What have you done to your car today?

[CAMAROBOY69]

Finally fixed the heater in our 2000 Saturn. The heater core was plugged and was blowing cold air. So long story short I flushed the entire system with radiator cleaner and luckily it worked. So if you have a vehicle and it doesnt seem to be blowing out hot air, flush the system with radiator cleaner. Or do a coolant flush. Also I do not recommend the orange type of radiator fluid. Its very common in GM vehicles. If that sits in your car more than a year it will start to plug the system. So use the green antifreeze.

 

[Perfect Balance]

B18/K20 hybrid

How in the hell does that work?

 

[TheBook]

I do not recommend the orange type of radiator fluid. Its very common in GM vehicles. If that sits in your car more than a year it will start to plug the system. So use the green antifreeze.

Just make sure that if you do convert from Dex-Cool (orange) to green, make damn sure you get every drop of the old stuff out. If you even miss a little, the entire mixture turns into something resembling coffee grounds, and is NOT fun to clean out. 👍

 

[CyborgGT]

Thankfully, Honda aren't the only manufacturer to make decent engines...

Yeah, but they're something I'm familiar with and trust. I also stumbled upon an AWD conversion kit... even more reason to get a Mini!

 

[Punknoodle]

I removed all the air conditioning hoses and the condenser tonight, I'll remove the evaporator tomorrow from behind the glove box, then I just have to remove the pump once I get my new water pump and air con removal pulley.

Even without the evaporator and pump its already a big lump of scrap, and the engine bay looks better without the lines, plus now there is plenty of space in front of the radiator for a front mount 👍 I also have a nice place to bring my battery cable through the firewall now that the pipes are removed from their grommets.

 

[CyborgGT]

You going for the whole 'tucked' look? I took a lot out of my bay and it's so much nicer working on the engine now, but I'm really wanting A/C again. I'm a wuss in the summer. Maybe I can find a way to hide the lines next time.

Went from this (doesn't show the cruise control unit or chassis harness I removed/tucked earlier):

To this:

 

[Super T]

If I was to do away with the Mini engine I'd have to go with a mid mounted bike engine, probably a GSX or a 'busa, I'm a biker too so sticking with what I know would make sense no?
I have seen a few VTEC conversions up close and personal and other than one rather questionable example they do contain some rather good engineering solutions, I believe there's an 'off the shelf' kit available now too.

Back on topic I spent literally three and a half minutes of my lunch hour fitting a new fuel gauge sender unit to the Mini so I can now see where I'm going and I know how much longer I can go for. 👍

 

[Punknoodle]

No not really, although with the lines gone and battery gone and compressor gone it will look a lot better. I'm mainly doing it to provide more room for the cold air box, loose about 17kg of Air Con that I never use, and with the new computer I'm trying to get rid of any unnecessary components.

The battery in the boot is again for the cold air box, and with that in the boot and the air con gone that's a fair bit of weight removed from the front of a car that is prone to understeer...

 

[CodeRedR51]

- New wiper blades
- Aired up tires
- Washed it

The life of a daily driver when you're broke.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Finally fixed the heater in our 2000 Saturn. The heater core was plugged and was blowing cold air. So long story short I flushed the entire system with radiator cleaner and luckily it worked. So if you have a vehicle and it doesnt seem to be blowing out hot air, flush the system with radiator cleaner. Or do a coolant flush. Also I do not recommend the orange type of radiator fluid. Its very common in GM vehicles. If that sits in your car more than a year it will start to plug the system. So use the green antifreeze.

Just make sure that if you do convert from Dex-Cool (orange) to green, make damn sure you get every drop of the old stuff out. If you even miss a little, the entire mixture turns into something resembling coffee grounds, and is NOT fun to clean out. 👍

Yup I made sure to forward flush and reverse flush the radiator, heater core, and the engine. Plus the overflow. No more orange Dex-cool in there and I will never run that stuff in anything ever again. Only the green antifreeze. 👍

 

[12thgear]

I literally just installed a USA-SPEC PA15-HON3 in my new (to me) 2005 TSX. I love tool-less installations.

 

[Punknoodle]

I literally just installed a USA-SPEC PA15-HON3 in my new (to me) 2005 TSX. I love tool-less installations.

I had to google what that was. To save others the hassle, it's an iPod adapter for the factory radio lol.

Right now I'm being lazy and in the building up motivation stage before I go down and remove the Aircon unit from behind the dash, then thoroughly clean the car as it is disgustingly filthy.

 

[12thgear]

I had to google what that was. To save others the hassle, it's an iPod adapter for the factory radio lol.

I suppose that info could be useful.

It allows iPhone integration using OEM controls. I'm using it in XM emulation mode for text display on the head unit. It also adds a generic stereo RCA input, which is handy.

 

[Eric.]

Before:

And after:

(blurry, sorry)

Can't see my gauges worth a crap, but its oh so worth it.

 

[nobuffalo]

That shift knob looks like a sausage.

 

[Eric.]

You'd probably like the feel of it. /justwentthere


I'm replacing it with a Momo Super Anatomic.

 

[nobuffalo]

No, I'd prefer the momo. /justwentthere

 

[SpartanG]

For the first time ever I really took apart some stuff on "my" car and just looked around, trying to identify as much as I could. Found this under 3 different plastic covers.


It's unlisted so I'm not view whoring.

Also, can someone explain how there is negative pressure in the intake and/or combustion chamber? There has to be, right? or else there would be little to no moving air.

