I like my car again [Archive]

zach

12-12-2005, 09:11 AM

JST

12-12-2005, 09:15 AM

Thanks to the hard work of JST, nrubenstein, bren, rumatt, and Bahnbaum, and the generosity of Pinecone, my car underwent some modifications over the weekend.

We installed: Konis, H&R Springs, a new front control arm and tie rod, X-brace, new fuel filter, and new RTABs.

The car feels remarkably different in a good way. :D

We even remembered to torque all but two bolts. :speechle:

At any rate, I am very pleased and owe a huge debt of gratitude to the aforementioned mechanics and garage owner.

:D

Good meeting you, though to put my name first is kind of unfair, given that mostly what I did was stand around and make smart ass remarks.

Glad the car feels good.

Which two bolts didn't get torqued? Or is that a mystery that you are supposed to figure out later?

rumatt

12-12-2005, 09:16 AM

It was great meeting all you clowns.

Were you able to tighten the two bolts and fix the problem? Or was there damage?

zach

12-12-2005, 09:17 AM

It was great meeting all you clowns.

Were you able to tighten the two bolts and fix the problem? Or was there damage?

Nah, I drove the last few miles home without using the brakes. I'll fix it later today.

BahnBaum

12-12-2005, 09:23 AM

It's all Bren's fault.

And if you happen to wreck it before you fix it, dibs on the NAV/headunit.

Alex

rumatt

12-12-2005, 09:23 AM

Which two bolts didn't get torqued?

They tried to blame the clunking on our Koni top nut torquing creativity, saying we should have used the impact gun. :nono:

It turned out to be nothing important.... just the brake caliper. :speechle:

bren

12-12-2005, 09:45 AM

At any rate, I am very pleased and owe a huge debt of gratitude to the aforementioned mechanics and garage owner.

"mechanics" :lol:

It's all Bren's fault.

Hey, I'm the one who said not to remove the caliper in the first place :mad2:

Nick M3

12-12-2005, 09:47 AM

"mechanics" :lol:

Hey, I'm the one who said not to remove the caliper in the first place :mad2:
See what happens when you insist on using torque wrenches? ;)

JST

12-12-2005, 09:48 AM

"Wait--is a newton meter bigger than a pound foot?"

rumatt

12-12-2005, 09:51 AM

Hey, I'm the one who said not to remove the caliper in the first place :mad2:

:lol:

rumatt

12-12-2005, 09:52 AM

We installed: Konis, H&R Springs, a new front control arm and tie rod, X-brace, new fuel filter, and new RTABs.

You forget "bird nest removal".

zach

12-12-2005, 10:09 AM

You forget "bird nest removal".

:lol: That car is still VERY dirty, but I think we removed most of the compost.

Plaz

12-12-2005, 10:18 AM

: pri:

Gee, thanks for the invitation. I can point and snicker with the best of 'em. Feh.

Now I know who not to invite to the annual Plaz hookers-and-blow-a-palooza next spring.
:toetap:

rumatt

12-12-2005, 10:25 AM

Gee, thanks for the invitation. I can point and snicker with the best of 'em. Feh.

You know, while driving down, I remembered that you mentioned you might be interested in attinding one of these. Until then, i figured I was the only one stupid enough to drive that far to watch a bunch of weirdo's work on some other weirdo's car.

We even could have ridden together if you wanted.

Sorry man.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

zach

12-12-2005, 10:25 AM

: pri:

Gee, thanks for the invitation. I can point and snicker with the best of 'em. Feh.

Now I know who not to invite to the annual Plaz hookers-and-blow-a-palooza next spring.
:toetap:

: oops: Sorry, Plaz, I didn't even think of it. I'm very forgetful, as evidenced by the fact that I was probably 10 minutes from Matt's house last night when I realized my caliper wasn't attached. Naturally, I forgot that he lived nearby and drove home "carefully."

Plaz

12-12-2005, 10:33 AM

You know, while driving down, I remembered that you mentioned you might be interested in attinding one of these. Until then, i figured I was the only one stupid enough to drive that far to watch a bunch of weirdo's work on some other weirdo's car.

We even could have ridden together if you wanted.

