What did you do to/with your vehicle today?
 

A general thread about anything you did with or to your vehicle today. Not just modding and repair, not just cars but also trucks, bikes, motorcycles and more (any "vehicle"). Did you go take some pictures of it to send to a friend? Go out for a test drive and enjoy the weather?

Too, post up your successes in repairing something, because that's doing something with/to your vehicle, too. Post whatever you did to/with your vehicle for comfort or enjoyment. Did you clean it for the first time in a decade and want to brag? Post it up, slob! Post about the eco-modifications you successfully completed. It can be just progress on something.

For example, I go driving for the heck of it. Park near a beach, go for a walk... enjoy the weather and the surf and the car.

I am working on the fitment and placement of an oil catch can for my car. It's not complete and it's not about fuel economy. It is mainly about emissions and engine health. I got a Mishimoto clone for $20 that is really good, but not all the hardware matches my need and I want to find a stealthy place for it, so I am hunting the engine bay of my 1998 Civic. Any ideas?

Paint and parts purchase
 

1) Bought some tubing and a drain valve for my oil catch can.
2) Painted my badly faded and chipping wiper arm and passenger side mirror delete blank.

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1588984531

Tore apart DIY aftermarket electronics panel on the dash, so I can repaint and rebuild it. Then I resecured part of a wheel well skirt that keeps breaking loose.

You?

I've been puttering with the electronics refit of the Ram 3500 4x4
Today I drug some wiring from the back to the front for a rear view camera and supplemental LED lighting. Started looking for places to mount the extra reverse lights.

Sounds good. I want to install backup camera on my daughter's car. Today on my Civic, parts arrived for my catch can and all I need to do now is mount it (and make a bracket). Wish I had a really stealthy spot for it, but that might not be possible.

Added some r134 to both my Saturn and my GMC. Cold a/c again in both rigs. It took 15 years for the GMC to loose enough to not engage the compressor. The Saturn just needed a sniff to bring the pressures back to what they needed to be.

My wife's 2010 Subaru isn't blowing so cold anymore... I though I would give it a boost soon, before it gets hot. Did you use an autoparts store kit or something more professional?

Repaired an undercarriage trim piece on my wife's car. One of thr front tire spats had come loose and gotten ruined because it was not attached properly previously (by me). Ordered and installed a replacement to fix my own mistke, lol.

Reminded my daughter to get on that HVAC system repair for her car. She's all cocky about learning the problem might be in the fuse box. I am almost hoping it turns out more complicated (... almost). ;)

Did that same thing a few years back with my 2007 truck. All it needed was a little bit, and I found the service valve was probably the culprit and put a new gasketed cap on it.

I got the dash back together, but for a transceiver set to wirelessly connect the trailer camera. That is on order.
The truck was a logging rig in it's first 250,000 miles, and had a switch and a wire run back for the big fuel tank and pump. I hijacked that for my backup LED lights. I tucked the lights under the bumper and they are blocked from above so they do not blind anyone.
Maybe someone in an old MG could look directly at them LOL.
They will prove handy for general lighting for doing tasks, etc.
I powered the camera off the factory backup circuit, and sent a trigger wire forward to the radio and programmed it for automatic operation. It comes to life in about a second when I put it into reverse gear.
The new installation is a double din, requiring a new dash piece. It eliminated one of the two dash pockets. I cut holes and slots in the remaining pocket, and fitted the radio's USB inputs with those round magnetic connectors. I put either an android or apple phone into the pocket, it connects and either Android Auto or Apple Carplay is provided.
receiver link
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cables
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Yesterday I removed the snow tires, aired up and installed the summer tires, and torqued to spec. Crawled under and added air to the spare.

Looking forward to tackling this on my wife's Forester soon. Today, all I did was shape the remnant of Cali redwood from my removed house siding to function as a center column piece for my electronics & switches on the dash by the shifter. Took an hour and a half... was like shaping a surfboard or something. Fun. Meditative.

Daughter still has not tackled her HVAC problem... apple not all that far from the tree.

Oil catch can mounting bracket and placement complete. Just need to attach tubing but ran out of time.

