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What's good guys I've owned my car for about 3 years now and have recently as of the last 8 months to a year have done a ton of DIY work on it to save money. These jobs have been my headlight bulbs, a/c compressor & drier/receiver, starter, alternator, transmission oil filter, all 3 motor mounts, and I'm about to change all my sway link bars, outer tie rods, and 2 front shock assemblies in the next week or so.
My question to you guys is what has been the most difficult job you've done yourself on your car and why was it so difficult. For me the toughest job had to have been my motor mounts, specifically my rear mount. For two reasons one it's hard to get a good angle with the wrench I used, second being my car 05 5AT is initially from up north and a good amount of my nuts and bolts are rusted, for the front mount I had to take a torch to the bolts :run
On my Traverse, I changed the water pump, coolant, serpentine belt, spark plugs, and transmission fluid in one shot. That was not necessarily difficult, but time consuming.
The toughest job for me was removing the front lower ball joints.
Considering I didnt have a ball joint. I ended up removing the entire knuckle off the car and using a sledge hammer to bang it out. .....it was probably the most time consuming job.
Even after buying one of those ball joint presses it was still a bitch the next time I got around to replacing the other ball joint.
Rotating tires without a jack. seems pretty difficult
You just need to turn rapidly at fast speed and then counter it to not land on your roof.
Secret is to make tiny corrections to keep balance and slowly brake.
Ask two friends to switch them up while you sitting in the car (don't try to leave ! remember about center of mass !)
Repeat for other side.
There have been several noteable things I've done:
-At least 30+ engine swaps (by myself).
-A TSX clutch job (by myself).
-Re-bushing'd 2 entire cars.
-S2000 subframe swap (by myself) - benchpress game strong.
-S2000 clutch.
-S2000 engine head replacement.
-S2000 soft top replacement (by myself).
-S2000 soft top delete...without scratching the car (by myself) - squat game strong.
-ITR 3" exhaust fabrication...with the best RLCA clearance anyone has ever seen in the history of the universe.
-3D model/CNC/Fabricate S2000 seat rails and oil cooler setup and ducting/bracketing.
The list stretches for pages, mate.
But...by far...the most impressive feat would be the time I took a clean, but standard ass Type R powered civic (yawn), and turned it into this effing spotless specimen:
After we landed a satisfying amount of jumps to test its durability....we got it ready for Concourse D'Elegance with a Pebble Beach style rubdown.
This process took seconds...or even MINUTES to complete to our exacting standards. Its quality that one can stand behind.
The toughest job for me was removing the front lower ball joints.
Considering I didnt have a ball joint. I ended up removing the entire knuckle off the car and using a sledge hammer to bang it out. .....it was probably the most time consuming job.
Even after buying one of those ball joint presses it was still a bitch the next time I got around to replacing the other ball joint.
I couldn't agree more.
My automotive resume consists of; 3 engine swaps in an old Prelude (plus turbo'ing a couple of them), 3 motor pulls/installs in my STi, rebuilding the shortblock of the EJ25 with forged internals, and a rotated 30R install. Among many, many other things.
Only had my 3G TL-S for 2 months when the passenger axle went bad. Was planning on replacing the BJ's anyway since I needed to disconnect the knuckle/LCA, and all ball joints I've replaced normally come out with a couple good whacks of a hammer. Not mine, I needed to remove the entire knuckle to get them pressed out, which also means; new outer tie rods, stripping all 4 Brembo caliper bolt holes, and ABS sensors frozen in the knuckle. FML
Rebuilt the 13B rotary engine in my rx-7 S4, it was a 1988 convertible. It blew out a coolant jacket seal and after I tore it down I cleaned and spec'd every single piece. Drove 5 hours one way to buy two blown engines and then 5 hours back all in one day. Tore those down and got about 2 parts from each, but they were extremely important and well worth it.
Then I bought a new front plate to replace the one with the blown jacket and when I got it home it was out of spec by a few thousandths.... So I had to buy yet another front plate. 5th plate was the charm. Bought upgraded apex seals, new side seals, FD corner seals, blah blah blah all that stuff. Rebuilt the thing over the course of a summer and when I put the engine on the stand to get it back in I reattached the studs to the block and I hadn't take them all out and somehow one snapped. It was a huge PITA that delayed me another week. Worth it tho, drove that car 60,000 miles of pure blissfull enjoyment at 8,000rpm. Still slow as shit, but someday I'd like to try again and street port the next one.
On the TL I plastic welded, bondo'd, and sanded down and painted the front bumper cover. Which was horrible, becuse I am not experienced in body work. But hey I learned. What I learned is that I suck at body work lol.
Around 10 years back I built a custom turbo kit on my 2000 Accord EX out of mainly ebay parts. Then blew that engine and swapped it for another used engine. Ended up being in debt basically after all that. Somehow I thought that I'd sell the car and get an older rx7 and save money because it's older and a more mod friendly platform. (See beginning of post for how that worked out.)
Currently I am reinforcing the sub frame on my 328i drift car. That is super fun!!! Well not all that fun, but I am going to learn how to do some shitty welds. As long as I am learning and trying new things and building my tool collection life is good!
The toughest job for me was removing the front lower ball joints.
Considering I didnt have a ball joint. I ended up removing the entire knuckle off the car and using a sledge hammer to bang it out. .....it was probably the most time consuming job.
Even after buying one of those ball joint presses it was still a bitch the next time I got around to replacing the other ball joint.
+1
I just tried to do this on my 04 on the passenger side wheel. The rented tool from Autozone couldn't press it out so I ended up taking the knuckle to a local mechanic so he could press out the old ball joint. Even he started swearing at it; these things really get stuck in there. It took grinding off the threaded portion, followed by alternating between the press tool and an air hammer before it finally came loose.
But...by far...the most impressive feat would be the time I took a clean, but standard ass Type R powered civic (yawn), and turned it into this effing spotless specimen:
After we landed a satisfying amount of jumps to test its durability....we got it ready for Concourse D'Elegance with a Pebble Beach style rubdown.
This process took seconds...or even MINUTES to complete to our exacting standards. Its quality that one can stand behind.
replaced engine mounts in a 99 accord with aftermarket ones from napa. the rear mount has 3 holes and came to find out that aftermarket mounts are very different than oems. bolt holes are slightly different. this makes for a long bloody knuckle frustrating night, especially when you have to install the rear mount blind( under intake manifold)
08-30-2017, 09:55 PM
:run 
