Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Crakshaft Pulley Final Chapter
I love the Miata but I have to be honest; it's the most unreliable car I have ever owned. Since September 2007, that's just over 5 years, it really has only worked right for a couple of months, in 2009. The rest of the time the crankshaft pulley was screwed up screwing up the timing, or the brakes were seized or it was over heating or something other. Yet I still love it. I love driving it. Those couple of months in 2009 were awesome.
And it was in December of 2009 that the Miata finally went under the tarp with a totally screwed up Crankshaft. It hasn't been driven since. It's been started and it clanked and clattered for a few minutes but it basically just sat for over 2years completely broken. I almost sold the car last year. I got offered $1000 to sell it as is. But I thought no; selling the car would be giving up and I'd always regret it. However I don't want the car to sit in the garage endlessly waiting for me to get my shit together to fix it. So finally after two long years when the opportunity presented itself I went out and bought a new engine. A 92 so it has the redesigned long nose crankshaft pulley and timing gear. This is what it looks like.
That's it lying on the floor of my garage. Now ironically it came without the crankcase pulley so I had to get a new one but there it is. It took about four whole days of working with my dad to pull the defunct engine out and put the new one in. It actually took 3 weeks but most of that time was waiting for parts to be delivered.
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| Dad under and me over unhooking and unscrewing. The bolts to the bell housing were tight. |
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| hoodless |
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| Starting to lift it out. The engine and transmission didn't want to separate, I had to give it a big yank and it went. It's kinda scary cause the engine weighs a lot and if it falls it will damage stuff. |
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| Proud papa. It's a 1.6l! |
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| I didn't get into the empty bay and take the obligatory guy stands in empty engine bay shot. But I might tomorrow. |
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| Old engine fully stripped. |
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| The redesigned sprocket awaiting a new pulley and bolt. |
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| The old timing sprocket. It's all loose in there and you can jiggle it back and forth. |
After a while oil got to the lifters and that clanking stopped as did the fire, it was just grease on the exhaust manifold. It's been problem free motoring since then and I must say I will remember this as a really special and wonderful thing I got to do with my pops. Just another way cars make life better.
Monday, September 5, 2011
I am my cars; the cars are me.
After watching the film Senna I was thinking today about what is it about cars and driving? Why do I feel so strongly and passionately about my cars? Why is it that a good drive can make me maniacally happy and if there's something wrong with one of my cars I can become moody and depressed? I came to realize this: If I think of myself as my brain connected to my body through nerves; and that body sends me information about my world and I send it instructions that make me move and communicate with that world, then by extension by the fact that my hand grips the wheel and gear leaver, my feet the pedals, my ass and back the seat; the car becomes a part of me; an extension of my body. Just as my hand is connected to my wrist; there is a physical link between my hand and the wheel; which is connected to the suspension, to the tires and ultimately the road. This connection is on a deep two way subconscious level; just like when I am walking I don't think "now I move this foot, and now this one" I don't consciously think "now I have to turn the wheel to turn, or now I have to press in the gas pedal to go faster"; it just happens.
That's why when something is running bad in my car I get so upset; because it's as if there is something wrong with me. Through that connection I feel sick; if I try to go faster and all I get is a misfire it's as if I'm trying to walk and foot doesn't work. I think that's why myself and so many car guys are so resistant to cars having all this computer stuff like drive by wire and electronic steering, because it numbs that connection, that extension of the body. In my Miata I can feel every pebble on the road; that feeling is transmitted through the tires, the suspension, the bushings, the chassis to my hands and my ass in the seat and to my brain just as if I was walking barefoot; the Miata is engineered that way, to be so communicative, and when driving it I feel light and precise, every thought I have is instantly converted into movement from the car. Meanwhile the Benz communicates confidence. It's soaks up the pebbles, it's always smooth but it's never numb; I feel solid and invincible. It's why I hate driving cheap poorly engineered cars like my wife's Pontiac Sunfire. The sensation I get back from it is that the suspension is hard and loose, the steering is imprecise as if I'm trying to walk while drunk. The engine drones and vibrates like it (i.e. me) is struggling to move. The whole body rattles and shudders; it bruises my ego to drive that car because I end up feeling cheap and imprecise and loose.
