Curly's Maintenance Minute

Hi kids, gather around... today we are tech talking about things you should keep up with on your car!

pretty cars like this, still need to have sufficient time set aside for them!



I would first like to say, that maintenance is always easier with the car as simple as possible, that is... NA cars are simpler, so work is more straightforward and simple... a FMIC car is going to be more difficult to work with and around before you can begin to tackle the job at hand. With that said, lets dive in shall we?

Now, first I want to note, that you should stay on top of all service before mods, in my quite honest opinion... you will have a solid foundation that will remain reliable, not to mention working around mods is a PITA.

Now that we have that stated, lets dive in and get head over heals. :ugh:

start by bringing the vehicle to its resting place where you can work on it, such as this:



Remove the body work and accessories that will be in your way as you service the car.



Look at all the room! oh my, now we have room to move our hands, tools, and parts even!



Here are examples of what you should be keeping an eye on... alternator, make sure the tension is correct and its properly aligned... if you don't, odd wear patterns, annoying noises, as well as a mess can occur if you let it slide, such as this:



Now we will begin to examine the vitals to the engine itself... if you don't keep on it, tragedy can occur and you will end up running your pockets deeply empty. Here is an example of overrun service, this Timing belt SHOULD always be replaced before 105,000 miles, and really... the sooner the better off you could be. this belt however, ran for 155,000 miles, i advise NOT to do this... ever.



heres a closer look:



note the cracks are EXTREMELY visible and are almost through, if this were to snap, head damage would occur and you would be in some deep doodoo.


it is, at this point... that i would like to state that this isn't really for the faint of heart, it can be a PITA, bust some knuckles, and if you don't have the proper tools (ie. the Subaru Crank Pulley Spanner Wrench) you will find yourself in a rut. granted, you COULD hold the flex plate on an auto, or place it in 5th gear with the E-Brake... the proper wrench holds it all in place and eliminates the possibilities of it slipping backwards and the valves hitting again, causing more serious damage.

more to come as we continue on the service, tool creation, and dinner :laugh:


Thanks Rexarew for having me do this, it allows me to make a thread to show the importance of the service. Also, Thanks to Shibbs for coming over to harass me, eventually, turning into creating specialty tools and giving a helping hand during the service. more pics and information as a "how to" as we continue and finish it all up.

 

also note, i will re rotate the photos, they didn't stay how they were supposed to. I hope this thread opens people's eyes and motivates them to re-evaluate their ideas on where they want to spend their money with their cars. as well as show them whats involved in order to determine if YOU will tackle the job or pay a professional such as Ben, Brian, Mike, Matt, or Ron.

 

No problem, I hope it scares people into realizing that buying go fast goodies is worth nothing if you don't stay on top of what you NEED to take care of. There will be more as we take it apart, how to do so, how to replace the belt, how to button it up (all for the timing belt). We will also show the Waterpump if i remember :biggrin:

 

Curly, will you change my oil?

 

only with Shibb's help...we need to make tools for the job :laugh:

 

that belt was TOAST!!!! thanks chris..pretty sure i didnt want to do this one in front of my house

 

Shibbs and Curly= Blacksmiths?

sort of...

as stated, factory service tools make life easier... and since i couldn't get my grubby little hands on one of the wrenches, we made one. (it will be able to be rented for a small fee for those of you wanting to do it yourself btw)

here was the "start" of it, we made 3 rings of proper lengths to be used as centering rings, similar to hub-centric rings just to make sure the spanner itself stays in its proper spot and to distribute some of the load applied.





the toxic fumes from the steel caused minor brain defects



now that we had that done, we could start putting the holding studs in place to hold the crank pulley so we can take out the bolt.



then we tach'd and mounted the second tab in place like so



here is how it sits in its well, you can see how it will take the load



here we started to put on our load handle as well



heres another shot



and one last one for now




we have to let it cool, quenching and heat cycling it so the metals can cool and restore their properties so they can be as strong as possible.

more in a bit, if we keep at it tonight, or tomorrow when i start on it again. but for now, Shibbs, Vortgo, and Myself need to go out and play in the snow while we can :biggrin:

 

wow that camera takes super clear shots! lol j/k good info, bad belt! Good thing it got in to change it out!!