I swapped off the snow tires on the 2002 Beetle TDI yesterday and delivered it to my friend today. He was thrilled with it. He drives very little, and the components that need changed out ( clutch and timing belt ) are not due in a very long time. He quipped that he may not last that long. It's a good driver that gets the mid-40s without too much difficulty.

Walked the mile to my favorite autoparts store with my wife, got two 3/8" hose splicers for the oil catch can & PCV inspection project. It's not a hard job, but it is new to me, and, as always, I am not willing to just cut hoses or replace parts that I cannot confirm as failed and not repairable. I'll try to clean the PCV valve if it does not rattle. And the hose is stuck so I am soaking the ends with PB Blaster and waiting. We have my wife's car if I gotta go somewhere.

Worked on the HVAC system on my daughter's car by watching her check if the fuse for the blower was to blame. She was hoping yes. But no luck. The fuse was fine. Got her to set up an account on a vehicle specific discussion forum and post a good question. Tomorrow is another day.

I'm learning about the PCV system on my car. As I install a catch can, I want to check the PCV system. I have small oil leaks, I have dirtier emissions, I have oil loses between oil changes and all of those things could be related partly to a sub-par PCV system.

This video was instructive.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pr5MZni4_Bc

Got the PCV valve off properly, without cutting or damaging the valve or its hoses. It is a 275,000 mile Civic PCV Valve, and it was caked in sludge on the inside. The valve rattled but only slightly and with a dull sound, like it was gummed. No wonder my emissions have gotten worse, but atleast it was moving a little, so it must have let pressure out into the manifold still. Partially opening, it probably slurped up oil and sludge at all speeds and sent it into the manifold, especially at startup. Atleast I don't need to worry about gasket damages and pressure-caused oil leaks.

I cleaned it internallly with Mass Airflow Sensor cleaner and externally with a degreaser. Now it rattles louder and with a hollow sound, like a valve moving in a plastic housing. Looks almost new.

I think I will reinstall it as I complete the oil catchcan project.

So much fun.

I did the 40,000 mile service on my wife's 2013 Beetle TDI with DSG. New oil, fuel, air, cabin air, and transmission filters. It was my first DSG transmission service. Tomorrow I will put it back on my friend's lift and install these backup lights.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://i.postimg.cc/QNYTXkM0/IMG-20200519-113855.jpg

That is a shop with several windows, not all that dark.

Looks good. Nice and bright. I can hardly see behind my car. My LED bulbs are not as good as advertised.

Here is what I received today...

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1590037677

Installed a couple hose clamps that my oil catch can could use. Bought a marine deep cycle battery from Walmart on 50% discount. I paid 77 bucks (shipped) and it does not arrive until June 4, giving me time to search out parasitic draws and such. Also bought a roller for applying heat rejecting clear coat. Might turn to the bike battery later tonight.

So what did you do to your car today? Any minor thing counts as progress. Xist, did you write a poem or rebuild the transmission or make performance art with your Civic again? :)

Pumped my tires up, spents some time chasing down what I hope is the last oil leak for now, and cleaned the engine bay some more. If the oil leak is finally gone, I might be able to get the engine really quite clean finally.

Did some measuring of heat on my newly clearcoated roof using new IR Thermometer. Thing is cool! Cleaned under side of engine to help identfy whether small oil leak is from oil pan gasket or weap hole at bottom of timing cover. Suspect oil pan mostly. Worked on center console instrument panel remake. Little bits of progress every day...

I had PLANNED to put the exhaust back on the 2000 Metro today, but the gasket I need didn't come in to my local parts store. Tomorrow, they say.

Yup. I had plans. Nothing got to completion though. Too many things at once, partly done: now certain I have to replace oil pan gasket, received new battery and set it up for install, did some hunting for oarasitic power draw, some work on a custom dash panel remake, and measurements using my new IR Thermometer. Trying to understand the emisivity setting and how to properly adjust it. ...PROGRESS!

New deep cycle battery installed and the test drive was awesome. No alternator was good for 3-5 mpg again. great. Took apart my whole "entertainment" rats nest of wires, which alone has improved radio reception, lol.

