Crusty Knob

Ok, first of all - It has been a long-ass time since we've updated this. We are poorly remiss, and I apologize. It seems that real-life has gotten in the way of blog-life. I think that I can speak for everyone when I say the projects themselves have not left much time for writing about them. That's just Real T.

Here is something fairly short and simple to tell about.

I recently had a major incident with my car. This happened just months after I had replaced my water pump and timing belt (on the 205,000 mile mark - gotta love Honda) and just as I thought that my over-heating problems were solved (reference HERE). Driving home from work on a lovely Maryland indian summer day, my car began to over-heat yet again. Using the same "steady-throttle while idling" method as before, I was able to get it home without any incidents.

Well, I opened my hood (or bonnet as Geoff would say) when I got home and found this.



No, that is not a black snake that has just eaten a squirrel. That is my upper radiator hose, about to explode. This is a tell-tale sign of a blown head gasket. The head gasket is a thin metal gasket that mates the engine block and head together. When the gasket fails, a number of things can happen. The coolant and oil can mix together, otherwise known as the "chocolate milk" syndrome. Coolant and oil can leak into the combustion chamber, resulting in very poor engine performance and lots of smoking coming out of your exhaust. And lastly, compression can leak out of your cylinders and into your crank-case/water-jacket. This is what happened to me. The pressure from inside the cylinders leaked through the gasket into my cooling system as evidenced by the balloon-like hose. Not baller. It would have been much more catastrophic if the hose had exploded and all of the coolant in my car leaked out onto the road while I was driving. Still, I may end up needing to replace the whole engine...I'll know that after I take it apart.

Anyway, my girlfriend and sister have been kind enough to lend me their cars while mine is out of commission. My sister drives a 1995(ish) Mazda Miata. It's a great little car and is commonly used as a racing platform in club motorsports. Of course, the transmission is not quite as much of a JOY as what you get from a Honda, but nevertheless, it is a fun car to drive. All except for ONE THING.



This shift knob is just plain GROSS. The previous owner of the car had installed a custom wood knob and also parking brake handle. Well that black shit is the result of probably over a decade of oil/dirt/skin/food. I decided to do my sister a favor and clean it...or if unsuccessful, replace it with a chrome skull knob.






I got myself a handy razor blade and went at it, shaving off chunks of crust which collected nicely around the shift boot. After that I used some rags and Goof-Off to wipe away the remaining crud. A very big improvement, I think.

A Linty Wonderland

The other day, one of my room mates informed me... hey, the dryer isn't working.

Great.

After some troubleshooting, I figure out that the heating element works, and the fan works, but the drum isn't turning. No big deal, so I turn to the internet.

"Dryer Drum Won't Turn" in Google, and I get a ton of pages back.

As it turns out, most dryers are pretty simple devices (not including the fancy new washer dryer combos that lets you wash and dry clothes without moving them between two separate machines)... mostly empty space. With some minor differences in design (top loading vs. front loading), there are just a few elements:

1. A sheet metal box
2. control panel
3. A heating element (with a fan)
4. A large drum on rollers, turned by a belt running off of an...
5. Electric motor

Usually what happens with these things is the belt breaks or the heating element goes bad. Since my dryer blows hot air, I knew the heating element worked and since I could hear the electric motor that turns the drum, my repair job turned into a simple belt replacement project, same as a car.

I went to http://www.repairclinic.com/ and lo and behold, they sell a kit that comes with a belt, drum rollers, and belt tensioner lever and wheel for my dryer... which will work on most dryers since 1965. Thats right... My dryer, which is maybe 5 years old, is essentially the same dryer I would have bought almost 50 years ago. Maybe that Dyson vacuum cleaner guy needs to take a look at common household dryers... or maybe not.

The kit I ordered

Cut to... two days later.

Package arrives in the mail and I get to work.



Step 1: Use a putty knife or drywall spackle blade to pry the top off the dryer.



Step 2: Remove the drum. I had to remove a few sheet metal screws so I could move the front of the unit out about an inch so I could lift the drum out of the gasket.