 

getting the bolt of is easy as pie, its getting it back ON thats the tricky part, all you need is a breaker bar and the starter.

 

Using the starter to take it off, or put it on?

 

we had a delay :biggrin:











and sorry about the pics, my 1.3 camera is all i have on hand, the camera is down in mankato... figured the post was still a good idea to show what can happen and how to go about taking care of it. and with that, its time to get some more work in before i call it a night.

 

Where did you guys go? That location looks pretty good.

 

we went a few different spots.

a thanks to Vortgo, Shibbs, Idget, TanglyPoo, Boss, Mixx, Steph, Matt, and Evan for letting me take a break...i think it was needed for a while, i have felt like crap all day.

 

that would be taking it off.



bah. the timing belt on the EJ22 in my loyale has at least 170k on it......of course, that's a non-interference motor, so if it snaps, it only ruins your afternoon.


I take terrible care of my timing belts, always have....which is why I'm highly afraid of interference motors!

 

Thanks again for doing all this work for me! And thanks to everybody who is helping!!

 

stop saying thank you, its not done! lol, i think i am sick

 

More excuses to drive your car more, Nickole!

lol

 

no excuses, the car is still torn apart and I didn't have the energy to work on it more last night after 2am... and tonight I have to go up to St. Cloud

 

:laugh: Ha, Well I'm having a great time with the wagon. I told him he could keep it till whenever.

 

not whever, sometime in february is what you said. lol

 

Same thing!
My car needed some tlc and she's in good hands. I'm not missing her yet.

 

you'll start missing her with my lack of updates and the car sitting disassembled in the garage (which isn't all bad, its heated)

 

I did one of these in jasons cold ass garage (yes it was single digits in the garage) in 2 hrs, whats the freakin' hold up?

 

Yeah you did.

 

For Cooooorz Light

 

lack of 5 speed, lack of motivation, this cold, and other things to do... coupled with being told no rush and me not wanting to spend more money on gas and driving around

 

If Your going to try and run a T-Belt overtime. You might want to invest in a Gates Racing Belt. Advertised to be 300% stronger than a regular belt.

http://www.gatesracing.com/timing.cfm

 

It's not like I tried to run it overtime. I've had the parts sitting in my bedroom for like 5 months! :biggrin: It was always in the back of my mind of things to do. But I don't have a garage, know how or time to do it. It happends. At least it is being taken car of and my Gerdy will be as good as new when I get her back!!

 

Sorry, I wasn't trying to imply anything.

Just trying to inform peeps that there is a heavy duty belt available.

 

to be fair, she also bought the car with way more miles on the stock belt than it should have had.

back to work today, i can stand up without feeling sick and the distractions that are the Brooklands and the 8C aren't taking my attention.

 

maybe i missed it, what are you replacing besides the belt? pulleys, tensioner, water pump?

now's a great time to paint the T-belt cover:yumyum:

 

belts, water pump, gasket, t-stat, coolant flush and what nots and going over the whole car to try to prevent Nickole more headaches

 

Very nice Chris, very nice!!!

 

little bugs to sort out is all, as long as the new water pump, t-stat, and belt are in good working order it should be straightforward and headache free

 

Well, I just got the car back! Thanks Curly and Shibbs for working on her for me! I can't wait to drive her around. I love the wagon to death but like to hide behind the cover of my tint!

 

Curly.... My brake light is on!! It flickers on and then when I first accelerate it goes out. Then about 40 seconds later it comes back on? I know you mentioned this when you brought it back to me but why is it doing this? It wasn't before.
I know next year I'll be investing in ss brake lines. I usually hit the brakes before I drive off because when the car sits overnight they freeze up a bit! And you know first hand how ****ty my abs is!

 

Thanks Sheen! I'm at work right now.We'll check it out later. I was wondering if it was the fluid. That makes me happy that I might be on the right track!

It's just the brake light in the cluster. Not the ABS one. My brakes are working fine so that's a good thing!

 

there was no dori dori in her car. haha

 

Not with a bad belt! Revving on that thing was scary after looking at the belt!