1 ... 9 10 11
Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
4/26/19 5:50 a.m.

In reply to sleepyhead :

Wow, that does look good!

To answer your question, it's a Samsung Galaxy S7.  And, while I'm no photographer, I'm pretty impressed with the camera on it.  Especially when compared to my last phone (Ss G, J2).  I've seen potatoes take better pictures than that thing.

 

Good times.

sleepyhead
sleepyhead GRM+ Memberand Mod Squad
4/26/19 6:30 a.m.

this would normally be where I extoll the virtues of getting something like the "Open Camera" app to shoot RAW with, as well as Snapseed to edit them into JPG.

But, I'm not sure that's the right thing for you.  Nevertheless, you might consider grabbing Snapseed, it's what I used for that (and what I'll be using to edit photos during OneLap), mainly for the practice and the curiosity.  That edit of a post-forum-compressed file makes me think Snapseed will do well-enough on the Samsung's jpg... certainly for the forum, and probably printing to 5x7 (if you decide to).

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
4/26/19 1:06 p.m.

Oh shoot, I forgot about you guys running the OLOA!   I meant to tell you guys that if you run into a guy named Kevin in a bright green Sonic, to say "hey".  

 

We ran into each other at an "undisclosed location" in the middle of the Kuwaiti desert and I've been trying to get him on the forum.  

 

They're fighting a last minute oil leak right now, but I'm pulling for them from afar wink

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
4/26/19 1:08 p.m.

Also, definitely will check out snapseed laugh

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
4/29/19 6:01 a.m.

Parts are starting to arrive devil

 

 

 

Looks like it might be "good times"  wink

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
5/2/19 2:50 a.m.

And more parts!


 

 

That there should be the last of it for a little while.  You’re looking at a 0”lift poly body mount bushing set from 4-Crawler.  In the post above are some Doug Thorley Tri-Y headers, and a Trail Gear intake tube with filter.

Before we get to all that fun stuff though, I decided it was high time I upped my tool game.  It’s kind of a conundrum because I own most of everything I need, the problem is "everything I need" is just sitting in a container right now aboard a boat that’s scheduled to deliver on or about the 20th of May…  I’m not big on owning tons of the exact same tools but I figure I can get creative somehow…

and lucky for me that sort of “figuring” was happening Friday morning when Mrs. Hungary sent me out to the farmers market for eggs before work.

The farmers market here happens in the town’s main square and happens every Friday and Wednesday around 6am to 10am.  Some people roam in from out of town with clothes/handmade goodies/etc.,  some people sell second runs of produce from local stores, and some people are bee keepers and the like who are selling small things from their garden (honey, eggs, veggies, fruit, etc). 

 

 

 

 

 

In that last picture is my bounty for the run.  10 eggs, a Chinese 10mm racheting wrench, and an equally Chinese 12mm racheting wrench!  All in all I spent a little under $10.  If I thought I was “unstoppable” with what tools I had before, I should be about durned near INVINCIBLE now! (obligatory “mwa! Ha ha ha!” here)

That saying about “absolute power corrupting absolutely” holds true though.  Now skunk drunk on my new racheting-wrench powers I was fiending for more.  With nothing going on at the office I was released early and my autopilot took me directly to the parts store (conveniently located right next to the hardware store).  I call this next batch “I swear honey, I just went in for oil!”
 

 



That was actually quite a bit of money…  The racheting straps were needed because I lost my last set in the move to Kuwait from Tacoma and I’m definitely going to need them for…  ah who am I kiddin?  I just had money in my pocket and Mrs. Hungary was out of town.  Short story long, there’s no more money in my pocket.

I did, however, have to up my tool storage game.  I cant be having all these new fangled tools and nowhere to keep them!

 


On with the good stuff.  Even with the new found tool powers, I’m still a bit too light in the department to be tackling headers over a weekend when this is my only means of getting to work.  So I decided the intake tract would be my targeted mission over the weekend.  As mentioned, Mrs. Hungary was out of town, but I did have the kiddos so I wasn’t entirely certain whether or not I’d have “more” or “less” garage time than normal (spoiler alert:  “less” was the answer)

The intake tube currently installed CANT be the stock unit.  I’ve seen pictures on the internet and they look nothing like what’s under my hood.  This cracked, siliconed, duct taped abomination has to be the creation of some PO who was drinking godknowswhat because even the most desperate wrencher would need copious amounts of alcohol to think this was a good idea. 

