hooniverse

What’s your automotive news for the week (again)?

Greg Kachadurian

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Welp. Once again all the news that happened this past week was related to the ongoing pandemic and not the industry that’s usually covered in this time slot. So I’m opening it up to you instead. Until we get back to some kind of normalcy again, this may be a routine thing. But during a situation such as this one, just talking cars with some friends is the kind of distraction we could all use. You know the drill: if you saw anything, fixed something, broke everything, or otherwise did anything even remotely car related that you want to share with your fellow hoon, sound off in the comments.

Have a good weekend and be safe.

About

Greg Kachadurian

Greg Kachadurian

I’m the guy that spoiled the site with all the new car stuff. Hooniverse News Editor since 2011, amateur motorsport photographer, sim racer, and mountain road enthusiast.

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46 responses to “What’s your automotive news for the week (again)?”

  1. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    I’m in a quandary about my old-car situation. I have no budget, no time, and no spousal approval to support my hobby, but every day my mind’s gears distractedly turn, pondering what old car I should be driving instead of the family minivan. I have several options that don’t require purchase, but all require work, money, and time if I were to make them usable:

    1. The potential DD. The ’87 BMW 535i that sits in my driveway is in pretty good shape (no rust and a nice interior) and only needs some suspension parts, brake work, and a couple of fuel-delivery-related sensors replaced to run reliably. Unfortunately the sensors don’t come cheap, and my wife won’t give up her Audi’s parking space in the garage to allow me the time to sort the suspension. So, the Fiver continues to sit.

    2. The cool cruiser. My ’67 Mercury Comet (which I bought years ago as a backup parts car for my ’66) sits in storage with its front seats and carpet pulled. I bought it cheap in the ’90s, but it was in such good condition, I decided to repaint it and drive it. I’m sure the 289 and brakes would need a going-through before it would be road-worthy, but the biggest problem is that it’s an automatic. Only a T5 swap would get me interested enough to dive into that project, and that’s way outside of my pocket-change budget.

    3. The workhorse. My grandfather’s ’91 F-150 sits on my father’s property like an old mule with plenty of working life left in it. It’s a 300-six with a 5-speed, a combination not many would appreciate, but I love. It would need a good fuel and coolant flush and a clean-up, and Dad would probably sign the title over to me just to make room by his shed. It’s potentially a cheap project, but I’d need to sell the BMW to make room for it.

    Realistically, they’re all probably just going to sit for a while, but there’s a guy that might be interested in the BMW, even before maintenance repairs. So, I continue to ponder.

    Reply
    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Sounds like the BMW is the easiest choice, which, to my mind, is a good way to start. How reliable is that “reliably” though? How long has the car been sitting? If you guys really can’t figure out some “use the garage for repairs for two weeks”-deal, do you have friends, access to a barn or just a flat portion of the driveway that would suffice? I have done a lot of simple rust repairs and smaller work that doesn’t imply I break more than I fix in driveways. As long as it doesn’t rain…

      We went out to the sea today and my weeks carspotting report is that, yes, people seem to have spent their isolation time constructively. Outside of car show weekends, I have never seen so many shiny classics and sports cars in this area.

      Reply
    2. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Sounds like the BMW is the easiest choice, which, to my mind, is a good way to start. How reliable is that “reliably” though? How long has the car been sitting? If you guys really can’t figure out some “use the garage for repairs for two weeks”-deal, do you have friends, access to a barn or just a flat portion of the driveway that would suffice? I have done a lot of simple rust repairs and smaller work that doesn’t imply I break more than I fix in driveways. As long as it doesn’t rain…

      We went out to the sea today and my weeks carspotting report is that, yes, people seem to have spent their isolation time constructively. Outside of car show weekends, I have never seen so many shiny classics and sports cars in this area.

      Reply
      1. Zentropy Avatar
        Zentropy

        Unfortunately, our neighborhood won’t allow any car repair outside of the garage. Our garage is ridiculously small, though, and my wife’s repeated line about “now’s not a good time, maybe in a few months” sounds more and more like the “free beer served tomorrow” signs that you see in pubs. If I had dedicated space for it, I could work on repairs as I found time. Before we bought this house, my wife’s list of desirables included sidewalks and a cul-de-sac, with good schools, while I wanted a few acres and a barn, and maybe a creek. Guess who won?

