When I'm not troubleshooting pedals...

[Chuck D. Bones]

Sometimes I'm troubleshooting cars. It might be ok when a pedal makes a farty sound, but it's never ok when a car does it. When my '98 Jaguar XJR suddenly started stalling at idle and making farty sounds from under the hood, I knew something bad was going on. No Check Engine light, although a scan showed several pending faults including running lean. That and a listen thru a short piece of hose pinpointed the problem:

The gasket on the outlet side of the blower had failed and was sucking air into the intake tract, bypassing the throttle and air flow sensor. Here are the failed and replacement gaskets.


Jaguar mounts the supercharger upside-down, with the inlet on the bottom and the outlet on the top. The gasket goes between the aluminum duct with "V8" on it and the blower. Yeah, there is a supercharger hidden below all that plumbing. Lucky for me, the outlet side of the duct has flexible couplings on it. I was able to remove 4 bolts, then lift the duct just enough to slide the old gasket out and the new gasket in. I spent more time looking up the torque spec for the bolts than it took to R&R the gasket.


That 4.0L V8 engine has just over 200K mi on it. I've replaced belts, hoses, timing chains and head gaskets and that's about it.

 

[jeffwhitfield]

Apparently you're really good at pointing. You be like, "See that? So do I!"

I don't know shit about cars. I could probably change out a gasket or something like that. But overhaul a carburetor? Forget it!

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

LoL. I was polite enough to use my index finger... this time.

At least carbs don't have any electronics in them, the old ones don't anyway. The last carburetor I rebuilt was on a Honda weed wacker. I needed tweezers and a magnifier to do some of the work it was so tiny.

About the only part of a car I won't work on is an automatic transmission. It requires tools and skills I don't have. I leave that to the pros. I've installed shift kits, but that's about it.

When I was much younger, I replaced the starter on my station wagon in front of my girlfriend's house, in the rain. Her dad was a country boy from Kentucky and he was suitably impressed. He invited me back to help him do a brake job on his car.

 

[jimilee]

LoL. I was polite enough to use my index finger... this time.

At least carbs don't have any electronics in them, the old ones don't anyway. The last carburetor I rebuilt was on a Honda weed wacker. I needed tweezers a magnifier to do some of the work it was so tiny.

About the only part of a car I won't work on is an automatic transmission. It requires tools and skills I don't have. I leave that to the pros. I've installed shift kits, but that's about it.

When I was much younger, I replaced the starter on my station wagon in front of my girlfriend's house, in the rain. Her dad was a country boy from Kentucky and he was suitably impressed. He invited me back to help him do a brake job on his car.

Did you marry that girl, or at least keep in touch with her dad? I'm envious that you can work on cars. I do alright, as long as there is a youtube video.

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

Did you marry that girl, or at least keep in touch with her dad? I'm envious that you can work on cars. I do alright, as long as there is a youtube video.

Both. We lived together for 7 years, even bought a house together before we got married. When we told her dad we were getting married, he said "You sure you kids know what you're doing?"

I've looked at YaoTaob videos for guidance on car repair and it seems like it's more of an example of what not to do. If the mechanic is holding a PBR while he works, I probably won't do what he does. If the mechanic is wearing clean overalls, has his tools neatly organized and is named "Gunther," I will take him seriously. Some of those videos are for entertainment value only. I started watching one on how to change the front shocks on my Jag. Seemed like the guy knew what he was doing until about 1/3 of the way thru the video when he admitted he'd done it wrong and started undoing his fuck-up. That was 15 minutes wasted. Apparently editing the video was beyond his capability.

 

[jubal81]

I spent more time looking up the torque spec for the bolts than it took to R&R the gasket.

This is the part I really identify with. Nice work!

 

[peccary]

When I was younger I replaced the alternator in my 1984 Celica in front of my fraternity house and not a single person was impressed. I was too broke to replace the starter so I just had to crawl underneath the car and whack it with a metal rod before starting it half the time

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

When I was younger I replaced the alternator in my 1984 Celica in front of my fraternity house and not a single person was impressed.

Yeah, they were all too drunk.

 

[Feral Feline]

LoL. I was polite enough to use my index finger... this time.

My Dad, who never swore nor said a bad thing about anybody, had the habit of pointing with his middle finger — whether a roadmap, draught-plans, something under the hood of a car…

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

If there is ever a time to swear, it's when you're working on cars or motorcycles.

 

[chongmagic]

My best friend's dad worked for Mazda Motorsport back in the day when they were using rotary engines. I got hooked on Wankels for a while. Even had an 85 RX-7 for a while. I do most of my own work on my Subaru WRX.

 

[cooder]

Pretty impressive and nice Jag there...! Technically I stick mainly to oil change and very basic stuff.
When I do build on my van I do more like nutty stuff like adding a high roof onto it to make it standing height with extra storage as a camper van.
So let's grab the jigsaw and cut out a piece of roof... why not (sorry a bit photo heavy...).

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

WOW! - Ever the craftsman. That van is nicer inside than some of the apartments I've lived in.

The background scenery in that last shot ain't half-bad either.

 

[Paradox916]

Nice! How does that engine handle the extra weight?

 

[cooder]

@Paradox916 she's not a rocket if you mean that and has never been...
The Toyota Dyna is a heavy duty version of a van, it is actually a light truck chassis with a van body, so it can handle 5 tons of weight. Not fast, but we're getting there, and after all, it's holidays (or vacation depending where you live), so what's the hurry...
The engine is a 3.4 litre diesel, Toyota 3B engine, same as they used to put in the 90ties Landcruisers.
Simple, grunty, slow and hopefully going forever. Had a lot of fun with it already.

 

[Chuck D. Bones]

If it gets you places like that, then it's the perfect vehicle.

 

[Pauleo1214]

I just reupholstered the seats on this 74' 450 SE. Who knew rubberized horsehair padding could rust?



And the new seats...

 

[cooder]

Classy! Now we need to see a photo of the Jag @Chuck D. Bones !

 

[Paradox916]

@Paradox916 she's not a rocket if you mean that and has never been...
The Toyota Dyna is a heavy duty version of a van, it is actually a light truck chassis with a van body, so it can handle 5 tons of weight. Not fast, but we're getting there, and after all, it's holidays (or vacation depending where you live), so what's the hurry...
The engine is a 3.4 litre diesel, Toyota 3B engine, same as they used to put in the 90ties Landcruisers.
Simple, grunty, slow and hopefully going forever. Had a lot of fun with it already.

Diesel nice! that makes a huge difference.

 

[Paradox916]

View attachment 23644

I just reupholstered the seats on this 74' 450 SE. Who knew rubberized horsehair padding could rust?

View attachment 23645

And the new seats...
View attachment 23646

Sweet I just sold my 78 300CD