Sorry man.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

That's all right. Thanks to my short term memory deficit, I'm over it already.

But next time, try and...

uh...

what were we talking about? :kos:

rumatt

12-12-2005, 11:01 AM

what were we talking about? :kos:

:lol:

Probably sex or drugs, but I can't remember which.

clyde

12-12-2005, 11:47 AM

: oops: Sorry, Plaz, I didn't even think of it. I'm very forgetful, as evidenced by the fact that I was probably 10 minutes from Matt's house last night when I realized my caliper wasn't attached. Naturally, I forgot that he lived nearby and drove home "carefully."
yeah, matt is just a few minutes off the route I used to take DC<->Boston. Probably a good thing that you didn't stop, though. He was IMing me all evening about how he needed some sausage. :eeps:

zach

12-12-2005, 11:48 AM

yeah, matt is just a few minutes off the route I used to take DC<->Boston. Probably a good thing that you didn't stop, though. He was IMing me all evening about how he needed some sausage. :eeps:

Come to think of it, we never did find the kneeling pad he was using. He must have stolen it.

clyde

12-12-2005, 11:49 AM

Good meeting you, though to put my name first is kind of unfair, given that mostly what I did was stand around and make smart ass remarks.

Glad someone filled in for me while I was scrubbing and scraping the Golden Zephyr and weeding out bad cones from good.

Nick M3

12-12-2005, 11:53 AM

Glad someone filled in for me while I was scrubbing and scraping the Golden Zephyr and weeding out bad cones from good.
I must say that I was rather surprised to find out that Josh is against pussy, though.

JST

12-12-2005, 12:08 PM

I must say that I was rather surprised to find out that Josh is against pussy, though.

I merely observed that the lack of discussion of that topic was an easy way to tell that I was not in the presence of professional mechanics, who, in my experience, talk about little else.

Plaz

12-12-2005, 12:25 PM

Come to think of it, we never did find the kneeling pad he was using. He must have stolen it.

I keep mine next to my reaching broom.

zach

12-12-2005, 09:26 PM

Nah, I drove the last few miles home without using the brakes. I'll fix it later today.

Update:

Fernando was kind enough to come over tonight with his jack and ratchets (none of my tools are at this apartment). Unfortunately, we discovered that one of the bolts is missing. The one that was left I removed with my hand (no wrenching required). :eek: :ack:

rumatt

12-12-2005, 09:28 PM

Geez.

You do realize how deeply ironic it is that I said, "You're not going to forget to torque those caliper bolts tomorrow, are you?" when you and nick were leaving.

:ack:

12-12-2005, 09:32 PM

Zach, you should feel fortunate nothing bad happened to you on the drive back.

Let me know how things go.

zach

12-12-2005, 09:34 PM

Zach, you should feel fortunate nothing bad happened to you on the drive back.

Let me know how things go.

I was thinking about that before. That could have gotten very nasty. I'm not sure losing the caliper would have been catastrophic, but it would have been less than ideal.

Thanks again for coming by tonight. I really appreciate it. :)

12-12-2005, 09:37 PM

I was thinking about that before. That could have gotten very nasty. I'm not sure losing the caliper would have been catastrophic, but it would have been less than ideal.

Thanks again for coming by tonight. I really appreciate it. :)

At low speeds, the worst would probably have been just a bit of loss of control and maybe a fender bender if you were close a car in front of you. Emergency braking at highway speeds OTOH.:ack:

But yeah, it's not like loosing a wheel or your brake fluid.

JST

12-12-2005, 10:55 PM

At low speeds, the worst would probably have been just a bit of loss of control and maybe a fender bender if you were close a car in front of you. Emergency braking at highway speeds OTOH.:ack:

But yeah, it's not like loosing a wheel or your brake fluid.

Hard to imagine what would have happened, but since the wheel was on the car, and the caliper is clamped around the disc, I don't think it would have gone anywere; it probably would have just scraped between the rotor and the inside of the wheel making an ungodly noise.

BahnBaum

12-13-2005, 12:33 AM

TeamWTF?! strikes again.

We need to get more rigorous about the way we torque. This isn't the first time it's happened.

