What have you done to your car today?

[savagesam117]

Stripped a spare engine to find it was in much worse condition than I was expecting.

excuse my rubbish!

 

[wingman]

Stripped a spare engine to find it was in much worse condition than I was expecting.

Noob question, what's the tells of an engine condition being worse/better than another?

 

[Akagi]

Lighter fluid or isopropyl alcohol. One is available cheaply in corner shops, the other is an ingredient in hand sanitizer so unreasonable demand in 2020...

Never understood people using WD-40 though, it's got lots of additives that I don't want on my stuff. The solvents above just evaporate. Useful for everything.

WD40 works the best in my experience. The oilyness helps. And it smells lovely. Try it.

 

[LuckyBenski]

WD40 works the best in my experience. The oilyness helps. And it smells lovely. Try it.

I love the smell of WD40, I just don't want oily lubricants all over my clean surfaces

Fnar.

 

[Conscript]

Made some small quality of life interior updates this week.

I replaced the dashboard trim panel with one from a later car. The original panel was in two pieces and made of that hard, easy to scratch plastic. The later ones were one piece, and trimmed in faux leather with threaded edges. Still not outstanding quality, but looks a bit better and matches the rest of the interior trim more nicely.

Spoiler: Dash panel

Before:

After:

For some reason (presumably US regulations), Subaru decided to mount the third high level brake light on the rear parcel shelf on a stupid looking elevated tripod mount. Not only does it look awful and out of places, but it takes up a portion of your rear visibility and (and this is most crucial), it makes cleaning the inside of the rear windscreen a pain in the rear, quite literally.

I recently found that another owner had fabricated a small kit which allows you to remove the mounting and instead attach the light directly to the rear shelf. Looks so much neater, obscures the vision less and most importantly, means I can clean the rear glass with relative ease.

Spoiler: Brake Light

Before:

After (next day):

 

[Akagi]

I prefer the look or the old dash panel, but nice work!

 

[Frozennova]

I prefer the look or the old dash panel, but nice work!

2017+ was quite a big step up in interior. The '13 GT86 we've got at work feels a lot cheaper inside than the '17 BRZ

 

[Akagi]

It looks better quality but I like the aesthetic of the cheap plastic panels. The pattern etc.

Ive only been in a 62 plate 86 I think.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

I prefer the look or the old dash panel, but nice work!

There’s confirmation it’s a good upgrade if Acme doesn’t like it.

 

[Akagi]

There’s confirmation it’s a good upgrade if Acme doesn’t like it.

Haaaaaaaaa.

...

The old one broke it up a bit. Now its just more of the same, expanses of gray-black leathery stuff. Its good to have different textures and patterns. Thats why I dont much like all the silver and black BMW interiors.

 

[paradigm]

I agree with Acme, the original panel might not "feel" as good, but it doesn't have the contrast to break up the expanse of generic grey dashboard that is now there.

If the new one was lighter, or perhaps a bright colour then it'd work.

 

[Conscript]

It's lighter than the black plastic surrounding it. Maybe the contrast doesn't come over well in pictures. Main thing I didn't like about the previous panel was it was prone to scratching. The newer one is less so.

Perhaps the older one looks lighter because its gloss and reflects light. It is definitely a darker colour than the newer panel though.

 

[Akagi]

It would work best if it were black I think.

Im sure it looks better in person!

 

[savagesam117]

Well since the block wasn’t very happy and I don’t really need it, I thought I’d try some home brew honing. I’ve got one of them 3 prong honing tool that’s a bit rubbish, so I try one of them dingle ball honing tools. I have to say, I’m very impressed.

Spoiler: Pics in here

 

[andy_mk3]

@savagesam117 Always liked the look of that tool. Great results. I've got by with the 3-prong stones in the past but never been amazed by them.

 

[savagesam117]

@savagesam117 Always liked the look of that tool. Great results. I've got by with the 3-prong stones in the past but never been amazed by them.

I’d never heard of it before, a friend in a car chat I’m in recommended it. Me either, I’m actually tempted to rebuild this engine for something to do now

 

[Akagi]

I learned about dingleball honing from roadkill way back when they were free to view on youtube... Freiburger always seems to use them.

 

[savagesam117]

I’ve never heard of roadkill either. I must live a sheltered life

 

[4K8KW10]

Now I notice some weird damage on the front of my car. It is parked in front of my home.

It has always stayed exactly in that place with another car parked next to it.
This weekend the neighbours decided to sell their car and two days they fought to start the engine.

I suspect the buyers did it - the questions are how, why and with what tool?

 

[Semple]

Not a good weekend for our new car - 2 months old.

Went out saturday morning and had no issues. Got back in the car saturday evening and the engine wouldn't crank - low battery.

Jump started it with a battery pack. Voltage across the battery was 14.73v while idling, did a load test and that stayed around 14.71v so alternator seems good.

Switched it off, battery read 12.62v. After 2 hours it had dropped to 12.32v, after 5.5 hours since it was switched on, it had dropped to 12.15v. This morning it was reading about 12.05v.

Booked in on Wednesday. Hoping it's just a duff battery rather than a sub-system causing a slow drain - would seem unlikely on new cars as everything powers down once switched off.