Yeah my hood/frame is fucked. I was able to tap my latch into place after taking out 2/3 bolts, so now it opens and closes as it should, but I feel iffy about having those bolts out. It's not moving by hand, but ehhhhh
[t]http://horobox.co.uk/u/GPakEZ.jpg[/t]
This here's my cute lil shitbox, and she's got a small story.
I'm a technician/IT and had no mechanical experience when I bought her for 800 USD, with 238,000 miles. Back then, I was pissed at getting fucked by mechanics for stupid fixes and thought "how hard is it to learn"? Drove her around for a month, did a compression check, and decided to overhaul her engine myself. Again, no mechanical experience.
Taking it out and stripping the block down took two extremely painful months, but fitting her all together again took only a drunken weekend of "this needs to be done, now."
She started, and ran, for 500 miles after the rebuild. Then, a hundred miles from nowhere, I thought it was all good. Turn on the radio, kick it to some eurobeat, but smoke was pouring out of the hood. Turns out I'd missed exactly one hose in the reconnect and was at that point a hundred miles from fuckall with no coolant in my block or radiator.
Found a kind lady who gave me a jug of water, and burned the residual off the header pipe on the way home.
I've only had one issue since, and that was my amazon-tier headers blowing a gasket and the exhaust suddenly being headers to atmosphere while going 90.
All in all, total investment of around 1600 USD and a lot of pain, but I fukken love her.
[QUOTE=Snickerdoodle;52412374]Yeah my hood/frame is fucked. I was able to tap my latch into place after taking out 2/3 bolts, so now it opens and closes as it should, but I feel iffy about having those bolts out. It's not moving by hand, but ehhhhh[/QUOTE]
slot your hinges further?
[QUOTE=Bromagnon;52412579][t]http://horobox.co.uk/u/GPakEZ.jpg[/t]
This here's my cute lil shitbox, and she's got a small story.
I'm a technician/IT and had no mechanical experience when I bought her for 800 USD, with 238,000 miles. Back then, I was pissed at getting fucked by mechanics for stupid fixes and thought "how hard is it to learn"? Drove her around for a month, did a compression check, and decided to overhaul her engine myself. Again, no mechanical experience.
Taking it out and stripping the block down took two extremely painful months, but fitting her all together again took only a drunken weekend of "this needs to be done, now."
She started, and ran, for 500 miles after the rebuild. Then, a hundred miles from nowhere, I thought it was all good. Turn on the radio, kick it to some eurobeat, but smoke was pouring out of the hood. Turns out I'd missed exactly one hose in the reconnect and was at that point a hundred miles from fuckall with no coolant in my block or radiator.
Found a kind lady who gave me a jug of water, and burned the residual off the header pipe on the way home.
I've only had one issue since, and that was my amazon-tier headers blowing a gasket and the exhaust suddenly being headers to atmosphere while going 90.
All in all, total investment of around 1600 USD and a lot of pain, but I fukken love her.[/QUOTE]
Not bad, welcome to the black thumb club
[editline]28th June 2017[/editline]
Also IT bro
[QUOTE=MrBunneh;52412884]slot your hinges further?[/QUOTE]
Does that mean drilling new holes?
How many bricks would the DMV shit if I swapped the engine in my xv250 for a 2stroke 250?
If you don't have to take it through emissions, probably 0
[QUOTE=DuCT;52411886]Because I want to know where I went wrong with my life.
Also because you always seem to be constantly working on your car.[/QUOTE]
I'm a glass salesperson/jack of all trades at everything technical at my job.
I work 40 hours a week, earn about 800usd a month. Live with my parents and spend about 5 hours every evening working on it. (also every weekend)
I spend about 50 bucks a month of non-racecar stuff. Mostly fastfood and my phone bill.
Somefuckinghow, my GF is stil okay with it :v:
[QUOTE=Strontboer;52413428]I'm a glass salesperson/jack of all trades at everything technical at my job.