Alex

JST

12-13-2005, 08:32 AM

TeamWTF?! strikes again.

We need to get more rigorous about the way we torque. This isn't the first time it's happened.

Alex

We need some way to mark bolts that have been tightened but not torqued--like a tag, or white out, or something.

bren

12-13-2005, 08:40 AM

We need some way to mark bolts that have been tightened but not torqued
http://www.lineleeder.com/images/chalkboard.jpg

zach

12-13-2005, 08:54 AM

Hard to imagine what would have happened, but since the wheel was on the car, and the caliper is clamped around the disc, I don't think it would have gone anywere; it probably would have just scraped between the rotor and the inside of the wheel making an ungodly noise.

Well, if the caliper's not attached to the car, won't it grab onto the rotor and then get spun around with the wheel? I assume that'd break the brake line.

At any rate, I'm just glad it didn't happen.

JST

12-13-2005, 09:01 AM

Well, if the caliper's not attached to the car, won't it grab onto the rotor and then get spun around with the wheel? I assume that'd break the brake line.

At any rate, I'm just glad it didn't happen.

The dust shield would probably prevent that--it has a caliper shaped cutout in it, and while it's not tremendously strong, it's probably strong enough to prevent the caliper from spinning around the wheel (or at least strong enough for the caliper to bang into the wheel instead of spinning around).

In any event, aren't modern brake systems composed of separate diagonal systems? I assume that even if you lost the brake fluid from the RF, you still would have brakes on the LF and RR. Maybe I am on crack.

As you say, it's just a good thing nothing happened.

zach

12-13-2005, 09:13 AM

In any event, aren't modern brake systems composed of separate diagonal systems? I assume that even if you lost the brake fluid from the RF, you still would have brakes on the LF and RR. Maybe I am on crack.

You might be on crack, but it's not keeping you from getting this one right. I totally forgot about that redundancy. :thumbup:

Nick M3

12-13-2005, 09:18 AM

You might be on crack, but it's not keeping you from getting this one right. I totally forgot about that redundancy. :thumbup:
Besides, you're only supposed to use the e-brake in the snow, anyway.

Nick M3

12-13-2005, 09:19 AM

We need some way to mark bolts that have been tightened but not torqued--like a tag, or white out, or something.
No, we just need to get them in tighter than hand tight. :p

Pinecone

12-13-2005, 01:58 PM

Maybe time to think about torque strips. Used on airplanes, after you torque a fastener you mark it with a thick paint strip from the fastener to the part. The paint cracks if the fastener moves, also visual ID on torquing. Person marking doesn't mark until they positively check the torque.

bren

12-13-2005, 02:09 PM

Maybe time to think about....
I think part of the problem was stopping on Sat. mid way through the work on the front end.

A list of what parts were removed would help us remember what needs to be torqued.

The really simple solution is whenever you put a part back on the car you also torque it right then and there.

BahnBaum

12-13-2005, 03:16 PM

The really simple solution is whenever you put a part back on the car you also torque it right then and there.

There's the answer.

Alex

12-13-2005, 04:47 PM

There's the answer.

Alex

You either do that, or you sign up to go back and torque the ALL. No in-between.

zach

12-13-2005, 06:24 PM

The continuing Saga: I jumped off the T near Herb Chambers BMW tonight to pick up a bolt. Earlier in the day, I had called to ask if they had them and was assured that they did. Naturally, I got there tonight and learned that "it's a special order item." WTF?! indeed.

rumatt

12-13-2005, 06:46 PM

oh boy. sorry to hear it. what a pain in the ass.

clyde

12-13-2005, 06:47 PM

have them special order the bolt

when it comes in, tell them to shove it up their ass so they have it in for the next guy

zach

12-13-2005, 06:48 PM

have them special order the bolt

when it comes in, tell them to shove it up their ass so they have it in for the next guy

:lol: :lol: :lol:

rumatt

12-13-2005, 07:09 PM

have them special order the bolt

when it comes in, tell them to shove it up their ass so they have it in for the next guy

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

JST

12-14-2005, 09:00 AM

have them special order the bolt

when it comes in, tell them to shove it up their ass so they have it in for the next guy

Now THAT would be a pain in the ass.