My OCD got the best of me. I wet sanded with 2000 grit and hand polished the whole car ( minus front and rear bumpers ) followed by Mothers synthetic wax.
The whole time I've owned this car I thought the repaint didn't match. It does match and jeeesh this car looks a lot better. If only there weren't over 340,000 miles of dings in this car.
I can't believe it turned out this way.
Only took me about 9 hours. Lol
All of this because I tried the White Diamond on a 3in by 3in spot. I was supposed to buy spark plugs, oil, and and filter but completely forgot.
Holy ! That looks good. I wish I could spend 9 hours on mine and get that. But the clear coat is peeling off anything that faces remotely up.
Although I can't imagine spending 9 hours wet sanding anything.
Steve " a91what " has done it again. My injector pulse widths were way off causing the car to foul the plugs when cold starting. I had noticed a little richness but failed to mention it. The issue came from the base tune I downloaded from DIYautotune. This car has never started so well.
Steve teleported into my laptop and fixed the issue. Dusty hasn't started in a few weeks. New plugs and the fixed tune and here we are.
This is the first time Dusty and Magnetica have been outside to play together. Had to run Dusty around the neighborhood.
Papa Smurf is back there hanging out, too. Showing off the system that attracts all the kids for more candy. Lol
No big updates. My oldest turned 19 saturday so he was with me all weekend. I pointed out the neighbors calypso 4 banger to him ( would've bought it for him )... but he wants an 03 04 mustang v6. He is really in love with the new edge mustangs. ( the younger generation...)
Nothing else has changed....got the windows tinted on the s550 and have been looking at some different wheels.
Dish washer blew up and ruined the hardwood in the kitchen.....strut mount broke on the 08 taurus...money money money....
Finally got rid of the egr valve. I really don't like the thin stainless ones they sell on the main mustang part sites. I opted to order one from Ebay. Some of the listings say they don't fit 89 mustang 5.0s but they do. The issue is both holes are drilled to the same size- our valves have a small stud up top and a larger one on the bottom. The plate will fit regardless but I made a spacer for the top hole.
Here im sizing up a spacer from some piece I had laying in my electrical box. I hold on to so much irrelevant stuff. It was probably the surround for some led light I bought years ago. ( probably the one carmicheal Angelo needed )
I placed it on a socket and cut the rim off it with a razor blade. Fit the stud and the plate perfect. I just wanted the plate to line up straight and not get wicky wacky when tightening down.
This thing is purdy....but now I can see the rusted bolts on my Kirban FPR. Time to find some stainless bolts...
I've already shortened the vacuum hose to the FPR to get that curve down. Now I've got more beautification to do. It never stops. If someone looked at the back of the engine they'd think I was a jack leg mechanic....can't have that goin' around.
Ps. I'm trying to find a way to hide the hideous salt and pepper shakers. Those connections are ugly looking dangling back there. I've been thinking about getting a plate made that would attach where the firewall to hood seal goes and would cover all the ugly crap behind it. I've never seen it done before. If anyone has any ideas let me know.
A trip to Home depot ( the brass washers didn't fit )....
This is what I ended up with after one by one removing and installing stainless screws and wiping with White Diamond metal polish. This stuff is amazing.
The flash dimmed it a bit....it looks like a mirror.
If anyone else has a Kirban FPR the bolts are #6- 32 1/2 inch long. Really helped cleaning that up.....now what else can I polish ?
This White Diamond from Advance has shined my regular steel exhaust connectors to a chrome like finish, polished my intake, radiator, intercooler, breather tank, polished my ac lines and fittings, polished my turbo, polished the headlights on my taurus and ranger chrystal clear, fixed my tattered rough paint job, removed scratches on my s550, and cleaned my chrome bumpers on the econoline e150. I can't say enough about this product. I'm happy and it's all been with the same bottle...not even halfway gone.
...and it smells like V A N I L L A....and.... I think I have a buzzzz.
I took my spare wiper motor apart to clean up the rusted barrel on the bottom. The one on the car has been irritating me. So I pull the spare one out, pop the plastic cover off, take the metal mounting bracket off, and proceed to remove that rusty old barrel.
And this happens....
That's the spring that holds one of the brushes to the motor. The plastic cracked off right at the hole that holds the end of that dang spring. If this was my only one I could fix it with a glove of job weld....but not... so.... ef it.
Back in the day we used to take these things apart and replace the brushes and fix the little finger contacts when these things would break. Now, we just order new ones. If you've never seen your prized wiper motor apart, this is what it looks like.
I was going to polish this part. Well I probably will still polish it and attempt to do this again to the motor on the car. Wish me luck in a few days....
I started out picking up some fabric type easy wire loom from DEI at the local parts store and ended up doing this...
After a couple years I finally tucked the passenger side. I had a rubber grommet laying around and put it to good use. I was surprised that the MAF plug fit through the round hole on the back of the strut tower. Some other things surprised me too....
....now I'm sitting here thinking that I'm real close to tagging this car....I mean real close. Thought all my big purchases were done and I was just messin' around with simple cosmetic crap.
Well....no.... I'm not. The wire tuck revealed that I have actual shaft play in my strut... ...and the bump steer kit has play. How I missed this crap I have no idea. Maybe it was because i felt the car tram lining ...and heard noise over there and just ignored it.... its just the charge pipe...
Or maybe I'm an idiot...
Either way, I now need to order coil overs and a new bump steer kit. This stuff never stops. If im going coil over I might as well order tubular lower control arms. There goes my tag and title money.
To top this off I had a guy that was selling brand new Viking adjustable struts with brand new coil overs for 350. This was just week before last. His stuff was brand new in the box and I passed on it. I had the money but thought there was nothing wrong with the crap I have on the car. The bump steer kit is about 8 years old and driven daily for a few of those years. The struts are 8 year old cheapy monroe struts that were also driven daily for a few years under my convertible. There goes another grand...oh...and I'm buying an Integra for my son this week....and the wife just talked me into a new sectional sofa ( also being bought this week )....and I haven't filed my taxes yet so I have no idea what I owe them yet...but I know I'll owe something.... aaaaarrrrgggghhhh who said I wanted to adult ? I'm a freakin' Toys R Us kid