I can't stand wheel locks and immediately remove them from all my cars.
Ah, gotta love the swedes.
That's some impressive adult'ing, sir. I would not have that restraint, which I'm sure you know.
I picked up the new caliper and managed to get it painted.
It's not a perfect match. The bracket is the OP's paint job, the caliper is mine. If you stick your face in there you can tell, but from 10 feet away, through the wheel, it'll be fine.
Just needs to be bled now, which isn't something I can do on my own.
I missed the cars n coffee...
The brakes are bled and I took her for a spin. Everything seems fine so I'll drive her to work today and find out for sure.
Some cosmetic updates. When putting my plates on I noticed that the front plate holder was attached to the bumper with double sided foam tape.
Nice. No holes in my bumper. But foam tape isn't the strongest thing on earth. it would eventually come loose. I decided to be proactive and found a tow hook style plate holder. I found on on E-bay. It was inexpensive and arrived relatively quickly. As with all things from E-Bay that are guaranteed to fit, it didn't fit.
If you powdercoat something with threads, the threads get larger... I took it to work, rummaged through the Metric Dies box that nobody ever touches and found the right one. A quick thread chase and we're back in business.
This time it threaded right into the tow hook port and I was able to assemble the rest of the holder.
I removed my plate from the original holder, mounted it on the new bracket and made the fun discovery. The tape had started to peel away already. PO had solved the problem by blasting a couple self tappers directly into the bumper.
I think I just sat there for a half hour. I thought about just putting the plate back and going on with my life. But I had "modified" the new holder and wouldn't be able to return it.
The only way is through.
I figured Id head down to the hardware store, get a couple of those plastic push-pins to fill the holes and move on with my life.
But my car isn't quite white.
I'll get some colour matched paint and spray the push pin heads.
that seems like work. Surely someone else has come across this problem. A quick Google search directed me to BumperPlugs.com, a company that sold properly paint matched plugs to solve this exact problem. They're not cheap, at $35 a pair, but that is way cheaper then repairing and repainting the whole nose of the car. I decided to give them a go. I'll report back when the arrive.
Lastly my venerable old magnetic numbers have decided that they're ready to rest now...
I contacted the company that made them to see about getting another set. A few emails back and forth and we had a design. They arrived about a week ago.
looking sharp.
one more project before I can shove the camaro back in the Garage. I picked up an IPD rally skidplate a while back and I really should get that mounted up. The roads suck around here. but Capitalism is unstoppable despite my best efforts and I have to work all weekend. So maybe next weekend.
So. Good news and bad.
Since buying this car I've been trying to find a rattle from the rear end. I found it. The rear brake service has eliminated the rattle.
The suspension is now quiet enough that I can hear the wheel bearing that is failing.
$100 bucks and a new one is on the way.
Got the plugs in on Friday.
Had to enlarge the holes and just stuck these in. Perfect match.
That's all for now.
Wife liked these but never fallowed through on one. See that you're some what close in the Tacoma area. Swear I've seen a house that purple color on 18 in Auburn while driving for work.
Going to try to get to The Ridge for the Lucky Dog event in April. Just going to watch for now. Might try and see what it would take to get on track for fun.
In reply to brad131a4 (Forum Supporter) :
I'm not in Auburn, so that's not me.
We are also trying to get to the Ridge for April... no guarantees though. Details in the other thread.
Hee hee... neat.
Well, It's been just over a year we've been together and it's been mostly good. I have no desires to sell it off or trade it in.
10/10. Would recommend.
Washington has entered fool's spring, a couple of days of lovely weather before returning to the drizzle. after months of darkness and rain it almost feels criminal to be indoors on a sunny day. I unpacked my supplies and gave her a good clean inside and out.
Saturday morning was the monthly Cars n Coffee meet and we drove to that where she continues to get an appropriate amount of attention. People are curious about this uncommon thing and I am more than happy to talk about it.
After the show we stopped at a Ukranian Deli and then headed home.
Saturday afternoon was spent cleaning and organizing the garage. getting my plates out of boxes and hung up and clearing enough space that I could actually get a car in there.
Speaking of plates, when It came time to renew the registration I wanted nothing more than to get those default rainer plates off the car. She now sports the National Park plates that were originally on the Camaro. A nice anniversary present for the young lady.
Last June I noticed the factory splash guard was handing down and rattling under the car. To fix this I picked up an IPD aluminum skid plate. I then stuck that plate in my garage and never touched it again. We'll, now is as good a time as any...
The garage was clean, the weather was nice and Pearl was already inside. I ate breakfast on Sunday and headed straight out to the garage.
The old panel came out easily. Just 7 T30 screws.
Drop the old plate, install the new one with the supplied hardware, Robert's your mother's brother.
I read the instructions before installing. they said to use a washer on each bolt and to put one between the plate and the subframe. They included 4 washers. That's not enough. I made a trip to the hardware store to pick up another 8 washers. Perfect. We're good to go.
Instructions said to place an M8 nut on top of the radiator support, hold the front of the plate up to the hole and thread the M8 bolt in from the bottom. Now the experienced among you might notice a problem here. if the plate is in place there is no way you're getting a wrench onto that nut.
I decided to drop the bolt down through the hole in the radiator support, put a lick nut on it to hold that in place, then put the plate on it and hold it in place with a nylon nut.
That is a much better plan. I don't have any M8 lock nuts. Back to the hardware store...
Back from the hardware store with 2 shiny new M8 lock nuts I'm ready to install this thing. This is when I discover that the supplied M8 hardware is all M7.
Now I'm angry. Back to the hardware store. You know who has a ton of M7 hardware? Nobody... that's who. I decide that I'm going to get M8 hardware and just buy every peice I need. washers nuts bolts everything. that way there won't be any problems. I'll have everything I need.
I got back to the garage with all my new hardware and I find out why they opted for M7. the hole in the radiator support isn't big enough for an M8.
Wasn't.
It is now.
I own a drill and I am tired of playing.
once the holes were enlarged the inverted hardware dropped right into place and the Plate bolted in with no problems.
Excellent.
I put her back into the driveway and took some time to really clean the area. put everything away. Future me will be pleased with past me.
Behold, 8 full feet of usable clear workbench space.
Ready for the next project.
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