In the same way my mania comes from having a body that can go fast, turn fast; when everything is working, with just a will I can unleash an orchestra of mechanical sound that propels me forward and takes me beyond the limits of my organic body. It's quite something. I really rue the day when I become too old to drive or because of the environment or whatever am forced to stop driving. A car really is an incredible machine that takes us beyond ourselves.
That's why when something is running bad in my car I get so upset; because it's as if there is something wrong with me. Through that connection I feel sick; if I try to go faster and all I get is a misfire it's as if I'm trying to walk and foot doesn't work. I think that's why myself and so many car guys are so resistant to cars having all this computer stuff like drive by wire and electronic steering, because it numbs that connection, that extension of the body. In my Miata I can feel every pebble on the road; that feeling is transmitted through the tires, the suspension, the bushings, the chassis to my hands and my ass in the seat and to my brain just as if I was walking barefoot; the Miata is engineered that way, to be so communicative, and when driving it I feel light and precise, every thought I have is instantly converted into movement from the car. Meanwhile the Benz communicates confidence. It's soaks up the pebbles, it's always smooth but it's never numb; I feel solid and invincible. It's why I hate driving cheap poorly engineered cars like my wife's Pontiac Sunfire. The sensation I get back from it is that the suspension is hard and loose, the steering is imprecise as if I'm trying to walk while drunk. The engine drones and vibrates like it (i.e. me) is struggling to move. The whole body rattles and shudders; it bruises my ego to drive that car because I end up feeling cheap and imprecise and loose.
In the same way my mania comes from having a body that can go fast, turn fast; when everything is working, with just a will I can unleash an orchestra of mechanical sound that propels me forward and takes me beyond the limits of my organic body. It's quite something. I really rue the day when I become too old to drive or because of the environment or whatever am forced to stop driving. A car really is an incredible machine that takes us beyond ourselves.
Friday, February 25, 2011
CrankyCase Pulley Saga
Just returned from a junk yard where they have a 92 1.6l engine in
running condition. Stay tuned....
running condition. Stay tuned....
Sunday, January 2, 2011
What Real Mercedes Owners Look Like
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Ahem...
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| That Ball thing and the ring thing should be together. |
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| On Blocks |
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Dear Benz....
Dear Mercedes Benz Car;
I just wanted to drop you a note to clarify some things. I think there has been a slight misunderstanding; you seem to think that breaking down and taking all my money is somehow acceptable and funny. Let me make things perfectly clear to you; it's not. So last week when you decided to stop shifting into any forward gears and left me stranded outside of Seattle in a Burger King parking lot, that was not interesting or cute. It was embarrassing, terribly inconvenient, and ended up being very expensive. And I have to be honest with you, when I went to open the hood and that clever little release in the grille came off in my hand denying me access to the engine bay, I seriously considered the future of our relationship. I considered it again as I lay face down in the dirt, after slipping while trying to push you up the ramp onto the very expensive tow trailer, you know the one, the one that tows all four wheels because the rental company wouldn't allow a Mercedes on the one that only tows two wheels. Because you're supposed to be special. I've got to say that as that long, long day of trailers, towing, getting lost, getting harassed at the border (who would have thought two guys with an empty UHaul towing a Mercedes would be suspicious) I must say I gave serious thought to the words my Dad, Wife, and friends were saying; "Get Rid of that thing and buy something nice and reliable".
