The Car Thread

[Yakumo]

Soak all the nuts with releasing oil every day before you do it too, and the heating up, cooling down action of driving will help it soak in.

Wouldn't that loosen the nuts too much though resulting to them falling off while driving?

[vanpeebles]

lol No it's not magic oil. It just gets into the threads to help with freeing them off due to rust and seized on with the heat. Sometimes you have to use a lot of force to free nuts off and on old stuff it can end up sheering them off.

[Yakumo]

lol, I know. I'm just a bit paranoid about doing anything myself on my own car. I'll put some releasing oil on though for a few days before I change the mufflers over. There shouldn't be much of a problem though since the car was only made in 2007. But I do need to be safe since the new muffler doesn't come with any bolts etc. So I'll need to re-use mine.

Here's the muffler I bought.





A steel at 21000 yen (about 156 pounds). The RRP is 67000 yen after tax (500 pounds). Yeah, things are very expensive in Japan. The reason for this being so cheap is a scratch on the bottom of the tail pipe where someone has scraped against the floor some how. Japanese are really finicky about things like that even with games. So the price is always slashed.

The car in the video is a different model than mine. You can tell straight away by the back lights. Mine has the crazy Subaru odd light set with the right side having a red fog lap while the left side has a white reverse light.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaLg25p8rLc&feature=player_embedded

Yakumo

[vanpeebles]

Sounds like a beast. Subaru Boxers always have a nice note to them. I have a jap Unicorse equal length front pipe setup on my Alfa.

[randombs]

Lol, my mum's Mazda3 has just the one reverse light and I thought the same thing.

Funnier still is that my BMW does have two reverse lights but only the right one really works properly, so I'm sort of an unofficial member of the Reverse Cyclops* Club.

* sounds like a sex move

[Yakumo]

Sounds like a beast. Subaru Boxers always have a nice note to them. I have a jap Unicorse equal length front pipe setup on my Alfa.

Yes, the boxer engine does have a nice sound. Even the bottom range engine sounds nice for it's class.

Unicorse front pipe, nice. I can't imagine that being cheap in The UK.

billy_dimashq Lol, my mum's Mazda3 has just the one reverse light and I thought the same thing.

Funnier still is that my BMW does have two reverse lights but only the right one really works properly, so I'm sort of an unofficial member of the Reverse Cyclops* Club.

* sounds like a sex move

haha, welcome to the club of WTF where they thinking design.

[charlesr]

The unequal length headers are what gives the boxer its sound. They "fixed" it for later models, but it doesn't need fixing and ends up sounding like an evo

[vanpeebles]

Unicorse front pipe, nice. I can't imagine that being cheap in The UK.

I was lucky enough to get it second hand, it's made a huge difference.

[jamesy]

Do you need a fog light in Japan for the MOT(shakken?)? My import car doesn't have one and has a crap looking square stuck under the bumper instead. (added on when brought to uk) Will soon be taking it off though and replacing one reverse light with fog.

Also I've just got myself a HKS cat-back system. Anyone know if this effects emissions? Might just wait until after MOT next month to put it on if so.

[Yakumo]

Oh yes you do need fog lights in Japan. It can be quite bad at times. Also most of the motorways have no lights so you need a good set up front as well!

Congrats on the HKS cat-back system. I was looking at a HKS muffler for my car but I just couldn't afford a good one so I went with the deal I found on Yahoo.

[vanpeebles]

Do you need a fog light in Japan for the MOT(shakken?)? My import car doesn't have one and has a crap looking square stuck under the bumper instead. (added on when brought to uk) Will soon be taking it off though and replacing one reverse light with fog.

Also I've just got myself a HKS cat-back system. Anyone know if this effects emissions? Might just wait until after MOT next month to put it on if so.

I think in the UK the foglight has to be separate and a certain distance from the other lights hence you get japanese cars with tacked on fog lights. Sometimes you have them roughly cut into the bumper rather than styled in or hung underneath.

[charlesr]

It's normally possible to replace the entire rear cluster with a UK spec version and do away with the fog light hanging under the bumper.

On my CRX, it was put on by the importers and I didn't use it for a couple of years until I was on a very busy 50mph dual carriageway and couldn't see anything, so thought it would be prudent. It was at that moment, I discovered that they hadn't done the wiring for it very well and it set the loom on fire and smoke started pouring into the cabin. Luckily turning it off again worked, but I was still stuck on the dual carriageway in the fog with no hard shoulder waiting for the cabin to clear. yikes.

[Yakumo]

Just a question about exhaust sealant. I went down to the car shop today (Super Autobacs) to get some bolt release spry and sealant. The guy at the shop said that I only needed a gasket so I bought one of them. I read a guide on the net which never even mentioned the gasket, only sealant. I take it they both do the same job?

[charlesr]

I'd suggest looking on the zorst manufacturer's website and perhaps emailing them for what they recommed with their pipe. The flange might not accomodate a gasket correctly.

[charlesr]

Shiny

Normally deep fibre wash with (detergent free) cold water and occassionally a wax.

But today.... A wash with car shampoo and then a polish with "Ultra deep shine" (a polish for dark coloured cars), to get rid of some of the swirls. I tested it on a clean bit of panel and compared to the bit of panel next to it and it certainly worked.

Was tempted to wax it too for longevity, but my arm was giving up at the end of the polish.... Next time.

Used some "miracle wheels" on the wheels. Should have done this ages ago.



Also put the cold air induction scoop back on to the bonnet now that summer is here (did that after taking the pic though) - goes where that grill is on the right hand side.