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Washed all the snow & road brine residue off, now I see another snow event forecast for Wed. ?! Wait, why did I move to coastal N.C. for again ?!
I live in coastal N.C. minutes from the Atlantic Ocean & a few hours for Bermuda(by boat of course), I now ponder if my choice was wise lol. Snow's really rare here yet, it's familiar this season. All whilest I'm plotting an intensive detailing w/ clay bar etc. go figure lol ?!
Last edited by King Charles; 01-18-2018 at 03:21 AM.
Replaced the front KYBs that were blown out completely. Just about a year they made it. Maybe 14 months? So I replaced them withhhh.. the same thing. Figured since they have a warranty, I'd use it. Ordered another pair from Rockauto and will send the old ones back for credit. And they were SHOT shot. I do want to step up to Bilsteins but I figure I'll wait til spring/summer and buy them, but since these are free replacements, they should do for at least a couple months I hope.
Since you have a set of Bilsteins laying around you can revalve them yourself and save some money . You would have to verify the correct revalving part numbers . Heard the same quality issues with KYB's . Most important thing is to bleed the air charge before disassemble for safety .
So after replacing the shocks last night, obviously I had to test them further on the way to work today:
No major harm done. Broke the antenna on the tree branches along the way, and obliterated the washer reservoir in the front bumper cover from the snow packed up in there, but otherwise, nothing else hurt other than my wallet for the tow out of the ditch. Went home, scraped the snow out, and back to work like nothing happened. (if you don't look at the sagging under-tray and broken antenna at a 45 degree angle).
The tow truck operator was instantly curious as to the color of my antifreeze. I tell him it's Orange, and he goes "oh, yeah, you're definitely puking it from the front tank here." Wait, front tank? OOOOH That's the washer reservoir and I did have orange fluid in (lower temp rating than the blue), and yep. I didn't realize they're apparently a two piece design? So the lower, was split wide open and busted up. So I removed it, and tucked the pump back up underneath for the time being. I have to check this weekend how the upper is, and research how that goes together, see if I have to order anything else, and source one. And get a new antenna ordered. That'll just bug me when people see it flopped over like that while I drive down the road. Silly things.
Sadly, the wild ride didn't magically cure my braking issue. I did check the vacuum line again doing the shocks last night, and it looks fine. So unless the TB somehow isn't actually producing vacuum through there (not sure how it wouldn't), I guess the booster has gone kaput. So I'll order one of them too. At least it's nice and not too hot outside for all this work...
The tow truck operator was instantly curious as to the color of my antifreeze. I tell him it's Orange, and he goes "oh, yeah, you're definitely puking it from the front tank here." Wait, front tank? OOOOH That's the washer reservoir and I did have orange fluid in (lower temp rating than the blue), and yep. I didn't realize they're apparently a two piece design? So the lower, was split wide open and busted up. So I removed it, and tucked the pump back up underneath for the time being. I have to check this weekend how the upper is, and research how that goes together, see if I have to order anything else, and source one. And get a new antenna ordered. That'll just bug me when people see it flopped over like that while I drive down the road. Silly things.
Sadly, the wild ride didn't magically cure my braking issue. I did check the vacuum line again doing the shocks last night, and it looks fine. So unless the TB somehow isn't actually producing vacuum through there (not sure how it wouldn't), I guess the booster has gone kaput. So I'll order one of them too. At least it's nice and not too hot outside for all this work...
Glad it turned as well as it did - you must have gone through a lot of emotions. As the saying goes... some days you're the windshield ~ some days you're the bug ! Who knows why these things happen.
Glad it turned as well as it did - you must have gone through a lot of emotions. As the saying goes... some days you're the windshield ~ some days you're the bug ! Who knows why these things happen.
In all honesty, I DID say a four-letter word right when I realized I was at the point of no hope when it caught the shoulder. But it was more out of an annoyance, since I knew that I was going to be late for work. To be fair, I didn't realize how FAR I would slide in that ditch, and I did expect some carnage on the right front corner but I wasn't really concerned for the car or anything else. I was just annoyed that I'd have to call work, have to call a tow truck, have to deal with the wait.. I learned a while ago that cars are cars and there's always a way to fix or replace those.
As far as the why? I have a tendency to push the limit on tires. Not that these are BAD, they're only just reaching the wear indicators, but it's not as if they're snow tires - they're all season tires. Would better tires have saved it? Judging by the road right there, and how the sun had glazed up the packed snow and such, it's hard to say. If I had stayed just a touch more to the center of the road (and it's a back road so I easily should've without worry for traffic), it would've been totally fine.
Oh well. Antenna, 15 bucks. Washer Reservoir - 75 bucks. Under-tray, 125 bucks. Afternoon to re-fit them back on, and on my way. And quite proud that all that fuss, and nary a scratch, dent, ding, or tweaked part anywhere major.
In all honesty, I DID say a four-letter word right when I realized I was at the point of no hope when it caught the shoulder. But it was more out of an annoyance, since I knew that I was going to be late for work. To be fair, I didn't realize how FAR I would slide in that ditch, and I did expect some carnage on the right front corner but I wasn't really concerned for the car or anything else. I was just annoyed that I'd have to call work, have to call a tow truck, have to deal with the wait.. I learned a while ago that cars are cars and there's always a way to fix or replace those.
