tools

so i just got the balljoint press ($70) i ordered from ebay in the mail. all i need now is a pickle fork and a coil spring compressor (which i MIGHT rent) to do my frontend bushings on raimi. i COULD technically do without the coil spring compressor...but it's just a little scary. for those not in the know, your coil springs are under a HELLUVA lotta pressure. for example...my car ways 3400 pounds. even if i support the car by the frames and let the wheels hang, the coils are bolted under pressure enough to take your head off if they're given a way outa' their seats. you CAN do the job by using the weight of the car, but it's pretty scary. i'd rather compress them and eliminate the possibility (although i have read stories of coil compressors exploding under the pressure and sending metal shards flying).

either way, probably sometime after the holidays. i have too many friends and my sister in town to do that rigth now. soon raimi! no....i mean less....squeaks. and this'll keep my steering from randomly shifting now and again around hard corners :) that's pretty fuckin' scary sometimes...especially going 40 on a one lane undivided highway (one each way) on a winding cliffside road.

the girl demands undivided attention. big surprise!


vroom

tools

so i already took two friends to the airport for the holidays...and a bunch of others have already left (why do i have so many UH friends?)...and i thought maybe my weekends would get quieter so i started buying a buncha' tools. got a ball joint press comin', got all the gear i need to start learning how to weld, got my eye on a coil spring compressor, and i have some parts on order at checkers....

but yeah, now a bunch of old friedns are comin' back home for christmas....haha. guess it'll have to wait 'till januaryish. attacking suspension and exhaust. get rid of some squeaks, clean up my exhaust, and maybe even get some horsepower out of it...

always like havin' a heavy toolbox, though.

raimi love.

huh

so i found out something interesting crusin' the archives of nastyz28.com (2nd gen camaro club...the 70's, basically). i think my clutch is slipping...the engine sounds like it's givin' a whole lot more power than my wheels are pushin'.

either way...came across something about reverse grinding. mine did it from day one and i thought it was just, you know...old transmission. apparently it's something that a lot of people have problems with and it's for quite a simple reason...back then they didn't put syncro gears on reverse! they dont' even put it on first gear, for that matter...the reason being it was extra hardware for something they didn't think was necessary.

as far as i understand (which is limited, i'm sure someone can correct me), old old manual transmissions didn't even HAVE syncro gears so shifting ANY gear would grind. someboday came up with syncro gears, though, which help the transmission move at the right speed (compared to the crankshaft/driveshaft whatever it's called) from the engine when you shift so that when the teeth have to come together, they're moving at roughly the same speed so they don't grind as one tries to catch up. either way...with no syncrho, reverse is at the mercy of whatevers spinning against it and what happens is when i'm moving foward and shift out of some forward gear into reverse, there are things in the trans that are still moving FORWARD and thus, grind against reverse when i pop it in...except when i just start the car 'casue then the trans is still.

simple solution to all this is just let it sit in a forward gear for a few seconds to dampen whatever's still moving. after a few seconds, everything stops, and reverse is free for the taking. voila! takes a little while, though...i think i should change my trans fluid....who knows how old it is *shrugs*.

also...the rubber boot that protects my bellhousing protecting my clutch was deteriorating so i just ripped it off a few months ago. probably getting LOTSA shit all over my clutch contriubitng to the slippage...so i'm gonna get up in there and clean that up (brake cleaner) this weekend most likely...

for now...whiskey.