 

[Eric.]

No, I'd prefer the momo. /justwentthere

I just hope its countersunk and not going to be sitting 2-3" higher than the stock one...

Also, can someone explain how there is negative pressure in the intake and/or combustion chamber? There has to be, right? or else there would be little to no moving air.

Suck, squeeze, bang, blow.

The piston moving downwards with only the intake valves open pulls air into the combustion chamber.

 

[rb240tuner]

Getting the RB ready to be moved to my new garage. Bought a Q45 throttle body for it. Now on to moving the car from storage to the garage.

 

[MHPALA]

Getting the RB ready to be moved to my new garage. Bought a Q45 throttle body for it. Now on to moving the car from storage to the garage.

SWEET!!!!!! What kind of RB engine is it ?

 

[Punknoodle]

Also, FYI regarding negative pressure, the common term for this is vacuum. All petrol engines idle at vacuum, due to there only being a small about of air (regulated by your idle setting) to replace the air being sucked in by the pistons (as Eric mentioned).

When you accelerate and the butterfly opens in a naturally aspirated, fuel injected car, depending on how open the throttle body is this enables outside air to come in an bring the pressure of the manifold up to atmospheric pressure - if you were to look at a vacuum gauge you would see the vacuum decrease as you open up the throttle.

In the case of a turbocharged engine, the pressure climbs above atmospheric pressure into positive pressure as the turbo spools up and pushes air in past the throttle body. This is called boost and the manifold is actually at positive pressure, pushing air in to the engine.

That's the basics, hope it helps

 

[Tommi]

Fitted my new head unit today, so much better than the crappy OEM one and all the extras are awesome! 👍

 

[SpartanG]

Thanks to both, that really cleared it up. But like you just said, as you open the throttle/butterfly valve the pressure comes closer to atmospheric. Wouldn't that make the flow of air become slower as the engine picks up speed, starting to "suffocate" the engine? Or does that not happen because the engine speed is becoming faster, so the pistons are more frequently "requesting" air so the flow is still strong?

It's funny because i used to think I knew everything about cars. Now that i have one to actually look at i realize that i am yet a young padawan...

 

[rb240tuner]

SWEET!!!!!! What kind of RB engine is it ?

It's an RB25. I wanted skyline power but couldn't afford the GTR motor. I settled for the R33 GTS-T

 

[Eric.]

Regardless of the manifold pressure, there's still a vacuum being created by the piston on the intake stroke. Air tends to disperse to fill a void, so regardless of what the manifold pressure is, the pressure in the cylinder after forcing out the exhaust gas is closer to 0. As the piston comes back down the intake valves open and now the air in the intake manifold has more volume to occupy so it fills the combustion chamber. For a forced induction car that air in the manifold is under higher pressure already (and denser because of it) so more will diffuse to the cylinder.

 

[MHPALA]

Regardless of the manifold pressure, there's still a vacuum being created by the piston on the intake stroke. Air tends to disperse to fill a void, so regardless of what the manifold pressure is, the pressure in the cylinder after forcing out the exhaust gas is closer to 0. As the piston comes back down the intake valves open and now the air in the intake manifold has more volume to occupy so it fills the combustion chamber. For a forced induction car that air in the manifold is under higher pressure already (and denser because of it) so more will diffuse to the cylinder.

Make sure you have a good intake plenum 👍.

 

[Punknoodle]

One more thing to note Spartan G, there are things in the engine bay that use the vacuum, and you will see little vacuum lines running everywhere. Things like the EGR, or Charcoal Canister for fuel vapor venting. Also your vacuum assisted brakes.

So if you have a vacuum leak from one of these little lines, 2 things will happen. Your revs will increase (due to there being more air in the manifold being sucked in through the leak), depending on the severity of the leak your brakes might be harder to push (think about pumping brakes when engine isn't running, how hard it gets) and if your engine is injected, and being controlled by an Air Flow Meter your mixture will be lean as the computer doesn't know that there is extra air so it doesn't add extra fuel.

Just to confuse the issue even more, when running things like antilag where the timing is heavily retarded, throttle is left open marginally and intentional misfires happen to keep the turbo spinning when off throttle, the car is still under boost conditions at idle, so braking is difficult, due to there being no vacuum to assist the brakes. Make sense?

 

[Nicksfix]

I just love it when the kid comes up to you and says "Dad, I have a problem with the brakes on my truck. Can you take a look at it ?"

"Sure"

So we attempt to go for a test drive, what brakes ? There are none, the pedal goes all the way to the floor. I never made it out of the driveway . I pull his truck back up and proceed to look at it. A broken brake line, great. I just love doing rusted out brake lines . I jack it up to take a peek.I see that both backing plates are wet as well .... leaking wheel cylinders to go along with a broken line. I pull the wheels, attempt to pull the drums off. 1 of them comes off quite easily, the brakes are down into the rivets. The other drum would not come off. I had to back the shoes all the way off in order for them to clear the lip that was made in the drum by the shoes that were well wore past the rivets. It was ugly. So I ask him, "how long has this been doing this, you know, making noise, no pedal, etc." The famous answer comes out .... "oh,it just started yesterday night". I may have been born at night, but not last night 💡. Give me a break, (no pun intended ). I just looked at him and said, "we have some work ahead of us today" . So, a set of shoes, a hardware kit, 2 new brake lines, 2 new wheel cylinders, 2 new drums and he's on the road again.

 

[Eric.]

Kind of hard to not have brakes for days there, dad.