Twisty's Dumb Questions (aka Smokey's progress thread)

Wow, 225's..what kind of tires are they?

 

Racelands aren't bad after they settle, just don't last very long. Been installing those on vw's a lot lately. Can count on them lasting a few years if your easy on them, but sh*t $500 isn't that bad.

 

 

they will last long enough for me to save up for the air suspension im going to put under it, hehe.

so did you go with the ultimos or the normal ones?

 

I've been considering the Ultimos for a while now

Nice, check out the airlift v2 kit..since they are all macpherson struts it would be stupid simple to install on these cars. My homie here is repping the air lift line and he got a DIY kit with the management, tank and compressor for 2g's. Is pricey but damn awesome setup.

i almost got the ultimos, but after talking with their sales guy a while, i found out that the only difference is the spring rates (and the paint job), and for a car that will see more road than track, i figured that the spring rates were high enough for me. i didnt want it to be too stiff overall.

 

 

i did check out the air lift kits, cool stuff. it is definitely on the long term list, i have a while to go before i can drop cash on it tho. too many other projects in the works right now. my son will likely get air ride in his truck before i see it in my wagon. and we are still getting his together and on the road.

smokey looks good! my son did the final touches, then tookit to school and did a full alignment on it. im going to redo it tho, after all that work he found out the lift at school is broken, one side is about 3 inches lower than the other. teacher knows and doesnt care, apparently.

http://imageshack.com/a/img835/6392/pudn.jpg

 

 

this is my new toy, i picked it up sunday. still dont have it at home yet, need to make a secure space to keep it. i have no garage, so likey will be in a shed in the back. its a 2008 HD ultra classic with about every bell and whistle available. it also has a ton of engine work, custom exhaust, power commander chip and has been dyno tuned. runs like a raped ape.

http://imageshack.com/a/img842/218/97xm.jpg

nice, i like the look of the non GTs lowered..

 

and i have a dent in the same spot on the other side of my car, Ha!

ya, i do too. im not really a fan of the step roof wagons, or really the roof racks on our cars. smokey is getting a rear spoiler soon tho, and an outback bumper this weekend.

 

http://imageshack.com/a/img836/6880/jn9j.jpg

I need to get an outback bumper with the fog assemblys so bad. And nice bike she looks great

thanks!

 

and i got lucky with that bumper, got the whole assembly (beam, foam, cover, fogs and wiring) for 70 bucks. i even snagged the dash button from it, along with a few feet of the wiring

lucky........

got my doors back from the painter this past weekend. put the drivers door on last night. well, my twins did the work, not me. i dont think the painter used a light primer under the silver, it is noticeably darker than the rest of the car. i didnt think i needed to specify that fact to an auto painter, but im going to talk to him tonight and see what he says. he may have to sand and repaint the doors, it is totally not right looking.

That's a bummer. Why are you having the doors painted separately? Looks like there's paint peeling on other parts too. Seems like it would be more consistent if you had the whole car resprayed at the same time. Also, I'm very jealous of your outback bumper. Those look fantastic on lowered wagons. I've thought about swapping my GT bumper for one.

while painting the whole car would have probably been the best way to go about it, i really only needed the doors redone. the rest of the car is still in decent shape, only parts that have paint issues are the plastics. and the biggest mar on those is the bumpers, which are getting replaced anyway. those i wasnt too worried about, the doors were replaced with doors off of a darker wagon so they needed to be redone. when i made the deal, i talked to him about body work, primer and paint. all he did was sand and spray. i havent given him his parts yet, still have to talk to him about the end product.

here is the car at night. major difference. during sunlight hours, you can hardly tell the doors have been repainted.

 

http://imageshack.com/a/img842/308/q52n.jpg

ive also noticed the doors dont really line up at the seams. you can see it in this pic, where the font and back doors meet. not sure how or why yet, its like the front door sets in farther than the back door does. kind of annoying.

so, my daughter hit someone in her civic.

 

http://oi60.tinypic.com/16h6o1w.jpg

 

not sure why, but i got her another one. it needs some engine and suspension work, but for the price i couldnt do much better. the interior is good, and has electric everything inside.

 

http://oi58.tinypic.com/xaqm12.jpg

 

today i will start the changeover of parts, since i just redid the front end, cooling system, rack and pinion and engine in the one she toasted.

a kid at my sons auto school toasted (from what i hear it started overheating) his ej25 in a 99 forester. the engine was changed out sometime before he bought the car, so i dont think it is stock. he keeps saying its a JDM motor, yo. anyway, he donated the motor to the school, and my son asked if there was any chance of us getting our hands on it. the school uses the motors for the first year students to tear down for practice and explanation. teacher told my son to bring in another full motor and we can have it! so, out goes one of my older honda motors (older D16A1 DOHC motor with low miles) and in comes a EJ25 to play with! not sure what direction i want to go with it, ill have to wait and see what kind of shape it is in before we decide. im kind of excited tho, i like the idea of having a spare. and a new project.

so far, ive spent about 3 minutes looking at the motor due to being out of town for work and stuff. the kid did the HG job and everything, put it back together and had no compression on any cylinder. im gonna put it on the stand this week and check the timing on it, maybe i will get lucky and there is no real damage. the motor came with all the sensors, harnesses and intake manifold attached. pretty sweet deal.

the only time ive had to spend on cars the past two weeks ended up being on the GT. it started overheating, put coolant in it and bled it out. two weeks later, happened again. i smelled the overflow, it reeks of exhaust. great. happy birthday, merry christmas to me.

im sure no one even looks in here, but heres a question... when i took the crossover water pipe off the ej25 i saw some weird gel stuff in one of the ports. any ideas what it could be? heres a pic of it

 

http://i58.tinypic.com/k2es12.jpg

 

trying to decide if im taking it down to bearings and doing a full rebuild or not. so far the rings seem decent, and the cylinders are good.

 

also, anyone know what possibilities i have for cam upgrades on the ej25? i wouldnt mind doing a bit of upgrade while rebuilding this thing.

http://i60.tinypic.com/2dax4k1.jpg

 

engine is almost done. took it down to bones, redid most everything. didnt do the bearings, cylinders looked great so they got cleaned up and everything. you cant see the cool blue gates racing timing belt in there. kevlar power! should be back into the GT by the weekend, on the road probably next week. its getting some BC coilovers and an nvidia N1 exhaust while its up on the lift as well.

Man that's a pretty engine! Might I ask with what you painted it? I'm gathering parts now like oil separator plate, rear main, wrist pin o ring (got these) valve cover gaskets, p/s rebuild kit (need these) and gonna pull the engine to put them all in. Would love to paint it when I do this too.

its a weird paint, VHT is the brand and it is engine paint, but its an anodized color so its supposed to look like anodized aluminum when done. i put it on like 5 times thicker than needed to get the dark purple, but it actually looked like the typical anodized aluminum when i had 2 coats on. dont use it if there is any wind at all tho, its a very light paint, and goes on fairly transparent. im almost tempted to test it on plastics to see how transparent it is.

Vht is in the Napa down the road from me, awesome! Wonder if they have the wrx wrinkle red?...... I really dig the purple though.

Here's a question for you seeing as you have recently done all this engine work, I already said the things I have planned when I pull my engine but I was wondering if you knew anything about Grimmspeeds phenolic intake manifold spacer? It doesn't say specifically it's for our car but I feel like the 2.2 8mm one would work. Your thoughts?

http://reactionface.net/reactionface/images/original/248.jpg?new=1