Tuesday, July 29, 2008
just a little update
ordered my expansion valve today. Need to get some gas tomorrow. Gas prices have been going down a little... saw $3.79 today on the way home, pretty good I guess. Car is still making that horrible chattering (valve tick) noise. I'm tired of adjusting them and I don't know whats causing it to get worse. Could it be from all the lucas stop leak crap that I put in thinking it would help quite them? Tomorrow I'm going to try some stuff that is a detergent based additive (not a thickening agent) that says it is specifically designed to quite noisy lifters and valves.
Monday, July 28, 2008
clean
Ahhh… A vacuumed car is nice, even when you don’t have any carpet. Not much else has happened for a while. There was a ton of sand (yes sand- contrary to what my wife believes, even though I we are in Alabama there is sand in my car) in the front floor board and little bits of “stuff” all over the place – it was really beginning to bother me. I cleaned out the car after the brake job incident and since having the passenger side seat at least partially bolted into the car it looked (and felt) a lot better to drive. Later I topped off the air in the tires. Exciting stuff huh?
Oh yeah, I talked to another mechanic friend of mine, we worked together all day last Sunday and had nothing good to do but talk, so I learned ALL about my AC system. Turns out I have an expansion valve, not an orifice tube. And according to him, it’s the most common thing to go out on imports and it’s not very expensive – of course it is special order and will take 3 days to get in. And I of course since it’s a closed system anything related to it needs to be replaced at once (or it will have to be re-vacuumed and recharged), so I’m going to get a new set of valve cores and caps and a new receiver dryer. Altogether I should be able to have my AC system completely recharged and working for less than a hundred. That’s when I can really say Ahhh…
Oh yeah, I talked to another mechanic friend of mine, we worked together all day last Sunday and had nothing good to do but talk, so I learned ALL about my AC system. Turns out I have an expansion valve, not an orifice tube. And according to him, it’s the most common thing to go out on imports and it’s not very expensive – of course it is special order and will take 3 days to get in. And I of course since it’s a closed system anything related to it needs to be replaced at once (or it will have to be re-vacuumed and recharged), so I’m going to get a new set of valve cores and caps and a new receiver dryer. Altogether I should be able to have my AC system completely recharged and working for less than a hundred. That’s when I can really say Ahhh…
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
A little help from above
Ok so last week I was supposed to go work on my brakes.
After packing up the car, getting all the parts and supplies I got to my friend's shop and realized that I didn't have the lug-key (that pesky little security device to keep theives from stealing my o-so-hot factory rims). Thanks to crappy cell phone connections I never got anything done. Except for hanging out with some guys in a garage then getting some chinese - nothing got done to Misty.
I "rescheduled" for another day after work, but that day just didn't happen, I found more important (and relaxing) things to do instead.
So last night I finally made it back over to the shop (with the key this time) and got right to work. Tearing apart the passenger side front caliper revealed - nothing out of the ordinary, normal caliper for an 11 year old car. But I bought a rebuild kit and figured I might as well use it, just to "freshen" things up.
Everythings stripped and cleaned, then I spray it all down with some nice bright red caliper paint. It said "quick drying" apparently the humidity was too high and it never dried. So wipe that now cruddy tacky mess off and get back to rebuilding the calipers... everythings all set except the cylinder gasket - thee most important part (it's what holds the brake fuid in when you press on the brake pedal). The new gasket that came with the kit just won't fit.
Even after having Malcolm (owner of the shop) try everything he could and ruining both new gaskets we come to the realization that I'm going to have to replace the caliper. It's 8:30 at night. After one phone call, Malcolm finds one for like $50 at an Autozone about an hour away, he has it put on his account and put on hold to be picked up later. He decides to leave and go get dinner and I stay and work on the Mirage. At this point I'm saying to God, "What am I going to do? This was supposed to be a simple little brake job and now I'm going to have to leave my car at his shop, buy another caliper, and find even more time to try and finish this project. And I don't really have the money in the budget to go buy anything". A little voice says to me "Just go back over to the parts washer and look in the drain, use the gasket in there." So I did. And it FIT!
I don't know why I'm so supprised - with God anything is possible. Since finding Jesus and asking to be saved... Stuf like that seems to happen more and more.
