Thursday, November 12, 2009
International Events
It really annoys me how people complain that US news doesn't report on world events, preferring instead to send live reporters to the site of a broken water main in a nameless suburb. It's just not true; only yesterday on the 10 o'clock news they had a tragic human interest story about an albino squirrel from Dorking, Surrey, who was run over by a car. Admittedly they didn't fly over their top reporter to interview eye witnesses, but it is a start.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Repercussions...
We were on our way back from SEMA in Las Vegas last night and I was enjoying myself. We had the car loaded up with parts and chocolate from Louis and I'd just got to the point where the 92 joins 880. There was a BMW behind me on the on-ramp and I was determined to show him what an old Opel can do.
OK, so there's no point building up the suspense as you know something's going to happen... Going round the corner (slightly downhill, but fast) there was a thud from the back and the car shook, so I backed off a little until I'd worked out what had happened.
Clearly it wasn't a bottle of water shooting across the rear footwell (seems to be a female thing these days, you can't go anywhere without a bottle of water, and I'm afraid Jo's caught the disease), and it sounded a lot heavier than a bag moving around in the boot. We guessed it must've been something kicked up from the road, but I didn't remember seeing anything in the road ahead of me so I wasn't convinced.
The car felt fine and drove in a straight line without a problem, so we kept down to a reasonable 70 and got home. I was thinking that it must've been either a spring breaking, a shock blowing the gasket or maybe a bolt that holds the anti-roll bar shearing, but I'd check later to find out what it was.
We were both knackered after SEMA so it was later when I finally got the axle up in the air to see what was up, but I didn't have to look for long. The left rear spring (the corner that jumped the kerb first the other day) was broken at the bottom, I could feel both broken ends. Rats. Well, at least I had two spare sets, having bought one spare set recently when I realized I was down to just the single set.
Changing the springs is almost trivially easy, and I did it on the driveway rather than bringing it into the garage. First you loosen the wheel nuts and jack the car up as high as possible to get it on axle stands. Then take off the wheels and lower the axle until the shocks are fully extended; that will allow you to take off the shock lower screws easily. Next simply lower the axle right down and you can pull the springs out.
Well, that's the theory, but the left side spring fell out while I was lowering the axle and actually came out in three pieces! Checking the spring it looks like one of the breaks was last night, but the other one had to have been a few weeks ago, based on the surface rust that was starting and the dirt on the break. I wonder why I hadn't seen that after the accident? I had checked the ride height of both sides and it had been the same.
Left side spring - notice the shiny break on the left two pieces and the dull break on the right two...
The answer came when I had finished dropping the axle, the right side spring came out in two pieces too! The break was dull this time so it was again a break that had probably happened when it jumped the kerb, and that might explain why the car seemed level, it had matching breaks on each side.
Anyway, the new springs went in without a hitch and I took some time to treat the underside to a few Dinitrol underseal and cavity wax patches to help it through the winter. I also topped up the rear axle (maybe 100cc) to avoid an expensive axle rebuild in my future.
The rear looks a little high (its usual stance) but the ride is a whole lot better. It even seems reasonably flat in corners, which wasn't what I was expecting as Mantas always roll like you're on the high seas...
OK, so there's no point building up the suspense as you know something's going to happen... Going round the corner (slightly downhill, but fast) there was a thud from the back and the car shook, so I backed off a little until I'd worked out what had happened.
Clearly it wasn't a bottle of water shooting across the rear footwell (seems to be a female thing these days, you can't go anywhere without a bottle of water, and I'm afraid Jo's caught the disease), and it sounded a lot heavier than a bag moving around in the boot. We guessed it must've been something kicked up from the road, but I didn't remember seeing anything in the road ahead of me so I wasn't convinced.
The car felt fine and drove in a straight line without a problem, so we kept down to a reasonable 70 and got home. I was thinking that it must've been either a spring breaking, a shock blowing the gasket or maybe a bolt that holds the anti-roll bar shearing, but I'd check later to find out what it was.
We were both knackered after SEMA so it was later when I finally got the axle up in the air to see what was up, but I didn't have to look for long. The left rear spring (the corner that jumped the kerb first the other day) was broken at the bottom, I could feel both broken ends. Rats. Well, at least I had two spare sets, having bought one spare set recently when I realized I was down to just the single set.
Changing the springs is almost trivially easy, and I did it on the driveway rather than bringing it into the garage. First you loosen the wheel nuts and jack the car up as high as possible to get it on axle stands. Then take off the wheels and lower the axle until the shocks are fully extended; that will allow you to take off the shock lower screws easily. Next simply lower the axle right down and you can pull the springs out.
Well, that's the theory, but the left side spring fell out while I was lowering the axle and actually came out in three pieces! Checking the spring it looks like one of the breaks was last night, but the other one had to have been a few weeks ago, based on the surface rust that was starting and the dirt on the break. I wonder why I hadn't seen that after the accident? I had checked the ride height of both sides and it had been the same.
Left side spring - notice the shiny break on the left two pieces and the dull break on the right two...
The answer came when I had finished dropping the axle, the right side spring came out in two pieces too! The break was dull this time so it was again a break that had probably happened when it jumped the kerb, and that might explain why the car seemed level, it had matching breaks on each side.
Anyway, the new springs went in without a hitch and I took some time to treat the underside to a few Dinitrol underseal and cavity wax patches to help it through the winter. I also topped up the rear axle (maybe 100cc) to avoid an expensive axle rebuild in my future.
The rear looks a little high (its usual stance) but the ride is a whole lot better. It even seems reasonably flat in corners, which wasn't what I was expecting as Mantas always roll like you're on the high seas...
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