In the week that you were gone for repairs I had some time to seriously think. I had to take transit and drive a loaner car. I won't go into detail regarding my transit experience only to say anyone who choses this mode of transport is a serious self-loathing masochist. It's cramped, it's loud, it's hot, and it smells. And it ain't cheap. For how much it sucks they should be paying you to ride it. The loaner car; a pristine 1997 Honda Accord LX. This is the base 4 cylinder mode with a 5 speed manual, hand-crank windows, and no power locks. It's a great car and exactly one of those "nice and reliable" cars everyone was talking about. It's even beige with a well put together beige interior. Let me tell you something Benz, if you weren't in trouble of getting sold before you definitely were when I got behind the wheel of this thing. The manual shifter is a joy to use, the engine is torquey and peppy, the steering is light at parking lot speeds but precise and communicative when you get going. Honda knows its engineering and this is one well engineered car with everything you need and nothing you don't. Sure there's no tilting and wide opening sunroof, sure the rear headrests don't fold down out of view at the touch of a button, yeah you've got to constantly fiddle with the AC because the fan has only four settings and all of them louder and more annoying than the next unlike the Mercedes climate control which silently works in the background to make the cabin utterly comfortable, sure that excellent Honda engine is loud inside the car, like really loud, and not a good sports car engine loud like in the Miata and not a refined hum like in you, but a bad economy car buzzing loud, and what's with all the road noise? Are the tires made of wood? Constant road noise and shuddering from the chassis over every bump, I felt like going for a hay ride in a buck wagon. You're nearly ten years older and solid and silent and pleasant. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah; You win. At the end of the week I was more than happy to pay to have your transmission ECU replaced and reprogrammed. I didn't look forward to driving the Accord, it's just a very good appliance to get from one place to another. You; you're special. I guess you can take all my money because you've spoiled me and no other car will do. The Mercedes Benz motto applies: Perfection or Nothing.
Sincerely
Your Self-loathing Masochist Owner
I just wanted to drop you a note to clarify some things. I think there has been a slight misunderstanding; you seem to think that breaking down and taking all my money is somehow acceptable and funny. Let me make things perfectly clear to you; it's not. So last week when you decided to stop shifting into any forward gears and left me stranded outside of Seattle in a Burger King parking lot, that was not interesting or cute. It was embarrassing, terribly inconvenient, and ended up being very expensive. And I have to be honest with you, when I went to open the hood and that clever little release in the grille came off in my hand denying me access to the engine bay, I seriously considered the future of our relationship. I considered it again as I lay face down in the dirt, after slipping while trying to push you up the ramp onto the very expensive tow trailer, you know the one, the one that tows all four wheels because the rental company wouldn't allow a Mercedes on the one that only tows two wheels. Because you're supposed to be special. I've got to say that as that long, long day of trailers, towing, getting lost, getting harassed at the border (who would have thought two guys with an empty UHaul towing a Mercedes would be suspicious) I must say I gave serious thought to the words my Dad, Wife, and friends were saying; "Get Rid of that thing and buy something nice and reliable".
In the week that you were gone for repairs I had some time to seriously think. I had to take transit and drive a loaner car. I won't go into detail regarding my transit experience only to say anyone who choses this mode of transport is a serious self-loathing masochist. It's cramped, it's loud, it's hot, and it smells. And it ain't cheap. For how much it sucks they should be paying you to ride it. The loaner car; a pristine 1997 Honda Accord LX. This is the base 4 cylinder mode with a 5 speed manual, hand-crank windows, and no power locks. It's a great car and exactly one of those "nice and reliable" cars everyone was talking about. It's even beige with a well put together beige interior. Let me tell you something Benz, if you weren't in trouble of getting sold before you definitely were when I got behind the wheel of this thing. The manual shifter is a joy to use, the engine is torquey and peppy, the steering is light at parking lot speeds but precise and communicative when you get going. Honda knows its engineering and this is one well engineered car with everything you need and nothing you don't. Sure there's no tilting and wide opening sunroof, sure the rear headrests don't fold down out of view at the touch of a button, yeah you've got to constantly fiddle with the AC because the fan has only four settings and all of them louder and more annoying than the next unlike the Mercedes climate control which silently works in the background to make the cabin utterly comfortable, sure that excellent Honda engine is loud inside the car, like really loud, and not a good sports car engine loud like in the Miata and not a refined hum like in you, but a bad economy car buzzing loud, and what's with all the road noise? Are the tires made of wood? Constant road noise and shuddering from the chassis over every bump, I felt like going for a hay ride in a buck wagon. You're nearly ten years older and solid and silent and pleasant. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah; You win. At the end of the week I was more than happy to pay to have your transmission ECU replaced and reprogrammed. I didn't look forward to driving the Accord, it's just a very good appliance to get from one place to another. You; you're special. I guess you can take all my money because you've spoiled me and no other car will do. The Mercedes Benz motto applies: Perfection or Nothing.
Sincerely
Your Self-loathing Masochist Owner
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