        The BMW is the logical choice. It’s been sitting since the end of last summer. A few hundred bucks would get it back on the road, but I may have to act first and ask for permission later.

        Reply
    3. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
      SlowJoeCrow

      If you can sell the BMW that makes space and money. The Comet may also be sellable, or fixable to your satisfaction with the money from the BMW. As for the F150, six cylinder manual square bodies have a definite following and based on my recent Craigslist searches there are a lot of them out there. I almost bought one myself before ending up with an aero body F150.

      ON the personal side I got my BMW R100S out of the garage for a short ride, indications are I need to reset the valve clearances and spend more time on twisty roads to regain my cornering skills.

      Reply
      1. Zentropy Avatar
        Zentropy

        The F150 is a practical choice, if I can talk myself into parting with the BMW. A pickup is always useful, and I could argue that it’s not so much an indulgence as it is a handy tool… for completing projects on the honey-do list. Yeah, I might be able to sell her on that one.

        Reply
        1. danleym Avatar
          danleym

          I like old pickups, and a 300 with a 5 speed sounds perfect to me, so if it was me, I’d go with selling the BMW to finance the work on the F-150. Plus, when things break down the road (which they will, no matter which old car you choose to fix up), the parts for the F-150 should be cheaper than for the BMW, which means you’re more likely to be able to keep it on the road long term.

          Reply
    4. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      The F150 sounds like an easy choice. First, it was your grandfather’s; family heirloom points there. Second, it sounds pretty easy to make roadworthy. Flush and clean can be done in a weekend and even if you farm those out to professionals, you’re in for under $500.

      The Comet would be the most impressive to be seen in, but it sounds like it will need lots of time and money that are scarce.

      I have a friend whose first new car purchase after landing his “grownup” job after graduation was an E28. I first met him about 20 years ago, and he was still daily driving it. Ten years ago, it was still his only car (not counting his wife’s car), and he said the world was about evenly divided between people who complimented him for keeping the old gem ticking and people who asked when he was going to stop tossing money down that hole–his comment was that keeping it preserved made him happy, and he made plenty of money. It had been the first major purchase of his life, and it brought him happy memories of those days. About a year ago we re-connected for lunch, and he was behind the wheel of a new car. I asked if the BMW had been reassigned to weekend duty. “Nope, I got tired of having a new thing to repair every other week, so it’s somebody else’s problem now.”

      Reply
      1. Zentropy Avatar
        Zentropy

        The Comet is bought and paid for– it can sit indefinitely without losing value to me. I’ll eventually restore it the way I want, even if it’s after retirement. The E28 is a car I’ve always wanted, but it requires a level of upkeep that the F-150 would not. A rusty, dirty, loud truck is still a good truck. The same can’t be said for a BMW.

        Reply
    5. salguod Avatar
      salguod

      I am fortunate that my wife is willing to give up her garage spot for my projects. I do make sure that I don’t do it often in the winter when she’d have to deal with scraping windows and I scrape for her when I do. She’s been parking in the driveway for over a week (see below) now and she’s been ok with it.

      The BMW seems like the short putt, assuming that you can get agreement to work on it. I love the idea of a straight 6 5 speed F150 though.

      If you do decide to sell the BMW, let me know. I may be interested.

      Reply
    6. Maymar Avatar
      Maymar

      For bad, unsolicited, unhelpful (probably just plain bad) advice, swap the 300 into the BMW?

      Otherwise, does your wife ever have reason to be out of town for a weekend that might free up the garage?

      Reply
      1. Zentropy Avatar
        Zentropy

        I think it’s too long, to be honest. The BMW runs fine, for a while, but dies after a while for reasons I haven’t been able to fully determine. I think it’s related to fuel mixture. Things were so much simpler with carburetors.

        Normally, my wife would have had two business trips in the past few weeks, but they were cancelled in light of the pandemic.

