Back to the CRV. I worked an extra shift last night about 100 miles from home and half way to the location of the Gambler 500 Key Swap. While driving the CRV it started to smell like a Subaru - oil burning on a hot exhaust. This being a Honda, I investigated and found the valve cover gasket has a leak and it seems to be getting worse.
I have some time to kill. Autozone has the gasket in stock and I have an aircraft hangar to work in. Might as well fix it rather than passing it on to whoever draws the CRV key from the hat.
Diagnosis confirmed. I must have pinched the gasket when I adjusted the valves a while ago. Glad it's an easy fix rather than one of the more difficult seals.
Longer pit stop than expected. The gasket kept popping out of the track. Finally done and checked. On the road again.
That's gotta be nice to be able to take care of stuff like that at work sometimes!
I'm driving home in a Fauxrari.
In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :
Your Ferrari appears to have strong Japanese influences.
AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :
Your Ferrari appears to have strong Japanese influences.
It's a Jenuwine Fuaxrari 3000GT. Only a few were made and this may be the last one still on the road - and off the road. Just after the former owner, JB, told me that he's done 120mph with it, he mentioned that only one of the brakes work and it's best to downshift quickly and use the handbrake if you have to stop fast. I actually did that a few times on the 4 hour drive home.
The CRV has gone to a good new home where I know it will be taken care of ...as a Gambler car should.
Prii... The right headlight on my Prius goes out after a while which I have found is a classic sign of a bad HID bulb. I ordered a pair of bulbs that should be here tomorrow. Last night, my daughter and pretty much son in law stopped by in the other Prius and I noticed that their right headlight was out as well. My plan is to replace both of mine now and give them the good used bulb to put in theirs. Here's my reference page to John's bulb replacement instructions: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/today-i-bought-a-used-prius/123642/page11/
The soon-to-be-sold Sequoia developed a misfire and check engine light. I cleared the code and got a pending P0305 soon after. Probably a bad coil(s). Tonight I'll do a quick coil position swap. If the code moves, I'll probably replace all the coils and plugs next week. I ordered a new MAF sensor seeing in my post back in 2020 that I had cleaned it, I figure that it's ready for a new one.
I know that somewhere I posted about "Little Debbie", the Zanzibar Red Boxster. We named it Little Debbie because it was pretty much the same color as "Debbie" the '04 Honda Element which came with "Debbie" written on the previous owner's key tag. Little Debbie was a buy opportunity that I couldn't pass up. $2,500 for a complete 2000 Boxster with a Tiptronic transmission that would not go into gear, but came with a complete known good extra transmission, TC, and TCM. It has sat, covered in my driveway and pretty much undisturbed since I bought it. It's a cool car and unique Boxster color, but we have no use for yet-another running Boxster on the road. I finally gave-in to my Boxster collecting friend, Rick, and told him that he can have Little Debbie. He's coming to get her on Christmas Eve.
The CR-Z is currently in my garage. I got the damaged fender nearly back to shape and painted it with not quite matching silver from a rattle can. Before I sell it, I want to put some mesh screens in the bumper - originals are gone and do just a little more cleanup work. I'm not going for 'restored', but want it good enough for a budget minded buyer to be interested in it as-is.
Fauxrari: I bled the brakes and it stops much better than before. Still not as good as I want. I'm going to do a full flush of the brakes soon and hope that will get it right. With the brakes good I will give it to my daughter for Christmas. I was taking some pics after washing it and a guy stopped me and asked if he could shoot a Tic-Tock video with my Ferrari. I corrected him on the make, but he still did the video.
Finally, with a few of the excess cars gone, I will focus on my Project Cars again.
There were a couple YouTube videos showing how to replace the headlight bulbs without taking the bumper cover off. I started trying it, but it is clearly more difficult to get the bulbs out and doesn't save much effort. I went ahead and did it pretty much as John Welsh described and it was painless.
Tomorrow, I plan to drive the Fauxrari to work and flush the brake system in the hangar. The weather will probably have us grounded all morning with low ceilings and a likelihood of icing.
In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :
Yay. Glad to help!
Currently playing around with the xBox. As a Gambler car I need to make it a little more 'streety'. I had stripped out all of the HVAC system, windshield wipers, and interior - Now it needs some of that back. Today I gave it one wiper. I think that will suffice:
I'm looking for a good 12V defog/heater/blower to point at the windshield on cold and damp days. I looked through Amazon and everything I saw was junk. The China sellers were scamming reviews by somehow changing the product that was being reviewed.
example: https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Windshield-Defogger-Defroster-Cigarette/dp/B0BJPMZV8R/
So, does anyone know a good 12V heater that I can adapt to a car? Putting the original HVAC back in is an option, but a simple windshield heater sounds a lot more practical.
Other considerations...
- Lightbar and winch? Yes.
- Hitch for lightweight trailer? Yes. The trailer could be the trunk section and rear wheels cut from a Porsche 914 or another Boxster.
- Lift and small wheels with big tires? Yes. I want to put my 15" Fuchs clone wheels on it with some 235/75-15 tires. I can get them on the rear of a base model Boxster, but the fronts won't clear the brakes and suspension without some major adaptation. Coilovers or a mix of non-standard struts with some Boxster parts might work with the smaller rear brake calipers put on the front. ...it sounds like a lot of work and will harm performance. The more likely option will be to put 16" wheels on and keep the Fuchs clones for a 914.
