Spannerhead Dot Com

So I got the hinges replaced. Nori’s had some slop, to the point where the door would drop a fraction of an inch when first opened. Not much, but very obvious, and I really had to slam it when closing it. Overall, it just felt cheap.

Fortunately, Megumi’s hinges were tight. I cleaned them and resprayed them matte black (above). The door came off without too much drama (below):

It helped that I had already done it once with Megumi, so I knew exactly how it was supposed to come off.

One of the nasty hinges about to be replaced:

And the fresh hinges attached to the body:

I took the opportunity to clean everything in sight also. I thought I could reinstall the door without removing the fender, but it was just impossible to align without having frequent access to the inner (adjustment) bolts from the hinges to the body.

So, I had to at least pop the rear of the fender off:

Only one of the two fender bottom bolts broke, which surprised me. Everything else came off fine with a little heat and persuasion.

To align, I opened the door a couple of inches and positioned a (cushioned) floor jack under the back corner of the door to lift it where it needed to be before tightening the bolts. Took a few tries but I got it.

All buttoned up:

Not directly related, but I wanted to swap out the door wiring harness, only to discover that the door jamb junction pinouts for ’94 and ’95 were completely different, to the point where my power window switches activated the power locks… I just cleaned up the ’94 harness and reinstalled it. No big deal.

I did swap out the latch mechanism:

And made sure everything on the door was clean and trim:

All in all, a tough but satisfying job. Both doors close PERFECTLY now (the passenger door did already). Intact, conditioned seals and weatherstripping, new vapor barriers, new window bushings, windows adjusted properly, door jambs cleaned up, fresh door stays, lubed hinges. I think my work is done. For now.

Some quick driveway snaps.

I really need to have my new flex pipe welded in, so the muffler tips sit where they’re supposed to in relation to the bumper cutout.

Nori is using Megumi’s complete exhaust system, and as the engine got pushed back in the accident, the exhaust flex pipe got compressed by about 1-1.5″. No leaks, but it pulls the rear section of the exhaust forward (just clearing the heat shields) and as a result, the tips sit where they do.

New flex pipe to be installed:

The guys at work should be able to take care of that for me. In the meantime, the exhaust is buttoned up, and I’ve been able to observe the position of the tips doesn’t appear to be causing any ill effects to the bumper.

Did a 3rd pass on the engine (not pictured), and I also cleaned up the transmission. Before:

And after:

My stub CV joint served as my “special service tool” in the left side of the transmission, and I temporarily inserted the intermediate shaft on the right side to prevent water from entering the transmission during the clean.

I think it came out really well. Still wish I could’ve hot tanked both it and the engine, but that’s beyond the scope of this exercise.

In the fall evening light…

KL #581163 is coming into focus.

I got the harmonic balancer off by bracing a flywheel bolt against a crowbar wedged inside the engine stand arms.

With that in place, an air wrench made quick work of the balancer bolt.

Also: Dodged a bullet. The right side engine mount got bent in the accident, and 2 of its bolts bent, with the 3rd one shearing completely. Fortunately there was JUST enough meat protruding for me to be able to extract it from the block with some channel locks…

Timing covers removed:

I’ll probably do one more pass with the Simple Green & powerwasher. It’s a lot of work getting the scrubber down in all those crevices. Wish I could just hot-tank the thing, but… Oh well. It’ll have some “patina,” I guess, haha.

Love love love these pads. They may lack other pads’ initial “bite”, but ultimate stopping power is the same AND the feel is so linear and progressive. And very low dust.

Now I just need to readjust the parking brake. I positioned the rear calipers’ set screws so there was a “slight drag” on the discs, per the manual, but the parking brake doesn’t engage. Might need to move the adjustment nut on the cable…

Edit: So over the course of the day today, the parking brake is self-adjusting. I may be OK after all.

I think the cracks around my antenna switch developed when I drove over a pothole or two. I used a Dremel to make the hole, so I put much less stress into the plastic than if I had used a drill.

Same color, even! Funny; it’s one of those photos that makes whatever’s in the foreground look huge, but the cars are basically the same size.

What are they discussing? Spoilers, probably…

Starting to get Megumi’s engine cleaning in preparation for an eventual swap.

1st pass. More to come. Scrub a dub dub.

Using a pressure washer sure helps with the crevices, but boy does it make a mess. Also kicking myself for not cracking the harmonic balancer nut before I removed the flywheel…