When ordering the parts, I originally piled my e-bay cart full of stock replacements to toss in the truck.  But when it came time to swipe the credit card the OEM stuff was just about as much as the shiny trail gear kit so I convinced myself that it was the economic way to do things because (many many excuses here)

Here’s what WAS installed:



 

 


 




Would you look at that air filter???  That almost stopped me dead in my tracks!  How could I continue with the replacement when the truck has such a stinking shiny new filter in her?  Well, I’ll tell ya…

Lets take a look at this piece here with that set screw sticking up:

 



It’s got some sort of bottle neck in it for some sort of “flapper door” housing…  I have no idea where this came from, but it cant be “OEM” (or even “automotive”).  It looks like some sort of one-way valve for  something but… well, it’s gotta come out.

Unfortunately that last part proved difficult because it was absolutely SEIZED to the rubber elbow.  And I very much needed that rubber elbow to connect my trail gear goodies to the throttle body…

No amount of prying with my bit driver yielded any results, so I had to switch to the hammer…

 

 

Rest in pieces you little bottlenecking piece of junk.

Back to that duct tape though, just as I thought it was hiding stuff… (well, when is it not?  I mean has anyone ever said “aw man, this is working perfectly!  Lets slap some duct tape on it and head on in”?)

I found two splits:  One longitudinally, one laterally.  The duct tape wasn’t doing much to cover either of them…



 

 



So yeah.  I guess if I was on the fence as to whether or not this new fangled intake was needed, I fell pretty confident that it most definitely was by now.

On to the install!

Pretty simple really, break a bolt, cut a clamp…  Things are old and rusted but most of them came out ok.

 


 


 



MMMMmmmm.  Shiny new things, on a crusty old MAF….

With things now permanently removed, and other things temporarily set in place, I figured now was as good of a time as any to take a look at the instructions:
 


 

Tools:

Check, check, check….  Hacksaw???

What’s the hacksaw for?

 

 

Oops! 

Well, looks like I’m off to buy a saw!

 

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
5/2/19 3:04 a.m.

Bonus round!  “How to trim a trail gear intake tube in 10 easy steps.”

By Hungary Bill.



The trail gear “cold air” intake is going to require trimming before installation can be completed.   For this, a hacksaw (or similar) will be required.  Please follow the steps below:

1) Measure and tape the area to be trimmed with masking tape (or similar) for reference

 




2) if the masked area extends into the wheel well, as pictured above, the intake tube will be your only option as debris from the tires could cause damage to the air filter assembly.

3) mark tube and and cut.

4) Immediately break the only blade your saw came with

 





5) Using electrical tape, make a handle on the longest remaining portion of the saw blade, begin cutting, and immediately break that too…


 

6) Repeat with next longest remaining blade remnant. 

 



 

 

7) If difficulty is encountered, have a friend help

 





8)  Cut cut cut…

 



 

 

 

 

 


9) give up.  Wake kids up from their nap early, and go buy new blades from the only open grocery store in town…
 


 

 

10) Installation complete!

 



Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
5/2/19 3:13 a.m.

I finished the install Saturday afternoon just before dinner, with the remaining 15-minutes I got rid of that coolant plug I made and slapped that cap on there with my new hose clamps and gasket sealer.  I couldn’t test anything that night but figured Sunday morning I could fire her up and make sure nothing leaks (intake, coolant, or otherwise… you never know what’s going to break when I have access to wrenches)

 

 


 

Meh, it's better than it was but not as good as it could be.  I'm still on the lookout locally for a new heater control valve...

Oh, I also changed my gas cap (Yes, you can laugh).  I tossed a proper gas cap in my summit racing shopping cart at the last minute.  Sometimes it’s nice to just grab everything “while you’re in there” than it is to explain in a second language why you want a new gas cap when you obviously already have one…


 

So Sunday rolled around and I got the truck warmed up, and holy smokes!!!!!!  She’s running like a sewing machine compared to how she was on Friday!  I mean it’s still a 22r, but she's been shaking like a maraca since I bought her!  Now she's so smooth I bet I could start her up and balance a….  a....  eh, nah… probably not.  But she's running smooth, so there.

I also had to bump the idle down again.  With the Trail Gear intake on her the idle was up around 1200rpms again.  I gave her just a little over half a turn to bring her back under 900 agian.  That little idle adjustment screw makes me so happy.  Every time I replace/fix something like this and have to twist the idle down, it gives me a good sense of accomplishment.  Like I've made the system that much more efficient.