        Reply
  2. ptschett Avatar
    ptschett

    I’m in the middle of a two-week span where I’m expected to neither be at the office nor to be working from home, and driving is still an allowed (and even mayor-endorsed) boredom management tool here, so I took the Challenger out for a few hours on Wednesday. Drove west from Fargo into a stiff headwind, where the only other light-duty vehicle I remember going the same way at the same time was a midsize Jeep CUV with plates signifying it belonged to a dealer of new cars; bought lunch at one of Valley City’s hometown burger shops, where the drive-thru line was long but efficient; ate in the parking lot of Valley City’s now-shuttered “Shopko Hometown” store and tried to remember what it had been previously. (Alco? Pamida? I think Pamida.)
    Done with lunch I turned south onto the Sheyenne River Scenic Byway and got an unexpected biker wave from a Harley rider who must have been similarly seeking views farther than the other side of a room; coming back east and north, listened to the South Dakota & Minnesota governors’ daily chinavirus updates on the AM radio; got to see the trees just starting to leaf and passed a farm where some baby lambs had transgressed the fence and were scampering around just outside the enclosure that held the rest of the flock.

    Reply
    1. Smaglik Avatar
      Smaglik

      Coronavirus. A virus doesn’t know race.

      Reply
      1. ptschett Avatar
        ptschett

        If China is a race, I for one would like to get Tibetan and Uyghur opinions before deciding.

        Reply
      2. ptschett Avatar
        ptschett

        If China is a race, I would like to get Tibetan and Uyghur opinions…

        Reply
        1. Smaglik Avatar
          Smaglik

          Keep swinging that dead cat. Life is challenging enough right now without going down that path. Try to be good to everyone.

          Reply
          1. ptschett Avatar
            ptschett

            Let’s note who’s giving downvotes here and who’s not.

          2. Smaglik Avatar
            Smaglik

            Noted. That was me. Proud of it.

          3. Sjalabais Avatar
            Sjalabais

            Hey guys, I think we’re all aware that “chinavirus” is a wrong thing to say, but allowing this to escalate is just as much an expression of tired tempers, eh?

  3. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    Not really car related, but in an effort to get outside, we’ve been trying to find fairly ignored places to walk around. On the western side of our airport, there’s a ravine with a little path system. Since it’s surrounded by the aforementioned airport, a major highway, and an industrial neighborhood, it’s not particularly accessible or well known, so there typically aren’t more than a half-dozen cars in the parking lot, so easy to socially distance. Anyhow, it’s weird to hang out near an international airport mid-day and only see a handful of planes.

    Reply
    1. outback_ute Avatar
      outback_ute

      Just for S&G I found there are currently 4 flights per day between Melbourne and Sydney, instead of over 80. Can’t imagine there are many others with other states closing borders as well as international arrivals banned.

      Reply
      1. Maymar Avatar
        Maymar

        I had to check – it looks like flights between Toronto and Montreal are about a third of their normal levels (about 70 per day to 20ish) which is still higher than expected, but we’re not on lockdown yet. However, there’s a whopping two flights between Toronto and New York today.

        Reply
  4. salguod Avatar
    salguod

    The 325Ci has been up on stands for a week now getting shocks and struts, plus a parking brake rebuild, new front pads (Akebono) and rotors and new front stabilizer links. So far I’ve got the rear shocks in and the parking brake rebuild almost done. The parts are in place, just the final cable adjustment needs done.

    This weekend I should be able to get that and the front struts, brakes and stabilizer links done. I’m anxious to drive it again, it should feel much better with all the new parts.

    Here’s a couple of pics of the rusty parking brake mechanism. The passenger side was almost completely seized and both rotors were a bear to get off.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0bef9a64302ebbcf484e7c46c4edc72747059f6b8bb630fe5544fb216e286647.jpg

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f5e3f0d475e5d28d156c55bbf94e71e1de39f0888a1955319bcb29ffd1cd07bf.jpg

    Reply
    1. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      Looks remarkably like drum brakes.

      Reply
      1. Fuhrman16 Avatar
        Fuhrman16

        It seems that a lot of cars use drums for the parking brake, even if they have rear disc brakes.

        Reply
      2. salguod Avatar
        salguod

        As Fuhrman16 said, the parking brake is a small drum brake inside the hat of the disk brake rotor. Shoes are an inch or so wide, assembly is maybe 6 inches in diameter.

        Reply
        1. 0A5599 Avatar
          0A5599

          You know the new shoes need to be properly seated to the drum, right?

          Reply
          1. salguod Avatar
            salguod

            Um, yes, of course. But, assuming that I didn’t, what does that entail? 😛

            I’m following an adjustment procedure I found online, but tell me how to seat them properly.

