What did you do to your BG(part 8)

[Kitty]

I'm quite happy with my ATX radiator, I'm also planning on running the power steering through the atx tubing when I get back to the states so it'll be even more useful then.

Today I cut my extended new bolt down and but spliced in a new fan switch lead, I didn't feel like soldering in the engine bay.

Also replaced the ignition rotor as I had picked up one a while ago and never installed it and I was pulling the cap anyway.

Compression test this weekend probably.

[Kitty]

Compression numbers
170
125
120
160

So I'm just hitting minimum spec on 2 and 3, the pressure variance is the big problem though.

Approximately a year ago the numbers were (about){not on the same tester for reference}
170
155
150
175

Bit of oil has always bumped up the center two to above 180 so I know the rings were never in the best shape there.

It my be wishful thinking but I feel like the gasket went bad between cylinder 2 and 3 and the rings didn't conveniently decided to just **** the bed entirely. I haven't gotten a normal coolant mixture in the coolant system yet but I've noticed no loss of coolant and my oil consumption hasn't changed in the +60 miles I've driven it.

The only reason I don't even want to bother with replacing the head-gasket is I know the engine will need a rebuild within the next year and aside from initial cold start running the engine feels fine. I'll probably order one and take the opportunity to look at the cylinder walls and see how bad they look. Another concern I have is if the head IS warped then the current gasket is doing a damn good job of separating things(besides cylinder 2/3) so why muck it up.

I guess I'll do the timing belt as this will be about the 5 time I've had that off and it is starting to look a little beat plus I think the idler makes a weird noise sometimes. The water pump shouldn't be due because I remember doing that before joining the Navy and I haven't even put 30k on the car sense then.

I guess I should do a leak-down test this weekend and see if there is any cylinder 2/3 bleeding. I wish I hadn't spent all my car budget monies on tires for this quarter.

[Kitty]

This is now my blog.

My FDM new old stock driving lights came in. I had planned on having the harness ran already but other events this week stopped that.

Two things I managed to fail on, the miata switch dims inverse to the rest of the cluster lights, which to be honest looks kinda neat. But I'll probably just not run illumination to it and dig about for one of the BG ones I have when I get back to the states.

I built my driving light harness using a 9v battery because I didn't have my old computer PSU setup I used in the states to build car harness. I like that setup because I know that red is 12 and black is ground. And it has alligator clips already attached.But that aside, since buying AC adapters for my guitar pedals I have not touched a 9v battery in years. And for some reason I was sure the positive side was the big one.

PROTIP: It's not.

So my relay harness is 2 plugs off in the real world application. But I won't tell you how long it took me to determine that was the problem because it is unimpressive.

Front bumper coming off tomorrow for the physical part of the install. And going to do a leak down test as well.

Head is coming off next weekend either way.

[FE3-323]

waiting for pics

[Kitty]

waiting for pics

Anything in particular you want pictures of?

All my fog/driving light **** will be in it's own thread. I've been pretty thorough in picture taking through the process.

Today I ghetto leak downed. Cylinder 2 and 3 have an obvious amount of cross over cold. I'm kinda glad of that. But the head/block MAY be warped so I'm not going to be happy if that's the problem. It is not possible for me to have no car monday-friday(and some weekends) for any period of time. Head gasket replacement next weekend(maybe)

Engine bay portion install of the fogs is done. Didn't have to mangle the bumper support as much as I had planned too. The lights don't have as much Up/Down adjustment as I'd like but they still allow some. They have a vast amount of Left/Right though so I can definitively dial them in that way.

My car has been in a good amount of front end incidents. Before and after I purchased it.(It was on it's second bumper when I got it and now it should be on it's third) This year I ran into a mountain even, the car has had a hard life. This was the first time I've pulled the bumper since getting to Hawaii and really the first time I've looked at the body damage. The driver side fender/mounting area was so badly damaged that the bolts you CAN'T see in the engine bay weren't there at all. Mainly because it was impossible to get the panel over far enough to get them to bolt. I gave it a nice breaker bar and hammer massage and my fender fits great now. As an added bonus my drivers side light is now adjusted a hell of a lot better than ever before.

I also cleaned 75% of the rocks out of the a/c condenser. It was looking pretty bad. I straightened up the worst fins as best I could. I didn't bring my fin combs with me today unfortunately. If i even get a 1º lower minimum temp I'd be happy but I'm not expecting it. Hawaii is hot and r134a is not great at it's job in a system originally designed for R12.

I also bought a generic GM coolant cap because the open tank was driving me mad. I had to tape around the rim to get it to be the correct diameter but it fits alright. I will snap a picture of that later, it looks okay.

[whistler]

battery died last week, so got it replaced and went to Autozone to get it tested, complained that the voltage regulator failed, so I'm now on CP skimming thru old bp alternator upgrade threads!

[FE3-323]

^V6 alternator upgrade... easily the best JY bang for the buck.
either that or jump on ebay & buy one of the 140 amp alternators. (thats what im running right now)

[whistler]

^V6 alternator upgrade... easily the best JY bang for the buck.
either that or jump on ebay & buy one of the 140 amp alternators. (thats what im running right now)

Thanks Ryan, I picked up one of the 120 amp off ebay! Should be here soon!

[FE3-323]

you'll enjoy it

[Kitty]

Head-bolts and other head-gasket essentials wont be here for the weekend.

Guess I'll grab a couple of MPV junkyard alts this weekend instead. Hope it's in a convenient location.

[FE3-323]

^ just grab a KL alternator. the 90 amp is good enough for most uses

[Kitty]

The MPV alternator removal procedure is the stupidest goddamn thing in the world. You have to either remove the power steering pump or the pulley to remove the lower attachment bolt. Even with the electric rattle/impact gun the junkyard gave me that pulley was staying on there and I couldn't figure out where all the P/W steering pump bolts were so I wasted a few hours of my life today. I did get another handful of mazda3 door clips so that was nice though. Still I'd recommenced just buying a re-manned alt online and eating the core if you have to. I would of preferred to have a factory one though because I've had great luck with OEM internal regulated Mazda alts.

I also forgot to find a car with a glove box light switch again.

[FE3-323]

ooo a glove box light would be nice!

[KaleoXtreme]

What yard did you go to?

[Kitty]

What yard did you go to?

ABC used auto in pearl/aiea , it's the only u-pull I know of that's still open on island.