220 replies to this topic

[allpaw4]

Well, I think its just fouled plugs, but I finally started the old girl after 5 weeks in the shed, and theres a miss there. So now I need to pull all the plugs and find out whats going on. I know the stem seals are leaking a little bit, and leaving it for just a week to 10 days will result in a blue haze on start up, so I suspect its just a fouled plug, but I need to confirm it. just have to wait until I can get into the shed and actually do it. You'd be suprised how much stuff there is to do at home. Plus the missus gets annoyed if I do anything substantially risky at this point.

 

I have had to get some contractors in to finish off the 3 phase electrical upgrade I'm doing at present, because she doesn't want something happening while I'm under the house. I can understand it - I used to get under there by myself all the time, but if I was to have a seizure or something silly while I was under there, I'd be screwed - noone around, and even if there was, they'd have to pull me out - which isn't an easy task with the structural beams a mere 30cm from the ground.

 

Still trying to get one of the mechanical guys around here to change the drivers side inner CV boot for me. I'll pull the shaft no dramas, but I hate playing with the CV grease - mucky, stinky stuff it is.

 

Cheers,

Ben

[AB501UT!0N]

Hopefully you ca get the plug issue fixed asap and I think your wife is smart not to let you do that stuff and I hope for your sake that in the near future you wont have to worry about any seizures stopping you from doing stuff you want

[allpaw4]

Yep, she is a bloody good woman, I can't believe she's still here after the past 2 months. The surgery thing has knocked her around something shocking. On meds for the seizures, so shouldn't be any more, surgeon will be weaning me off them in a week anyways, so should be good on that front. I'll be pulling the plugs tomorrow, got a mates Ute to put cruise control into today, so earning some money.

[AB501UT!0N]

Yep, she is a bloody good woman, I can't believe she's still here after the past 2 months. The surgery thing has knocked her around something shocking. On meds for the seizures, so shouldn't be any more, surgeon will be weaning me off them in a week anyways, so should be good on that front. I'll be pulling the plugs tomorrow, got a mates Ute to put cruise control into today, so earning some money.

That's good to hear you have it under control and how did u go with the plugs? And there is nothing better than keeping ones self busy to keep your mind occupied during the healing progress.

Chris

[allpaw4]

Haven't actually got to that part yet, was finishing off a cruise control install in a mates dmax ute, and have the valuer coming to look at the house on Wednesday, so there's a lot of cleaning etc to happen today and tomorrow. Just general tidy up and fixing small things. Refinancing the house to help pay the 35 odd thousand worth of medical bills. It's really helping not thinking about it all. Been walking a lot too, try and loose the ten kilo I gained laying in a hospital bed. I'm not 17 any more lol

[allpaw4]

So, looks like number 2 coil pack has died. No idea of the cause, as when I first started it when I got back it ran on all 4 cylinders for 5 seconds or so before it dropped to 3.

 

 

Replace with my last spare and now she runs fine. Bit of carbon build up on all 4 plugs, but found out when S&J's did the last service they've thrown in some iridiums. Either that or Al put them in and S&J's have noticed them and not replaced them on the 25k service. Don't know which one.

Either way it works now. Down side is the surgeon has got me coming off the Keppra anti-seizure meds, so for the next 28 days I can't drive her.

 

Got the letter from the surgeon saying I can go back to work on light duties, which is excellent. Just need to get past the site doctor, which according to my last appointment with him, that shouldnt be a problem, but stranger things have happened.

 

Anyways, have been keeping busy doing all sorts of crap at home.

Unfortunately Haven't had the time to join in to the general thread.

 

Cheers,

Ben

[allpaw4]

Got past the site doctor no dramas, pretty much office bound until next block, which will be interesting. 5 night shifts with not much to do besides paperwork and some Web based trainings. Start tonight.

[CRUISN]

5 night shifts with not much to do besides paperwork, some Web based trainings, YouTube, Ebay, Subyclub, etc. Start tonight.

Fixed.

Well thats what I do on nightshift.

[allpaw4]

Lol, understand that, I need to bring a personal laptop in to do it here, IT have blocked and monitor a lot of those sites. The exception being subyclub, which I often trawl through on nights.
Import monster is the other one I monitor on nights lol

[Jimbo]

Good to hear you're getting back to it mate!

[CRUISN]

Lol, understand that, I need to bring a personal laptop in to do it here, IT have blocked and monitor a lot of those sites. 

 

Damn IT department! Youtube killed 4 hours of night shift for me last night.  

[duncanm]

Good to hear you're getting back into it.

 

https://www.coursera.org/

[allpaw4]

Cheers man. Will look into a few of those courses, bound to be a few that perk my interest.

[allpaw4]

Well, its been a busy month for me... a few ups and downs, but hey. Thats what life is about isn't it?

 

Back on full duties as of last block, been told by the surgeon that I don't need another MRI or checkup again, so all good there!

 

Been busy finalising the house - 23kW 3 phase ducted refridgerated A/C has been installed at home to replace the big evaporative unit we had on the roof, so the house is running substantially cooler now when its humid. Got it set to 23 during the night and 26 during the day, so the power bill shouldn't be huge considering the size of the AC. Average usage on a hot (read: above 40) day seems to be about 60kWh per day for the entire house, so thats ok. Considering I haven't yet patched the holes from the evaporative vents yet, there is a lot of heat coming down from the ceiling cavity, thats not too bad...