This is what it looks like with the drum removed. Not only was the belt broken, the belt tensioner wheel was broken and melted. I think what happened was the wheel was seized and the belt burned through it, melting the wheel and shredding the belt. It's a good thing I bought the kit instead of just the belt, since it came with new hardware.



Now would be a good time to get the shop vac and vacuum up all the lint and change that's probably collected down there.

Step 3: The belt tensioner slides in to some holes stamped into the bottom plate of the dryer body.



The tensioner doesn't click or clamp in... it's held in place by the tension on the belt, so you have to put the belt on and keep some upward tension on the belt to keep it in place while replacing the drum.



The belt will center itself on the drum when you put it back in. Close the top and enjoy dry clothes.

All told:
Belt replacement kit: $29
Time investment: 30 minutes
Difficulty on a scale of 1 to 5: 1... the job is easier with a second set of hands.

NBD.

New Contributor

Just a couple of dudes has another dude to make pithy comments about DIY projects... me. I'm Charlie. Like Aaron, I do a lot of home improvement work (my house was built in 1922 so... lots of stuff to do), and, like Chris, I have a couple of motorcycles I screw around with. My next post will probably be a step by step about how to replace the suspension on an old Ducati 748 (Penkse suspension bits on lock!) or fixing a broken tumbler belt on a dryer. NBD.

Bar Keepers Friend

I've been using my Le Creuset a lot lately, and have found this pot to be quite useful. Obviously it is good for making soups and stews, but works great as a roasting pot, a deep fryer, and works well for browning meats. Unfortunately during roasting and browning the dark brown bits of protein that stick to the bottom of the pot; otherwise known as "SUCS" are a real pain in the ass to clean if the pot has not been de-glazed or cleaned properly. My pot became quite dirty, and was concerned that I would infuse the wrong flavor into a recipe with the remaining brown bits left in my pot.

In search of a way to clean the pot, I enlisted the help of google, and found a great product that proves to be quite versatile. It appears I am not alone with having a dirty Le Creuset, as others have posted topics on "How to clean my Le Creuset." A few people recommended Bar Keeprs Friend. It can be found at Ace Hardware, and The Home Depot, costs $2.95 and comes in a 15oz canister.

I went right to work at cleaning the inside of my pot. The instructions say to sprinkle some of the powder onto a wet paper towel and scrub on the product being cleaned. To my surprise the dark brown bits that had covered my pot quickly were removed with little elbow grease. Next I went to a spot on our kitchen sink, which had been discolored due to a cast iron pan left in the sink. I sprinkled a little of the Bar Keepers Friend on the sink and started scrubbing, Not only did the rusted ring vanish but it left a nice new shine to the sink.

I forgot to take pictures of the inside of the pot and the sink, but since the bottom of the pot was equally as dirty I decided I would clean the bottom of the my Le Creuset to show you all how great this product is. Keep in mind soap and water would not remove the dirt and grime that had built up on the bottom of the pan.

Here is a picture of the pan before I started cleaning it

I've cleaned half of the pot to show you the difference it makes

Here is the pot completely clean

The first step of a journey.

Well it's been quite some time since I've posted on this blog. I should note, that after I made the post displaying the method of transferring valve springs, I realized that I was very far behind schedule in terms of making my car ready for the competition license test. Well, after a LOT of work, my car was finally ready. I wound up finishing the safety items, and stickers last minute, up until 3 am the night before I had to leave for the test weekend.

The license test was great. I passed, and had a totally great time. There were so many requirements, and evaluations to determine if the prospective competition school students could handle the pressures of wheel to wheel racing. The schedule is as such to put you in a mindset of constant stress and pressure. You start going to classes, and doing drills from 7 am until 6 pm, both in the car, and in the classroom.

One of the tests that we had pass on track was driving a 8/10ths (meaning, you are driving at 80% of your peak driving ability.) for 30 minutes, SIDE by SIDE with another competition school student the ENTIRE way around the track with less than 3' between you both. You could imagine driving side by side with your friend on a highway with speeds of around 120 mph, while turning, and maintaining less than a 3' gap between the two of you.

...and to top it off, you have an evaluator (a race instructor) behind you both, trying to squeeze his car between the two of you. We were told "If I can (the evaluator) squeeze my car between the two of you, we will FAIL you!

