What did you do to your ride today?

[SAmadei]

Quite a few forums have an on-going thread pinned that allow everyone to post what work they did recently on their rides. I didn't see one here on C&G, so I thought I'd try to start one here.

Post what you did today or during the past weekend... regardless of how tiny of a job. Let us know your victories and disasters.

[SAmadei]

I'll start...

I have the Sunfire hanging around the house lately, so I thought I'd put the long needed power window motor in the driver's side door.

first surprise was how difficult it is to get the window out of the door. I had to take the top stops out... and once I got the window out I was horrified to realize that all the clips and guides holding are broken. All the broken parts are long since out of production. I think I have all the pieces gathered from the bottom of the door... going to be using a lot of epoxy.

GM has decided to thwart me at every bend by riveting EVERYTHING to the door. Nice, giant rivets that I can't easily replace and ones that like to spin as you try to drill them out. So after killing all the rivets in the door, I was happy that I only damaged one hole slightly. Luckily the regulator came out of the door easily.

Of course, 6 minutes after the hardware store closes, I realize I don't have bolts to put things back together... and my rivet gun is too small... so I have to prop the window back into the door so the car doesn't get wet if it rains.

After a few hours, I open the new motor box... and surprise... it comes with bolts. Who'da thunk? Since the regulator is spring loaded, I got smart and I put the regulator in my vise to hold the spring in place. Drilled the couple rivets and I had the motor swapped on.

My next step was for advanced users. Since the rivets are generally too big to replace, the regulator came with bolts... but I know that unless I have pixies working with me, there is no way to hold the nuts in place. In the past I used clip nuts... but they are real easy to knock off as you put the regulator in the door. So I put the supplied nuts/bolts on the regulator... and tack welded the nuts to the regulator. Hey, GM, you could have done this for me! Now I can easily bolt the regulator in place...

Tomorrow I need to put the regulator back in... and see about epoxying the plastic bits together.

I'm feeling good that I can get this window adjusted to try to stop some of the leaks.

[Robert Hall]

I put the removable cup holder unit from my Jeep in the dishwasher and cleaned it this weekend. First time I'd done that in a couple years, lots of dried coffee stains in it.

[ocnblu]

Warshed the racecor Saturday morning.

[Drew Dowdell]

I guess we don't have one of these really. Those of us with Project cars post to that.

I fixed the hubcaps of mine that were creaky and clicking ever since the new tires got installed. They didn't tighten the wheel cover locks down enough.

Also took the Toronado to an "All Oldsmobile" car cruise. Got there a little late, but I was the only Toronado there of any year. Lots of well preserved 88s and 98s from the 70's and 80's. Will upload pictures tonight.

[SAmadei]

I fixed the hubcaps of mine that were creaky and clicking ever since the new tires got installed. They didn't tighten the wheel cover locks down enough.

Cool. I used to have no end to those noises with wire wheels... used to drive me nuts during the summertime (with the windows down). I used to rotate the covers and put dabs of grease on the tabs... with limited success. I never thought to tighten up the locks. I had the brackets on the wheels and the key, but IIRC, the car doesn't have the actual locking bolts.

[Drew Dowdell]

If you're really OCD about it, you can disassemble the hubcap completely (give it a good cleaning when you do) fill the hollow area around the lock bolt with that expanding insulation foam, allow to dry, use a flexible hacksaw blade to cut off any excess, gently drill a hole for the lock bolt to pass through, reassemble. 99.9% of the creaking will be gone.

[SAmadei]

If you're really OCD about it, you can disassemble the hubcap completely (give it a good cleaning when you do) fill the hollow area around the lock bolt with that expanding insulation foam, allow to dry, use a flexible hacksaw blade to cut off any excess, gently drill a hole for the lock bolt to pass through, reassemble. 99.9% of the creaking will be gone.

Good idea. Never occurred to me that the noise would come from the center... I thought the edges, as the steel wheel deformed slightly while rolling... as I have had solid hubcaps creaking and groan at the edge. Makes perfect sense though.

I'll have to try it when I have another wire wheeled car in heavy rotation. All my wire wheels sit idle right now.

[Mike The Canadian]

Couple of weekends ago I did the plugs & wires on the Malibu...boo V6 engines and FWD!

Back plugs literally took me like 6X longer because of these almost inaccessible clips GM put in to hold the wires.

This week and weekend, I took the side skirts off the Bu and went to town sanding down the rust, priming, painting and clearing all of the stuff.

