Jacob's other Wagon

[draker]

Another option is to run a length of rope down into the bore to stop the valves from dropping. Sound like you had it covered with the leakdown tester though.

[Laecaon]

To resume:

With the new plan I went ahead and finished the rest of the tool. Adjustable for either the intake or exhaust side. Outside of the picture is a paint can hanging.




Sweet, it can do two valves at once! Here I have installed the keepers.


Well with some more work I managed to get the rest of the valve train back together. The key here is the timing chain setup, or Vanos. EVERYONE says you need special tools to do this else you get error codes and a bad running car. Well I said fuck special tools, figured out a different way and went with it.



Here I am starting the Vanos unit. Intake piston out, o-rings removed. I am replacing the o-rings because the factory ones were made out of a bad material and deteriorate fast.


So I got the car together, went to start it, and it wouldn't idle. Kept telling me it was having problems with the icv. I was bummed and drove my mom's car to work again. Then I got home, grabbed some brake clean and cleaned the icv. Back together and the car ran perfect. So mission success, no special tools and did fairly invasive work. And no codes on the car.

So the verdict? I think the butt dyno says there is a bit more responsiveness in the entire rpm range. Maybe a hint at better gas mileage. But really, I have actually fixed my oil consumption. Oil is staying in the motor! I'm happy.


So happy that I bought a new gear selector knob for it. This one is from a BMW X3. I like it way more... And there is more coming to the interior...

[Taterhead]

Nice, getting shit done.

[flatcat19]

Great solution.

You could probably market your valve keeper remover.

[DRIVEN]

..or spread the word that you can provide the service. Might make some sweet Datsun monies that way.

[Laecaon]

So after switching the gear selector knob out, I then had more wood to remove.

Ordered some samples:





Didn't like any of them... So I bought something else.

Stock wood door trim:




Wrapped!




Close up:




Another trim piece, this one above the headlight switch.





All done!





Only issue is this transition above the stereo, I call it a compound crease. The material needs to immediately change direction, which isnt really possible. So I decided since there wasnt much surface area next to the stereo to just fudge it there.











Overall I think it came out great. It looks stellar at night and decent during the day (due to color). Material picks up the light too well. Also the brand I went with(Vvivid) I probably wouldnt do again, it just didnt behave like previous vinyl I have worked with. The samples I had were all 3M 1080 series and it was way nicer to work with.

All of this cost $35 and some time. But I have a ton of material left over.

[flatcat19]

Huge change. Looks good.

[Taterhead]

Much better, I like it.

[draker]

Instantly more modern interior. Nice work!

[Laecaon]

Thanks guys!

Nothing to really report, car has been driving great. Oil consumption is definitely way down. Ill check it after a 1000 miles and see where it is at. But its better than maybe making it to two weeks before being two quarts low.

Grabbed a headlight restore kit. Um Not enough steps of sand paper included. Slight haze, but end product was still clearer than stock. I then added a paint protection film on top to block UV light from yellowing the lenses. Oddly enough these lights had no coating on them...

Also, its rainy season, and I ate through my front tires again (at least there is even wear...). Gonna get a full set of Nokian All Seasons installed Friday, Finnish made, inventor of the snow tire. Supposedly they are really awesome all around tires. Back tires are still at like 50% after 16k miles, so probably gonna sell them on a car page, being that I have the most common tire size available.

[Taterhead]

What light kit did you go with? I've used the 3M one with pretty good success.

[Laecaon]

It was the 3M for the drill. 500grit starting is not rough enough to take out any dings. 800 is a stretch to cover 500, and 3000 takes forever to take out 800.

[flatcat19]

We have that 3M kit at work. Not a fan.

I normally just pay a detailer to do it for me with an orbital. They make money. I make money. Meh.

[Taterhead]

Yes, I'll admit it does take a while but I was just using it to get rid of the oxidation.

I will try the orbital the next time though. What do I have to lose, some finish coat and/or paint. Haha

[DRIVEN]

This is the one we use at work http://www.hillas.com/Categories/Headli ... fgodi4ABTA . It works pretty well if you actually do the work. This is just one of those jobs that you can't really shortcut. Not great for flat-rate. I plan on swiping the kit in a couple weeks to do my motorcycle windshield which has almost 20 years worth of light scratches.

[flatcat19]

Try wiping bug spray on yellowed lenses.

Lots of the time it will wipe the yellow right off, but still a little hazy.

Ol' schooler at my shop taught me that. Worked decently on my wife's rig.

[Laecaon]

Luckily my headlight lens just pop off on my car. The hids had actually begun to etch the plastic somehow, probably heat. So I had to do h inside as well. Nice thing is the paint protection film adhesive mostly fills the scratching. It's not a 3M film, but it's supposed to be good on headlights and is self healing like 3M.

[flatcat19]

Is your car stock HID? If not, LEDs would be less hot and just as bright if not more.

[Laecaon]

Yes stock HID. Bi-Xenon too. I also modded the HID ballast to boost the power to a true 55W (I know more heat), I added a cooling fan to the ballasts.

I have actually considered LEDs for the high beams (halogen highs) (need to be compatible with PWM DRLs), because then I could have even brighter High beams (because I modded the car to turn on the Bixenon HID and the Halogen high at the same time).

[flatcat19]

I fitted my Lexus with LED fogs and lows. Stock halogen.


Love the output. I have only been flashed once. And that was when I was traveling uphill.