It took more work and I had to dismantle the dirver's side caliper as well to replace the dust-boot, but around 10:30 Malcolm helped me bleed the brakes and by 11:00 I was on my way home with new rotors, pads, and freshly rebuilt calipers... all with a little help from above.
(I still need to go back and paint them - they look horrible)
After packing up the car, getting all the parts and supplies I got to my friend's shop and realized that I didn't have the lug-key (that pesky little security device to keep theives from stealing my o-so-hot factory rims). Thanks to crappy cell phone connections I never got anything done. Except for hanging out with some guys in a garage then getting some chinese - nothing got done to Misty.
I "rescheduled" for another day after work, but that day just didn't happen, I found more important (and relaxing) things to do instead.
So last night I finally made it back over to the shop (with the key this time) and got right to work. Tearing apart the passenger side front caliper revealed - nothing out of the ordinary, normal caliper for an 11 year old car. But I bought a rebuild kit and figured I might as well use it, just to "freshen" things up.
Everythings stripped and cleaned, then I spray it all down with some nice bright red caliper paint. It said "quick drying" apparently the humidity was too high and it never dried. So wipe that now cruddy tacky mess off and get back to rebuilding the calipers... everythings all set except the cylinder gasket - thee most important part (it's what holds the brake fuid in when you press on the brake pedal). The new gasket that came with the kit just won't fit.
Even after having Malcolm (owner of the shop) try everything he could and ruining both new gaskets we come to the realization that I'm going to have to replace the caliper. It's 8:30 at night. After one phone call, Malcolm finds one for like $50 at an Autozone about an hour away, he has it put on his account and put on hold to be picked up later. He decides to leave and go get dinner and I stay and work on the Mirage. At this point I'm saying to God, "What am I going to do? This was supposed to be a simple little brake job and now I'm going to have to leave my car at his shop, buy another caliper, and find even more time to try and finish this project. And I don't really have the money in the budget to go buy anything". A little voice says to me "Just go back over to the parts washer and look in the drain, use the gasket in there." So I did. And it FIT!
I don't know why I'm so supprised - with God anything is possible. Since finding Jesus and asking to be saved... Stuf like that seems to happen more and more.
It took more work and I had to dismantle the dirver's side caliper as well to replace the dust-boot, but around 10:30 Malcolm helped me bleed the brakes and by 11:00 I was on my way home with new rotors, pads, and freshly rebuilt calipers... all with a little help from above.
(I still need to go back and paint them - they look horrible)
Monday, July 14, 2008
Wrong parts...
Frustration. Aggrivation. And other "-ations".
Yeah so even though I'm technically a "professional parts picker outer" the computer system I use on a daily basis and depend on... sometimes stinks really BAD!
The rotors, pads, caliper rebuild kits, and guide pins were all wrong... way too small. The Big-Wheel I had when I was 5 had bigger brakes than what this thing suggested - but of course I didn't see that until after parts were paid for and had to be special ordered.
Now I need to measure my setup and double check that what the Electronic Parts Catalog suggests is indeed the right size parts for my car. I could go into more detail about how wrong it was but - I've been told that I can be Too Detailed (and long winded) so I'll just leave it at that.
Wednesday has been penciled in for some shop time at my friend Malcom's garage... ahh a lift and a big professional grade compressor... in a garage with lights and a concrete floor... Can you say Joe-HEAVEN?
Yeah so even though I'm technically a "professional parts picker outer" the computer system I use on a daily basis and depend on... sometimes stinks really BAD!
The rotors, pads, caliper rebuild kits, and guide pins were all wrong... way too small. The Big-Wheel I had when I was 5 had bigger brakes than what this thing suggested - but of course I didn't see that until after parts were paid for and had to be special ordered.
Now I need to measure my setup and double check that what the Electronic Parts Catalog suggests is indeed the right size parts for my car. I could go into more detail about how wrong it was but - I've been told that I can be Too Detailed (and long winded) so I'll just leave it at that.
Wednesday has been penciled in for some shop time at my friend Malcom's garage... ahh a lift and a big professional grade compressor... in a garage with lights and a concrete floor... Can you say Joe-HEAVEN?
Thursday, July 10, 2008
OK - another post already...
It's been a while since my first post I know. So ok here it is... my second one.