I work 40 hours a week, earn about 800usd a month. Live with my parents and spend about 5 hours every evening working on it. (also every weekend)
I spend about 50 bucks a month of non-racecar stuff. Mostly fastfood and my phone bill.
Somefuckinghow, my GF is stil okay with it :v:[/QUOTE]
40 hours a week and only 800usd a month? Holy crap. Thats $5/hr
I earn almost $800 a week. Most of it goes to rent and other bills. :(
[QUOTE=Serj22;52413575]40 hours a week and only 800usd a month? Holy crap. Thats $5/hr[/QUOTE]
I'm guessing that either a. It's the Netherlands/eu so most of it goes to taxes and it's actually more, or b. That's the take home amount after expenses?
Because unless that's under the table pay that's crazy
Amazing that you can keep up the racecar on that! How well do you usually finish? Does your series award prizes?
Yeah I live in a pretty expensive country too.
I live and work with my parents. So I don't have a lot of bills. The upside is that I can use part of the building to work on my car. The bad news is they pay 3 out of 5 days work.
The minimum wage here is about 1600 a month.
But I guess in the end it's pretty fair if I compare how much I can spend a month. But then again, I am 100% dedicated to this and made quite a few sacrifices to keep affording this.
But hey, if I can do it now on this tiny ass budget. Then surely it can only get better right?
Jesus Stront. I hope you're building the racecar as your resume for an auto shop, because your fabrication skills should have you doing way better than that.
Yeah, ive never seen a rattlecan job look that good.
I understand that you don't really have the space right now but have you thought about opening a race garage/prep shop? I'm sure a lot of people would be willing to put up money to have someone who knows what they're doing help them with building track/race cars. Or maybe you could apply for a pro/semi-pro team mechanic? You definitely have the skills for it.
Wow thanks for all the reactions. Quite the motivation boost haha.
You gotta all remember, I've never done anything like this. I lack a lot of experience. Hell this is the first time I've installed an engine myself, opened an engine, first time I've chopped off a roof, painted an entire car, fiddled with ECU programming, wire harnesses or even welded anything on an actual car.
Up close there's a million things that could be done WAY WAY better.
[QUOTE=Grenadiac;52414536]Jesus Stront. I hope you're building the racecar as your resume for an auto shop, because your fabrication skills should have you doing way better than that.[/QUOTE]
I'm working in my parents company, and I have quite a future here (I think) so for now it's fine really. It allows me to dedicate my time to doing what I love most, which is this.
[QUOTE=Zombii;52414582]I understand that you don't really have the space right now but have you thought about opening a race garage/prep shop? I'm sure a lot of people would be willing to put up money to have someone who knows what they're doing help them with building track/race cars. Or maybe you could apply for a pro/semi-pro team mechanic? You definitely have the skills for it.[/QUOTE]
Thanks. I've never really thought about this because there are already SO many shops like that. And the part I just wrote about lacking experience etc. I don't feel ready to do stuff for other people when I haven't even finished my first big project. (Even tho I'm doing it pretty fast)
I'm already doing small things for people. Ever since word spread that I could do things with the ECU I have been getting quite a few people wanting me to do it. Even yesterday a garage owner drove his race car to me as he was having issues with the ECU and the car kept going into limpmode. It was a tiny fix. But I was still happy that I could help him fix it. Even though it's kind of weird fixing a car from a garage owner :v:
Anyway, thank you all for the kind words. I'll hopefully be posting a lot more about the car. And with a bit of luck, turn it into a one of a kind machine.
[QUOTE=Strontboer;52413428]I'm a glass salesperson/jack of all trades at everything technical at my job.
I work 40 hours a week, earn about 800usd a month. Live with my parents and spend about 5 hours every evening working on it. (also every weekend)
I spend about 50 bucks a month of non-racecar stuff. Mostly fastfood and my phone bill.