Certainly not an amazing job but the best you can do with aerosol cans I think!

Next week I'm probably going to work on the right side and if I have time the yearly gas-cap rust because GM doesn't know how to properly drain the rain/water/gas that gets in there!

[daves87rs]

The last few weeks the cars have gotten oil changes, tire rotations,and her car got a new serp belt......

If it ever stops raining like every day, the cars will get a good wash and wax too...and a touch more interior cleaning as well....

[bobo]

My IS300 has had a dead battery the last three months, and I finally replaced it with a new Costco battery a couple of weeks ago. I gave the car a wash on Saturday.

[Intrepidation]

I replaced my driver's door.

[GMTruckGuy74]

Wednesday morning I changed the air filter on the G6, added summer windshield washer fluid to the almost empty resevoir, and took it in for an oil change before going in to work. Envoy needs an oil change and air filter replacement soon too. Both vehicles were washed the Saturday before I left on vacation (5/21) and still look clean, but both are in need of a full detail wash/claybar/waxing and interior treatment soon too.

[bobo]

Got the IS300 smogged today. The technician put a small greasy smudge on the door panel, so I cleaned that and applied some Lexol to the driver's seat.

[Cory Wolfe]

Aimed my headlights the other night. I'm now no longer blinding people with my left projector. Also upped the aim of the fog lights a bit to make them more useful.

[Intrepidation]

Yesterday was a productive day. In addition to getting that mower I...

Had the Intrepid's rear rotors inspected and grinded down the dust shields so they wouldn't rub. Much quieter now.

Had the a/c system evacuated and recharged in the Prizm. Colder now, yay!

Had the Mercury's A/C system recharged with good old R32 that my neighbor's friend had. A/C system works now, but it appears it needs a compressor clutch.

Helped winch the race car onto the neighbor's trailer.

[Intrepidation]

Replaced the blower motor resister and the harness in the Grand Marquis.

[Cory Wolfe]

Polished my exhaust tips. Next up... removing that pesky armor all.

[Cory Wolfe]

Stripped the Golf of any good parts, and consolidated my VW parts collection. The Golf is now ready for the scrap yard, as is the Jetta.

[FAPTurbo]

Took apart the suspension forks, and installed new fork oil seals and oil. Bolted on a pair of new signal lights.

Drilled open the carburetor housing to expose the pilot screw, to richen things up a little.

[SAmadei]

Geez... spent another afternoon fixing and adjusting the window in the Sunfire convertible. I was able to glue the remaining broken unobtainium clips and was able to pull the from track and install the up limiter and put it back in. Got the window pretty well adjusted... but now I realize the rear window is not clocked properly and needs to come out slightly.

So I pull the rear seat out and the rear interior panel. The rear windows go down automatically as part of the top operation, so its a real Rube Goldberg device to adjust. I got some adjustment dialed in... and even clocked the window slightly... but its a bear to adjust the linkage... I think I might need an extra set of hands to adjust it right.

Everything tightened, but no interior panels on the driver's side, I was shocked how quiet the car is. Turns out there was a lot of rattles hiding in that door. Not much whistle, either. Guess the next test is to see how must leakage happens in the rain.

In any case, its been leaking a lot less since I fixed the window motor and also fixed the convertible strap. If I can settle for the current adjustment, I can start patching and reforming the missing bits of weatherstripping.

Convertibles are a real PITA.

[SAmadei]

Fixed the turn signal cancel feature on a friend's Ford van... also fixed the cigarette lighter.

Then I finally got my transmission! Local 4T65e with 54K miles for $450 + $50 core. I'm loving the low mileage. Of course doing the 214 pound dead lift to move it around is a real PITA... now I'm putting a wheel dolly to use as a tranny cart. I think I can start doing the swap in a couple weeks.

Bad news... while checking out the tranny, it looks like my ABS brake lines have gotten as bad as Northstar's LSS ones. I'm debating replacing them all since I will have most of the stuff near them removed.

Edited July 16, 2011 by SAmadei

[J Reinhardt]

I installed a momo shift knob in my Subaru Legacy this past weekend. It's one of those aluminum ones. So far, I'm enjoying the feel of it. It's much lighter and less bulky than the stock one. Got it for $20 off ebay.

[Robert Hall]

Filled up with gas this morning

[David]

Filled up with gas, cleaned the windows and left if all ready for the day for the wife before getting on the bus to go to work.