With some discussion in my local Gambler group, I settled on a heater/blower that has a heater core and mounts under the dash. The little 12V electrical heaters can't pull enough current to generate useable heat. The runner-up suggestion was an inverter and a handheld blow dryer.
Meanwhile, the Fauxrari was topped with a (very small) bow and gifted for Christmas and the Zanzibar Red Boxster that I loved but didn't have use for was sold at a give-away price to a good friend.
Could you use a rear window defroster? Not sure how bad the grid would be to look through.... but I know I've seen the same concept in the windshields on new cars with super thin wires
In reply to jfryjfry :
I bet that would work with the strips split - some across the bottom and some on the top with a space in the middle. I hadn't realized there were kits, but I remember one of my past cars, Volvo maybe?, had a heater in the wiper park area like this: https://frostfighter.com/clear-view-front-wiper-defrosters.htm
I ordered the under dash unit with a heater core like the one pictured above. It should be here early next year.
I listed the Sequoia on FB Market late last night. I'm pretty sure everyone hates the "Is this still available." messages, but they are easy enough to send an automated reply to. What I hate worse is the "bottom dollar" messages from someone who hasn't even seen the car.
In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :
Equally if not more infuriating, offering 50% less than your asking price. For my amusement I enjoy telling them I'll take even less, and offering delivery.
To the question of bottom dollar you could answer with, “im not sure yet, we'll see how it goes with the guy coming to test drive it.
For the questions of "is it available?" I answer them all with, "yes and can be seen as early as 8am tomorrow"
I looked through some upcoming auctions seeking parts cars for current projects. I didn't find anything helpful. I did find a 2007 Camry Hybrid and became curious if the reason it wouldn't start or power up was just because the 12V battery was crushed and grounding out any jump box that attempted to power it. I decided to bid up to $500 to satisfy my curiosity. Surely I'd be outbid. It was at $40 at the start of the auction. I kept bumping it with $25 increments as I was outbid - still pretty sure that I would not get it, but parts value would easily cover my expense if I won. By the time it reached $400, I was tired of bumping it and clicked a $500 max bid just to be done with it. The clock finally ran out at $475 (which put me a little over $800 incl fees). I felt both the thrill of victory and the agony of 'oh hell, not another project car...'.
I don't think I want a Camry Hybrid. The smart thing to do is pull the high value, easy to sell parts and scrap the rest. Be done with it in a few days. I'm probably not that smart.
That's not a minor hit to the Camry. It will need a professional rear-end-ectomy. Likely some pro welding and painting involved.
I'm guess this is a task for the “almost son in law“
Rather than use about 3 hours of a day off, I opted to have the car delivered for $125.
First I ran a chain from the right tail light hole to a fence post and pulled enough space to get the battery out. It was crushed and pinned in pretty tight. The regenerative brake control module beside the battery was also crushed.
With the battery out and the broken module set aside, I put a spare car battery in and started the Camry up. ...and drove it around the block. All good. Just no tail lights and two codes for the crushed module.
As often happens, the car looked nicer in the auction pictures - Clear coat on the hood has peeled off, the leather seats are worn and starting to come unstitched, there's a crack across the bottom of the windshield. At least everything seems fully functional. For all the effort and money it would take to flip this car as a proper rebuild I'd be upside down. Parting it and scrapping it, I could profit an easy $1,000 without much effort. Oklahoma is very easy to get a 'rebuilt title' and drive a wreck on the road. I may just have some fun with it or sell it at break-even to one of my Gambler 500 friends.
For the moment, my immediate plan is to attach some sort of tail lights to it and install the regenerative brake control module that I just bought on eBay for $25. This could be a good Gambler car, but how many of those do I need? I'll have a better idea of what I'm gonna do after the weekend.
You're madman...please continue
Yesterday posted the Camry in my Gambler 500 group asking if anyone wants it at $1,200. They like it, but I don't think they're buying it. Today I used it to push and pull a Porsche 914 around while I checked it over before listing it for sale.
914:
Put matching wheels back on it. Figured out that the starter solenoid was bad and it cranked fine after replacing it. Fuel system needs to be gone through, but the car is pretty complete and I could probably get it running if I chose to put time into it. Rust is bad enough that I'd rather spend time elsewhere.
If anyone wants it let me know, but I'm pricing at $2,000 Firm on FB market since I have the title. I could go a little lower to someone who posts regularly on GRM.
I'm on day shift 7 am to 7 pm for seven days now, but put the red Fiero in the garage on my last day off. I can get it to fire up, but it dies after a few seconds. Fuel issue I'm pretty sure and I've replaced the pump and filter. Looking at the relay next. I swapped it once, but the one I swapped in may have been bad - pulled from a car with a partially disassembled engine. I have thoughts of taking the low-mile V6 with manual transmission out of this car and putting it in the 'Milburn' Fiero. I have a 3.5L LX9 drivetrain in the Milburn Fiero now, but stopped work before finishing the wiring. I think that car should have the red intake V6 with performance parts instead of a minivan engine and trans. Put the LX9 in the red car instead, just to have it done. Need to get it verified running good before I take the trouble to switch it all around though.
Meanwhile, no cash offers on the 914 yet, but lots of views. *FB Market does not have "914" available as a model to list.
Trade for another project? VW Busses.
The 914 sold for cash at the asking price, no trades. I did my usual "Meet me at Walmart." for an easy place to find with decent lighting after sunset.
I deleted the ad for my Sequoia and will re-list it in February. Too many people wanted to trade junk for it or just message me a figure about 1/3 of the price. I did this walk-around for someone from the forum who was interested, but decided it was too far.
