What have you done to your non-mazda today?

JM1Protege · Apr 22, 2010

Made a list of things to do with my 64 rail dune buggy... I got some major plans for it this summer and ill post up some pics later.

aMaff · Apr 27, 2010

Used the very wet Saturday novice-school I was instructing at as a "dry" run before the actual autocross on Sunday. Found a couple niggling issues (the truck doesn't like that many bulbs on the brake light / turn signal circuits and blew those fuses, so they've been replaced by 1-step-up fuses, and I need to add about 24" of deck to it, which will be done this weekend), but other than that it's good to go. She tows well, if there's any hills drop it out of O/D and it'll pull up pretty much anything w/o shifting gears, it's pretty nice

evilmonkeyMSP · Apr 27, 2010

awww they even match

aMaff · Apr 27, 2010

evilmonkeyMSP said:
awww they even match

lol yeah, it sort of worked out that way

How lame would it be to put mazda motorsports stickers on the Pathy?

(the answer? quite.)

Deatschwerks · Apr 28, 2010

Took the CR-V on a puddle expedition!

Slid the LeMons car around some corners:

...and pounded the CRX around the local race track:

aMaff · May 2, 2010

This should prevent a few headaches in the future

I only brought the decking up that far because there's not really any support further back, and the miata's front tires sit on that cross beam. Also, if I brought the deck further back, getting to the D rings for the tie-downs would be more of a pain. I figured 6" forward of the cross bar was enough wiggle room and called it a day. The extra decking will make it a LOT easier to load, as it was a relatively nail biting experience, with only 1 1/3 tires actually on the deck lol, but now it'll be a lot less stressful (enough that I shouldn't have any problems loading it solo)

aMaff · May 4, 2010

Changed the plugs on the Pathfinder tonight. That took way more effort than a spark plug change ever should. On the passenger side I had to un-bolt and displace some serious wire looms before I could even SEE the coils. On the driver's side, just to get to the #4 and #6 coils, the throttle body and throttle-by-wire controller had to come off. Ugh... on the up side, no more .080 gap plugs (boom07).

Seriously, I have no idea how old those plugs were, but damn they had some huge gaps on them (lots of that came from being on for untold thousands of miles, they were visibly worn).

And I forgot to update (but you can see in the previous post) I pulled the roof-rack. It's SO much quieter on the interstate now

jonridinhi · May 5, 2010

Do not feel bad....
I got a coolant leak on my 1.8t. It appeared to be a hose but once half the car was dissected I realized that it was the o-ring behind the plastic fitting on the back of the block. So I went for the o-ring and nobody has it and the hose was a lost cause as well. So I went to the back and found a hose for a camaro that should work but no o-ring yet. WTF? Just for a coolant leak but on the plus note I am putting a "little American mussel" under the hood on my jetta.

aMaff · May 12, 2010

So after a ~1000 round trip down to Florida over 3 days, I got to work on Monday and heard what I can only describe as a death-rattle in the Pathfinder. It sounded like someone had poured ball-bearings into my engine. I popped the hood and couldn't hardly hear the sound any more. So it wasn't detonation, piston slap, or any other number of bad things that could go on in the top end of the engine. Poked my head under the running board and sure enough it was coming from under the car. Rod knock doesn't sound like that (and I've heard rod knock before LOL), so what was it?

I did a little re-search and found out that it was likely just an exhaust heat shield, or a rattling cat. Got home and poked around and it looked like the noise was coming from the passenger-side exhaust resonator. I took the heat shield off, banged on the resonator again and it still rattled. *sigh* ok, so this has to come off now.

Once I got the mid-pipe out of the way and flipped it to help get it out from between the crossmember and the body, this dropped out:

I took it out of the garage to prevent further mess then up-ended it:

And the other pic of the damage to the cat itself:

I needed the truck to get to work today, so I didn't have time to drop the cat out to actually gut it, but I did take the time to fab up the ol' spark-plug non fouler trick (I <3 my drill press

), so at a minimum it should clear up the CEL. It also explains the CEL (you protege guys know what I'm talking about

) And if I ever hear that rattle again, I'll know what to do to fix it. And if it ever happens again, I'm taking a long screw-driver and a hammer to the rest of the catalyst (gun)

Figured I'd share what I'd been up to lol

mikeyb · May 13, 2010

Installed euro front clear parking lights, euro clear sidemarkers, euro clear rear tails, and euro clear 3rd brake light.

mikeyb · May 13, 2010

aMaff said:
So after a ~1000 round trip down to Florida over 3 days, I got to work on Monday and heard what I can only describe as a death-rattle in the Pathfinder. It sounded like someone had poured ball-bearings into my engine. I popped the hood and couldn't hardly hear the sound any more. So it wasn't detonation, piston slap, or any other number of bad things that could go on in the top end of the engine. Poked my head under the running board and sure enough it was coming from under the car. Rod knock doesn't sound like that (and I've heard rod knock before LOL), so what was it?

