What did you do to your other car(s) today?

[Dale3783]

Got my girlfriends Barracuda back on the road after a 5 year nap. Fresh motor rebuild and some new shoes. Still a long way to go, but at least she moves under her own power.

We're gonna need to have some talking! I have a '66 cuda that I'm slowly rebuilding, any information in getting materials would be a godsend.

Well I'm pretty new to the Mopar world myself (it's a strange place), but I'd be happy to help! Here's a great forum that I've found. Forabodiesonly.com

[a]

Absolutely NOTHING. Thats the thing about transportation appliances. No car crawling required. My time is used repairing my '77 IH Cadet 80 sit down mower . The disc brake slides are 1/4" bolts with a ferrule and a 3/4 compression spring. The top one disappeared and all braking with it. A little searching in the local Ace hdwre found me the parts for 2.16 $ . It needs motor mounts, huge money from Partstree . I substituted vibration isolation isolators from Grainger. All 4 were 1/2 of what a single mount would be. Its a greasy mess down there so my first step is gonna be to de-grease the area. Yuck !

[Shawn D.]

Got my girlfriends Barracuda back on the road after a 5 year nap. Fresh motor rebuild and some new shoes. Still a long way to go, but at least she moves under her own power.

Awesome!

[Shawn D.]

No one makes the carburetor spacer I needed for my '57, so I decided to fabricate one myself.

There are plenty of debates and articles about what spacer configuration (four-hole, divided, open-hole) and material (aluminum, phenolic, plastic) to use, if any. The intent of this post is not to engage in those debates, but I would not be surprised if evolves that way!

What I wanted (and why):

1. Phenolic (for heat isolation)
2. Four-hole (to minimize plenum volume increase)
3. 1/2" thick (thick enough for heat isolation but not so thick as to increase plenum volume significantly)
4. To fit an Edelbrock/Carter carburetor on an Edelbrock 2101 Performer intake (because that's what I have)

What I bought:

An Edelbrock 8723.

The problem:

The Edelbrock 8723 does not properly fit Edelbrock manifolds with a square/spread carburetor pad. This includes the Performer 2101 on my car, and also the 2104, 2161, 2176, and 2601 (and possibly others). If the Edelbrock 8723 installed on those manifolds, there are gaps on the sides, thus causing a massive vacuum leak.

To wit:



The solution:

I bought a 12"x12" sheet of 1/2" thick Garolite LE to fabricate a spacer myself, using my Taig CNC mill. The Edelbrock 1406 carburetor is 600 CFM and has smaller primaries than secondaries, so I decided to match the throttle bores exactly, as opposed to the four identically-sized holes in every non-Quadrajet spacer out there. I made the spacer's outside dimensions to match the carburetor base pad and opted to not recess the front and back between the pads, as that was just more programming and mill time for no real benefit. Since there were no ready-made spacers that met my desires, I made a couple out of sheet stock (four-hole on top, divided on bottom).

Here's the result, with the Edelbrock 8723 sitting on top of my spacer:



The holes in the carburetor baseplate are 23/64", so I made the mounting holes in the spacer the same diameter, which allowed me to keep the carburetor and spacer in perfect alignment during installation by sticking two 23/64" drill bits between the two to serve as alignment pins (NOTE: the carb studs are 5/16", so if the carb was pushed one way and the spacer the other, the carb and spacer bores could be misaligned by 3/32" -- almost a tenth of an inch).

So, how does it work? So far, great! After an initial short trip of 5 miles, I did a longer trip of 15 miles and can report that when fully warmed-up (180°F thermostat, showing 190°F on the gauge in traffic), the intake manifold is as hot to the touch at the carb pad as ever (as expected) and I could only touch it for about half a second, but the carburetor feels to be about 90°F (almost "neutral" to the touch). Previously, the carb would feel as hot as the manifold!

I do not have a picture of the final installation, because it looks as you'd expect: a carburetor sitting on a spacer sitting on a manifold. Use your imagination. In any case, the top photo was taken nearly four years ago and the engine is a good bit dirtier than I'd like now! :P

I know of no commercially-available four-hole spacers in this configuration. Now that I have the CNC files written for this, I could easily make more if folks would be interested in purchasing them (to include making the bores all the same size for the 750 & 800 CFM versions, plus recessing the front & back if folks want that). Again, this is for the particular combination of an Edelbrock/Carter carburetor on an intake with the same carburetor pad configuration as an Edelbrock 2101 Performer intake manifold. This is not for any Holleys, Demons, or whatnot, and not for an Edelbrock/Carter on a square-bore manifold, spacers for which are available aplenty. I don't know how much I'd charge, but it'd probably be at least 50% more than commercially-available phenolic spacers, given how I have to source the material and the fact that while I do have a CNC, it's a hobby CNC and not a production machining center.

Any interest?

- Shawn

[Mike W.]

More on the Datsun. I do need to get an emblem or two for it, but all in time. I've thought about roundels and telling people it was an X5 prototype, even doing the wheels, but I can't quite do it.

