Woo hoo!! First post...
LOTS of stories to tell, but I'll start with the most recent...
(Background: I am a backyard mechanic who cut my teeth on mostly 70s-era GMs. In adult life, have had mostly leases, bought the 5 as a money-saver...purchased from a friend for $400 with a "mystery rattle" in the right rear and an intermittent tranny issue (something electric with the A and B solenoids....those were the issues I knew going in. Anyhoo...)
Did back brakes yesterday. Brake job proper was very easy, no issues. Along the way, however, I ended up having both caliper pins on the driver side sheared off inside the mounting bracket. Called in a friend who is always down for a challenge (especially at 8 pm on a Friday before a holiday...)
Took about an hour to get the broken pieces out of the blind holes, after about 3 hours calling my buddy, who couldn't drive b/c he had a date with Mary Jane, calling my wife to bring the other car up (fortunately I have access to my workplace with a warm and dry warehouse), acquiring left-hand drill bits and extractors from Harbor Freight, dropping my wife home at home, dealing with a mini-flood in our basement, which I discovered while looking for my tap and die set (old house plus possibly cracked toilet plus basement window being open (no wonder it was cold down there last week!)...still not sure of the cause or extent of the flooding, because that was not my most pressing issue, LMFAO!!)
So, long story short (too late!), the brakes are done, and no more rattle! I knew it was a loose inboard brake pad, but was not too worried since it is captive...
Why, you might ask, was it rattling? Funny story! When I took everything apart, both outboard pads were installed on the passenger side, and both inboard pads on the driver side. No anti-rattle springs on any of them (the ones that go in the top cutout of the inboard pad)...seems my friend did a brake job sometime previous. <SARCASM> I wonder how those caliper pins got sheared off? </SARCASM> Listed torque spec on those is 21 ft lbs, and that ain't much! (New bolts: $10. Easy-outs: $20. A good torque wrench: Priceless!!)
So yeah, lots more stories where that came from, like the radiator that was replaced because it was too hard to take a key off the key ring (another friend; really, they have many redeeming qualities!)
Going back work to clean up and put tools away--just left everything at 1am. Then about 4 hours of work work (so I can keep my job with the fringe benefits!) , flood remediation, and then ring in the New Year!!
Glad to be in a place where everybody knows your name and/or diifficulty at parts stores...("NO!! Not an MX-5, OR a CX-5...*JUST* a 5!!")
R.