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Any ideas on loaner car you’d own? I’d recommend something relatively low maintenance, like a 1st gen Mazda 3 ( smooth 4-speed transmission, the Mazda Z engine has a timing chain and well known for getting to high mileages, and you can find them inexpensively, and parts are plentiful since it shares some with the Ford Focus and the Volvo S40. )
In lieu of a zip tie, wouldn’t it be possible to cut the old brake line in half, remove any clips that were used to secure it, cut a notch in those clips and slip them on the new brake line?
Other possible alternatives to zip ties would be like those “Command” Cable guides I’ve used for cable management before, if you could find one that could wrap around a typical diameter brake line and then drill a hole for a nut/bolt and secure it that way.
Will do tomorrow. Hopefully, it opens.
Does anyone have any idea on removing the bumper, if I need to do so tomorrow?
My friend had moved a spare transmission in his 1995 Legacy – he brought it to me for cleaning after a gear oil spill – gross as hell. Rug doctor on the passenger side seat took 8 changes of water to change from a sulphur brown waste water to clear.
Very nice bench vice there! Wilton makes some good stuff. They have a neat history page: http://www.wiltontools.com/us/en/company/history/
Something semi-related, being a form of vice ( in a way! ) I picked up one of these on the advice of my friend: http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-85-610-10-Inch-MaxGrip-Adjustable/dp/B00009OYGZ
And good god is it wonderful. Think crescent wrench meets vice grips. Its pretty darn cool.
As far as Ryobi tools go, I’ve seen them do pretty well – I’ve owned a few electric drills by them, an electric weed eater, electric lawnmower, as far as consumer/light duty commercial work goes, you can’t go wrong. I’d like to buy one of their impact wrenches, as even a mid-20s guy I don’t feel likt having to pull, push and stand all 200+lbs of me on a breaker bar to break a stubborn bolt loose.
Fantastic work Eric on getting the Contour (nearly) back to ship shape. Hopefully, Jeff will have many good years of service out of that car. Honestly with you being in the salt belt, I’m surprised I don’t see massive amounts of rust on the cars.
Awesome video. Thanks to you and Paul taking the time to share. I assume there’s going to be an in depth video on the rebuild coming up?
What’s going on with the 302, meanwhile?
Hey there Eric, fantastic job on the brakes you did here. I’m glad my Mazda3, made before Ford divested its stock in 2010, has 4 wheel disc brakes, and AFAIK all the Mazda3s have 4 wheel disc brakes. Although since Mazda has gotten past all the Ford-derived models in their new stock, I would anticipate that if they have any drum equipped models, that they’re not of this style. Another thing I have done on some cars to adjust them is to drive at about 5-10 mph on a road, sharply pull the brake half way, let it go for a few feet, than slowly pull it up the rest of the way. It worked, and this was a service manual procedure for a BMW in fact.
Are we going to see a conclusion video regarding Jeff seeing the Contour up and running? I enjoyed watching Barbara having her van back personally
I like the new Vigor personally, a lot more than your burgundy one. Myself, I would take the motor from the burgundy one, put it in the blue one, swap over the tires and any upgrades you want from the burgundy car ( yes, besides the sunroof ) and take the lack of a sun roof as a minor drawback. I had a 1995 BMW 530i with one. it was a great car, and the sunroof is nice, but I burn easily and developed an allergy to most sunscreen, so I was happy to give it up as for 3 out of the 4 years I owned the Bimmer, the sunroof went unused. So for me, the tradeoff of the sunroof is a given.
The questions I have are:
Does the blue vigor have working R12 A/C? If so, I’d say that one is a keeper personally. Next pre-134a car I get, I’ll probably retain the R12 A/C. I can get a big can of R12 for $200 from a friend I know ( yes, I have the EPA certification to use it ) and borrow another friends R12 equipment and keep it running you know? R12 is soo much nicer for cooling in the cars designed for it.
Is there any other drawbacks than the lack of a sunroof on your blue vigor?
Personally, with some touch up paint and a new clearcoat, I think the blue vigor would look very sharp. Whatever you do, I look forward to seeing the inevitable videos relating to the vigors in the near future.
Also, as an aside unrelated to the video, I do hope to see a video detailing the teardown of that Mustang V8… care to share anything on that thus far??
Glad to see the recent vids, very nice indeed.
Very good video Eric.
Little recommendation if you end up having to replace the ignition switch – definitely ensure the wiring in that part of the harness is not frayed or damaged – I’m sure you will check this if such a thing comes to pass, but I wanted to confirm that it, not the switch, could also be a potential issue. I’ve not seen this specifically on Chryslers, but various makes ranging from Honda, to VW. Three of my cars required me to splice parts of the dashboard harness with new wire.
Definitely concur with how cars can sit can result in problems cropping up with them. I don’t claim to be an expert when it comes to the life of a car, a lot of it is purely up to chance. All the same I think its undeniable that I take greater risk buying something like a Yugo vs, say a Tercel or Civic if I’m looking for a daily beater. The quality of the car has a lot to do with it, and I think a lot of people would agree that the 1990s Chrysler cars had a tendency to break easily and be more maintenance intensive. As a friend of mine who watched the FiF series on Barbara’s van said, “There’s a saying when it comes to those vans: All problems have their roots in the transmission.” Of course he’s joking somewhat, but something can be said for the fact I don’t see many 1990s Chryslers on the road anymore here in Virginia, and a lot of them in junkyards. My local Pick ‘n Pull has more than five of them on the lot, for instance. And its primarily because we have terrible roads, terrible drivers and yearly safety inspections, which tend to weed out the clunkers. Not saying they can’t last.
I respect your decision to fix Barbara’s van. She seems to be very deserving and I hope that it lasts as long as she needs it to. I certainly don’t have anywhere near the skill or financial ability to be able to offer repairs for those who need, but can’t afford it.
Here’s hoping that Jeff’s car doesn’t have too many hidden issues. For all the flak I give Ford, they’re not bad at all.
These are for the Bank 2 O2 sensor, the upper one if I’m not mistaken. This page is for the heater circuit but should give you some insight into the issue more: http://www.ericthecarguy.com/p0100-p0199/23-obd-codes/obd-ii-codes/141-p0141-p0135-p0147-p0155-p0161-p0167 as these are closely related codes to those mentioned ( you may have to replace the O2 sensor )
I’m sorry for not being clear – I meant the extensions you installed, wouldn’t it have been ideal to tack weld those in place then finish the job up on the lift? I know you said in this video that you wouldn’t bind it up, but I wasn’t worried about that, more that you would have had better results tack welding it on the jack stands and then finishing on the lift. However, its your car – and I quite like this project and think you did a good job, I would have just done it differently, and I respect the way you went about this, even if I don’t agree entirely.
Oh, I wasn’t saying she wasn’t deserving to have the van fixed. I just mean that ideally, and I stress that, it would have been better for her to not purchase that. I’m not faulting her for doing so, but I hope that when she finally commits the van to a junkyard that she doesn’t make the same honest mistake of choosing a vehicle that is so difficult to keep running. I myself have been guilty of buying a basket case car and dumping tons of money into it, more than the value of the car, to keep it operational because I didn’t have any other options. In hindsight, I would have *not* purchased the car in the first place. That’s why help people I know pick out cars that are going to last them a long time, hopefully.
Keep on doing good Eric, and I’ll keep on watching. If I’m in a better financial position in the future, maybe I can contribute to the project. I look forward to the next video on Jeff’s van.