Ceras Victoria (Honda Prelude), Timing Belt (Attempt 1)

I went to do the timing belt on my car which did not end up happening. The last time a timing belt was done it seems like a mechanic used seize or lock tight on the pulley bolt (most likely) or cross threaded the whole thing.

So, despite having a professional grade 1/2" and 3/4" drive air gun at my disposal, the 3/4" meant to work on medium and large trucks, we were unable to get the bolt to budge. In fact, we had around 400 lb. ft. on a bolt  that was only supposed to be torqued to 180 lb. ft.

Needless to say, timing belt, front main oil seal, and water pump did not happen. The lower timing belt could not be removed.

The day was not a total waste though. I wound up replacing the spark plugs, valve cover gasket (little leaky) and valve cover grommets (much more leaky) all before having a misfire.

Also discovered that the camshaft seals need to be replaced, but those cannot be done without being able to have full access to the timing chain.

I may try the belt again when it is warmer. Otherwise, and at the moment, it looks like the timing belt will not be coming out without removing the crankshaft. Oh joy!

My family friend Norman was helping me out with this.

Cloud (Subaru Forester), Fuel Filler Pipe Replacement

This is a project I'm not working on much, it's one my dad is doing (so the pictures are not so exciting).

After the engine repair and reinstall there was still a check engine light.

The old one was quite rusted. There is a cover for it that collects all kinds of grime and moisture. The result is a rusty mess.

For the reinstall I suggested rubberized paint. We used the 3M Professional Grade Rubberized Undercoating. It turned out quite well in my opinion. We missed a few small spots. We'll have to see how it holds up. We also ended up coating some of the fuel hose connectors, the old ones were mighty rusty.

Anyways, here are some pictures:

Necessary Garage Materials, Aerosols

Having spent a fair amount of time working in my garage and on cars over the past few years these are the spray cans I find necessary:

PB Blaster

It is absolutely excellent at removing rust and loosening stuff. It acts as a great penetrating lubricant. Sometimes you need to add heat to get the best effect. This means having a blow torch on hand can be very helpful.

Brake Cleaner

This cuts through grease like nothing else. You can go pretty cheap here, although I have found that the more expensive stuff does a bit better job on the first spray. Generally, a few good sprays and a wipe with a rag and the metal looks new. Terrible to breathe in through. You want to be in a well-ventilated area when you do this.

Rubberized Paint

3M Professional Grade Rubberized Undercoating is my brand of choice. This stuff can coat on thick. I’ll have picture of it up later. It allows you to coat those hard to reach and difficult metal pieces. When you’re doing a lot of car work you often come across a lot of rust that you could wire brush out of the way. I wish we had this when we had the engine out of the Forester. There was some rust that was fantastic mess at the time.

I’ll update this to reflect how it stands up long term. Right now though I can say it coats well and looks like it will work quite well.

But yeah, for someone who plans on doing work on old cars, maybe even new ones, I would suggest having these on hand. The rubberized paint will help with all sorts of future rust issues.

A taste of the next car I look to purchase...

I was in a Subaru dealership with my dad the other day picking up some parts for the family Forester (a bit more on that later).

They had a Subaru BRZ there, a car I am very interested in. Unfortunately I did not get to take it for a test drive, but I did get to examine it pretty thoroughly.

The seating position is very comfortable. The rear seat behind the driver’s seat is utterly useless. The rear seat behind the passenger seat actually has enough leg room that you can sit there fairly comfortably. I do not know how great it would be on a long distant trip (to be in that rear seat), but for shorter drives it looks like it should be fine. As a Honda Prelude owner I like this improvement. It takes the car from a two adult passenger vehicle to a three adult passenger vehicle.

The trunk space is shallower than I expected, but with the rear bench folding down this probably would not be an issue for long road trips (something I’ve enjoyed in the Prelude).

The dealer was also kind enough to pop the good. The engine really is nestled in there very low. It fits right between the wheel wells. There is a metal skid plate underneath the whole thing. There may or may not be a third engine / transmission mount. If there is one, it is not located in the in the center of the firewall like on other Subaru's. The weight distribution looks wonderfully low.

The oil filter is located on top of the engine, which will make that bit of maintenance that much easier.

The AC compressor is beneath engine.

The radiator is mounted at an angle, it looks like it may be difficult to get out.

Spark plugs look quite interesting. It looks like you will need to remove the wheels and plastic cowling in the wheel wells to get at them. This may actually be easier than the current song and dance removing fluid reservoirs, batteries, and air boxes in the Outback and Forester.

All in all, I’m a fan. I will most likely be looking to buy one within the year.

Nausicaa (Honda Prelude), Tear Down (Part 3)

As it is before Thanksgiving break and I had some free time this weekend, that and my girlfriend was in town again, we did a bit more work.


First, the last of the wires connecting the dash to the car were disconnected.
Then the dash was removed.
Some of the metal left behind is rusty. The plan for that is to wire brush it and coat it in silicon paint.

Nausicaa (Honda Prelude), Tear Down (Part 2)

I am in the process of tearing down Nausicaa before building her back up.

With law school and all, I haven't made that much progress. We'll see what I do with my free time and weekends this year.

This weekend I spent some time with my girlfriend working on removing the dash. Had we started earlier, or had an hour more of light we would have been successful... but as it sits, the dash is ready to come out except for a few wires still connected.

Center console has been removed. Front seats were previously removed, as was the radio section.

Jaguar Alive Driving Experience, October 2012

Somehow I was on an invitation list for this event: Jaguar Alive Driving Experience

The first part of the event included a show room and food and some cars to look at.
This is the new Jaguar F-Type.
I think this was the S model. On the inside it felt more like a concept model and mock up than a fully built car. I wish I had been able to drive it.

Places to do Car Work

This is just a funny post, but I thought it's funny the places I've done significant car work.

Parking lot of condo I was renting in Miami (underground).
Driveway of the house I was renting in Miami.
Parent's garage in IL.
Parent's driveway in IL.
Great aunt's garage in VA.
Bubbe's (grandmother's) driveway / in front of house on street in NJ.

I suppose the list will grow.

Ceras Victoria (Honda Prelude), Car Alarm Removal

Ceras Victoria had an aftermarket Clifford fancy alarm installed in her just after I bought her. I wanted a good car alarm.

The problem is as time has gone on I have not driven her much, especially being in law school and using public transportation every day.
I drive the car maybe once a week, more likely once a month. This means I use fuel stabilizer in the tank a lot and that the internal battery on the car alarm goes dead.
I disconnect the battery when I park it because there is an electrical drain (possibly was the alarm) so that I can start it when I need to.
The disconnecting of the battery meant that every time I reconnected the battery the car alarm treated it as a break in. This means that it goes in super shut down ignition kill mode which is just a pain in the ass. So, when it did this while I was visiting family in New Jersey with my girl friend (was supposed to be a short visit, turned out much longer) I decided the alarm had to go.

Luckily I had my camera with me.

Seat removed to make it easier to access the dash.

Ceras Victoria (Honda Prelude), Fender Remodeling

As mentioned before... the fenders on Ceras Victoria's ugly side sometime scrape the good rubber making for fun noises and interesting smells. This usually happens when the car is particularly loaded with stuff during left turns or big bumps.

Being really annoyed I took a hammer to it. Originally I was planning on reshaping the wheel well back to its original shape but that proved too difficult due to the folds in the metal.

I therefore hammered it up and out of the way, which helped a lot when the car is empty.
Also, to compensate for this, I'm known to left foot brake over bumps to shift weight forward and prevent wheel scrape. I think it sometimes drives cars behind me on the freeways crazy.

Pictures now...

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