Wednesday, July 23, 2014

I am thankful to have good friends

who know more about mechanical things than me.   And it helps that they have the tools and supplies to get things done.   My saga started back in early May when I took my car over to my friends man cave


where he has a 2 post hoist (thanks Dom)  to make things much easier.  He also has air tools so off with the wheels


so we could have a gander at the brake pads.   Verdict: lots of life left, at least enough to complete our trip


This day the plan was to flush the brake system and install fresh brake fluid.   There are two trains of thought but the new way is to do the shorter lines first, and the rear lines last


He made a jig to pressurize the fluid reservoir using a garden sprayer notice the air gauge on the plastic container.   All you have to do is to open the valve at the caliper and my job was to keep the cylinder pressurized


Next was to change the power steering fluid.  I imagine that my fluid was the original that came with the car from the factory.  There is no way to drain the fluid so it had to be suctioned out with the plunger unit.   This was done at least two times and inbetween flushes, the engine was started and the rack allowed to turn from side to side inside the steering rack to flush out more old fluid

I came back another day so we could do a coolant flush.   While doing the flush he checked my serpentine belt and noticed that I needed a new one.   So off to the autoparts store to get one


I had to rush as it was a weekday and they were closing very soon


While I was there I also asked if they had a fuel filter, so I bought that too


The fuel filter is in a bad place behind the hot mufflers and it took a while while using a one-handed method to remove and replace it


There it is, way up there.   Lucky we were using my friend's hoist.  I can't imagine crawling under the car with your hands above your head trying to reach it

After it was all done, the belts were making an awful squeaking  noise.  We weren't sure what it was so I left the car and went home.   A day later my friend called to say the Harmonic balancer had failed and the serpentine belt was rubbing on the timing chain cover, and would have failed on our trip causing catastrophic failure.  Of course these type of things would happen in the middle of nowhere.   It could cost a lot of money to repair so we had to bring it to a proper mechanic.  The balancer rotates on a rubber bushing which deteriorated.  Perhaps the new belt stressed it more, but anyway it would have failed soon anyway so it had to be fixed.   A big job $$$  turned into a lesser $ thanks to my friends good negotiating skills

Last week we had a heat wave so I was testing out my air conditioning.   A couple of years ago I had a compressor failure and it cost a lot to have it fixed.   Anyway, driving in rush hour with the fan on medium it was draining my battery to the point where I noticed it wasn't charging like it should.   I remember that I bought the battery nearly 9 years ago so it was time for a new one


I went to the dealer and bought the highest CCA battery they had


Here's the old one as compared to the new one.


The battery goes in "there".


Didn't take long but then I attached a 4amp charger.  Batteries are not 100% charged so rather than drive the car I thought this would be faster.    After 5 hours, it was still not 100% charged so I brought out my big charger and pumped 10amps into it for an hour, and then put back the 4amp charger.   Soon all the green lights were on, indicating that it was now ready to use


Now I could sit back and relax.   There are just a few little cosmetic things to do like hide the wires to my Sirius satellite radio, and make sure my 2 way radio is working

My 'Vette is now ready for the road but there is still the story of my electronic shocks which created some panic a few weeks ago when I replaced them with Non-electronic ones which caused some error messages in the ECM


Here are the old shocks which were replaced with regular shocks.   The electronic shocks cost at least $500. each x 4 = $2,000. or more.   For the cost of one electronic shock,  I got 4 regular ones


Here are the regular ones which were bought on the internet from a Corvette forum member.  When electronic shocks are disconnected, the car computer presumes that there is a shock failure.  You get 3 error messages which cannot be cleared.  You hit reset but they keep coming back which is not just annoying BUT your Corvette is speed disabled.   I am sure you can imagine my stress of not being able to exceed 80 MPH . . .   more later if anyone is interested in how we fooled the computer


16 comments:

  1. Nice to see preparations complete.

    Looking forward to stories from the rally.

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    1. David:

      The car is ready. Just have to figure out the oil change. I don't need one now but would during the trip unless . . . I do one just before we leave and then that would last until we got home. Using synthetic we can get nearly 10,000 kms between changes.

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  2. Fooling computers is a dangerous endeavor.....who knows when they might turn on their master??

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    1. Coop:

      My car has "ride control", a switch to control shock dampening; Touring, sport, performance. If you set "touring" and you are driving on aggressive, twisty roads, the sensor will cause the shocks to firm up to the next level (ie: sport), without you doing anything. With the sensors disconnected, the computer goes "nuts". There is a digital information panel which then signals a Ride Control error, and Shock Failure. It presumes your shock is broken and then tells the computer to limit your speed so you can hobble home, or go to a dealer, so I would be speed limited to 80mph. Of course I don't go that fast but I am with a group of many Corvettes and they may wish to travel at 82 mph and I wouldn't be able to keep up

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  3. When in doubt bridge it on out. Mmm now you got me all curious Bob. How did you do it?

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    1. Steve:

      There are two ways to get rid of the error messages, and restore my car to its full potential. One is to fool the computer into thinking that your shocks are okay, the other is to take it to a dealer where they have the GM Tech2 tool which would turn OFF the Ride Control Option. Unless you know someone at GM, they would probably NOT turn it off as they want to sell you $2,000 worth of shocks. A Tech2 tool costs Thousands and you need the current GM software only issued to GM dealers

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  4. Are you race ready yet? Is the car driving, flying, or trucking it to your destination? Hope you finally worked out the issues in shipping it.

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    Replies
    1. Trobairitz:

      The shipping problem was only just solved a day ago, we hope. Not as easy as it sounds as there were logistical problems. My car is now better than new. How did I know that I had a broken front shock when I bought the car. More to say after the car has "left" (on its way) which is about 2 weeks from now

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  5. It would only take you about 3 days to drive across country, after all there are two drivers, right? ;-)

    Looking forward to your computer hack gradually modifying your Corvette to 1960 standards. Just keep getting rid of those pesky computers.… Maybe it's time to move back to the Alfa?

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    1. Richard:

      We have the original more primitive Ride Control. Newer ones are harder to disable without going to the dealer. Having had an Alfa, I don't want another vehicle where parts are hard to find. Maybe that's why you like your airhead so much, simple to work on

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  6. great post on the maintenance done to your cage.....

    I think you're friend has a two post lift, not four.....and yes, I lust after it.

    dom

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    1. Dom:

      Okay, I changed it to 2 post. 2 posts are good for working on brakes or wheels where you can't with a 4 post. Lifts are relatively cheap now. I was thinking of a car stacker for my 'Vette. I needed to change out all the fluids. The rear transmission was changed a couple of years ago, yes, the transmission is in the back over the rear wheels for weight distribution

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  7. Shocking shocks to shock the shocks into shock? Such suspense.

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    1. Troubadour;

      I am lucky that I do not have a newer car. The older more primitive "Ride Control' can be fooled but for about 2 weeks, I was speed limited

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  8. Gee. All this talk from guys who know the inside stuff about cars, and all I have is, "That's a really great looking car, Bob!

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  9. Geeez: I thought motorcycles were an expensive toy. I have lusted after a Corvette ever since I sat in a Split window at the 63 auto Show in Victoria. Bob; I think you just cured me:)

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