The doors won't stay open. The forum indicates they came that way new, looks like a nice concept, but lousy execution. Whatever, on even a slight hill, even after modification, they won't stay open. Comparing things, they're almost the same length as E28 door brakes. Different mounting on the body, but doable. Comes much closer to the door glass than I'd like when it's down, but flexing doesn't seem to move it closer so I'm going with it. Look familiar? And yes, it does work great!



I liked my fan install, but it needed some color. Like 70s/80s BMWs, a red fan. (even if only the engine fans were) So a little bit of paint and it looks so much better. I also did a fan clutch, but that's not worth looking at.

[adrian in florida]

I replaced a rear door window regulator in a suburban.

[foamy]

i replaced the rusted through filler neck on a 98 subaru outback no more fuel leak.

[a]

I just finished putting the bed on the Rat. Progress was halted by some repairs to the filler neck and the pickup. Repairs were easy and I saved about $300 over buying new parts.

[davintosh]

Not today, but yesterday, threw down the cash and drove it home. Funny what $1,000 can buy.

[oldskool]

^^ Funny isn't the word I'd use, but it does start with an "F". ^^

[Karl Grau]

Not today, but yesterday, threw down the cash and drove it home. Funny what $1,000 can buy.

Did you get back into farming?

[davintosh]

Not today, but yesterday, threw down the cash and drove it home. Funny what $1,000 can buy.

Did you get back into farming?

LOL, that's not a farm truck. It doesn't even have 4WD. You must be from the city or something.

Insuring the M535i turned out to be a bit more expensive than we expected, so we're shopping around for collector car insurance. Both companies that we've priced out so far require that you have a daily driver other than the insured car, so this is what I'll drive when I'm not driving the e28. I haven't had a pickup for a long time, but haven't forgotten how handy they are to have around.

[offroadkarter]

I've been rebuilding the front end of my beater Marauder. I love how much Ford has cost cut on replacement parts due to the platform age. Factory forged upper control arms? Now stamped steel! One of my new in box shocks is leaking as well, this bodes well with me after I had my motorcraft reman alternator last 3 weeks.





This is all a 100% factory suspension with 155k miles on it that I'm replacing. Brakes are some ebay specials the prior owner put on, replacing with centric carbon pro rotors and hawk hps pads.

Not today, but yesterday, threw down the cash and drove it home. Funny what $1,000 can buy.

Damn, she got some rake going on.

I've been in the OBS Ford world for 11 years now, feel free to ask any questions.

[Shawn D.]

I've been rebuilding the front end of my beater Marauder. I love how much Ford has cost cut on replacement parts due to the platform age. Factory forged upper control arms? Now stamped steel! One of my new in box shocks is leaking as well, this bodes well with me after I had my motorcraft reman alternator last 3 weeks.

What's the availability of aftermarket parts? I'd figure there's plenty of heavy-duty support for law enforcement needs.

[e28Sean]

I've been rebuilding the front end of my beater Marauder. I love how much Ford has cost cut on replacement parts due to the platform age. Factory forged upper control arms? Now stamped steel! One of my new in box shocks is leaking as well, this bodes well with me after I had my motorcraft reman alternator last 3 weeks.

What's the availability of aftermarket parts? I'd figure there's plenty of heavy-duty support for law enforcement needs.

Anything from the same / similar year Crown Vic should bolt right up, and Ford crapped out millions of those bastards, so... Part availability shouldn't be an issue, unless it's something that is specific to the Marauder -spec, I'd think.

[Shawn D.]

I've been rebuilding the front end of my beater Marauder. I love how much Ford has cost cut on replacement parts due to the platform age. Factory forged upper control arms? Now stamped steel! One of my new in box shocks is leaking as well, this bodes well with me after I had my motorcraft reman alternator last 3 weeks.

What's the availability of aftermarket parts? I'd figure there's plenty of heavy-duty support for law enforcement needs.

Anything from the same / similar year Crown Vic should bolt right up, and Ford crapped out millions of those bastards, so... Part availability shouldn't be an issue, unless it's something that is specific to the Marauder -spec, I'd think.

Yeah, I'm well aware of the ubiquity of the platform and how parts interchange. I wasn't asking about availability of parts -- I was asking about the availability of parts in the context of what he posted about, which was the reduction in sturdiness.

[davintosh]

My truck has two fuel tanks, but won't run when I switch to the rear tank. I figured out why.

[e28Sean]

I figured out why.

... Yup. Tha'd do it.

[offroadkarter]

I've been rebuilding the front end of my beater Marauder. I love how much Ford has cost cut on replacement parts due to the platform age. Factory forged upper control arms? Now stamped steel! One of my new in box shocks is leaking as well, this bodes well with me after I had my motorcraft reman alternator last 3 weeks.

What's the availability of aftermarket parts? I'd figure there's plenty of heavy-duty support for law enforcement needs.

Its not that finding parts is a problem (aside from marauder specific parts), its finding quality parts that is the problem. All of the aftermarket stuff tends to be junk. A friend of mine put moog upper/lower control arms on his town car and within 3 months the bushings were weather cracking. I've heard similar reports about the ACDelco control arm bushings. A lot of panther owners used to run KYB shocks (especially when lowering the car) but there has been a lot of reports of shocks leaking after 3-5000 miles.