Somefuckinghow, my GF is stil okay with it :v:[/QUOTE]
$800/month? Jesus christ. I mean, I have those months as well once in a while (substitute at a kindergarten) but then I only work like 40 hours a month. Heck, my rent is $690/month, I basically could not live on your wage.
I do admire you're drive to be able to work on your car for 5 hours after work, don't think I could do that even occasionally.
Do they dock your pay for rent and such?
Yeah we haven't specifically arranged it.
But I can use part of the shop, I live with them. And I can use a company truck to get around and go to tracks n stuff. But then again that's also some promotion for them.
[editline]29th June 2017[/editline]
Also it's a lot easier to work a long time in the evening because my car is also at my work.
So at the end of a working day, I eat some shit then go straight to work on my car.
Obviously I don't work on it every single night. But still quite a lot I guess.
That actually seems like a pretty sweet setup then.
Fuuuuuuuuck
If things go well, I'll probably buy this next weekend.
[url]https://www.finn.no/car/used/ad.html?finnkode=98499928&fks=98499928[/url]
[t]https://images.finncdn.no/dynamic/1600w/2017/6/vertical-3/21/8/984/999/28_1858492290.jpg[/t]
~$4100
So, I drive a Golf Mk3 with 2.0L engine, and it's manual.
It's a nice car, not very quick but it's fun. I basically love it.
I have the opportunity to swap it with a SAAB 9-5 station wagon. But it's auto.
I love SAABs and finding ones in good condition is getting harder. Bonus points since it's a station wagon which is dank, but the fact that it's an auto and not a manual bothers me, but the extra space and the fact that I'll be less likely to get crushed in the event of a crash is also something to take into consideration.
I dunno if I should go for it or not.
I haven't seen the SAAB yet, I'm going in a few hours to have a look at it.
[editline]30th June 2017[/editline]
Plus the 9-5 is a sexy as fuck car
So it looks like I'm better off making an entirely new wiring harness for my car's audio system instead of fixing this mess of spaghetti. I figure it shouldn't be too hard.
I know it's not necessary, but having different wire colors would be ideal to make future troubleshooting easier. Do you guys have a wallet friendly source for 16 gauge wire spools in 10 colors? I can easily go to the local electronics shop and buy it for 20 cents a foot, but if I can stock up for future problems, that would be great.
This is the closest thing I could find, which isn't actually half bad, considering if I buy 20 feet of each color it would end up costing me 40 bucks.
[url]https://www.amazon.com/SPOOLS-Gauge-Primary-Remote-Stranded/dp/B00RU9Q044/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1498803432&sr=8-18&keywords=16+gauge+wire[/url]
[QUOTE=ToastedBread;52417107]So it looks like I'm better off making an entirely new wiring harness for my car's audio system instead of fixing this mess of spaghetti. I figure it shouldn't be too hard.
I know it's not necessary, but having different wire colors would be ideal to make future troubleshooting easier. Do you guys have a wallet friendly source for 16 gauge wire spools in 10 colors? I can easily go to the local electronics shop and buy it for 20 cents a foot, but if I can stock up for future problems, that would be great.
This is the closest thing I could find, which isn't actually half bad, considering if I buy 20 feet of each color it would end up costing me 40 bucks.
[url]https://www.amazon.com/SPOOLS-Gauge-Primary-Remote-Stranded/dp/B00RU9Q044/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1498803432&sr=8-18&keywords=16+gauge+wire[/url][/QUOTE]
Got some pics of your disaster by chance??
Unfortunately no. And I won't be pulling my radio until I have all the supplies ready. The last time I pulled the radio, the left audio channels got knocked out because i think some of the crimps have come loose and it took some prodding to get them to come back. There is no wire management and it's all just mashed in there. Once I got it working again, I just erased it out of my mind because I just really didn't want to tackle the mess. :v
The entire radio harness was cut and redirected to a shitty amp and equalizer behind my seat. The sub is just a shitty Bazooka Tube. RCA cables were run into the doors instead of using the stock wiring. I really don't understand why the previous owner didn't just buy a metra harness instead of going through all this trouble.
