Wrenchin... Adventures under the hood... Put em here.

[present tense]

Major PITA, Most of us have been there warthog, and you’re right you’ll eventually come out a little wiser and more experienced on the other end.

Best of luck and ditto on Nissan engineers, my wife drove a god awful Nissan murano that I replaced a high pressure power steering line. I was convinced the engineers had started with the hose and designed the entire engine compartment around it.

[The Reverend Floater]

Been having a bit of fun lately.
My neighbor is my physical therapist. He pretty much isn't charging me to treat me for my recent bulging disk/ pinched nerve fun.

He has a junky Nissan Titan that had a bad starter, so I told him we could trade.
Wow, Nissan engineers are a special kind of evil.

Starter is under the intake manifold. What I thought would be a 2-3 hour job at an easy pace has become a months long adventure and patience test.


When I removed the old bolts, the starter wouldn't budge. I first had to break the old starter apart. Then I had to wedge a chisel in there and work both sides. Once it broke free, this is what I saw:

The internal ring bonded with the outer ring and it wasn't budging. Dissimilar metals suck.

After hitting it with the heat gun for a while, some PB Blaster, and a BFH with the chisel, it came loose, but slipped to the inside of the ring and a piece fell inside the flywheel housing.

I had to use a metal saw to cut the bottom out so it would slip back out the opening.

Once that was done, I rigged up my phone endoscope to a grabber tool and tried to fish the piece out.






Here is the first video of me trying to get it. It is long, and I don't get it right away, but this shows how deep down it was, and what a PITA it was.
https://videos.smugmug.com/Auto/Bron...il/master.m3u8

After a bit, it just fell down into the inspection hole and I found it on the ground.
https://videos.smugmug.com/Auto/Bron...il/master.m3u8
The offender:


Here is what the piece that was stuck looked like. I had to piece it back together to make sure no other pieces were stuck in there.


I almost just left it in there, since it is AL. It probably would have just been chewed up, but not worth the risk, and I would feel horrible grenading his bell housing.


Here is what it looks like now:


Got the new gaskets on the intake manifold, and started buttoning it back up:


Then, I , of course, over torqued one of the bolts and broke it.
Back at it tomorrow to take the manifold back off, plug up the holes, and remove the bolt.

I am oddly at peace with this. It had to happen. It has been one of those projects, and getting practice removing broken bolts is valuable experience.
I plan on drilling a very small pilot hole, hitting the block with the heat gun at max, PB Blaster or Kroil, and then reverse bit. Going for success on the first try.
Wish me luck.

Many Toyota motors have a similar conundrum. Peruse MUD for some good tips.

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[Timberridge]

Recommendations for a lightweight floor jack? I need it only to lift a Miata so I was thinking of this...
https://www.amazon.com/Torin-Jacks-P...7&sr=8-25&th=1

[El Chupacabra]

Harbor Freight, seriously. I have a HF floor jack - my second one. The first lasted about 15 years before the hydraulics gave out.

[Mazderati]

Just make sure it's low enough and long enough to get to the lift points.

[Timberridge]

Harbor Freight, seriously. I have a HF floor jack - my second one. The first lasted about 15 years before the hydraulics gave out.

Looks like the same Chinese company is making them and painting them different colors. https://www.harborfreight.com/15-ton...ump-64545.html

Just make sure it's low enough and long enough to get to the lift points.

Yeah I have a bigger one and it won't collapse enough to get under the Miata-san unless I use the scissor jack and then slide it under.
The two step process is wearing thin each spring and fall.

[El Chupacabra]

HF has several versions - some are low and long reach, if that's what you need. Seems like they're on sale a lot too. Sign up for their emails (nearly daily) and I bet you can score one cheap within a week.

[skaredshtles]

Harbor Freight, seriously. I have a HF floor jack - my second one. The first lasted about 15 years before the hydraulics gave out.

I'm still on my first, but it has been chugging along for probably a decade at this point?

[Mazderati]

I have this newer one and another older Pittsburgh 2-ton that is even lower. Both steel and both heavy. The low profile, long reach were more important to me for the same reason you describe. Aluminum versions were harder to find and got pricey quick.

https://www.harborfreight.com/automo...lue-56641.html

[Timberridge]

Yeah those aluminum versions are $600, yikes.

Thanks guys.

