Topic: What did you do to your non-motorcycle vehicle today?

[BenelliSEI]

Fantastic weather today, so really finished up the rent a racer. It’s up for sale, so ready to go, or back into the barn. Avoiding the rotten brake lines on the old F350..... Flex line for the back axle arrived today, so will crawl under there next.

[70CB750]

I changed oil in Grand Cherokee and checked on the left wheel noise. Turns out brake pads need to be replaced so I took the sidecar out.  100 miles later - I got lost  - I have new brake pads but the Jeep has to wait till tomorrow. 

[Gurp]

Changed the fuel filter on my diesel. Looked like rust color sludge when I flipped the filter. Finally catching up all the maintenance from the previous owner. Last on the list right now is a oil change. Then start re run all the wires to the rear to have tail lights again. Plus be able to wire lights on my trailer.

[BenelliSEI]

Got the rear brake lines back together on the old F350!

[RAFster122s]

John, congrats on finishing F350 brakes...ready for plow work now?

[Stev-o]

Changed the fuel filter on my diesel.

We all know about the issues ethanol has caused in gasoline.  Has diesel changed at all in the last 10 years or so creating any problems?

I had a company truck years ago that was diesel powered but no experience since. 

[RAFster122s]

Biggest issue with Diesel is the age old growth of a fungus that clogs up the pump and  in cold weather you have to worry about the fuel gelling. Additives can help with both...

[scottly]

I finished up putting the new rotors and pads on the Chevy truck today; what a difference in braking!!! A PO had evidently fit new semi-metallic pads onto deeply worn rotors, and even though they had signs of wear, they didn't conform to the uneven surface. I made a mark with a wide felt-pen across the face of the rotors through the holes in the rim, and made a few hard stops before taking things apart. There were traces of black left on about 80% of the rotor surface.    

[dave500]

my ever reliable Holden started breaking down the other day,intermittent ignition cut out?it couldve been one of 4 things,relay that powers the coil,the coil itself,the hall effect in the dissy(about 30 years old)or the actual ignition module which is 11 years old along with the coil,so i chose the easiest swap out being the module,and so far so good,i keep all these parts in stock,lucky i was close to home,might keep a module in the glove box from now on?

[Stev-o]

my ever reliable Holden started breaking down the other day...

Hey Dave...it's a V8 with electronic ignition right?

[Kelly E]

I'm still running the original module in my 85' GMC S15. My distributor guy told me that with the GM modules there's some that last forever, some that last a while and some are scrap. The problem is that there's no way to tell them apart. 

[BenelliSEI]

John, congrats on finishing F350 brakes...ready for plow work now?

Thanks! Ready for snow…..

[Don R]

 Side shot Saturday on FB 40 chevys. I posted this pic.

[BenelliSEI]

Once again...... G’kids were here all weekend and yesterday the golf cart was dead! New battery terminals, cleaned and retightened every electrical connection. It lives! Was going to power wash, but decided the “ oil film” was good winter protection.......

[Terry in Australia]

my ever reliable Holden started breaking down the other day...

Hey Dave...it's a V8 with electronic ignition right?

In Dave's absence I'll try to answer for him, his HQ Holden (made by General Motors Holden here in Oz) has a 308 CU In V8 Steve, it would have had a points ignition originally I'd have thought, so I'm guessing that he's retro-fitted an EI off a later Holden V8. I had Aussie built Ford V8's back in the day, and they didn't go to EI's until around 1976 or '77, and I think Holden was about the same. Dave's is a 1973, from memory.

[dave500]

thanks Terry,i had PMed steve as i didnt want to bore anyone with trivial #$%*,but here goes a copy n paste.

yeah Steve it has electronic ignition,a sort of hybrid i put together,i bought new 30 plus years ago a bosch conversion that replaces the points,it has a hall effect in the dissy with a metal shutter rotor button,this triggers an alloy finned box with a large power transistor poking out of it which fires the standard ballasted coil,bout 11 years ago i thought its getting old and if it breaks down theyre not available anymore,i figured out the hall effect will trigger the later small bosch module that fires a heavier duty unballasted transformer coil so i set it up using the stock coil wire to power a relay to run full 12v on the coil,its works great,i bought a spare module at the time and also have two spare hall effects.

[Terry in Australia]

No worries Dave, sounds like an interesting system, I had an ignition amplifier like Hondaman makes in my XB GS Fairmont with it's 302 Cleveland, and it worked great. Apart from ordering a rubber mat to stop my ute floor from getting scratched up, I bought some new badges to make it look purty.....

#$%*box edition by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[dave500]

further to that ignition module i had fail,i thought if it was the hall sensor under the dissy cap it would be a bugger road side to fix even though i have a coupla spares as its hard wired in the loom that connects to the module connector,so i simply cut it and used a water proof connector and also set up a spare pick up with the same connector,easy fix in the future,nyuck nyuck nyuck!