I was successful with this test, but man, it gave me a new respect for the space between two cars at high speed!

After that test, we had a "Mock" race. I did OK, however after a long day, my concentration started to slack, and around 15:00 of this video, I just missed my critical turn in point and just decided to drive the car off the track.

Regardless, I am now a licensed NASA (National Auto Sport Association) pro-racer.

...and it feels pretty cool.




First race report to come soon.

sander.

Grime Fighters!

Any Honda enthusiast will testify, painting the valve cover/rocker cover of your engine is a very popular way to customise, and add a little touch of flair to your engine bay.

Regular Hondas will come with a black, wrinkled paint finish. Type-Rs come with a lucious red.

A few years ago, I purchased a second valve cover, so I could store my good condition red one, and then painted and installed the spare.

Anyway, I got bored of that one, and decided to sell it and get another to add my personal touch to.

I decided to go with the rarest of B-series DOHC VTEC valve covers. The B16A1.

This cover only came on the 1990-1991 Civic and CRX VTEC models.

Very difficult to get hold of, however I got one. No big deal.

Here it is.




With 'Honda Motor Co.' and the company 'H', it is unique.

However, coming from an old car, with high mileage, there is the potential for it to be caked underneath in horrible, baked-on oil.





Oh dear. As dark as a welfare queue.

As you can see, I've scraped at it with a paint scraper, and it's very thick and horrible.

I'm not prepared to put this on my car with all that crap on the underside.

For this job, my weapons of choice are, my muscles...





...and Mr. Muscle.





Taking a look at the reverse it states:





"Removes burnt on grease..." I like the sound of that.

It says to spray on and leave for a period of time, wicked.

Bukkake time!





I left it for an hour, returned and then sprayed it with a hose.

Before I blasted away the foam, there was horrible brown gunky crap a bit like diarrhea pooling in the corners, the cleanser was really cutting into it.





It has certainly left it's mark, At this point I made a second application, and switched over to a pan scourer and my muscles.

This is the finished result:





I didn't quite manage to get into all the little nooks and crannies, but I'm satisfied now that all the major gunk has been removed.

Next update will cover the stages of painting.

But the lesson here today, people I know have paid good money for acid dips when it comes to this kind of stuff, but all you need are some household cleaning products and some elbow grease.

Trifflin' HOSE

I drive a 12 year old car with 200,000 miles. Come to think of it, I have never owned a car that was built after 1998. My first car was 16 years old when it came into my possession. It was actually the car that I came home from the hospital in after being born. Growing up, I had friends whose parents got new cars every 3-5 years. My parents, on the other hand, kept their cars for 10-15 years before replacing them. As a child, it was a bit difficult to understand the value in taking care of something and making it last, but I suppose that I have grown a bit wiser of the years and now I can appreciate my parents' frugality. I can't exactly claim to be a saint, because over the years I have spent a good deal of money tinkering with my cars as a hobby and for recreation, however, I think that I am much richer for the experience. I have learned a great deal about cars and how to repair them when they break. This is something I was reminded of last Friday evening.

Brad and I were on our way into DC to meet up with Jess for a show at the 930 Club. One of my all time favorite bands, Nada Surf, was playing. For those of you in the area, you'll remember that it was an absolutely gorgeous day - probably the first day that it really started to feel like spring had arrived. Anyway, Brad and I were sitting in stop-and-go traffic on New York Ave when he noticed that my water temperature gauge was starting to climb. Sure enough, that little red needle was rapidly ascending right before our eyes.

