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Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium

Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
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CNC_RICK

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I once had to replace a timing belt in a '94 Honda Civic del-Sol. That crank bolt is famous for being ***TIGHT***. I had to u-tube that one to see if I was doing something wrong. Nope, I just needed bigger tools...
 
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CNC_RICK

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I just wonder if I should eventually buy a 3/4 drive, deep, impact socket,6 point, and put it onto a 3/4 drive breaker bar, and keep that in the Durango. If I ever had a flat tire, I'd feel pretty good about myself if I had that available to me, on the side of the road, verses the tire wrench that it came with... Those lug nuts are rated to be torqued to 110 foot-pounds. I've only had one wheel off the vehicle, so far. What about the rest of the wheels... I'm due for some new tires, this year. Since it is all-wheel-drive, I need to replace all of them at the same time. When that happens, I'll put a dab of anti-seeze on threads and hub diameters.
 
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CNC_RICK

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You noticed that I said a "dab" of never- seeze. Not a full-on dose on the lug threads. I feel if I do more than one dab, then I need to reduce my torque settings, accordingly. I never do that. I never adjust my settings on the torque wrench. I don't put that much on. I've learned to do the never seeze in small amounts after I worked on a 1990 Grand Am, after I broke more of the lug studs off, than I could save. Too much never- seeze is bad, using none at all is worse. A dab will do ya....
 
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driftpin

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Bob Heine said:
The PT Cruiser is 23 years old and has 53,000 miles on it so it is past time to replace the timing belt. I bought all the parts but Liane suggested I have someone else do it. Called the local Chrysler dealer where I bought the car and asked what they charged. Turns out they don't work on them any more. Took the car to a shop that says they do but can't quote a price without seeing the car. Brought the car to them this afternoon and the mechanic who does the timing belt jobs went home sick. Guy probably told him about the job.
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Those last two sentences are one of your best posts, Bob.

The obscure factoid I've always enjoyed having-learned about the Porsche 917 was that the factory pressurized their tubular frames. When the frame member lost-pressure, it was cracked, somewhere, and time for repair/replacement.

Another factoid is that not-far from you, in Riviera Beach FL is one of the largest Porsche parts repositories on the planet, including factory racecars' parts.

And another car-freak who lived south of you, in Broward Co. FL (metro Ft. Lauderdale) was an eccentric and very rich man, Preston Henn, owner of what he claimed to be the second-largest tourist attraction in FL, the Thunderbird Swap Shop flea market. Henn (now deceased) had one of the most-interesting collections of rare cars, and what Car and Driver once posited, was "the most-expensive car in the world," a superlight Ferraro 250 GTO, valued in the tens of millions of $$$$.

Henn was a race team owner/driver, and he would not be shy about spending the $$$$ to get the best equipment, and the best drivers. He also drove, but if you're gonna have a 'hired gun' pro driver, you might as-well let them earn their pay. A guy I know, raised here in So. FL, drove for him, and also helped care for his automobile collection. The guy was well-qualified, as he was an IMSA GTP driver's champion, and his teammate was in second, and their team won the championship, running Chevy-March cars. Then he went to Indy, and he was the Rookie of the Year in the 500. After that, his life became like a Michael Mann movie... .
 
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gearhead1960

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driftpin said:
And another car-freak who lived south of you, in Broward Co. FL (metro Ft. Lauderdale) was an eccentric and very rich man, Preston Henn, owner of what he claimed to be the second-largest tourist attraction in FL, the Thunderbird Swap Shop flea market. Henn (now deceased) had one of the most-interesting collections of rare cars, and what Car and Driver once posited, was "the most-expensive car in the world," a superlight Ferraro 250 GTO, valued in the tens of millions of $$$$.