[Gurp]

Pulled the motor out of the 61 Bel-Air today.
Hopefully I'll pick up the other motor for it before it gets to damned cold to put it in.

[Terry in Australia]

Pulled the motor out of the 61 Bel-Air today.
Hopefully I'll pick up the other motor for it before it gets to damned cold to put it in.

What are you installing mate, a small block? I always wanted a 1959 or 1960 Belair, I think the one with the cats eye tail lights was my favourite? When I left the regular army and bought my house, a guy I knew offered me his 1960 model in mint condition with a nice 283, powerglide, period mag wheels etc, for cheap, but I'd just borrowed the huge (for me) amount of $140,000 to buy my house, I was too gun shy to spend $10K on a car. That was 21 years ago now, if I had bought it, I'd easily get $25-30K for it now. Bugger......

[Terry in Australia]

I'm driving my little truck to a big Army base tomorrow to pick up some weapon parts, so today I thought I'd better drive it off my sloping front lawn. Sadly it's been pissing down rain for the last couple of weeks and today I found out that I don't have an LSD diff, as I spun the drivers side rear wheel all the way off my lawn. I don't have the same issue with my AWD twin turbo Subaru, so I swapped them around.

I also bought another car, a 2001 V8 Jaguar. It was another Ebay impulse buy, but the seller accepted my lowball offer, it's only done 100,000 miles, is registered until May next year, and comes with a Roadworthy certificate. I sent him a message to ask if I could collect it on Saturday (he lives in the country) but he explained that it's in the shop having a new coil fitted, but he'll get the roadworthy certificate done at the same time, so I should be able to pick it up in a weeks time. He did suggest as an alternative that he takes the number plates off then I get the roadworthy certificate, but I thought "bullsh1t, last time that happened, my little $3500 truck ended up costing me close to $9K..... and told him that I'm happy to wait a week.

I'll have to get rid of one of my other cars, but that's fine, I've been wanting another V8 car for awhile, so this should be fun.    

Terry’s Jaaag 17 November 2022 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry’s Jaaag 17 November 2022 5 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry’s Jaaag 17 November 2022 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[dave500]

id run away from that Terry!ill bet it has a glitch that cant be sorted?as far as needing a coil,im not real familiar with those but it may have 8 coils?coil on plug design?or 4x dual sparks?

[Terry in Australia]

id run away from that Terry!ill bet it has a glitch that cant be sorted?as far as needing a coil,im not real familiar with those but it may have 8 coils?coil on plug design?or 4x dual sparks?

Ha ha, thanks Dave, I did a google search to see what goes wrong with them, and all I could find was them blowing power steering hoses early in the model run. Don't worry, it won't pass a Vic RWC if it's got a major fault, and I won't be handing over the cash if it's "Not as described". It might have 8 coils like an LS Chev engine has, so if he's paying for it, even better.

[spotty]

that's been re-reg in the last year or so ( we're currently issuing 1WT plates and they go through less than 1 starting alpha digit a year ) , it would have had to get a rwc then so there shouldn't be anything too major to worry about

[Terry in Australia]

that's been re-reg in the last year or so ( we're currently issuing 1WT plates and they go through less than 1 starting alpha digit a year ) , it would have had to get a rwc then so there shouldn't be anything too major to worry about

Thanks Spotty, yep he said he only bought it last year and it passed ok then. I have a feeling that he's not coping well with high interest rates so he's selling off his toys. I drove my little truck to Puckapunyal Army Base today to pick up some equipment, and it flew up the highway beautifully, but I had to drive into the leafy inner city suburbs to drop the equipment off, and it started pinging? I only did the ignition timing by ear but I reckon it was pretty good, so I was surprised when every time I accelerated, it rattled like a rattling thing?

I dropped the equipment off and as I was driving up Burwood Highway I realised that the temp needle was in the "high" position for the first time that I can remember? Hmmnnn. As I drove along the needle stayed up there, and the pinging continued. Eventually I lost my nerve and pulled into a pub's carpark and parked it up for a couple of hours while I drank booze and played poker machines. I ended up winning 300 bucks so took my ill gotten gains and wandered back out to the carppark. I lifted the bonnet (hood) and checked all the hoses etc and couldn't see any leaks, but was able to tip my water bottle (600ml) into the radiator before it was apparently full again.

I drove on to home, (and it didn't overheat over the 10 miles or so from the pub's carpark) parked it in the carport and using my big yellow funnel, "Burped" the cooling system. There was a lot of air in the system, but the thermostat that I bought recently was opening ok, so I switched it off after it had settled down, and installed a different radiator cap, just in case that was the problem. I checked the ignition timing with my new timing light and it was spot on, so my ear is good. Hopefully there's no other issues with it, I have some long road trips planned soon.