I think it's funny you're trying to keep your alternator from working, where I'm trying to fix mine.


Update!



Exhaust back together. And the original alternator is freed up (only lightly "seized", as it turned out) and re-installed. Appears to be working? (Question mark because: the alternate alternator also appeared to be working... for a while.)



Will update my Metro thread with all the gory details.

Yes. That is. I am happy to report that my alternator only works when I want it to. And I rarely want it to. Victory (for now).

Will look for that update.

I made more progress on my dash rebuild. One goal is better radio by reducing electrical interference. Learning. Making progress... I'll also update in my build thread (in sig file below) when a project gets complete. :turtle:

I think the next non-ecomod I'm going to the Metro is adjusting the steering wheel angle (for lower tilt).



I've done it to all my previous Suzuki clones, but haven't gotten around to it for the Metro yet. For slightly more comfortable highway ergonomics. It's just a couple of extra washers on the 2 fat bolts that secure the steering column to the dash.

That sounds really simple. The joys of older 90s cars! The hacks are often so much simpler. My next task is probably some paint, sone testing of windshield tint, and then the flat spoiler rebuild/testing... some ABAB testing coming in June or July.

All I did today is some shopping for polymetal... shipping costs are awful $120.00+ for shipping!

Would you buy eBay suspension parts?
I noticed I have a bad inner tie rod end.
I also noticed a kit on Ebay would easily convert my car to a manual steering system.
A Complete kit. https://ebay.us/dO0mBR

That is interesting because it claims to be a complete kit for your specific car. I have thought of this mod too, but never saw a kit. Waiting for my own steering components to necessitate replacements, then a swap is likely. I might take inventory of this kit's components and hunt for a rack about which I might get more details as to the gearing, how many turns lock to lock. I had notes on manual racks from sport trim Civics and Integras, but I cannot find it. They have fewer turns, lock to lock. So when it comes time for me, I'll try to nail down that info and then hunt car-part.com for the right part.

The kit probably works? It is probably lighter than your existing PS rack.

I think I have read about that but it was for the fifth gen civics.

Yes, that might be right. But a lot of parts are swappable across the generations of Civics, especially 1992-2000. Some even from the 4th and 7th gen cars. My transmission is from a fifth gen. There is a good list on Honda-tech at https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...ivics-1024818/

Is a bit of a slog to read through it, but I bet the steering swap I mentioned comes from that thread.

Today, I picked up some AluPoly sheet for the rear decklid spoiler. It's a 3mm thick sheet of polyethylene thermoplastic sandwiched between two thin layers of aluminium. Great for shaping, supposedly. See if I am able to form one good spoiler out of this 51 dollar 4'x8' sheet!

Also did the mass airflow sensor volume knob cleaning trick to my OEM 1998 Honda head unit. Works great.

Spoiler build should be interesting!



--


Today I installed my "air conditioning" ... beaded seat cover.

Was peacefully working on the cardboard template for the decklid spoiler after ordering my jigsaw, when my daughter & her boyfriend rolled up in his lifted Tacoma with a medium sized screw sunk in a tire slowly going flat. Out came the jack, tire iron, mallet, torque wrench, sockets, my tire patch kit, and my air compressor. By sundown we had him prepped for the road in the morning. He is going on a offroading ride tomorrow at 7 a.m. ... later, in the dark, I worked a little while on my new cardboard template of the spoiler... good end to the day.

Working on spoiler template when my daughter interrupts with her need for help on her car's HVAC (the endless repair). Did that for an hour. Then made some decisions about my flat rear decklid spoiler CAD. Took rubbings of the taillight side markers so I can adopt those radii into the radiused corners of the spoiler. It'll help the spoiler look kinda "OEM." I also have a spray can of paint in the OEM paint code. Been saving it a long time.

What little success or changes has anyone else made? Complete/incomplete, fueleconomy or not... makes no difference for this thread... notes...

During the last two days I have not had much time for car, but I have made progress with the cardboard template of the flat decklid spoiler. Corners will be radiused the same as the taillight fixtures. I wish I had a meaningful picture, but I am going slow. Already started my measurements over twice and the cutting once. No more time today...