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

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, “Ute’s” were very popular here in Oz until Ford and GM-H pulled out and closed down their factories in Oz in 2016. Mine’s a 2002 model running on dedicated gas (a mixture of propane and butane) but there were also gasoline powered models in either 4 litre straight 6 or 5 litre Windsor V8 models. I bought mine from an 84 year old guy who had given up on it because of an electrical problem that caused the computer not to recognise the signal from the “smart” key so it wouldn’t start.

I got it cheap and was ‘rapt with its condition, it looked more like a 2 year old car than a 22 year old car. It had quite a few issues so the original purchase price was more than quadrupled with the necessary repairs, but it’s back to “as new” now, so I’m really happy with it. The only thing I want to do is add cruise control because it’s annoying on a long drive constantly checking and adjusting my speed. Apparently my model (series 3) has all the sensors already fitted so I just need a few parts to do the conversion.

LPG was really popular here when it was built and is around half the price of gasoline, so it’s quite economical too, but there aren’t many LPG vehicles here anymore so none of the new gas stations sell it, which might be a problem in years to come so if I keep it long enough I might have to convert it to gasoline, which would be a pity as LPG cars run much cleaner than gasoline with virtually no carbon deposits, allowing for longer intervals between oil changes.

Terry,when will you install your cruise control ? also where do you buy your LPG when you're 'on the road' ?

Thanks Bill, I enquired about the parts I need on an Aussie Ford FB page and a moderator said he had everything I needed and would take some pics and send them to me, but so far I haven't seen a message from him. I can still find LPG at a lot of older gas stations, so no problems at the moment, but could be a problem on a long road trip interstate.

[grcamna2]

Thanks guys, “Ute’s” were very popular here in Oz until Ford and GM-H pulled out and closed down their factories in Oz in 2016. Mine’s a 2002 model running on dedicated gas (a mixture of propane and butane) but there were also gasoline powered models in either 4 litre straight 6 or 5 litre Windsor V8 models. I bought mine from an 84 year old guy who had given up on it because of an electrical problem that caused the computer not to recognise the signal from the “smart” key so it wouldn’t start.

I got it cheap and was ‘rapt with its condition, it looked more like a 2 year old car than a 22 year old car. It had quite a few issues so the original purchase price was more than quadrupled with the necessary repairs, but it’s back to “as new” now, so I’m really happy with it. The only thing I want to do is add cruise control because it’s annoying on a long drive constantly checking and adjusting my speed. Apparently my model (series 3) has all the sensors already fitted so I just need a few parts to do the conversion.

LPG was really popular here when it was built and is around half the price of gasoline, so it’s quite economical too, but there aren’t many LPG vehicles here anymore so none of the new gas stations sell it, which might be a problem in years to come so if I keep it long enough I might have to convert it to gasoline, which would be a pity as LPG cars run much cleaner than gasoline with virtually no carbon deposits, allowing for longer intervals between oil changes.

Terry,when will you install your cruise control ? also where do you buy your LPG when you're 'on the road' ?

Thanks Bill, I enquired about the parts I need on an Aussie Ford FB page and a moderator said he had everything I needed and would take some pics and send them to me, but so far I haven't seen a message from him. I can still find LPG at a lot of older gas stations, so no problems at the moment, but could be a problem on a long road trip interstate.

Terry,could you run straight Propane;the type used for barbecue stoves ?

[dave500]

Well following on from my replacing the timing and ancillary belts on the wife's 2002 Hyundai Accent last weekend, today I turned to her other Hyundai, a 1996 "Excel". I bought the little green car in 2002 and when I bought her the silver accent in 2009 I presumed that she'd let me get rid of the Excel, but no, she wanted to keep both. Great.

I bought the Excel from a female that I worked with, who was going to traded it in on a Toyota 4WD. The dealership had only offered her $2000 for the Excel as a trade-in, so I offered her $2100 and she happily accepted. She was happy, but the dealership wasn't, as they would probably have cleaned it up and sold it for $5K. She and her husband were alcoholics, and it was a volatile relationship. The Excel's windscreen was cracked from when he threw a beer bottle at her when she was driving it, and it had a couple of small dents from when he'd kicked it. It was filthy and stunk of cigarettes, it had one service (over and above the initial service the previous owner had done before he traded it in, so the dipstick was stained with the dirty oil, had 4 unroadworthy tyres and a flat spare, after doing 101,000 Km (60,000 miles) on the original tyres.