Anyhoo, things aren’t leaking, I’m feeling pretty good, kind of wondering what I’m going to do next, and my phone rings!  It’s Zsolt.  There’s a motorcycle track day event about 30-minutes away, do we want to come watch?

Why, yes!  Yes, we do!

 


 

 

 

And that was how we spent the last bit of one very good weekend.  I wouldn’t be surprised at all if my next project rolled into the garage on two wheels. 

 

What might be even better, is I found out the track is rebuilding their Go-kart track.  Slated to be completed next year devil

Good times.


 

Mezzanine
Mezzanine Dork
5/2/19 4:57 p.m.

Excellent update. Have you seen the bodge thread in off-topic? I feel like this truck has some nice submissions to make.

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
5/3/19 2:49 a.m.

I have laugh

I've been meaning to, but keep forgetting.  Maybe I'll drop a picture or two over there real quick while I'm thinking about it...

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
5/3/19 2:59 a.m.

I thought I smelled gas...

 



 

 

Wouldnt you know?  On my lunch break I got stuck in a parking spot while traffic slowly putted by and I could have swore I smelled gas...

Ran some errands after work and there it was again!

I popped the hood and gas was leaking out of almost every line going to and from the charcoal canister!

Well, "Bill rule number 1:  What did you touch last?"

I went over the variables... Intake tube...  man, that seems like quite a reach for that to be the culprit.  Thinking of nothing else I had to resort to the googles so I pulled out my phone and fired it up.  9 out of 10 posts in the thread I opened seemed to be people telling someone with similar problems that they swapped the inlet and vent lines...

Except I didn't touch any inlet or vent lines (and neither did that person FWIW)

Then one guy hit it on the head.  Loosen your gas cap, see if it's venting...


Durp!  Well, so much for that shiny new gas cap I was all proud of myself for ordering.  I backed it off about 3/4 of a turn and things seem to be doing ok for now.  I'll probably borrow a battery drill from someone and poke a hole in the durn thing, but for a minute there that was a lot of fun!   laugh

Good times.

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
5/6/19 12:53 p.m.

So back in my first post I mentioned that this registration was only good until September.  I forgot I meant to elaboriate on that a bit.

When you buy a car here, it needs two things:  An "originality inspection" and a "technical inspection".  For the first one, they simply match the engine number to your chassis number and Robert is your father's brother.

For the second one they do a tailpipe sniff test and an overall vehicle inspection.  Anything that isn't 50-state legal cant be installed on the engine (I'm taking a bit of a chance with those shiny bits, but I have faith since they're fixing problems and the intake is a relatively common thing for people to do), anything that changes the vehicles dynamics can not be installed on the exterior of the vehicle.  To pass the car has to have all its normal stuff working (good tires/brakes, lights, stock suspension in good working order) and it has to pass "emissions".  (in quotes because euro emission standards weren't in effect until 1992 when catalizers first made their appearance under cars here).  This has to be done every 2 years. 

(apparently a lot of molesting has been done over the course of the last two years, because... damn)

So to go back a bit, a lot of the stuff I was after (fixing the HT lead, plugging the vacuum leaks, etc) weren't just "to make it run better", I had the emissions test in mind too (same with plugging that exhaust leak) but there are other little things all over this vehicle that are going to keep it from passing as well (the body lift is a biggie).

Unfortunately "blind inspectors" only get you so far.  A side picture of the car, and it's emissions results are all sent to the HQ in another city as "proof".  So the body lift and the exhaust leak aren't going to fly no matter how blind of an inspector I hire...

They're both on my list (obviously) but another item is the horn that isnt working.  I figured that'd be a good thing to tackle next.

Not much to it:  Start at either end and work your way in.  I started at the steering wheel and worked my way to the nose of the truck:

 

 

 

Good voltage, good ground at the horn unit.  No noise. 

I used my gator clips to jumper the horn unit straight to the battery and.... nope!  Nothin.

Well, that's a first.  But it's also a real easy fix, so I'll take it!

At the store they had two options.  Regular and TYPE-R!!!!!!!

Guess which one I came home with?

Yup...  devil

 

 

 


 

I mean, how could I not???  laugh  you dont just let a thing like TYPE-R!!!!!!! horns pass you buy, you jump on that E36 M3!

so install is easy squeezy, lemon peezy.  One bolt, two wires, and now my car goes "beep" when I hit the "beep button"

good times.

 

(I'd like to say that one more time:  "TYPE-R!!!!!!!" .  There... I'm good)

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
5/6/19 1:06 p.m.

