MeanGreenZ28

Dropped the engine in and started her up today!!! Some things to check out but it runs much better than before!

I always say ... WD40 keeps the world moving and Duct tape and Zip ties keep it from falling apart! lol

getting back on the build... The machine shop couldn't get the broken bolt out; they can't get a drill on it (2 inches below surface and broken off at an angle) and they'd already tried a bunch of stuff and even broken off a drill bit in there. f**k. Picked up the engine, brought it home and then was talking to an oldskool hotrod guy at work and he and I both stumbled upon using Aluminum Potassium Sulfate (Alum) to dissolve the bolt out; doesn't dissolve aluminum but the acidity dissolves rust realy fast. It was worth a try ... but would take a heck of a long time and I'd have to constantly heat the water for it to do its thing. Gave up on that real quick, lol ... it's more suited for tiny little things. One thing I remember from my machine design days was using a collar for precision drilling and punching, so I was out to find something hard to use as a collar. I came upon a Chrome socket in my toolbox that fit the bolt hole's counter-bore perfectly and had a hole through that was slightly smaller than 1/4". Stuffed it in the hole with the head downwards and got a drill bit the size of the hole and just pecked at it for a few minutes until I got a pretty decent dimple in the bolt, then just went at it!!! haha, finally was able to get my stud extractor out and use its reversed drill/extractor tool to back the bolt out ... PHEW! what a freaking fiasco! One head is already on and tomorrow, hopefully, the engine will be ready to drop in ... now the wife says I need to cook tomorrow so that may have to wait, lol A friend's wife is craving hot butter cuttle fish that I've got pretty good at making (remember I'm in USA and we can't just go and get it from a restuarant, lol). Can't complain, I love feeding people...

a typical shop, be it a tuner shop or a mom and pop owned garage, would invest in a few special tools like an alignment rack, air compressor, strut/spring compressor, some special tools if you're speciallized to one Manufacturer/etc. and ofcourse the immovable capitol investments like a lift/etc. ... but the everyday tools are up to the mechanic to provide. That's how it is. If you're a career mechanic, you get used to the stuff you work with and you are going to be very protective of it and it's understood that nobody messes with anyone else tools. Tools are a huge investment but that investment also gets you paid in the long run. Most shops usually have a "tool guy" that visits every week. It's basically a truck filled with tons of tools and you open an account, pick tools you want whenever he comes by and pay the guy in installments. They'll warranty broken tools, give you tips on the best ways to save time with your tools, let you test out the latest and greatest diagnostic devices/etc. For me, it was a hobby to collect tools. Most specialty tools, I've used just once or twice but not having it would've been worse than buying it for a rainy day. Just today, a broken bolt removal tool I purchased 6-7 years ago came in handy when I broke a bolt in the block ... more on that later, lol. As for pay, there's different ways of doing it. It's rare that someone just gets paid salary or by the hour (as in working hours at the job, more on that later) in this field; unless you're really junior and help the senior techs. Typically, you get paid a percentage of the hourly rate for the amount of hours called out by the book for that job. Every year, this book/record is updated by manufacturers and aftermarket suppliers giving an estimated time to do the repair/task. So if a head gasket job calls for 10 hours, and the hourly rate a customer pays is lets say $100 (kinda high but it's a nice round figure), and you're paid 25% ... your pay for that job would be $250. You'd get paid the same whether you work hard and do it in 5hrs or slack off and take two days. You work as hard as you want to get paid. I've had 20hr weeks (did it part-time while in college) that I got paid more than the full-time 40hr week guys did 'cos I got really good at certain jobs. Some shops that require you to talk to customers regularly and sell repair work/etc. also give you a commision on the parts sold, but that's pretty rare.

to add to this subject ... I haven't tried it but I would see how it works. 2T oil has inherent detergents/etc. to keep it burning clean as possible while not fouling out plugs, leaving buildup and in the end provide excellent lubrication to the moving parts. I could see how this could help relieve some friction and keep the engines clean.

