Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[aDoomGuy]

10 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

I use both those + 4lb engineer’s hammer if it’s pressing so hard things are starting to bend and it still won’t come out. Even then sometimes I struggle. 
 

a lot of it is the car is close to the ground when you don’t have a lift, it’s just hard to position yourself in a way to get *good* hits (also I’m pretty frail lol)

Lol you should def get one though, they are nice to have around and does help. Sometimes you need both That + hammer.

 

doesnt change the fact that they are extremely annoying to remove and I still manage to tear the boot with those (granted I’m usually working on old stuff that needs to be changed anyway) 

also yeah valve cover is a lot better than head gasket thanks for the clarification  

Yeah, one of those damn ball joints came out with the sleeve thing stuck real good on it. I had to use one of these (dunno what it's called in English, see image). I had to stand on the wrench to force it loose but I got it off unscathed in the end, which is a good thing because if I didn't I perhaps would have needed to replace the entire steering knuckle since the sleeves aren't sold individually.

 

It was real hard to hammer it out of there lol but I got it, little by little. Hmm head gasket is what sits on top of the cylinders?

 

[TVwazhere]

Lifted beetle pics 

[FuzzyYellow]

23 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

I hate ball joints. Always hard to remove, and always manage to tear the boot when removing. 

Ditto. I’d be okay if I never did another ball joint, ever. Just finished doing my second set on the tundra.

[Bitter]

I for one like doing ball joints at work. I get to use my bigass air hammer, big hammers, big pry bar, big air impact, and the ball joint press makes fun snapping sounds as they smoosh into place.

[bcredeur97]

26 minutes ago, Bitter said:

I for one like doing ball joints at work. I get to use my bigass air hammer, big hammers, big pry bar, big air impact, and the ball joint press makes fun snapping sounds as they smoosh into place.

Good for you. I do not share the enjoyment lol

 

that said nothing is more satisfying than installing new suspension components and the amazing drive that ensues afterward. 

[Bitter]

2 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

Good for you. I do not share the enjoyment lol

 

that said nothing is more satisfying than installing new suspension components and the amazing drive that ensues afterward. 

Much better than the butt clenching first start and run into lift RPM after doing timing stuff on my 2ZZ, that's for sure.

[bcredeur97]

1 hour ago, Bitter said:

Much better than the butt clenching first start and run into lift RPM after doing timing stuff on my 2ZZ, that's for sure.

Holy crap yeah that’s terrifying Lol. This is why I love non interference engines tho lol. Stuff like this can happen and you don’t have to care (just can’t have super high CR  ) 

 

good news is my ball joint removal days are over after today for a while. Miata is all apart in the carport lol

 

stupid me forgot to order some stuff and it’s surprisingly hard to get Miata parts locally now soooo I’m waiting on things (prob till after Christmas since nothing will move shipping wise these next few days) 

 

Good news is I got the front shocks and springs assembled and I can install the new bushings into the lower control arms while I wait. (One of the things I forgot was the upper ball joints lol, but they apparently only sell the arm as an assembly, so I bought new arms that’ll I immediately replace the bushings on as soon as they arrive (what a waste lol)

 

also I bought new tie rod ends. Prob should of bought the inners too (the didn’t have play but were looser than they could be) but I’m kinda lazy and this is already a big job, I’ll just do them again in 20k miles lol. 
 

hope it’s not freezing cold when I have another window to get everything back on the car. Then I still need to clean everything under there which id like to do to be nice to the alignment ppl to make up for my sin of not marking things before taking them apart + asking for a custom alignment 

[Oskar94a]

I got some fender extensions, I'm happy with the result. It's mostly to hide the rusted fenders hahaha. I thought about to repair them but it was way to much so its not worthwhile. 

[RevoltTrain]

13 minutes ago, Oskar94a said:

I got some fender extensions, I'm happy with the result. It's mostly to hide the rusted fenders hahaha. I thought about to repair them but it was way to much so its not worthwhile. 

Gotta get some spacers to bring those wheels out a lil more with the wider fenders now

[711jrp]

Just a quick tip that I'm sure you all know....when beating the be-Jesus out of a ball joint with the biggest hammer you own, beat it here. 

[bcredeur97]

53 minutes ago, 711jrp said:

Just a quick tip that I'm sure you all know....when beating the be-Jesus out of a ball joint with the biggest hammer you own, beat it here. 

-snip-

Yep. Hit what it goes into is what I always think 

[bcredeur97]

To this day since I bought the JDM engine for my Miata,  I have not been able to find an OEM JDM downpipe to go along with the OEM JDM exhaust manifold that came with the engine. 
 

super hard to find. No OE aftermarket either. 
 

the USDM manifold is 4-1 the JDM one is a 4-2 and then the downpipe is 2-1. Have to find one specific to the 01-05 models due to the lack of an O2 sensor bung on the 01-05 header I have.
 

I kinda want to find it because well, it’s the best parts available that were OEM. And they are stainless steel too unlike the USDM versions. I think I’d have to get the 01-05 one, then just extend O2 sensor wire to reach the bung location https://forum.miata.net/vb/showpost.php?p=6501516&postcount=72 

https://forum.miata.net/vb/showpost.php?p=6501526&postcount=73

[Bitter]

The UK/EU models appear to have a 4-2-1 setup as well?

[Oskar94a]

12 hours ago, RevoltTrain said:

Gotta get some spacers to bring those wheels out a lil more with the wider fenders now

I have got myself a set of 18" wheels with summer tiers that will fill it out perfectly but at this time of the year I can't have those on.

[bcredeur97]

4 hours ago, Bitter said:

The UK/EU models appear to have a 4-2-1 setup as well?

Yeah they do. But I think I recall something being weird with the catalyst on those, meaning you couldn’t use them. I could be wrong tho

 

edit: maybe I’m thinking of the Difference being the EUDM engines which made less power than the JDM ones slightly (10:1 comp vs 10.5:1).

 

also if I ever take this thing on a track I’m gonna need to do something about the JDM ecu’s 110mph speed limiter... I could put the US ecu in but it makes less power. But if I go to the track in New Orleans I’ll prob be limited on the straight with the JDM one lol

[BiG StroOnZ]

 

 

[3 Lions]

 

[BiG StroOnZ]

 

[3 Lions]

 

[chaozbandit]

Here we go again

[bcredeur97]

7 hours ago, chaozbandit said:

Here we go again

Ohhh boy. I hope they do it though. Hate to see ppl fail 

[chaozbandit]

 

[jagdtigger]

Merry xmas everyone!

I just got an aftermarket radio for my car and id like to ask for some advice about the gps antenna. The car is a VW Golf MK5 2007 and so far judging from the videos i seen about radio replacement my best bet seems to hide it under the center air outlet in the middle on top of the dashboard. Would this interfere with the gps signals?

Edited December 24, 2020 by jagdtigger

[bcredeur97]

7 hours ago, jagdtigger said:

Merry xmas everyone!

I just got an aftermarket radio for my car and id like to ask for some advice about the gps antenna. The car is a VW Golf MK5 2007 and so far judging from the videos i seen about radio replacement my best bet seems to hide it under the center air outlet in the middle on top of the dashboard. Would this interfere with the gps signals?

GPS is 1200-1600 MHz, (lower than WiFi so it’ll pass through objects a bit better) it should be fine through a thin part of the dash I think. Hard to know having not tried though 

[bcredeur97]

Finished up the front this morning/early afternoon.

 

needs an alignment and a more thorough cleaning, but it’s great!