11-10-2019, 11:26 PM
Skipped going to the last MBCA autocross of the year to get some work done on the car and around the house. LAME but necessary. It should be a totally leak-free car now. Popped the leaky 90 degree power steering cooler fitting and saw where it wasn't fully seated. Backed it all the way out make sure the hose wasn't pushed out, reassembled and it bottomed out without any real effort this time so it should be good to go. Easy peasy.
The exhaust stud would make up for that. Had to take the valvecover off to get to it then realized I didn't have a single 1/4" allen wrench left. Broke the one on a 3/8" drive, cut up my regular one and the shorty set had just one missing and guess which one... Made the chopped up one work though. Had to break out the needlenose visegrips to get the stud out since it was not only the hardest to get to out of all of them, but also the only short stud I put on the engine. I got impatient and only halfway drained the coolant and found out that was a mistake because coolant still shot out the side of the block. Plugged it again real quick to pull the lower radiator hose to drain the block. Getting that back on was probably the biggest pain in the ass of the day. Really regret buying the bling bling steel flexhose. Probably trashing them the next time I have to deal with them. I don't care that they were $80, the couplers just suck at actually sealing. Slapped a bolt with some sealant in it instead of another stud because it was easier and I didn't give a shit at this point. Doubt I'll ever run into a scenario where I'm removing the driver side header and not tearing half the car apart. Got everything back together and was actually done sooner than I was anticipating. I'm a glutton for punishment so I remounted the highbeam switch, since how it was mounted was bending the connector and making it come off which kills my headlights. Put it up a lot higher and it shouldn't be a problem again.
Tackling the coolant leak was a pain in the ass but I probably shouldn't have put this off like I did. Looks like it was dripping onto my starter since it had a nice slimy layer of what I can only describe as muddy rust. Doubt it did any real damage but I feel like a dumbass putting off a 2 hour task for most of the year.
Did get to drive the car all over town on Friday and managed to get completely sideways in traffic leaving Chipotle because it was 30 degrees and I decided to punch it before shifting to second. I can usually get away with that but lesson learned. Definitely going to treat the car with a lot more respect when the tires are cold.
The exhaust stud would make up for that. Had to take the valvecover off to get to it then realized I didn't have a single 1/4" allen wrench left. Broke the one on a 3/8" drive, cut up my regular one and the shorty set had just one missing and guess which one... Made the chopped up one work though. Had to break out the needlenose visegrips to get the stud out since it was not only the hardest to get to out of all of them, but also the only short stud I put on the engine. I got impatient and only halfway drained the coolant and found out that was a mistake because coolant still shot out the side of the block. Plugged it again real quick to pull the lower radiator hose to drain the block. Getting that back on was probably the biggest pain in the ass of the day. Really regret buying the bling bling steel flexhose. Probably trashing them the next time I have to deal with them. I don't care that they were $80, the couplers just suck at actually sealing. Slapped a bolt with some sealant in it instead of another stud because it was easier and I didn't give a shit at this point. Doubt I'll ever run into a scenario where I'm removing the driver side header and not tearing half the car apart. Got everything back together and was actually done sooner than I was anticipating. I'm a glutton for punishment so I remounted the highbeam switch, since how it was mounted was bending the connector and making it come off which kills my headlights. Put it up a lot higher and it shouldn't be a problem again.
Tackling the coolant leak was a pain in the ass but I probably shouldn't have put this off like I did. Looks like it was dripping onto my starter since it had a nice slimy layer of what I can only describe as muddy rust. Doubt it did any real damage but I feel like a dumbass putting off a 2 hour task for most of the year.
Did get to drive the car all over town on Friday and managed to get completely sideways in traffic leaving Chipotle because it was 30 degrees and I decided to punch it before shifting to second. I can usually get away with that but lesson learned. Definitely going to treat the car with a lot more respect when the tires are cold.