Ontopic The new car-seching thread

It's almost like owning a Honda Fit, even.

Clutch still not done in the corolla. Constant 30C humid days, 40C with the humidex, safety glasses fogging up almost instantly working under a car is pretty fuckin' miserable.

The front subframe on the car has a pretty good coat of rust on it (it's a 10 year old newfoundland car) - contemplating pulling it out and painting it, but that involves dropping the steering rack with it, and I'm trying not to turn this into too much of a project.
 
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It's almost like owning a Honda Fit, even.

Clutch still not done in the corolla. Constant 30C humid days, 40C with the humidex, safety glasses fogging up almost instantly working under a car is pretty fuckin' miserable.

The front subframe on the car has a pretty good coat of rust on it (it's a 10 year old newfoundland car) - contemplating pulling it out and painting it, but that involves dropping the steering rack with it, and I'm trying not to turn this into too much of a project.
how big of a job is pulling the steering rack? Should just be pressure line, return line, knuckle, and tie rod ends, right?
 
Just drive it half broken. Maybe reach into the dash and manually move the vent settings from panel to defrost and back twice a year.

If I was still a bachelor I'd do exactly that.
Maybe get fancy and tie some baling wire to the vent levers, pull it through where the hush panel and trim and all that other crap you don't need used to be and twist a loop in the end.

I once drove my 82 ford for a week and a half like that when the accelerator linkage broke. It works fine.
 
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how big of a job is pulling the steering rack? Should just be pressure line, return line, knuckle, and tie rod ends, right?
Gonna dig into the service manual when I get home, and have a peek.

AFAIK it screws to the top of the subframe, from above. Hoping I can just remove the tie rod ends from the front spindles, unbolt the rack from the subframe and hang it from above without having to unhook anything else, but I guess we'll see.
 
Biggest pain I have with steering racks is working in the cramped space they're in. That and years of road gunk built up on everything.
With the tranny and it's brackets out, axles out, engine supported by something you can maneuver a little, it's probably not too bad.
 
Biggest pain I have with steering racks is working in the cramped space they're in. That and years of road gunk built up on everything.
With the tranny and it's brackets out, axles out, engine supported by something you can maneuver a little, it's probably not too bad.
I like cars that have underbody cladding for this reason.

Granted, if it's in a fuckin' Nissan, it's probably had the power steering pump leaking down on it (through the alternator, of course) for years, but still, no road grime for the most part.

The Audi has the power steering rack behind the engine, sitting way up high in the engine bay, because Audis are weird.
 
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I like cars that have underbody cladding for this reason.

Granted, if it's in a fuckin' Nissan, it's probably had the power steering pump leaking down on it (through the alternator, of course) for years, but still, no road grime for the most part.

The Audi has the power steering rack behind the engine, sitting way up high in the engine bay, because Audis are weird.

For a lot of cars that were "maintained" by their first, second, third owners before I got them those splash guards and things were taken off long ago and never put back on.
And the sprayer down at the diy carwash can never hit that shit at the right angle or close enough to matter if it can hit it at all.

Long ago given up on that. I figure crawling out from under the car looking like you're in blackface is just part of the deal.

Most stuff that involves that kind of grime is once in the life of a car type stuff. Steering rack, clutch, bushings on the big suspension parts, etc.
 
For a lot of cars that were "maintained" by their first, second, third owners before I got them those splash guards and things were taken off long ago and never put back on.
And the sprayer down at the diy carwash can never hit that shit at the right angle or close enough to matter if it can hit it at all.

Long ago given up on that. I figure crawling out from under the car looking like you're in blackface is just part of the deal.

Most stuff that involves that kind of grime is once in the life of a car type stuff. Steering rack, clutch, bushings on the big suspension parts, etc.
Just FYI, those cladding pieces do more than just keep the road grime off. They're a part of the cooling system, to help guide air through the radiator and condenser.
 
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Drilled out several dozen rivets in order to get to the point where I could get my mock transom in and out. Now I need to do the real thing.
Hands already hurt thinking of reinstalling those pop rivets

 
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FYI, the pneumatic riveter from Hazard Fraught ain't too bad.
ive had good luck with almost all their pneumatics. I have high quality shit for the commonly used stuff (finish nailer, brad nailer, full head nailer), but i have the hf pin nailer, stapler, etc and theyre nice.