I gave it a good clean, gave it two oil changes in the first month, had another windscreen installed, and 5 new tyres. You'd think that a car that was that poorly maintained wouldn't last, but these things are amazing, in the last 22 years it's been totally reliable, and has only needed one battery, wiper blades, a timing belt, a couple more tyres (we've done another 160,000 km (100,000 miles) a set of brake pads, a few oil and filter changes and that's about it. It needs a new exhaust and the aircon re-gassed, and I'll probably get that done if we keep it much longer, along with a coat of paint. (it looks like sh1t with the clearcoat mostly gone)

Anyhoo, after not being driven for several months, I thought I'd better give it a clean and get it running in case I muffed something on the silver accent last weekend, and after washing and vacuuming it, charging the battery, pumping up the tyres and checking all the fluids, I took it for a drive. It ran well with a can of Berrimans in the 1/2 tank of ancient fuel, mixed with half a tank of fresh 98 RON fuel. One item of concern though, is that the temp gauge was doing some weird stuff. It would go up to about the 3/4 mark, then suddenly drop back to the "normal" halfway mark.

Sounded like bad thermostat to me, so this morning I pulled the (original 28 year old) thermostat and tested it in a pot of boiling water, and sure enough, it wasn't opening. I rang a couple of auto parts stores and they didn't have a new thermostat in store, so Alex at Burson's ordered me a new one, and I'll have it on Monday. While I had the thermostat out I removed the top radiator hose and back-flushed the old coolant, and refilled it with new coolant. The new thermostat and a new radiator cap on Monday, and it should be good to go for another 22 years!

Hyundai Excel coolant flush 5 October 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr     

thats the older single cam motor Terry,ours is the far more superiour twin cam with probably about 3 more horsepower!these things are cheap n cheerfull and WILL take a lot of abuse,my wife bought hers new in 1999,still has cold air con,not a dot of rust and id drive it across the country tomorrow.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, “Ute’s” were very popular here in Oz until Ford and GM-H pulled out and closed down their factories in Oz in 2016. Mine’s a 2002 model running on dedicated gas (a mixture of propane and butane) but there were also gasoline powered models in either 4 litre straight 6 or 5 litre Windsor V8 models. I bought mine from an 84 year old guy who had given up on it because of an electrical problem that caused the computer not to recognise the signal from the “smart” key so it wouldn’t start.

I got it cheap and was ‘rapt with its condition, it looked more like a 2 year old car than a 22 year old car. It had quite a few issues so the original purchase price was more than quadrupled with the necessary repairs, but it’s back to “as new” now, so I’m really happy with it. The only thing I want to do is add cruise control because it’s annoying on a long drive constantly checking and adjusting my speed. Apparently my model (series 3) has all the sensors already fitted so I just need a few parts to do the conversion.

LPG was really popular here when it was built and is around half the price of gasoline, so it’s quite economical too, but there aren’t many LPG vehicles here anymore so none of the new gas stations sell it, which might be a problem in years to come so if I keep it long enough I might have to convert it to gasoline, which would be a pity as LPG cars run much cleaner than gasoline with virtually no carbon deposits, allowing for longer intervals between oil changes.

Terry,when will you install your cruise control ? also where do you buy your LPG when you're 'on the road' ?

Thanks Bill, I enquired about the parts I need on an Aussie Ford FB page and a moderator said he had everything I needed and would take some pics and send them to me, but so far I haven't seen a message from him. I can still find LPG at a lot of older gas stations, so no problems at the moment, but could be a problem on a long road trip interstate.

Terry,could you run straight Propane;the type used for barbecue stoves ?

No I don't know Bill, possibly. The car LPG RON is much higher than gasoline, over 100 RON from memory, so I don't know how either straight propane, or straight butane, would work? Either way, if I do any interstate road trips I'll buy a special adapter to fill 20 pound gas bottles like our RACV (Auto Club) carry to get LPG cars that have broken down, to the nearest gas station. Mine apparently is fitted with 2 tanks with a total capacity of 110 litres (30 US gallons) that gives me a range of around 500+ highway miles, so hopefully I won't have any issues with it running out in the middle of nowhere.

"Dual Fuel" is another option, or was at least back in the day, where you could switch from one fuel to another. Some cars didn't like it (I had a V6 Toyota truck that was dual fuel, and it hated LPG, switching it from LPG back to gasoline was like adding a turbo, but the big 6 Ford engines seemed to run quite well on either. I may have to buy another cheap ute that has had a hit, is rusted out, done a million miles or has been taken off the road for a variety of other reasons, to swap out any of the components that I need for mine, then send the rest off to the recycler 

[Terry in Australia]

Well following on from my replacing the timing and ancillary belts on the wife's 2002 Hyundai Accent last weekend, today I turned to her other Hyundai, a 1996 "Excel". I bought the little green car in 2002 and when I bought her the silver accent in 2009 I presumed that she'd let me get rid of the Excel, but no, she wanted to keep both. Great.