This is a good time for a brief lesson in engine mechanics. A car's engine is essentially a big air pump. The engine breathes air IN and breathes exhaust gasses OUT. Thousands of tiny explosions happen every minute which drive a rotating assembly. The spinning engine spins your wheels. That's the short of it. Well, you can imagine that the engine gets hot - both from the combustion of fuel and also the hundreds of moving metal parts creating friction. To keep things under control, most cars have a water-based cooling system which circulates water through the engine, absorbing heat from the metal. Generally, the cooling system consists of a pump to move the water, various channels and hoses for the water to travel through, a thermostat to regulate the movement of the water and finally a radiator. The radiator cools the water back down after it has moved through the engine. It is mounted on the front of the car so that air will pass through it while you're driving. There is also a fan which moves air across the radiator during the times when you are not moving, such as when you're sitting in traffic. The water in an engine is commonly mixed with other chemicals to aid in the heat transfer and also keep it from freezing in the winter. This is why you will hear it called "coolant" and also "anti-freeze." It's all the same shit - water/coolant/anti-freeze. Just plain water will work, but just not as effectively and not in the winter. Furthermore, a car's heating system is also tied into the cooling system. When you turn on your heat, the heat is actually coming from the hot water in your cooling system.

Anyway, let's continue.

So, my water temperature was climbing to dangerous levels very quickly and I was stuck in city traffic with no place to pull over. Brad reacted quickly and pulled my climate control all the way to the hot side and switched the fan onto full. We were blasted with scorching hot hair through the vents and immediately put the windows down and opened the sunroof. The reason for turning on the heat is that the car's heating system contains what is essentially a radiator, called the heater core. When you turn on the heat, some of the engine's water is diverted into the heater core which heats the air that blows out of your vents. This will help to temporarily cool down the water, especially when you are stuck at a stand still. In this case, turning the heat on did not do much to keep the temp from climbing and I knew I would need to pull over and shut the engine off to avoid completely FITGing myself. Traffic started to move again and as soon as I revved the engine, I noticed the needle begin to go back down. We were barely doing 5mph so I knew that the decrease in temperature wasn't a result of us moving. Traffic stopped again and I revved the engine up to about 3000 rpm with the car in neutral - sure enough, the temperature came down very quickly. If I let off the pedal, the temp would shoot right back up. This was good and bad. Good because I could keep the car from overheating, but bad because this indicated that I was low on water/coolant. The way I knew this was because at idle the engine is only turning at around 800rpm which does not allow the water pump to circulate the coolant very much. When I increased the engine to 3000rpm, the temperature went down because the coolant was being circulated more rapidly. There simply was not enough water in the system to keep the engine cool at idle. This indicated that I had a leak somewhere.

I was able to nurse the car to the concert and then back home again afterwards. Saturday morning, I woke up and went out to inspect the car for a leak. Sure enough, there was a little damp spot underneath one of the smaller water hoses. I took a quick trip down the road to the auto parts store and bought some replacement hose for $4. Twenty minutes later, I had replaced the old hose which had basically blown out (see photo) and then added about half a gallon (yikes) of fresh coolant. NBD.


Here is the bad hose. You'll notice that at the kink, the hose is all fat and blown out. This is where a small leak had formed and almost resulted in the total destruction of my engine :)

Leaky Lights

I love Hondas. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have an undying loyalty to Honda Motor Company. I think they build fantastic cars and I am proud to own 3 of them (currently). Throughout the history of their company, Honda have built a reputation of quality and reliability. They have built what some consider to be the best front-engine, front-wheel drive vehicle EVER. The Integra Type R, of course. Well, this isn't about the Integra - it's about the Integra's successor, the RSX.

While Honda can engineer a remarkable engine with a specific output of 120 HP per litre (in the S2000), they can also fall flat on their faces when it comes to PRACTICAL things such as tail lights. The integra hatchback was notorious for leaking water into the trunk through the tail lights and it appears the RSX suffers from the same design flaw. My girlfriend, Jess, owns an RSX and was recently faced with this problem.

The issue is in the tail light gasket. The gaskets are made out of a foam material that is supposed to provide a seal between the bulb socket cut outs in the trunk and the tail lights themselves. These gaskets sucked in the integra and they suck in the RSX too. In Jess' car it got so bad that I would have to soak up the water out of her trunk after each rain storm. We recently had some beautiful spring weather, so I decided to try to do something about it.

First, I removed the spare tire, jack, subwoofer and paneling from the trunk and performed some tests. I ran water down the drainage channels on hatch and then looked inside to verify that the car was indeed leaking at the tail lights. Once that was confirmed, it was time to get down to business. In order to remove the tail lights, you have to first remove the bumper cover. This is actually pretty easy. After removing 6 screws and 2 clips the bumper pops right off. Twelve more nuts and you've got the tail lights off.