As far as the why? I have a tendency to push the limit on tires. Not that these are BAD, they're only just reaching the wear indicators, but it's not as if they're snow tires - they're all season tires. Would better tires have saved it? Judging by the road right there, and how the sun had glazed up the packed snow and such, it's hard to say. If I had stayed just a touch more to the center of the road (and it's a back road so I easily should've without worry for traffic), it would've been totally fine.
Oh well. Antenna, 15 bucks. Washer Reservoir - 75 bucks. Under-tray, 125 bucks. Afternoon to re-fit them back on, and on my way. And quite proud that all that fuss, and nary a scratch, dent, ding, or tweaked part anywhere major.
To get a better scope of the distance:
That's quite a bit of distance to cover, how fast were you going lol.
That's quite a bit of distance to cover, how fast were you going lol.
If I'm honest, 35-ish maybe? I had slowed down for the intersection, and then was picking speed back up. I have no idea how it actually went that far after I was in the ditch. The snow was basically just light and not dense at all, and I must've basically driven down it straddling the actual ditch with little friction. Oh well. Gives me a good story to laugh about, and more reasons to tinker.
If I'm honest, 35-ish maybe? I had slowed down for the intersection, and then was picking speed back up. I have no idea how it actually went that far after I was in the ditch. The snow was basically just light and not dense at all, and I must've basically driven down it straddling the actual ditch with little friction. Oh well. Gives me a good story to laugh about, and more reasons to tinker.
I can relate my under tray & reservoir bottle were toast due to bad road upkeep in my LWB a few years ago lol. I actually found a good bottle on E-Bay for around $30 if not mistaken ?!
In all honesty, I DID say a four-letter word right when I realized I was at the point of no hope when it caught the shoulder. But it was more out of an annoyance, since I knew that I was going to be late for work. To be fair, I didn't realize how FAR I would slide in that ditch, and I did expect some carnage on the right front corner but I wasn't really concerned for the car or anything else. I was just annoyed that I'd have to call work, have to call a tow truck, have to deal with the wait.. I learned a while ago that cars are cars and there's always a way to fix or replace those.
As far as the why? I have a tendency to push the limit on tires. Not that these are BAD, they're only just reaching the wear indicators, but it's not as if they're snow tires - they're all season tires. Would better tires have saved it? Judging by the road right there, and how the sun had glazed up the packed snow and such, it's hard to say. If I had stayed just a touch more to the center of the road (and it's a back road so I easily should've without worry for traffic), it would've been totally fine.
Oh well. Antenna, 15 bucks. Washer Reservoir - 75 bucks. Under-tray, 125 bucks. Afternoon to re-fit them back on, and on my way. And quite proud that all that fuss, and nary a scratch, dent, ding, or tweaked part anywhere major.
Replaced the plasrix pulley on the tensioner arm with a metal one. I had replaced the bearing in the plastic one but it was wobbling around too much.
Also checked my front right wheel. I noticed it wa ather stiff. The brake seemed to be a little sticky. So I freed ot up a good bit, removed some excess material from the pad backing and checked for warping. 0.02mm. Well within the 0.5mm warping specs. Tested the wheel bearing: no play but clonks a little when you turn it. As if a ball had a flat spot. And the bearing has been in for 24 months amd 45k km. Still very stiff. I suppose that is my problem. Front left is the total opposite and was fitted about 2 weeks later. Used a really cheap PT Cruiser bearing. That seems to be working better than an original one!
Yeah, it's really minor. The tank was cracked completely down the side, and broken away from the upper, and the antenna, well, that was just bent and broken at the base. I have to try to get that out as it is, just to keep it from whipping around. The front undertray was already starting to break away from a couple spots, so the fact that this finished it off is just an excuse to finally replace it.
Actually about to go take that off and get it from scraping on bumps. So that's what I did today. Or, am doing today.
My 308 activity today pales in comparison to Charlz0's performance, but today I fitted a new gearshift knob to my VDP. Following King Charles' link I went for this design from the many available. (https://www.ebay.com/sch/Shift-Knobs...ack&rmvSB=true).
I am pleased with it and I think it adds some extra quality to the interior.
My 308 activity today pales in comparison to Charlz0's performance, but today I fitted a new gearshift knob to my VDP. Following King Charles' link I went for this design from the many available. (https://www.ebay.com/sch/Shift-Knobs...ack&rmvSB=true).
I am pleased with it and I think it adds some extra quality to the interior.
Went to a local race day at Hampton Downs to participate in the regularity trials.
This was my third event and much improved over the first one, see the end result below of that one.
Regularity trials are where you nominate a time and try to circulate as close as possible to that time for 15 minute sessions (3 runs) having had a practice of 15 mins. On average 8 laps.
The first session I came 3rd with a deviation of .67 seconds.
Quite happy with that, still waiting to see what I recorded for the 2nd and 3rd runs.
The photos below were the result of the front brakes fading going into a downhill hairpin and hitting the tyre wall after going through the sand trap
My 308 activity today pales in comparison to Charlz0's performance, but today I fitted a new gearshift knob to my VDP.
Going through all the models, I should have probably ended up with the exact same design.
How does the wood color and structure match up with the VDP veneer?
01-18-2018, 02:25 AM