[URL="http://images.crutchfieldonline.com/products/2003/500/h500cda9811-f.jpeg"]The head unit is just some shit Alpine that looks fresh from the early 2000s.[/URL]
Also, I think the amp might be faulty and drawing too much current. If the car is idling and the stereo is on for a moderate amount, like half an hour, the car struggles to start the next time or the battery dies.
Oh yeah, it's also all in an SW20 Mr2, so wire runs shouldn't be that long. 15ft per wire, max, I reckon.
[QUOTE=Araknid;52416899]So, I drive a Golf Mk3 with 2.0L engine, and it's manual.
It's a nice car, not very quick but it's fun. I basically love it.
I have the opportunity to swap it with a SAAB 9-5 station wagon. But it's auto.
I love SAABs and finding ones in good condition is getting harder. Bonus points since it's a station wagon which is dank, but the fact that it's an auto and not a manual bothers me, but the extra space and the fact that I'll be less likely to get crushed in the event of a crash is also something to take into consideration.
I dunno if I should go for it or not.
I haven't seen the SAAB yet, I'm going in a few hours to have a look at it.
[editline]30th June 2017[/editline]
Plus the 9-5 is a sexy as fuck car[/QUOTE]
So, I had a chance to have a look at it.
Dark green, exterior + interior are in almost perfect condition, leather seats, wood paneling.
2.3t Engine
Owner was one of my dads customers so we've got all the records of previous work done with it. Owner has taken very very good care of it. It only has a minor issue with idling but that's being dealt with already.
And the guy only wants $1000 for it, while we can sell my Golf for 2-3k.
gonna take it, fuck it
I built quite a few harnesses for my dart. None of it is stock wiring. Took about 15 feet to reach each speaker in the back for me. But everything is wrapped into 2 nice harnesses going down each doorsill. No exposed wiring. I highly recommend doing the speaker wiring bypass your speaking of. I put a fuse block under the hood for the radio and everything as well. Its basically seperate from the stock cars systems.
[QUOTE=Araknid;52417361]So, I had a chance to have a look at it.
Dark green, exterior + interior are in almost perfect condition, leather seats, wood paneling.
2.3t Engine
Owner was one of my dads customers so we've got all the records of previous work done with it. Owner has taken very very good care of it. It only has a minor issue with idling but that's being dealt with already.
And the guy only wants for it, while we can sell my Golf for 2-3k.
gonna take it, fuck it[/QUOTE]
What year is it? The ones pre-2004 had issues with oil sludge, the ones after have a slightly different engine block which is said to have fixed it. Saab released a PCV update kit that also improved the situation for the older engines. If it doesn't have the update you really should drop the oil pan and check the oil pickup for sludge.
Otherwise they're awesome cars, real reliable and can handle a bunch of power.
[QUOTE=Gulen;52418066]What year is it? The ones pre-2004 had issues with oil sludge, the ones after have a slightly different engine block which is said to have fixed it. Saab released a PCV update kit that also improved the situation for the older engines. If it doesn't have the update you really should drop the oil pan and check the oil pickup for sludge.
Otherwise they're awesome cars, real reliable and can handle a bunch of power.[/QUOTE]
It's 2000 but the previous owner took autistic levels of care for it, plus he was one of my dads customers so we've got all the service history and all that.
I'm thinking of trading my 'ol Monty for a '98 CR-V, good idea?
[t]http://i.imgur.com/Dx1Kl7C.jpg[/t]
I don't think I can squeeze more than $4k for this thing, but the CR-V I'm keeping an eye on is $3,9k at most.
Apart from a borked speedo and, well, shit transmission, the car is mechanically decent. Mileage is at 177,780.
[t]https://imgkk.com/i/tod0.jpg[/t]
I knew my stash of batteries would come in handy some day
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