Brakes and money [to spend on my car] two things I don't have much of. We have been saving for a while now to repair and upgrade various aspects of my car. Notice the word "we". I used the word "we" not "I" because now that I am a married man with a family... there's more important things out there than having a totally tricked out car. Plus without my wife helping me put money aside from each paycheck I wouldn't have any money set aside to do anything. So that being said, "thanks honey, thanks for the help". -back to the car stuff...
I need new brakes. I'm past the slight squeak and they are starting to grind a bit everytime I stop now. So since money is an issue I'm trying to get the most bang for my buck. Big brake upgrades are out. I did a lot of research and have found some great factory alternatives. Like a lot of car manufactuers Mitsubishi "cross-engineers" a lot of things. Meaning things from one model will fit another model without having to change or modify much else.
I was faced with a few options. My ultimate choice would be twin piston calipers from an Eclipse GSX (if you don't know, that's the all wheel drive turbo charged version - one of the best cars that they ever made). Well as awsome as it is to know that all the parts are available and original Mitsubishi parts and everything will fit... I would have to get larger rims to fit the bigger rotors and calipers - not currently an option (new rims with tires would run upwards of $600).
Another option would be to swap out the rotors meant for a 2000-2001 Mirage Sedan with ABS. This combination would be bigger (bigger is better) than what I have but not by much and it's still a lot of work and money. But these would fit with my current oem alloy rims. The current rotors are about 9" in diameter, while these are about 11.5 (if memory serves). Problem is, even with my discount, I'm still going to need over $300 for everything... more than I can spend at the moment and the brakes are becoming unsafe.
The third and final option... boring but the most affordable, and at this point still a MAJOR upgrade from what I've got now. No drilled and slotted or no cryogenicaly treated rotors... not going to spend the extra money since ultimately I still want option #1. I'll be refurbishing and rebuilding my existing calipers, replacing the oem rotors with standard rotors and replacing the pads with standard semi-metalic oems. At this point it's a necessity and I can still make it look good and perform well. Hopefully, eventually, I will save up more and be able to get larger (and wider: ie better handling) rims that will allow for the GSX calipers that I've always wanted.
it's nearly 10pm now and I'm bushed so here's where it ends. More technical data and possibly some pics to come soon.
Brakes and money [to spend on my car] two things I don't have much of. We have been saving for a while now to repair and upgrade various aspects of my car. Notice the word "we". I used the word "we" not "I" because now that I am a married man with a family... there's more important things out there than having a totally tricked out car. Plus without my wife helping me put money aside from each paycheck I wouldn't have any money set aside to do anything. So that being said, "thanks honey, thanks for the help". -back to the car stuff...
I need new brakes. I'm past the slight squeak and they are starting to grind a bit everytime I stop now. So since money is an issue I'm trying to get the most bang for my buck. Big brake upgrades are out. I did a lot of research and have found some great factory alternatives. Like a lot of car manufactuers Mitsubishi "cross-engineers" a lot of things. Meaning things from one model will fit another model without having to change or modify much else.
I was faced with a few options. My ultimate choice would be twin piston calipers from an Eclipse GSX (if you don't know, that's the all wheel drive turbo charged version - one of the best cars that they ever made). Well as awsome as it is to know that all the parts are available and original Mitsubishi parts and everything will fit... I would have to get larger rims to fit the bigger rotors and calipers - not currently an option (new rims with tires would run upwards of $600).
Another option would be to swap out the rotors meant for a 2000-2001 Mirage Sedan with ABS. This combination would be bigger (bigger is better) than what I have but not by much and it's still a lot of work and money. But these would fit with my current oem alloy rims. The current rotors are about 9" in diameter, while these are about 11.5 (if memory serves). Problem is, even with my discount, I'm still going to need over $300 for everything... more than I can spend at the moment and the brakes are becoming unsafe.
The third and final option... boring but the most affordable, and at this point still a MAJOR upgrade from what I've got now. No drilled and slotted or no cryogenicaly treated rotors... not going to spend the extra money since ultimately I still want option #1. I'll be refurbishing and rebuilding my existing calipers, replacing the oem rotors with standard rotors and replacing the pads with standard semi-metalic oems. At this point it's a necessity and I can still make it look good and perform well. Hopefully, eventually, I will save up more and be able to get larger (and wider: ie better handling) rims that will allow for the GSX calipers that I've always wanted.
it's nearly 10pm now and I'm bushed so here's where it ends. More technical data and possibly some pics to come soon.
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