          2. salguod Avatar
            salguod

            Adjustment procedure:

            https://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/techarticles/BMW-3-Series-E46/39-BRAKES-Adjusting_Your_Parking_Brake/39-BRAKES-Adjusting_Your_Parking_Brake.htm

          3. 0A5599 Avatar
            0A5599

            I found this procedure online, but I disagree with step 4. Step 5 says to release the lever, which means step 4 you would be cooling them while still under pressure. That would lead to distortion.

            I’ve used a slightly different method with apparent success. On a relatively flat, straight, dry road, drive 30 mph. Lightly (one click past contact) apply the parking brake for 30 seconds while maintaining speed. For the next two seconds, apply more pressure (do not allow wheel lockup) then release entirely and allow a 5 minute cooldown. Repeat two more times. Every three months drive around 10 mph with the parking brake making very light contact for 3 seconds, in order to prevent rust from accumulating on the surface of the drum.

  5. Malaclypse Avatar
    Malaclypse

    I ordered a bunch of interior parts from china in mid Feb. Initially the order was delayed by China’s holiday week, then by quarantine related slowdown. At this point, the parts (according to tracking) are sitting at or near the airport, and have been since March 19.

    All I can do is wait, and check tracking daily, hoping to see movement.

    Reply
    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Does the seller respond? I order a lot of stuff from China and most sellers are very much interested in getting their stuff to the customer. If it was expensive enough, they might even talk to the shipping company. Some shipping has dried up, but not all of it.

      Reply
      1. Malaclypse Avatar
        Malaclypse

        The seller has been great, and willing to get back to me near real time most times I’ve reached out (carbon fiber miata – highly recommend, and they have FD parts too…)

        May be worth reaching out again, see if he can follow up with shipping company, at least find out if they got placed on a boat or plane..

        Reply
  6. danleym Avatar
    danleym

    Hmmm.. I posted a comment but apparently it got flagged as spam? Anything you Hooniverse staff can do to let it be seen?

    Reply
    1. ptschett Avatar
      ptschett

      I saw yours, refreshed and it was gone. Weird.

      Reply
      1. danleym Avatar
        danleym

        Yeah, there were even a few thumbs up, but my disqus account has it labelled “detected as spam”. Nothing I can do about it on that end- no ability to appeal or anything. Never had this happen before.

        Reply
    2. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      Nibbles has been restless lately. One of my comments went missing a couple days ago (detected as spam) even though it had two replies. Eventually it resurfaced.

      Reply
    3. longrooffan Avatar
      longrooffan

      had this happen to me last week. mdharrell and the Chief Blooger recommend logging out of discus on their site and then logging back in. It’s supposed to work, providing you, unlike me, can remember your password. Stay safe and healthy my fellow Hoons.

      Reply
      1. danleym Avatar
        danleym

        Thanks. I went ahead and did that. No idea if that would help with the last post, but hopefully it might prevent future ones? Glad to hear st least that I’m not the only one having issues.

        Reply
  7. kogashiwa Avatar
    kogashiwa

    Have put more miles on my bicycle than The Cibbic in the last couple of weeks. And I haven’t been cycling much.

    Have been looking longingly at sailboat listings for sale because the middle of the Pacific sounds like an excellent place to be right about now.

    Reply
  8. wunno sev Avatar
    wunno sev

    been working from home 80% of weekdays, doing nothing on weekends, and my county has stopped enforcing street cleaning parking restrictions. so it was that yesterday when i had to use a car that i park on the street, i literally forgot where it was and had to walk a few blocks before i found it.

    Reply
  9. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    Just the obligiatary tiny car post, and playing Dirt Rally 2.0 a lot.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/23845604ea177f3e250e29842e0335972a0bba516ef90118dfacb4f4171af40d.jpg

    Reply
  10. Fuhrman16 Avatar
    Fuhrman16

    I did a little work to the Mazda this weekend. Swapped out the winter tires for a fresh set of all seasons. It’s kinda amazing how much more responsive it is with a less squishy rubber compound and an inch less sidewall.
    Also spent the day going through the brakes. I had planned on replacing the front pads, but even after 60-70 thousand miles, they were barely half worn, so they went back on. The rear brake shoes however were original to the car and had 150 thousand, so they needed replacement. And bloody hell, I forgot how much of a pain it was to do drum brakes. The biggest issue was the little adjuster plate. It simply sits loosely on a roll pin and is held in place by the adjuster wheel itself. And to make things just that little more difficult, it’s mounted on the back side of the shoe. Trying to keep that all to stay in place while you assemble the bits really tests one’s patience.
    Also bleed out the brake fluid with some fresh stuff. Should be good for a couple more years. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fcd3a62d9d1b4c80f260a0c51c99511222457b54209f928b1f643d0b2284d423.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9e8a329dfab71dc076c8006f1b4dc5746c5d6c262e4a13e30f42d19f08b75029.jpg