I bought the Excel from a female that I worked with, who was going to traded it in on a Toyota 4WD. The dealership had only offered her $2000 for the Excel as a trade-in, so I offered her $2100 and she happily accepted. She was happy, but the dealership wasn't, as they would probably have cleaned it up and sold it for $5K. She and her husband were alcoholics, and it was a volatile relationship. The Excel's windscreen was cracked from when he threw a beer bottle at her when she was driving it, and it had a couple of small dents from when he'd kicked it. It was filthy and stunk of cigarettes, it had one service (over and above the initial service the previous owner had done before he traded it in, so the dipstick was stained with the dirty oil, had 4 unroadworthy tyres and a flat spare, after doing 101,000 Km (60,000 miles) on the original tyres.

I gave it a good clean, gave it two oil changes in the first month, had another windscreen installed, and 5 new tyres. You'd think that a car that was that poorly maintained wouldn't last, but these things are amazing, in the last 22 years it's been totally reliable, and has only needed one battery, wiper blades, a timing belt, a couple more tyres (we've done another 160,000 km (100,000 miles) a set of brake pads, a few oil and filter changes and that's about it. It needs a new exhaust and the aircon re-gassed, and I'll probably get that done if we keep it much longer, along with a coat of paint. (it looks like sh1t with the clearcoat mostly gone)

Anyhoo, after not being driven for several months, I thought I'd better give it a clean and get it running in case I muffed something on the silver accent last weekend, and after washing and vacuuming it, charging the battery, pumping up the tyres and checking all the fluids, I took it for a drive. It ran well with a can of Berrimans in the 1/2 tank of ancient fuel, mixed with half a tank of fresh 98 RON fuel. One item of concern though, is that the temp gauge was doing some weird stuff. It would go up to about the 3/4 mark, then suddenly drop back to the "normal" halfway mark.

Sounded like bad thermostat to me, so this morning I pulled the (original 28 year old) thermostat and tested it in a pot of boiling water, and sure enough, it wasn't opening. I rang a couple of auto parts stores and they didn't have a new thermostat in store, so Alex at Burson's ordered me a new one, and I'll have it on Monday. While I had the thermostat out I removed the top radiator hose and back-flushed the old coolant, and refilled it with new coolant. The new thermostat and a new radiator cap on Monday, and it should be good to go for another 22 years!

Hyundai Excel coolant flush 5 October 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr     

thats the older single cam motor Terry,ours is the far more superiour twin cam with probably about 3 more horsepower!these things are cheap n cheerfull and WILL take a lot of abuse,my wife bought hers new in 1999,still has cold air con,not a dot of rust and id drive it across the country tomorrow.

Ha ha, yes when I bought the Accent in 2009 (was my uncle's car and my cousin sold it to me when he passed away) I thought it would be much quicker than the old SOHC 1.5 in the "Green Bean", but surprisingly, I think the old one is quicker? The muffler is rotted out, so maybe it's the "Open exhaust" that gives it the extra poke, but it really does fly along. I drove it to Canberra around 10 years ago to buy a heap of CB750 parts, and running it on 98 (it LOVES 98, really noticeable difference than when running on 91) I cruised at 130 KPH (80 MPH) and did the 1400 KM (900 mile) drive on only around 80 litres, or 22 US gallons.

I was a big fat boy back then, so I probably spent more money on food and snacks over the 13 hours it took to drive up and back, than I did on fuel. I'm hoping that when I've got it running right, the wife will let me drive it to work, the tolls are much less for the Hyundai than they are for my ute, and parking is a breeze.    

[dave500]

WHAT? utes get a heavier toll on roads?

[Don R]

 My uncle in the US had a dual fuel dodge truck that he towed an airstream camper with, he said the LP was great (cheap) on the flatlands but when there were hills involved, he needed to be on gas. When he filled the LP he told them it was for the furnace on the RV so he didn't pay road tax.

[Terry in Australia]

WHAT? utes get a heavier toll on roads?