I did a little re-search and found out that it was likely just an exhaust heat shield, or a rattling cat. Got home and poked around and it looked like the noise was coming from the passenger-side exhaust resonator. I took the heat shield off, banged on the resonator again and it still rattled. *sigh* ok, so this has to come off now.

Once I got the mid-pipe out of the way and flipped it to help get it out from between the crossmember and the body, this dropped out:

I took it out of the garage to prevent further mess then up-ended it:

And the other pic of the damage to the cat itself:

I needed the truck to get to work today, so I didn't have time to drop the cat out to actually gut it, but I did take the time to fab up the ol' spark-plug non fouler trick (I <3 my drill press ), so at a minimum it should clear up the CEL. It also explains the CEL (you protege guys know what I'm talking about ) And if I ever hear that rattle again, I'll know what to do to fix it. And if it ever happens again, I'm taking a long screw-driver and a hammer to the rest of the catalyst (gun)

Figured I'd share what I'd been up to lol

That is a common issue with Nissan cats. You should contact the local dealer to see if your Path has a recall for this. When I was running the parts counter for a Nissan dealer Sentra, Altimas, Maximas, and afew of the trucks had this problem.

aMaff · May 13, 2010

mikeyb said:
That is a common issue with Nissan cats. You should contact the local dealer to see if your Path has a recall for this. When I was running the parts counter for a Nissan dealer Sentra, Altimas, Maximas, and afew of the trucks had this problem.

Gotcha. I can't find any info on it, but I'll give 'em a call to see what I find out. Thanks for the head's up

mikeyb · May 13, 2010

aMaff said:
Gotcha. I can't find any info on it, but I'll give 'em a call to see what I find out. Thanks for the head's up

Back in the day that crap would get sucked up into the engine and sieze the engine.

aMaff · May 13, 2010

mikeyb said:
Back in the day that crap would get sucked up into the engine and sieze the engine.

nope, it all just got pooped into the resonator lol

evilmonkeyMSP · Jul 23, 2010

Installed a new lip...

bad camera is bad....(car is filthy BTW)

before:

After:

]

THE Phen · Jul 23, 2010

A subtle lip that does nothing but add to the aggressive look. How could you not like it? Haha.

aMaff · Jul 23, 2010

Nice, lookin good

freekwonder · Jul 24, 2010

Pick up some board and vinyl to make some door panels so I don't screw up the originals. Hard to get original 510 door panels anymore.

sephiroth · Jul 24, 2010

jonridinhi said:
Do not feel bad....
I got a coolant leak on my 1.8t. It appeared to be a hose but once half the car was dissected I realized that it was the o-ring behind the plastic fitting on the back of the block. So I went for the o-ring and nobody has it and the hose was a lost cause as well. So I went to the back and found a hose for a camaro that should work but no o-ring yet. WTF? Just for a coolant leak but on the plus note I am putting a "little American mussel" under the hood on my jetta.

I don't know if I told you when you talked to me about that but, the best advice I can give you for that motor is; make friendly with your VW parts guy. I basicly know the audi parts counter guys by first name basis now. All the big parts can be found locally, but if it's small like that stupid o-ring, it's nearly guaranteed to have to be got at the dealership.

Installed euro front clear parking lights, euro clear sidemarkers, euro clear rear tails, and euro clear 3rd brake light.

Again, 2 month old post, but I see your 'clear plastic pieces' and raise you the following:
New AA Rebuilt O1E transmission (mine esploded all over itself

evilmonkeyMSP · Aug 6, 2010

ordered these

What have you done to your non-mazda today?

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High Speed Low Drag

Scrotie McBoogerBalls

High Speed Low Drag

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High Speed Low Drag

High Speed Low Drag

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High Speed Low Drag

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Member

High Speed Low Drag

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High Speed Low Drag

Scrotie McBoogerBalls

Member

High Speed Low Drag

Member

Scrotie McBoogerBalls