Henn was a race team owner/driver, and he would not be shy about spending the $$$$ to get the best equipment, and the best drivers. He also drove, but if you're gonna have a 'hired gun' pro driver, you might as-well let them earn their pay. A guy I know, raised here in So. FL, drove for him, and also helped care for his automobile collection. The guy was well-qualified, as he was an IMSA GTP driver's champion, and his teammate was in second, and their team won the championship, running Chevy-March cars. Then he went to Indy, and he was the Rookie of the Year in the 500. After that, his life became like a Michael Mann movie... .
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I remember seeing many of Henn's cars at Daytona and Sebring in the 80's. They were always very competative and entertaining. I probably have non-digital pictures of some of the cars in my box of photos....maybe one day, I'll get them digitized...
 
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kaymccampbell

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gearhead1960 said:
I remember seeing many of Henn's cars at Daytona and Sebring in the 80's. They were always very competative and entertaining. I probably have non-digital pictures of some of the cars in my box of photos....maybe one day, I'll get them digitized...
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We've got an old Kodak self feeding photo scanner, it's about 1500-2000dpi. IIRC, Epson makes a little flatbed that's over 4000dpi for under a Benjamin.
 
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Squankum

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CNC_RICK said:
I put the ratchet and socket on the first lug nut, with the handle, horizontal, pointing to the left. I grabbed a hold of the fender, stepped onto the ratchet handle, then had to bounce on said handle, to make the lug nuts come loose. I fully expected the socket to break. I never abuse my tools that way,
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Me, neither! I was probably 45 years old when I first heard of people putting a cheater pipe on a ratchet. Savagery!

Are you the last man at GJ to not have an air impact gun? (I may be the last one to not get an electric impact gun big enough for lug nuts.)
 
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Squankum

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CNC_RICK said:
I once had to replace a timing belt in a '94 Honda Civic del-Sol. That crank bolt is famous for being ***TIGHT***. I had to u-tube that one to see if I was doing something wrong. Nope, I just needed bigger tools...
Click to expand...

Modern Hondas are legendary for crank bolt battles. One solution, I believe, you can find threads on GJ, is a special socket that has a lot of mass so each ugga dugga from the impact gun has more sustain, so to speak, in pushing on the 6 corners of the nut before bouncing back a little. Some of these sockets are just very thick-walled, and some have a toroidal ring putting some mass out about an inch greater radius.
 
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Squankum

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CNC_RICK said:
You noticed that I said a "dab" of never- seeze. Not a full-on dose on the lug threads. I feel if I do more than one dab, then I need to reduce my torque settings, accordingly. I never do that. I never adjust my settings on the torque wrench. I don't put that much on. I've learned to do the never seeze in small amounts after I worked on a 1990 Grand Am, after I broke more of the lug studs off, than I could save. Too much never- seeze is bad, using none at all is worse. A dab will do ya....
Click to expand...

Ditto! For all of the knock-down-drag-out threads across the internet about how if you put antiseize on your lug nuts/bolts you're going to have a wheel fall off and then you'll run over a vanload of nuns and orhpans and get sued and wind up hiding out in Panama, working on a fishing trawler/smuggling operation, nah. I have put a small amount (small) on there and haven't decreased my torque spec, either. Happy threads, nothing ever comes loose, no brake warpage, hundreds of thousands of miles across several vehicles.

I've also done the thin schmear (so thin it's more like painting) for brake rotor/wheel interface, brake drum/axle interface, so I never have to battle such a thing again. I really don't have salt in my life -- I was just traumatized by it in the Rust Belt many decades ago -- but five years ago when Ms. Squankum brought home a used a BMW, the aluminum suspension parts were shiny and clean and I could not get the wheels off. My best guess was some jackass with a powerwasher using something corrosive. I have tried Fluid Film for that hubcenter/hub sticky point and that works nicely, too. Again, judicious amounts.

In the past year or so I have read on the internet that wheel/hub interface should be dry, too, according to the engineers, but... again, no problems here.

The one factory spec I know of that says antiseize is okay, is, I think a rare version of the 911 with certain wheels (but not rare enough to have ONE nut per wheel) and the factory orders are, thin schmear of antiseize on the lug bolt (nut?) tapered face, but threads must remain clean and dry.