Yeah mate, it sucks, because it has a separate cab/chassis, it's classed as a "Light commercial". The Mitsubishi Triton I had before it was the same, it's just a cash-grab, I don't think (but don't know for sure) that Holden utes, or even old Ford utes before my AU model have to pay extra, same as my old Ford Exploder or my Territory, even theough they're both bigger and heavier than my ute. Paying $32 per day for tolls, (or only about $18 per day in a car) and $21 per day for parking really sucks, so any day when I don't have to drive to work is a good day for me.    

[dave500]

Man that sucks arse!

[CycleRanger]

I got the front end aligned on my ancient Tundra this week.
It was pretty severely pigeon toed for some reason.
Today I bought it a new set of Michelin's.
Actually, I guess I didn't personally do anything to the truck except spend money on it!

[BenelliSEI]

My son lives in Toronto and his wife drives a less than two year old JEEP. He’s out of town for an afternoon and the JEEP battery goes flat. She gets a boost and drives to the dealership where they bought the vehicle (new). +$250 for a battery plus labour at $180/hour + taxes  + “environmental fee” was over $500!

The battery is under the hood, held in by one clamp screw and the two post clamps. I could pull the battery in 30 seconds….. The world has gone mad.

[Terry in Australia]

My son lives in Toronto and his wife drives a less than two year old JEEP. He’s out of town for an afternoon and the JEEP battery goes flat. She gets a boost and drives to the dealership where they bought the vehicle (new). +$250 for a battery plus labour at $180/hour + taxes  + “environmental fee” was over $500!

The battery is under the hood, held in by one clamp screw and the two post clamps. I could pull the battery in 30 seconds….. The world has gone mad.

That is just gouging their customers John, I rang the mechanic who did the Roadworthy work on my trucks to ask him how much to install the new timing belt and the 3 other accessory belts on the wife’s little Hyundai and he quoted me $700, I thought that was a rip so I did it myself but to be fair it took me about 7 hours to do, so probably wasn’t that bad, but I’m still glad that I did it myself and the car is going great.

[dave500]

once your familiar with those belts Terry its a coupla hours taking your time!a workshop with hoist etc will do it faster for sure and charge the most they can.

[trueblue]

Time for my yearly check in with this forum. This weekend I finally got around to lifting the motor and gearbox out of my old Volvo 144. It's been leaking oil badly from the engine and gearbox, like only 52 year old felt seals can. I've got neoprene housings to replace them with. Took me the best part of a day to get it out, which honestly isn't bad considering I'm working mostly one handed.

I had an accident at work that resulted in me spending 9 days in hospital, and a plate and 9 screws in my upper arm holding the bone together. This job was scheduled to happen the week I went into hospital. 9 weeks after surgery and I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things, shhh, don't tell my doctor. He would have kittens if he knew what I had been up to.

[BenelliSEI]

My son lives in Toronto and his wife drives a less than two year old JEEP. He’s out of town for an afternoon and the JEEP battery goes flat. She gets a boost and drives to the dealership where they bought the vehicle (new). +$250 for a battery plus labour at $180/hour + taxes  + “environmental fee” was over $500!

The battery is under the hood, held in by one clamp screw and the two post clamps. I could pull the battery in 30 seconds….. The world has gone mad.

That is just gouging their customers John, I rang the mechanic who did the Roadworthy work on my trucks to ask him how much to install the new timing belt and the 3 other accessory belts on the wife’s little Hyundai and he quoted me $700, I thought that was a rip so I did it myself but to be fair it took me about 7 hours to do, so probably wasn’t that bad, but I’m still glad that I did it myself and the car is going great.

+1 to that. If I can’t do it myself, it usually doesn’t get done! Batteries seem to have doubled in price in the past three years. I replaced the 12V battery in the Yamaha G2 golf cart a few weeks ago and it was +$200 as well.

[grcamna2]

My son lives in Toronto and his wife drives a less than two year old JEEP. He’s out of town for an afternoon and the JEEP battery goes flat. She gets a boost and drives to the dealership where they bought the vehicle (new). +$250 for a battery plus labour at $180/hour + taxes  + “environmental fee” was over $500!

The battery is under the hood, held in by one clamp screw and the two post clamps. I could pull the battery in 30 seconds….. The world has gone mad.

That is just gouging their customers John, I rang the mechanic who did the Roadworthy work on my trucks to ask him how much to install the new timing belt and the 3 other accessory belts on the wife’s little Hyundai and he quoted me $700, I thought that was a rip so I did it myself but to be fair it took me about 7 hours to do, so probably wasn’t that bad, but I’m still glad that I did it myself and the car is going great.

