before, but I just ordered all the parts to rebuild my brake system...and it included cross drilled rotors. I didn't buy budget rotors, so I'm hoping the whole cracking thing will be a moot point. Anyways, I have red calipers and cross drilled rotors on the way.

It won't make my brakes any better, but aesthetically they'll be 100% more pleasing to me. Another $800 pissed into the wind, but my brakes will look really fucking cool. Yay?

 

For those of you wanting an update on the progress of Jungle Julia's LS swap, I've got the engine mounted in the car (temporarily), and right now I'm routing the wires for the final harness.
Before anyone asks, yes, I'm going to clean and repaint the engine bay before I'm done.

Spoiler

EDIT: I'll have some pictures of the exhaust coming soon; this Tuesday I'm going to pick up a new tank of argon for my MIG welder, and a new tank of oxygen for my torch.

 

Just ordered a full set of Bilstein struts & shocks, strut mounts, Eibach lowering springs, and an adjustable panhard bar. Another $1K into the car.

Another $2k into rims and tires and she should look awesome. I'd forgotten how expensive it is to do all this shit.

 

I get to pick this bad boy up tomorrow. '68 502 big block crate engine, headers, Holly 770 Street Avenger, Cramer SS wheels, and the list goes on.

 

YOU'D BETTER POST SOME FUCKING BURNOUT PICS!

On a side note: 1) Congratulations! 2) Isn't a 770 cfm carb a little small for an engine that size?