Next, I applied some silicone aquarium sealant around each one of the cut-outs in the trunk. I am hoping that the silicone will form an initial barrier and the water will be forced to flow around, not even reaching the foam gasket. Really, Honda should have designed channels to divert the majority of the water AWAY from the tail lights instead of dumping it RIGHT ON TOP of them. This is just such an idiotic design. Anyway, once I was finished applying the silicone I put the tail lights back on and finally the bumper. We'll see how it turns out!

PS - Sorry for the crappy iPhone pictures and awesome photoshop work.



Start by removing the bumper.


Next the tail lights. You can see the cut-outs for the bulb sockets.


This is how the water gets in.


Here are the black foam gaskets that are pretty much worthless.


Hopefully this silicone will do the trick!

Big Things in the WORKS

Just so you know, we haven't given up on our 2k10 Blog Initiative. We've just been busy with life.

Never fear, there are many things in the works!

Things on the horizon:

• Aaron serves on a jury.


• Aaron re-paints his bedroom.


• Brad cooks mac & cheese.


• Brad cooks fish & chips.


• Chris re-installs his Ducati 748 engine.


• Chris builds new shelving.


• Geoff shops for a house.


• Geoff continues work on the Civic.


• Sander crashes his race car.


• Sander fixes his wrecked race car.

NBD.

Belgians are Ballers

Ok, so some of you may already know this, but for those that don't - Belgian Beers are "in" for 2K10. That being said, we have taken it upon ourselves to sample as many Belgian beers as we can this year. This endeavor has already brought us on a few trips to Corridor Wine & Spirits in Laurel, MD, which is like a Walmart of alcohol. They have a pretty extensive selection of Belgian imports and we have started to whittle our way through the list.

It just so happened that a few weeks ago, Brad was browsing a beer forum and saw that Max's in Fells Point was having a 3-day Belgian Beer Festival. Since we had Stage 5 Cabin Fever from the blizzard, we decided to venture into the city to see what it was all about. Jess, Brad and I made the trip early Saturday afternoon and found that there was a line wrapped around the corner. Not exactly what we expected to see, but since we had made the trip we thought we should at least wait it out and get a beer. Once inside, we managed to squeeze our way through the jam-packed crowd and got a round of beers. Considering that there were over 300 beers to choose from (all Belgians) half of which had been sold out, it was difficult to place an order. Brad had prepared a short list of beers he wanted to try, so we picked what we could from that. I got a Scaldis Ale which is a Strong Ale weighing in at 12% abv. That's a lot of alcohol for one glass. Surprisingly, it didn't taste like it at all. In fact, it was delicious. Much more drinkable than many other lighter weight Belgians I have had.

After just 1 round, we were all feeling a bit tipsy. We had shown up with empty stomachs with the intent of ordering food off their "special" Belgian-style menu. The problem was that the bar was so crowded, there were no open tables. After an hour of standing around, soaking in the atmosphere and soaking our livers in Belgian's finest, Jess went on a mission to find us a table. Luckily, she found one that was PERFECT. It was tucked away behind the back bar and RIGHT next to the bathrooms. Baller. With our claim staked, we settled in for the long haul and ordered some burgers and more beer. We devoured the burgers and savored the beer. There was a dude from Glen Burnie drinking out of a 2 liter (yes LITER) Stella Artois glass. Of course, Jess got her picture holding the giant thing.

A few hours later, we decided that it was time to go. We had emptied our wallets and filled our stomachs... well not quite. I managed to stop at Maggie Moo's for a cup of RED VELVET ice cream - in the middle of winter. It was spectacular. We had smuggled out all of our empty bottles in Jess' purse to keep as souvenirs and we stumbled back to the parking garage. Brad decided he had to urinate, so what better place than next to his car, right? We dropped Jess off in Federal Hill to hang with her friend, Ashley, and Brad and I went back home. We had every intent on keeping the party train going, but after a frozen pizza, more beers and some chicken tenders, Brad was DONE (at 8pm).

Oh yeah, apologies for the crappy iPhone photos.










FITG.