in a two stroke engine, due to its design, the piston and the rods don't come in contact with oil like in a four stroke engine; where the bottom of the piston, piston walls and everything else is constanly showered with oil from the rotating crank and within the oil galleries. This lack of lubrication will destroy a two stroke engine pretty soon unless you add oil into the fuel to lubricate those parts ... hence 2T oil

looks like this thread is my little personal journal on this car .. lol turns out the engine needs new head gaskets so I pulled the engine out a few days ago and was putting it back together when made an expensive mistake and broke a head bolt in the block. It's sitting at the machine shop right now; hopefuly they can take it out without much fuss or $'s

definitely not lol, the last time I did my aluminum wheels, I just did the brushed look finish with scotch pads 'cos I was tired after scrubbing all the crap off of it (had just bought the wheels used and the previous owner barely maintained them) ... it looked quite modern and techy! lol

what finish? Is it painted or bare aluminum/alloy? Bare paint is basically like the paint on your body. However if it's stained with brake dust/rust/etc. you're probably out of luck and would need to strip it and repaint. A wet sanding may bring the finish back if it's only scratched up and then polish. For bare wheels ... If its pretty badly oxidized, start with a steel wool and then start using something finer like 2000 grit wet sandpaper an then use a good metal polish like braso to get a good shine. Or there's even good metal polishes on the market that will do that all in one step. I used to use one here that they sell for big trucks. It's a can of abrasive cotton soaked in polish ... works extremely well!

check to see if any of your vacuum hoses were left unplugged or there's a vacuum leak at your intake or throttle body after you tuneup

Nice writeup! however, I wouldn't recommend pushing the old brake fluid back into the master cylinder while compressing the piston back into the caliper. I'd open up the bleeder screw before compressing the piston so the old fluid could be expelled; crimping the rubber brake line while doing it would make it better (there's a tool for this, or use locking pliers but make sure the hose is protected from the sharp edges of the jaws). Then refill the master cylinder and pump the brakes after install is complete. However, you'd want to bleed the entire brake system after the brake job since the fluid does go bad over time; absorbs water from the air and reduces the boiling point of the fluid. Have a helper pump the pedal a few times slowly and hold pressure, open the bleeder screw, let the fluid flow, and close when his foot hits the floorboard (or when the flow stops). Do this a few times till the brake fluid turns clear and you have no air in the system. Important: start with the furthest to the master cylinder and work towards the closest. Example: for a RHD car in SL ... Left Rear > Right Rear > Left Front > Right Front

a good thing to check is if your heater core is bad. a leaky heater core can cause an oily residue (from coolant) on the windshield that is hard to get rid of, unless you use a good cleaner often; like something amonia based. Had that issue in mine and it was a pain in the butt 'cos it would mist up really fast and then be hard to wipe off and see through.

I use microfiber towels to dry and polish, they dont scratch and dont leave behind lint

running too lean will cause scorring of the cylinder walls due to lack of lubrication from the fuel and cause the engine to run hot too. Also lean conditions can cause engine knock and hurt internals in the long run. Running too rich will cause your rings to wash out and reduce compression ... either way, not good. and with both ways, you're gonna either create bad emissions or create a lot of carbon build up in your engine/valves/etc.

nice job on the conversion!

Wait, do we ever have "positive" experiences with the SL police? haha The last time I visited (for my wedding), I couldn't find my SL driver's license. Therefore, I did the next thing I could, I went to the RMV and asked what I could do and they told me to go to the RMV in Paliyagoda (I think) and get a temporary permit for a visiting foreigner. So I went there, showed my US license and passport and got a letter with the embossed seal and the signature of the commissioner/etc. stating I was authorized to drive in SL for 30 days with my foreign license. I had to personally take it to him too. After my homecoming, and after goofing around at the hotel, we decided to go to Pilawoos and then drop off my cousin at home. I come around the Liberty Plaza round-about and am obviously stopped for no reason (was driving perfectly sane due to reasons like this). Although in the US we stay in the car with our hands on the wheel for the safety of ourselves (and the officer ofcourse), I was asked to get off and walk up to the cops with my documents. A friend had loaned me his Audi A6 at the time; this probably had something to do with this, but I'm hoping not. I walk up to the two cops with my US license/passport (in my pocket; 'cos I didn't want to flaunt it for obvious reasons) and holding the temporary driving permit I got a few days ago. As I handed them the document, they literally said "What is this?" ... I said "huh? you don't know?" and then had to explain what the hell the piece of paper they were holding was. I stated that I was asked to get it from Paliyagoda by the RMV in Borella and that it has the commissioner's seal and signature; and it was a genuine government printed (not a printout or photocopy) document that they were issuing to others just like me; there were some other guys from the USA there on that day too. Then I finally had to pull out my US passport and drivers license to prove that I did infact have a license elsewhere in the world. They asked if it was an international license and I said "NO". They wanted a few minutes to scratch their head so I went back to the car and was talking to my bro/wife/friends about it and they were like "just bribe them already!" and I was like "are you crazy? I haven't done anything wrong and I can't help it if they don't know the law in their own jurisdiction. I'll stand here all night and prove they're wrong". At this point a Toyota Starlet Turbo (Glanza?) comes screaming around the round-about with an obviously drunk (or just over excited over NFS) driver in it and almost hits the cop car and stops. A third cop stands in front of it while the two others run off with all my documents to see what happened. I hear some talking/etc. and then they just let him go and concentrate on me again, WTF? They come walking back up to me and I can hear them whispering saying that it does "look" genuine with the seal and "commissioner mahaththaya's" signature etc. and then ask me why I didn't go to the Automobile Association and get a permit from there. I stated that the RMV had already given me the 1st option of a legal document from the government rather than my 2nd option of the AA so I didn't think any more about it. Then they say the right thing to do would have been to go to the AA and how they've never seen this kind of document and doubt its authenticity/etc. and I was seriously getting annoyed right now. I don't remember quite what I said but it was along the lines of "I don't care what you say, this is a valid document and you need to get some education in the way the legal system works in the country that you enforce the law" ... through this I can hear people from my car yelling in Malay "just bribe the guys already!" ... lol ... finally, they knew I wasn't trying to pull a fast one with them and had to take my word for it or risk having to stand there all night or even take a trip to the police station/RMV the next day where it would've been proven that they are idiots ... and they handed me my documents and said "have a nice evening and drive safe" ... haha More stories, but I'll save them for later!