    Reply
  11. Scoutdude Avatar
    Scoutdude

    I actually have been doing some things on the vehicles the last few days since it has been sunny and warmer than it had been. Did a good interior cleaning on a number of them. They all have had their time on the charger maintainers until they switch to maintenance mode.

    The big project has been the Van. In its first life is was an ambulance. When the county sold it they removed all the lights from the outside and the switch panel leaving the wires cut and capped with heat shrink and a hole in the dash. Now of course the strobes are required to be removed by state law, but not the floods on the sides.

    So when it was decommissioned they just unscrewed the lights, cut and capped the wires and they put huge blobs of silicone to seal it up. Since the top is fiberglass to give the screws something to bite into there were small blocks of thin plywood glued to the inside. Well those de-laminated, I could see those in the holes where speakers were in the unused portion above the seats.

    Oh did I mention mice got into it? So yeah all the plywood and textured fiberglass panels have been removed, nests and droppings removed, cleaned up and the inside of the plywood painted with the smell blocking Kilz.

    I’ve traced down the wires, figured out what the factory wires were and now have a plan.

    I’ll make a new switch panel and re-use the existing add on 6 fuse panel and the two relays that were left. A couple more relays, diodes and switches and here is how it will be set up.

    I’m putting some RV porch lights where the L & R floods were and another above the rear door. Those will be powered by relays and a SPDT switch will control what input is used to trigger those relays, power from the battery saver relay or the dome light circuit for the ones on the side. The one in the rear is where the diodes will come into play. The side of switch that gets power from the dome light circuit will get a diode and it will be joined by a wire from the back up lights also with a diode. So in the down position it will automatically come on with the back up lights or if you open the door/turn on the dome light. Like the others the center will be totally off and up is manually on.

    I have debated if I want to pull the always on power from the battery saver circuit. It means it will go off after 10 min, which on the one hand can be a good thing and on the other it could be annoying. Since they will be LED lights it isn’t like there will be that much draw.

    I’ll be adding markers where the strobes were.

    So I’m going to break down and order up the switches and lights.

    We’ll see how long it takes for the stuff to get here. Maybe I’ll even draw up an actual schematic.

    Reply
  12. danleym Avatar
    danleym

    Small update on the Spirit I’m working on-

    Unlike some who seem to be using the pandemic to get ahead on stuff at home, I’m still working, my wife is still working, and the kids are home all the time, so my progress has slowed a lot.

    But I have a couple pictures. Almost finished with my relay box- relays for the electric fans I’ll be installing, plus the lights, and I’m putting the horn relay in there just to keep things tidy. The box is going under the hood, so instead of a simple panel like some build, I made a cover for it to at least minimize dust and grime inside. Also wiring in connectors for all of the wires, so the entire unit can be removed if needed as a single piece, by just unplugging a few connectors and removing a few bolts. I probably spent way more time on this than I should have, but I will no longer look at the under hood wiring with disdain, so it’s worth it. Just waiting on some primer to show up, and I’ll get it painted and installed. I still need to wire up the plugs on the car side of the connectors, too. I don’t think I have any pics of the final wiring, maybe I’ll get those posted next week.

    I also built a stand for my bench grinder, so shop improvements are happening, too. Also bought a larger air compressor, one that can actually handle air tools. Going to plumb some copper line to a retractable hose mounted on the ceiling, so no more jumbled mess of air hose that will not coil when it’s cold outside and so just ends up in a ball in a corner of my garage…

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/607f7c38880223e4075b1deb80f48663f88c337d25e11e58e63cb2bd2b9675ac.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9059d4072fdb9e4e994bfee0f267a91f769eb0539101e3484bd579340a212ab3.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5dabde72b4772e423ee74aac1abbada8523a8eb4ebfaa434c7acb4125d035589.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/65a549ed646abca61e369fff033788fd4627ab05c0788ecf1a43dee14f9065b9.jpg

    Reply