(Ya know what keeps threads clean and unrusty? A little antiseize.)
 
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Squankum

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driftpin said:
The obscure factoid I've always enjoyed having-learned about the Porsche 917 was that the factory pressurized their tubular frames. When the frame member lost-pressure, it was cracked, somewhere, and time for repair/replacement.
Click to expand...

Some tubes nitrogen, some tubes for moving hot oil from the engine or differential up to the radiators in the nose of the car! I'm not sure if that was all 917's or just some of them. Saved on plumbing weight. My googling just now reminded me that this all started because they tried to save weight on the tube frame tube thickness, and there had been cracks in testing. As I think I posted here last week, NASCAR has rules about tube thickness and does check. In some spots. Not the only sanctioning body.

But this was a long time ago, when safety was still being discovered.

More nitrogen trivia: I have a semi-rare VW that is essentially an Audi 4000 Quattro but with a station wagon body. Its suspension control arms have little rubber plugs because they were filled with nitrogen at the factory -- just to keep water out during stream crossings, deep snow. I have no idea if it's still in there...

And speaking of fluids inside tubes, I've recently learned that in NASCAR, tubes were (in the old days of the 80's) hiding small nitrous canisters and tubes. No small tube or nozzle going to the intake manifold or carb area, that would be so obvious! Just have it spray in the air intake area at the base of the windshield, where the high pressure air is headed towards the engine.

1789255869907.png
 
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CNC_RICK

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Thank you Squankie!!! I learn so much from you. I've worked on a ton of cars, but nothing racing. Everything I've ever done is OEM. By far. It's neat to hear from you, Kay, and Bob on how the other half lives... Ha. Everything my Dad did, was by mostly using old car parts. His favorite saying was... " It didn't cost me a dime". And those thoughts still reverberate in my memory.
 
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pi_guy

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Squankum said:
Some tubes nitrogen, some tubes for moving hot oil from the engine or differential up to the radiators in the nose of the car! I'm not sure if that was all 917's or just some of them. Saved on plumbing weight. My googling just now reminded me that this all started because they tried to save weight on the tube frame tube thickness, and there had been cracks in testing. As I think I posted here last week, NASCAR has rules about tube thickness and does check. In some spots. Not the only sanctioning body.

But this was a long time ago, when safety was still being discovered.

More nitrogen trivia: I have a semi-rare VW that is essentially an Audi 4000 Quattro but with a station wagon body. Its suspension control arms have little rubber plugs because they were filled with nitrogen at the factory -- just to keep water out during stream crossings, deep snow. I have no idea if it's still in there...

And speaking of fluids inside tubes, I've recently learned that in NASCAR, tubes were (in the old days of the 80's) hiding small nitrous canisters and tubes. No small tube or nozzle going to the intake manifold or carb area, that would be so obvious! Just have it spray in the air intake area at the base of the windshield, where the high pressure air is headed towards the engine.

1789255869907.png
Click to expand...
Just texted my crew buddy who had restored a few 917. The oil tank was in engine bay. He only remembers using nitrogen in chassis for cracks.
He said the body was held on by fiberglass strips.
My driver dove them a few times in Vintage terrifying it was like diving a piece of cardboard with a giant engine. This from a guy who drove F2 cars in early 70's and won in Japan and Columbia SA country that all the drivers had armed guards with machine guns for escorts.
No real safety built in
 
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kaymccampbell

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pi_guy said:
Just texted my crew buddy who had restored a few 917. The oil tank was in engine bay. He only remembers using nitrogen in chassis for cracks.
He said the body was held on by fiberglass strips.
My driver dove them a few times in Vintage terrifying it was like diving a piece of cardboard with a giant engine. This from a guy who drove F2 cars in early 70's and won in Japan and Columbia SA country that all the drivers had armed guards with machine guns for escorts.
No real safety built in
Click to expand...
A friend of mine once said that the drivers legs were part of the crash structure, and that he'd rather race a Monkey Wards dune buggy.
 