As far as I've dealt with on the e23, sometimes I have to pay out the ass for a factory part but at least I know it is of comparable quality to what I am removing off the car. Ford on the other hand is cost cutting in replacement parts since these cars are leaving fleet duty left and right.

[Mike W.]

I've been rebuilding the front end of my beater Marauder. I love how much Ford has cost cut on replacement parts due to the platform age. Factory forged upper control arms? Now stamped steel! One of my new in box shocks is leaking as well, this bodes well with me after I had my motorcraft reman alternator last 3 weeks.

What's the availability of aftermarket parts? I'd figure there's plenty of heavy-duty support for law enforcement needs.

Its not that finding parts is a problem (aside from marauder specific parts), its finding quality parts that is the problem. All of the aftermarket stuff tends to be junk. A friend of mine put moog upper/lower control arms on his town car and within 3 months the bushings were weather cracking. I've heard similar reports about the ACDelco control arm bushings. A lot of panther owners used to run KYB shocks (especially when lowering the car) but there has been a lot of reports of shocks leaking after 3-5000 miles.


As far as I've dealt with on the e23, sometimes I have to pay out the ass for a factory part but at least I know it is of comparable quality to what I am removing off the car. Ford on the other hand is cost cutting in replacement parts since these cars are leaving fleet duty left and right.

I'm surprised on both KYB and Moog, I've had good luck with both brands over the years. But I don't think fleet duty retirement has anything to do with it, from what I've seen it's 5 or 6, maybe 10 at an extreme. While better than it used to be, I suspect domestic Mfr's are at least partly in a mindset of a 10 year life expectancy, at most. I'm sure they would be just dumbfounded at the thought of E28s being daily driven at 30+ years. It would be like speaking to them in Swahili, no matter what you said it wouldn't make sense.

[MicahO]

It's been a busy couple of weeks on the ZHP, loads of driving along with a large round of maintenance. The past 20 days have tallied up about 1200 miles taking it to almost 233K.

On the 4th, my oldest son and I did the VANOS seals and another VCG replacement. Notable difference in power below ~3500rpm, and less 'lean-surge' feeling as the cams caught up with where the computer was telling them to go.

This past weekend we did another CVV refresh and replaced the oil filter housing gasket while we were in there. It looks like the OFHG was leaking since some time this spring, so things were super-dirty behind and below that area. These were both relatively substantial disassembly jobs and it was great for my 16yo to get the experience. It's also nice to be all buttoned up before winter!

[Mike W.]

Had to do some troubleshooting on the Datsun. Last week went to move it and the alarm went off for no apparent reason and couldn't be shut off except by timeing out or pulling the fuse. Many hours later after poring over schematics and ohming things out I figured out the whole trouble, and source of another issue or two was the multi prong plug going to the window master switch on the door wasn't always making contact. Pushing in the individual wires after plugging it in seems to have done the trick. Easy solution to a puzzling job.

[jhh925]

Replaced the pads & rotors on our 2011 Jett Sportwagen. I'd already done the fronts 2 or 3 months ago but had to pick up a couple new tools to do the rears (including a twist-n-push caliper press). The job turned out to be easier than I thought it would be - and now it's no squeeky-squeeky, much stoppy-stoppy. And it once again made me appreciate RealOEM. Reliable info on VAGs sucks.

[davintosh]

I've been missing my old e32, so I decided it was time to add to the fleet.






Those are the photos from the dealer's CL ad. It's been on his lot for way too long; originally advertised as a 325i. Not sure where he got that from. His story is that he bought it at auction, and has a photocopy of a title from the people who owned it before, from Bloomington, MN. Owners since 1993. They obviously took pretty good care of it; zero rust (a real feat for a MN car) and the interior is near perfect. It's got a slight miss that comes & goes; the dealer said his mechanic did a "full tune-up" on it, including $200 worth of distributor cap & rotor, and I'm thinking it's probably got some irridium plugs or some damned thing in it; I picked up a good set tonight and will put them in tomorrow. The driver's door doesn't want to lock, and the side mirrors don't work (that probably has something to do with the former), and the radio says CODE, but there's no code in the glovebox. Matching spare in the boot, and a perfect toolkit (minus the rag.) Drives straight, transmission does its thing pretty well, and M30B35. All for $1400. I think I did alright. Except for the bronzit.

[SPF2006]

I've been missing my old e32, so I decided it was time to add to the fleet....All for $1400. I think I did alright. Except for the bronzit.

Good on you Dave, looks like you made out great! I still hope to get ahold of one of those one day.

Not today, but yesterday, threw down the cash and drove it home. Funny what $1,000 can buy.

^This. I picked this up today for the same money. I will promptly load it with tons of junk from the ongoing house renovation. Battery is tired and a bit of a front-end wobble at highway speed but otherwise rock solid at 300K. Work truck extraordinaire.


Meantime, yanked the headlights out of my wife's ZHP for the inevitable rebuild (burnt bowls = about as much light output as a plastic flashlight. Thanks BMW).