Also had the foxtel dish moved to the eastern facing roof, clearing the way for a substantial solar install that will be happening at some stage of next year.

Bathroom has been renovated now, just need to put the cornice back up and put a tastic heat/light/fan setup in. Already run the extra wiring required to make it work. House is almost done! Just need to run the new 6mm 3 phase cable out to the shed through the new conduits and that'll be good to go.

 

As far as the car goes, I had the roof looked at just the other day and unfortunately the hot weather combined with the crap being dropped on it from out at work has left 3 spots on the roof where the paint has tarnished and the clearcoat worn off to the point I have several white patches on the roof. So that needs a respray before its presentable again. Been talking to the local paint bloke, who says a good polish on the bonnet and boot will suffice, but the roof will need respraying with some blending down each of the pillars. Other than that, I've still got to get the CV boot replaced, and also get around to changing one of the rear wheel bearings.

 

Cheers,

Ben

[allpaw4]

Well, did a bit of work to the old girl yesterday - had a new CV Boot put on the secondhand shaft that Duncan sent me through a few weeks back. Installed that no dramas, and scraped the grease off the dump pipe, so no more stinky times when I pull up after a drive. Doesnt take too much to do, just some time and some tools - I had a nice piece of 40mm ally tubing about 1.8m long that got used as a force multiplier for the axle nut. Certainly no torque wrench, but it did the job marvelously.

Also changed out the rear left wheel bearing - and a trap for young players - if you dont have access to a press, dont just buy a bearing assembly - get a hub assembly. The bearing needs to be pressed on. I got a fitter mate to crack out the oxy and grinder on the old bearing that had separated when we went to remove the bearing off the hub. I could see why it was whining - the inner side bearing race of the assembly was a bright blue - apparantly that means its gotten to approx 600 deg. Kind of warm! Press the new bearing onto the old hub and fit it all back up again, all good. No more loud bearing noise at speed now!

 

All up it took about 6 hours of rooting around to get it all done, but it needed to be done and I couldnt be stuffed paying rediculous dollars to a company to do it. Local guys round here charge about 80 an hour to do stuff, so I paid 50 bucks to someone cash to change the boot over (I hate CV grease) and did the rest myself.

[AB501UT!0N]

Well, did a bit of work to the old girl yesterday - had a new CV Boot put on the secondhand shaft that Duncan sent me through a few weeks back. Installed that no dramas, and scraped the grease off the dump pipe, so no more stinky times when I pull up after a drive. Doesnt take too much to do, just some time and some tools - I had a nice piece of 40mm ally tubing about 1.8m long that got used as a force multiplier for the axle nut. Certainly no torque wrench, but it did the job marvelously.

Also changed out the rear left wheel bearing - and a trap for young players - if you dont have access to a press, dont just buy a bearing assembly - get a hub assembly. The bearing needs to be pressed on. I got a fitter mate to crack out the oxy and grinder on the old bearing that had separated when we went to remove the bearing off the hub. I could see why it was whining - the inner side bearing race of the assembly was a bright blue - apparantly that means its gotten to approx 600 deg. Kind of warm! Press the new bearing onto the old hub and fit it all back up again, all good. No more loud bearing noise at speed now!

 

All up it took about 6 hours of rooting around to get it all done, but it needed to be done and I couldnt be stuffed paying rediculous dollars to a company to do it. Local guys round here charge about 80 an hour to do stuff, so I paid 50 bucks to someone cash to change the boot over (I hate CV grease) and did the rest myself.

 

Glad to hear you got it done and those axle nuts are such a pain in the bum! Haha and nicely done on doing it yourself and how much do you think the paint job on the roof will cost?

 

Keep up the job work mate

[allpaw4]

I have no idea how much to expect, but I'm hoping probably 1k cash will be enough. He's been pretty cheap with a lot of other work I've thrown his way, so here's to hoping. Going to be a while before it happens anyways. Might even lash out once we can afford it and change the colour... Thinking WR Blue at the moment, but yea, going to be a while.

[AB501UT!0N]

I have no idea how much to expect, but I'm hoping probably 1k cash will be enough. He's been pretty cheap with a lot of other work I've thrown his way, so here's to hoping. Going to be a while before it happens anyways. Might even lash out once we can afford it and change the colour... Thinking WR Blue at the moment, but yea, going to be a while.

 

I would reckon about the same and WR blue would look great especially with your S401 front bar and it gives you something to look forward to either way  

[allpaw4]

Yea, cant wait to be able to get her painted - its something I've wanted to do since I bought her. Got to give her an oil change next block off, but thats only if I'm not working - Got myself a second job with one of the local building companies, so the extra cashola will be rather handy.

[allpaw4]

Well, time for another update. The old girl has come back out from retirement, as we sold the fiance's Honda MDX a couple of weeks ago. So she's back on the road as a daily for a while. Roof is getting much worse, but havent had time to do much about it unfortunately. The extra work has finally started - working so far an extra 4 days a fortnight so far (fatigue management plan dictates a 2 day break when switching from night shifts back to day shifts) so between the house and the extra work not much is being looked at with the car. 

 

Hopefully this changes in the long term - really wanted to do a track day in may, but it isn't looking good for it so far. Got too much on my plate again.

 

Cheers,

Ben