+1 to that. If I can’t do it myself, it usually doesn’t get done! Batteries seem to have doubled in price in the past three years. I replaced the 12V battery in the Yamaha G2 golf cart a few weeks ago and it was +$200 as well.

John,many 'suppliers',etc. are criminals in disguise 

[RAFster122s]

Trueblue, nice 144 you have...they certainly have, finally, gone up in value...now a really nice 240 sedan or wagon can go for $20k in the US... It is bonkers to think they are selling for nearly their price when new. The 140s in nice shape are going for 2-3x their price when new.

[trueblue]

Trueblue, nice 144 you have...they certainly have, finally, gone up in value...now a really nice 240 sedan or wagon can go for $20k in the US... It is bonkers to think they are selling for nearly their price when new. The 140s in nice shape are going for 2-3x their price when new.

Thanks mate, it's got 70,000 miles on it, complete service history since new. Full original leather interior, which is still soft and looks that good that anyone who looks at it asks if it's been reupholstered. I picked this one up at the start of the year for under 10k Australian pesos, which I thought was a good deal. It's even got the original accessory stereo system with the booklets to go with it. The head unit was AM and tape deck only, AM radio doesn't really exist in my part of the country anymore, so I hijacked that circuit with a Bluetooth receiver, so it still looks and operates like the original head unit, but it plays music via Bluetooth.

[Bankerdanny]

On Sunday, after putting it off for a month or so, I finally summed up to courage to replace the timing belt, and all the ancillary belts in the wife's little Hyundai. I bought it from my cousin when it only had 30,000 Km (20,000 miles) and it's now done 152,000 (95000 miles) and I recently discovered that it should have had a timing belt change at 80,000 Km (50,000 miles) oops.....

Hyundai cam belt change 30 September 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Dave gave me a "heads up" on the pissed off thread and he was quite right, although being an "East/West" 4 cylinder front wheel drive car, I had to remove a pile of parts (including a wheel and an engine mount) to then remove all the outer belts, and the timing belt covers. Of course it was also cold and windy, with rain blowing into the carport and over my tools, but after only 5(+) hours of crawling around the wet concrete, I had the new belt on, the plastic covers, the engine mount back in, and a few things left to do yesterday. 

Hyundai cam belt change 30 September 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Interestingly the old cambelt was in good condition, with no cracking or rubber swarf in the cam cover. I replaced both tensioner pulleys not that there appeared to be anything wrong with the old ones, but didn't bother changing the water pump, because I've never had any issues with the OEM one that was still on the car after 22 years. I finished it by lunch time yesterday and wanted to go for a ride on my bike, but was so sore I just collapsed in my comfy chair and snoozed. She drove it around all day today with no issues so I'm calling it good, and hopefully I won't have to do it again for another 22 years.

Hyundai cam belt change 30 September 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 
 

My Lincoln is going to be due for timing chains very soon. I am starting to hear the telltale start up rattle of a tensioner going out. My car is also transverse FWD (twin turbo V6) and based on my research, a bear of a job. The water pump is chain driven behind the timing chains, so that will get replaced too.

[grcamna2]

On Sunday, after putting it off for a month or so, I finally summed up to courage to replace the timing belt, and all the ancillary belts in the wife's little Hyundai. I bought it from my cousin when it only had 30,000 Km (20,000 miles) and it's now done 152,000 (95000 miles) and I recently discovered that it should have had a timing belt change at 80,000 Km (50,000 miles) oops.....

Hyundai cam belt change 30 September 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Dave gave me a "heads up" on the pissed off thread and he was quite right, although being an "East/West" 4 cylinder front wheel drive car, I had to remove a pile of parts (including a wheel and an engine mount) to then remove all the outer belts, and the timing belt covers. Of course it was also cold and windy, with rain blowing into the carport and over my tools, but after only 5(+) hours of crawling around the wet concrete, I had the new belt on, the plastic covers, the engine mount back in, and a few things left to do yesterday. 

Hyundai cam belt change 30 September 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Interestingly the old cambelt was in good condition, with no cracking or rubber swarf in the cam cover. I replaced both tensioner pulleys not that there appeared to be anything wrong with the old ones, but didn't bother changing the water pump, because I've never had any issues with the OEM one that was still on the car after 22 years. I finished it by lunch time yesterday and wanted to go for a ride on my bike, but was so sore I just collapsed in my comfy chair and snoozed. She drove it around all day today with no issues so I'm calling it good, and hopefully I won't have to do it again for another 22 years.