I've been out of the loop for a while, but it's awesome to hear this event is happening in SL ... wish you guys could've also got the chance to see the C6R Corvette, Jaguar XK and Ferrari 458 race cars too (from the ALMS), pretty damn ridiculous sounding; each in their own sound spectrum. The Porsches are awesome and stupid fast but they just don't sound like they wanna punch me in the nuts for looking at it, lol. Although I'd love to hear the Lambos. I have a bunch of pics from when they raced in Baltimore, just never got the chance to post them up.

For future reference, there is a pressure switch in the condenser lines (low pressure side, I believe) than needs to see charge pressure before it'll let the A/C clutch engage ... not sure why anyone else didn't mention this in things to check. Glad to see it was figured out to be a leak. Are you sure that just replacing all the seals/o-rings cant fix it? I'm guessing that since they added too much oil/refrigerant into the system (system wasn't completely evacuated and everything re-measured before charging the system), you probably had excessive pressure in there that blew a seal at the exit side of the compressor.

saw it on TopGear where with the two door version (well, three door infact) it's ridiculously hard to get in the back seat 'cos the front seats dont slide/tild forward far enough, lol ... Clarkson was basically like "WTF?" hahaha

owners manual? https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/staticcontent/en/techinfo/html/prelogin/docs/2ndprius.pdf ... page 6?

Have never had an issue like this since I used some anti-seize paste on the threads before putting them on

I think what he's trying to say is that most cars will be out of reach for the general population and therefore reduce their sales or even make them go bankrupt, which is a valid point. And for the consumer, a quality automobile will be out of reach and the substandard vehicles they can afford may cost them more in the long run or even their life should the unfortunate happen.

Where in Virginia? I'm in Baltimore, MD. Have we seen each other at any events? lol Nice ride there! Mani, it needs a LS1 lol

as long as you're not going too fast and forcing it to do something it wouldn't do when you press the accelerator all the way (kick down) .... you should be fine. The reason for those selections (esp. 2) is when you want to hold the gears longer like climbing up a steep twisty hill/etc. or starting off in a slippery road (winter). ofcourse, if you slam it into 2nd when you're at speed, you're gonna break it eventually. It's a bit more forgiving than a manual because of the torque converter as opposed to a clutch, but it's still a matter of time.

Black smoke = bad tune/fuel issue 'cos it's running rich (too much fuel). If it's excessive, you'll probably end up washing your piston rings out thereby requiring a rebuild. Washing out means tat there's so much unburned fuel in the chamber that it washes off the oil lubricating the cylinder walls, thereby causing the rings to wear out prematurely. Can you smell gasoline in the oil when you change your oil or do you have trouble starting the car on a cold morning? That's a good sign you have bad rings. White smoke = head gasket. Coolant seeping through into the combustion chamber and the white you see is water vapor. You'd probably also see that your oil has a milky color to it (water mixed in oil) if it's leaking into the engine too; not always though). One of the dangers of head gasket is that if it's leaking into the cylinder, you could have a time when it seeps in over night and the next time you start it up, BOOM! 'cos there could be too much water in the cylinder and since water is incompressible and then add to that a rapidly moving piston trying to compress it and your weakest link is going to fail (read, explode/disintegrate); usually the rod or the piston. Blue/blue'ish smoke = Burning oil. Your piston rings are shot from a lack of lubrication! rebuild time! You'd probably also smell gasoline in the oil.