Pulling the car in the garage on friday night though?  Not so good times.  That back window has been a little "intermittent" and only the center console switch works.  So when I pulled it in the garage on friday and the back window didnt roll down, it was no real big surprise but it was also the third time that happened so it was getting kind of annoying (Note:  my key doesnt work in the tailgate lock to roll down the window from there.  More to follow on that one).

I figured since I had my meter out for the horn, I'd also give the window a gander.  To do so, I started at the motor and hit the switch!



 

 

Nothin.  No voltage.  Weird ground readings (I can get a ground on either pin, but I chose not to look into that too much).

Next up was the window switch itself!  Up came the center console and out came the wires:



 

 

Electrical tape....  You know what that means.

Yup.  The previous owner was here...

I pulled off the electrical tape and didn't find much that looked like a smoking gun, so I left things alone for now.  I used my meter to verify grounds, voltages, and then voltage to the center (blue) wire for continuity when the switch was activated.  Everything was checking good electrically, but nothing was moving...

I tried to get access to the relay that sits behind the drivers seat behind the sidewall panel, but apparently you have to remove the back seat to get to it.  I wasnt in the mood.  I gave it a decent go, reached in there and made sure everything was plugged in (it was) and put the panel back on from there.

and wouldnt you know?

the dang window started working.  At work we call that sort of crap "FM"  (berkeleying magic)

good times.

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
5/6/19 1:12 p.m.

Spoiles of store

(I've decided that's what I'll call the things I buy when I go into the store for something and walk out with a bunch of other somethings)

 

 

 

 


Brake cleaner, BPR5ES spark plugs (I asked for the fancy iridium ones, but alas... I guess I'll have to order from the states to get those out here), cap, rotor, his and hers oil filters (2ea because I like spares), 1.5mm thick gasket paper (they call it "paper" but it feels like plastic, and it is THICK!), big fat tow rope, aaaaaaaand DOT-4 brake fluid.

 

And then this morning, the mailman brought me this!


That gasket set should keep me busy for a while.  Which is good because all my impulse buying is kind of killing our auto budget for the foreseeable future...

Good times.

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
5/13/19 1:57 p.m.

Spotted in the wild:

Daihatsu Rocky!

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
5/20/19 9:56 a.m.

Well, not much going on as of late.  Just as I was getting in a good groove with work/life I had to go and change shifts.  I now work a second shift, which should mean lots more time available in the garage but actually means lots more time to drive around town doing the stuff I'm supposed to do... (vet appointments, shopping, blah blah blah).  Good times.

I've also been a bit preoccupied with a bad case of automotive ADD after the last trackday visit with Zsolt, we hosted a gulyas party for the guys at work, aaaaaaand what else?  Oh yeah, our household goods should arrive on the 27th!  (after which we'll have a REAL mattress to sleep on.  yay!)

Anyhoo.  I did get a morning to bleed the clutch.  It went something like this:



 

 

 

 

So yeah.  an empty washer fluid jug was my catch can.  The knife made the hole for the tube to go in and when all was said and done, the darn tube was too small for my slave cylinder bleeder!  Using a lighter to "loosen" things a bit, I was able to work it to a larger diameter by shoving bigger and bigger allen keys in it until I got it to the proper size.

I really wanted to do the clutch because ever since I ran it out of fluid, my foot dyno kept sending me differing reports about the "clutch feel".  I couldnt tell if it was all in my head, or if there was something to it so I figured I'd clean everything out just to be sure.  When I did, the pedal feel improved but I noticed a small leak comeing out where the master cylinder shaft is.  Too small to worry about now, but it's goin on my "to do" list.

I was feeling motivated enough after the clutch to want to tackle the brakes, but two things got in the way:

 

1) None of my wrenches fit and I didn't want to strip my bleeder with any of my adjustable "nut-rounders"

2) Procrastination.  When the fluid in the master cylinder looked like it did (photo below) it was pretty easy to decide to put off till later...

 

Good times.

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
5/20/19 10:02 a.m.

Obligatory picture of Gulyas:

 

IIRC it's a 52-liter pot which is about 13 gallons.  I had it filled to the brim, and about 30 people showed up from work.  All brought booze (most of it homemade), and much fun was had.  I think we've still got a cabinet full of liquor from the gathering (and a freezer full of leftovers!).

Good times.

1 ... 9 10 11

You'll need to log in to post.

Our Preferred Partners
p8gfSLBsDxX4YV7lUZIkQUkbINVItMDrt1VO95zt9fDRtjg9slPyRuXT73UxSiLE