Hyundai cam belt change 30 September 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 
 

My Lincoln is going to be due for timing chains very soon. I am starting to hear the telltale start up rattle of a tensioner going out. My car is also transverse FWD (twin turbo V6) and based on my research, a bear of a job. The water pump is chain driven behind the timing chains, so that will get replaced too.

I knew a fellow that had a twin turbo Lincoln similar to yours and he had some work done to it,including the transmission so it would properly feed power through the wheels(transfer case?)when it called for limited slip,as it was 4-wheel drive.
He liked the work which this shop/mechanic did so much he put a license plate HRL(Hot Rod Lincoln)on the front.

[Bankerdanny]

My Lincoln is going to be due for timing chains very soon. I am starting to hear the telltale start up rattle of a tensioner going out. My car is also transverse FWD (twin turbo V6) and based on my research, a bear of a job. The water pump is chain driven behind the timing chains, so that will get replaced too.

I knew a fellow that had a twin turbo Lincoln similar to yours and he had some work done to it,including the transmission so it would properly feed power through the wheels(transfer case?)when it called for limited slip,as it was 4-wheel drive.
He liked the work which this shop/mechanic did so much he put a license plate HRL(Hot Rod Lincoln)on the front.

I have been quite happy with it, comfortable quiet, lots of room to haul stuff and tows 4,000 lbs. It has almost 180k miles on it right now, so I can't complain about the chain life. The engine was factory rated at 355hp, so it moves along. But it also weighs 5,000lbs (~2,200 kilos) so it isn't sports car fast.

[Tintop]

Not a what I did, but what I saw...A Maclaren 720S in Papaya of course.  On the 401 east bound of Kingston, actually going a reasonable speed with Quebec plates.

[Terry in Australia]

On Sunday, after putting it off for a month or so, I finally summed up to courage to replace the timing belt, and all the ancillary belts in the wife's little Hyundai. I bought it from my cousin when it only had 30,000 Km (20,000 miles) and it's now done 152,000 (95000 miles) and I recently discovered that it should have had a timing belt change at 80,000 Km (50,000 miles) oops.....

Hyundai cam belt change 30 September 2024 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Dave gave me a "heads up" on the pissed off thread and he was quite right, although being an "East/West" 4 cylinder front wheel drive car, I had to remove a pile of parts (including a wheel and an engine mount) to then remove all the outer belts, and the timing belt covers. Of course it was also cold and windy, with rain blowing into the carport and over my tools, but after only 5(+) hours of crawling around the wet concrete, I had the new belt on, the plastic covers, the engine mount back in, and a few things left to do yesterday. 

Hyundai cam belt change 30 September 2024 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Interestingly the old cambelt was in good condition, with no cracking or rubber swarf in the cam cover. I replaced both tensioner pulleys not that there appeared to be anything wrong with the old ones, but didn't bother changing the water pump, because I've never had any issues with the OEM one that was still on the car after 22 years. I finished it by lunch time yesterday and wanted to go for a ride on my bike, but was so sore I just collapsed in my comfy chair and snoozed. She drove it around all day today with no issues so I'm calling it good, and hopefully I won't have to do it again for another 22 years.

Hyundai cam belt change 30 September 2024 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 
 

My Lincoln is going to be due for timing chains very soon. I am starting to hear the telltale start up rattle of a tensioner going out. My car is also transverse FWD (twin turbo V6) and based on my research, a bear of a job. The water pump is chain driven behind the timing chains, so that will get replaced too.

Yeah mate, what’s up with Ford camchain tensioners? My old V6 Explorer had a bad tensioner and due to Ford’s redneck conversion of the old V6 engine from pushrods to SOHC, had one chain on the front of the engine and one on the back, and the camchain tensioners are known to fail. You’d think they’d get it right, but I just watched a Youtube video of Ford using an oil bathed cam timing belt in some of their 4 cylinder models, which is about as stupid as it gets. I’ve always been a Ford fan, but from what I’ve seen in recent years, their engine designs are awful.

[Kelly E]

Today we pulled off the bodywork from the 01' Honda TRX 350 Rancher. We also pulled the carb and cleaned the outside more before we took it apart. Still a ton of cleaning left to do before we start putting it back together.

[Don R]

 I cleaned out under and around the 69 Firebird project. Next up is, tack weld the rest of the exhaust and then pull the pipes out for finish welding and then put them back in for test fit before declaring victory.
 One car and a couple bikes will go to storage this winter. That will make the room that I need to finish welding the inaccessible parts of the frame before the floor can be made permanent. The big move will be ordering the new body, it's difficult to pull the trigger.