$2015 Challenge entry - 88 Accord LXi

oh, and also the idle thing is fixed, I pulled the screw out and put pipe dope on it. Works great!

Other than the fuel pump.

tuna55 wrote: oh, and also the idle thing is fixed, I pulled the screw out and put pipe dope on it. Works great! Other than the fuel pump.

Wait...that whole IACV thing?

In reply to Volvo clearinghouse:

Oh no. That's different. The weird idle issue is tied in with the speed sensor in the dash. It's has been disconnected and hence idling fine. Derick sent a new speed sensor this past weekend.

The idle screw was so loose that it would lose adjustment. I'd set the idle and it would move all over. Pipe dope fixed that.

Plus the armrest. That was really great to have.

Fuel pumps are also great.

That armrest was hard to find in that color. Whenever I see one of those in the junkyard, I buy it, someone wants it.

Hopefully you can get this thing sorted out soon. Hopefully you won't need most of those parts I sent you.

Derick Freese wrote: That armrest was hard to find in that color. Whenever I see one of those in the junkyard, I buy it, someone wants it. Hopefully you can get this thing sorted out soon. Hopefully you won't need most of those parts I sent you.

Dude the armrest was a revelation. It was worth at least 10 points for comfort. Thank you.

I know what you mean about comfort. I just re-foamed the seats in my Volvo 240. My butt cheeks have never been so happy...

New budget:

$1235.84

New "real" (including tools and drinks and replacement parts) budget

1684.69

UGH

So Rockauto finally got the pump to me, a Carter unit which I deemed to be better branding than "IMPORT DIRECT" or whatever from O'Reilly's, and it was $65 as compared to the local $120. Amazon shipped the filter sock deal.

I noticed that the pump was a bit smaller than the original, but I figured it would be fine, so I went to work putting on the terminals.

SNAP

One of the terminals snapped off as I was tightening it.

I am so clever that I soldered the ring terminal onto the new pump, and it looked like it was going to work well.

And then I noticed that the sock would not fit.

And then I noticed that it was the wrong pump.

And then I unsoldered the terminal, pulled off the new wrong pump, and went to O'Reilly's at 9:30 last night.

The install is actually super easy, and it runs great now. I stayed home from work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday waiting for parts which I didn't need.

I also threw on a new set of plug wires because when I was checking for spark, alarmingly, each and every wire came loose from the terminal.

So, you missed 3 days of work fixing your car? You're fired.

I touched the hood of my car with sandpaper a few days ago.

Rustoleum? All the cool kids are doing it....

Dusterbd13 wrote: Rustoleum? All the cool kids are doing it....

I spent real money (well, GRM real money, so $150). Jim sent over some paint, I bought real stuff, and a real HVLP gun, and my compressor works and is wired up.

Awsome. I used rustoleum because it was cheaper to screw up while learning about running the gun.

Dusterbd13 wrote: Awsome. I used rustoleum because it was cheaper to screw up while learning about running the gun.

True!

I'm practicing too. For some other thing which I should be painting.

I spent lots of time yesterday, and my pictures are lousy, but I worked on my seat.

One of the bolts, of course the only one with the captive bolt, was stripped, so I had to drill that out and I'm driving with only three bolts now.

I removed the seat upholstery and threw it in the washing machine because it was yucky. While it was off, I added some regular foam my wife had laying around for sewing, and when the upholstery had dried, I threw it back on.

It's nominally more comfortable, meaning there are no longer steel rods poking at me (I also sewed the foam back together in some critical places), but also it's like a couch because the bolsters are all gone now. Also the headrest is like an inch further back now because I didn't add any foam to it, so that's undesirable.

Would not recommend, though my seat is a bunch cleaner.

Are you learning anything about painting? I'm looking forward to you sharing your learning experiences.

mazdeuce wrote: Are you learning anything about painting? I'm looking forward to you sharing your learning experiences.

About sanding!

Stay tuned.

I have paint, a gun, a compressor, and sandpaper. I will be updating soon.

Looking forward to it. You're one of the people I trust to tell me when something is hard/sucks and why. I read NOHOME's stuff and he's just casually knocking out show finishes in his spare time and I'm not sure it's really that easy.

In reply to mazdeuce:

1: You're really good at documenting things and showing faults and issues as you go forth.

2: You generally are not very good at things, so it's easier to see what's hard.

I choose #1!

Thanks for the compliment!

So far, sanding the hood is hard. It's partially covered in house paint, and it's not coming off evenly.

Here are some seat pics, but they are bad... and show pretty much none of what I did.

Here it is, overstuffed.

I was able to "sew" up the tears in the foam, both upper and lower had them.

I also used Woody's (I think) tip that hog rings can easily be replaced by zip ties, and they worked great.

Add some memory foam mattress topper to the factory foam. Makes a world of difference. I use the family dollar stuff.

Dusterbd13 wrote: Add some memory foam mattress topper to the factory foam. Makes a world of difference. I use the family dollar stuff.

I used foam, but it was not memory foam. The seats are overstuffed, so comfy, but no bolsters anymore.

Also as stated, the headrests are now that much farther back, so that's not great.

Can you put the headrest legs and a bench vise and bend them?

Dusterbd13 wrote: Can you put the headrest legs and a bench vise and bend them?

That's a sweet idea.

I may, though currently the posts are a little misaligned and don't slide all that well. I may do that.