[gravitylover]

Looks like the same Chinese company is making them and painting them different colors. https://www.harborfreight.com/15-ton...ump-64545.html

Yeah I have a bigger one and it won't collapse enough to get under the Miata-san unless I use the scissor jack and then slide it under.
The two step process is wearing thin each spring and fall.

When I have low clearance cars I use 2 2x6s screwed together and ramped at the end that I drive up on before sliding the jack under the car.

[whyturn]

Was driving to my local hill the other day in my 20 year old Subaru forester. About 50 feet before the parking lot a guy stopped on the road and habit is to pull the ebrake because I have a manual transmission. Well ebrake froze in the on position and couldn’t move. People were backing up on the road and freaking out. Got it turned around after 15 minutes and limped to the lower lot with brakes burning up. Parked in a spot for 10 and gathered myself. The brake unfroze thankfully and we skied pow all day.

So I ordered the cables and getting it fixed soon. The car has had 141k miles and hope it makes it many more seasons. Car has seen many pow days so lots of great memories. Last time I had a snafu on the hill it was because I put it in third instead of first and it died and went onto a snowbank.

2SKIPOW


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[gravitylover]

Hey Montucky, I saw this pic yesterday and thought of you. This is a 2011 C30 with the interior removed to dry it out after a sunroof leak https://photos.app.goo.gl/BwDXsxno92vkouHP9

[basinbeater]

The harbor freight jacks are legit. You can find the info on the snap on lawsuit, but snap on lost... It's basically the snap on jack at a huge discount.

I have the low profile one.
It slides under the lowered bimmer and gets the cruiser up off the ground piece of cake.

[Mazderati]

Nut drivers with spin tops up to 8mm. Do they exist? Precision sets where spin tops are more common seem to stop at 6mm like the set below.



https://www.wihatools.com/products/p...244abb5d&_ss=c

[Todd Zander]

I looked up wera cuz theyre good screwdrivers( use em everyday)and these popped up

https://www.amainhobbies.com/protek-...gaAgo2EALw_wcB

[Mazderati]

^ Good find, thanks. Be great to find something US, EU, or TW made but I guess beggars can't be choosers.

[Thesystemsplit]

Swapped out my uca’s on the runner to elevate, from spc’s which were garbage. Took a few hours in the driveway but not to bad overall


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[Timberridge]

Thanks again for the advice. I checked out some jacks and settled on this little Zinko for $179. It's made in Taiwan vs China and seems a bit better built than some of the China stuff, and Zinko sells replacement seal kits if ever needed.
It partially aluminum (the red frame is steel) so it only weighs ~40#. I don't need a dual piston 2 ton for the Miata-san.

[BmillsSkier]

Thanks again for the advice. I checked out some jacks and settled on this little Zinko for $179. It's made in Taiwan vs China and seems a bit better built than some of the China stuff, and Zinko sells replacement seal kits if ever needed.
It partially aluminum (the red frame is steel) so it only weighs ~40#. I don't need a dual piston 2 ton for the Miata-san.

Your friends in Yueyang are going to be sad you cheated on them.

j/k, that looks perfect.

[Timberridge]

If it wasn't for Wyeaster besmirching my good name, I might have a better relationship with Yueyang.

[Mazderati]

Swapped out my uca’s on the runner to elevate, from spc’s which were garbage. Took a few hours in the driveway but not to bad overall

Nice. A guy on YouTube, Tinkerer's Adventure, has a side-by-side comparison of several UCAs.

Thanks again for the advice. I checked out some jacks and settled on this little Zinko for $179. It's made in Taiwan vs China and seems a bit better built than some of the China stuff, and Zinko sells replacement seal kits if ever needed.
It partially aluminum (the red frame is steel) so it only weighs ~40#. I don't need a dual piston 2 ton for the Miata-san.

Nice. Where did you find this one? 2-ton? Might be able to find a rubber pad for the saddle online if it didn't come with one.

[Timberridge]

Nice. Where did you find this one? 2-ton? Might be able to find a rubber pad for the saddle online if it didn't come with one.

1 ton only--but I'm only lifting a corner of the car.

https://www.autotoolworld.com/Zinko-..._p_254399.html

[basinbeater]

For $8 more, you could have had a snap on clone made in the same factory with the same parts as the snap on jack...
These things really are the bomb.
https://www.harborfreight.com/3-ton-...4aApPFEALw_wcB

[Timberridge]

3 tons? I don't need to lift the car with Dunfree's mom in it.