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scooterbum46

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kaymccampbell said:
A friend of mine once said that the drivers legs were part of the crash structure, and that he'd rather race a Monkey Wards dune buggy.
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How would they have about felt driving a front engine 1500 horsepower AA/FD from the 60's-early 70's with the seat wrapped around an early 50's Pontiac or Olds rear end meant for a couple hundred horsepower before "beefing it up"? Family jewels centered on the ring gear, feet up against the bell housing, big end blower bangs at 200 Mph putting everything that left the chat into the drivers face. :yikes:
 
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kaymccampbell

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scooterbum46 said:
How would they have about felt driving a front engine 1500 horsepower AA/FD from the 60's-early 70's with the seat wrapped around an early 50's Pontiac or Olds rear end meant for a couple hundred horsepower before "beefing it up"? Family jewels centered on the ring gear, feet up against the bell housing, big end blower bangs at 200 Mph putting everything that left the chat into the drivers face. :yikes:
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I've seen only two of those in action. One the engine exploded out of the frame and attacked the car in the other lane. The second sort of twisted itself up like a pretzel and collapsed onto the strip at a hundred mph. I never attended the drags after that. It was Butch's thing.
 
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pi_guy

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kaymccampbell said:
A friend of mine once said that the drivers legs were part of the crash structure, and that he'd rather race a Monkey Wards dune buggy.
Click to expand...
I have Johnny O'Connel Indy Lights tub where they had to cut him out of car the footbox and pedals are in multiple pieces I was there in the era where they transitions to feet behind the front wheels and then to crush structures in nose box
 
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CNC_RICK

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Squankum said:
Modern Hondas are legendary for crank bolt battles. One solution, I believe, you can find threads on GJ, is a special socket that has a lot of mass so each ugga dugga from the impact gun has more sustain, so to speak, in pushing on the 6 corners of the nut before bouncing back a little. Some of these sockets are just very thick-walled, and some have a toroidal ring putting some mass out about an inch greater radius.
Click to expand...
I do have plenty of air compressor power, plenty of 3/4" drive sockets. Maybe you didn't realize that my shop roof collapsed, a few years ago. I had a 3/4" drive impact wrench, a few years old. About 700 ft-pounds of torque, with the right fittings on the impact to use what was available from the 30 HP Craftsman air compressor. Large enough air hose and everything. I didn't use that. I went with my home-made 1" drive breaker bar with 6 foot handle, instead. My only concerns were which way do you turn the bolt? Lefty-Loosy? Since the 2.4 liter engine turned backwards in the first place. Counter-clockwise, or what? All pulleys... Alternator, power steering, air conditioning, three serpentine belts were on the driver's side of the car...
 
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CNC_RICK

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Ha, it's funny... I once did a compression test on the Honda. With a spark plug adapter on my gauge. I wasn't seeing the results that I wanted to see, so I took it a step forward. I used my air compressor, a regulator and everything to do an air pressure test on the engine.... Looking for a leak as in a bad intake or exhaust valve. As I had number one piston up to top dead center, I pulled the radiator cap, looked for bubbles. I went to the exhaust pipe, listening for leakage. I listened at the fuel body for leaks. No, everything is cool so far. Then I put my air hose on the second cylinder in the firing order, and everything went to heck... What the??? As I was trying to turn the engine over to cylinder #2 with a wrench on the crank bolt. What I did was to turn the engine, clockwise in order to get #2 to top dead center..... That's when I realized that the engine runs exactly backwards... I ended up replacing the head gasket, that time. I mean, every engine in the world runs clockwise, from the crankshaft, on the front of the engine, point of view... Chainsaws, lawnmowers, tractors, just about every engine in this world, rotates clockwise... Except for a 2.4 Honda engine... That one caught me off guard. Ha.
 
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