Mullet's Metro Project

[Johnny Mullet]

I am still not 100% after my little incident at the party. I get very dizzy now every time I get down and try to stand back up. I also get dizzy by just bending over to pick something up. I have really done nothing but try and get through the work week.

The car is due for it's 5000 mile oil change and I wanted to check out the frame rot going on while I was under this thing. I also decided to use some SeaFoam in the engine to clean out carbon deposits. I am not much of a believer in additives, but SeaFoam does a great job as an engine cleaning agent. You can buy stuff at most parts stores.

First thing is to make sure I have all the proper supplies for the service, so I am switching up to full synthetic Mobil1 5W30 engine oil and of course, I am using a quality Baldwin oil filter.



The day before, I added a little to the crankcase and ran it in the oil for the day. Today, I got the engine to normal operating temperature and drove it down the road. I removed the air filter cover and my high quality Baldwin air filter and slowly poured about 1/3 of the can through the throttle body, but in order to do this right, you must have one hand on the throttle to keep the RPM's up so it does not stall when adding the SeaFoam.



If you have any exhaust leaks at all, you will be sure to find them while adding this to your engine. Don't be afraid of the smoke, just keep the RPM's up and run the SeaFoam through it. And when you have enough sucked into the engine, turn it off. Wait 5 minutes and then start it up and let it run a minute or two and then go for a nice hard run to blow that nasty carbon out. I drove it for about 2 miles before all the smoke cleared out and then returned home to change the engine oil and filter.



I must say that even though this car has a natural stumble to it at idle, the SeaFoam seems to have made a noticeable difference in how it idles now. It's not perfect, but much better than before. I must say I am satisfied with how the product works.

Here are the shots of the frame rot issue at the lower control arm mounts I have to deal with sooner than I expected. I was hoping to put this off for a while, but by the looks of it, I better get it done soon..................




I don't plan on giving up on this car no matter what. Even though I have had to do more repairs than I expected, I am still saving money in fuel costs. I am pretty sure after taking care of the frame rot, I should not expect any more problems with the car and the real payback will start piling up. Then I can get to work on the grill block before the snow flies! Damn, about 5 months till Christmas people

One more thing! I am getting rid of these aero headlights and interested in swapping with the "Camaro Style" headlight buckets and sealed beams. I am tired of not being able to see at night and rather have the trusty old lamp type anyway. If anyone out there has a pair of these from a 1996 or newer Metro, please let me know what you want for them. I would need the housings, mounts, lamps, and the plug sockets for the older lamps.

Here is the style I have now................


Here is the style I want to replace them with..............


Thanks.

[Hacksaw]

Hey Johnny, I have a '95 with the bucket style...I believe they interchange between 95-97...Let me know if you wanna swap.

[Johnny Mullet]

You do not want my old lights. Trust me! They are not just fogged, but there is some sorta clearcoat on them that won't come off and when I tried to remove it, they turned white and look worse than ever. Sanding and polishing has no effect on them either.

[Goldenfrog]

Have you tried a pair of those super bright bulbs yet? I just order a set for my Voyager, my headlight housings are yellowed-up too.

[metromizer]

If you can wait a month or so (while I move) I'll give you a set from my '96 (if you pay for shipping from Nor cal).

I bought a used 'aero lights' set from a wrecking yard, with plug, that I'll instal in the next few weeks. I won't want to keep the old ones, lightening the load as it were. PM me if interested

[dremd]

Originally Posted by Goldenfrog

Have you tried a pair of those super bright bulbs yet? I just order a set for my Voyager, my headlight housings are yellowed-up too.

Sorry; off topic but let me just say that all of those bulbs are TERRIBLE for vision, they look cool, but the visibility sucks.



On topic:
Someone should sell weld in braces/ subframe mounts for rotting metros.

[RacerX]

Johnny, I just did a swap.....and I have the old one's from a '95, If you didn't set anything up yet...let me know

[Johnny Mullet]

Originally Posted by dremd

Someone should sell weld in braces/ subframe mounts for rotting metros.

I thought of trying to manufacture a one-piece brace that fixes both sides at one time. I would make it so all you have to do is remove your lower control arms and weld the brace in place. The new brace would have pre-mounted studs for the arm mounts. I would have to make a brace for the pre 1995 models seperately. I been toying with this idea for some time now, but getting something like this together would take time.

I totally appreciate the offers for the headlights guys! metromizer, I am interested in those lights and will get them unless I find some sooner maybe from RacerX. I will inform. This is a great community of people here and I am glad to be a part of it.

You guys don't understand my visibility issue even after attempting to remove the clear coat from the driver side light. Here is what happened and I can't see nothing at night..................



Thanks

[othergames]

What kind of removal agents have you tried? Are they messing up the glass itself, or somehow fogging up the clearcoat you mentioned?

[dremd]

Assuming you have polished headlights before (I'm thinking you have) just toss them.

If not then here it goes
1) sand with 1000 grit until everything looks the same
2) sand with 2000 grit until everything looks the same
3) Medium rubbing compound until everything looks the same
4) Fine rubbing compound untill everything looks the same
5) Plastic polish to a high gloss

It is actually a good bit of work; on a bad headlight it might take an hour each.