What did you do to your ride this weekend?

[BBsGarage]

I disabled the DRL's
added 2 ground wires, on to the head near the fuel rail and one to the alternator mount. Also added a fan warning light.

Not a lot to be gained really but every little bit will add up.

[BEEF]

I was thinking about disabling my DRLs. I am a little worried about cutting wires. I can't find a diagram online for my car and am too cheap to purchase a book on my car.

I did find this web site www.lightsout.org but am not sure if I should trust what they say as they have a HUGE disclaimer on their.

let us know if disabling the DRLs does much. I purely want to do it for FE. I don't really care either way if they are on if it doesn't affect my mileage.

if anyone knows where free wiring diagrams for older autos can be found on the web, I would be verry appreciative.

[BBsGarage]

are there any cavalier forums?
I found lots of help on two different toyota ones.

[Wazabi Owner]

I bet your car is like a Saturns DRLs. Simply pull the relay though there is a little more to it than that, no wire cutting involved. I frown on wire cutting now, a few weeks ago I cut some wires and did some shoddy soldering and blew a fuse. replaced it with a Chinese fuse from Harbor Freight and caught my Smart on fire. Just burnt up that particular harness which consisted of 5 wires an a little more. About $300 damage if I repair myself - working with HF to get compensation.

Last weekend I completed adding a Lokar shifter in my street rod (I've made mention of it before in a few posts and now it is added to "My Garage" since a few have asked about it). This weekend I took it on a 200 mile test run. Ran great though I think the linkage pulled a wire on the speed sensor since I lost my speedo, pulled over and pushed all the wires all the way back in and it worked fine.

No work on the cars today BUT I cleaned out a portion of my garage and cleaned and put away a lot of my tools after having them laying around for several months. I can now park another car in the garage, just did the math - if I cleaned out the whole garage I could park 40 Smarts in there with room to spare! Right now I'm lucky to fit one in there.

[vxdude]

I replaced the fuel filter and added a highway glider plate to the front

[BEEF]

cutting wires and modifying the electrical system isn't what really scares me, it is not having the proper documentation and just going on what some random person says on the internet (no offense to anyone).

I really need to just get a book on my car. I don't have a DRL fuse or relay as far as I can tell. this is more of a side project for me. the new 5-door yaris' are at the dealership and I am trying to resist the urge to go and buy one.

wasabi, I always though that it was cool that you have a pic of your naked smart cars. like taking pics of your kids in the bath when they are really young. lol

[Jay2TheRescue]

I drove it, put gas in it, and experimented with gliding again. SG was reporting 19.5 MPG (and my mileage is always better than SG reports, no matter how well I try to dial it in.). One thing though, gliding doesn't seem to work well on the highway, even with my meager aero mods. Seems that if I shift into Neutral I just loose speed. Tried drafting a semi, and SG was reporting ~ 14MPG so I just dropped back and let him go. Gliding does work great on city/neighborhood streets though. It will glide with almost no speed loss @ 25 MPH on the ever so slightest downhill grade. Must be the new tires letting me do that.

-Jay

[Erik]

I got the first piston back into the the 1.3 liter engine I am rebuilding for my mpg engine swap.

In the next 2-3 weeks, I'll be pulling a strong running 1.5 liter with a 9.2:1 compression ratio from my 87 Civic and swapping in a 1.3 liter with a 10:1 compression ratio.

[bobc455]

This weekend was spent working on the "fast" car, not the daily driver.

Went to the drive-on dyno and made some pulls, then I fired up the nitrous system and really used up some fuel. Car ran quite well, especially considering the nitrous hasn't been used in about 6 years. End result was a very nice, flat, broad torque curve peaking at 380 ft-lbs at 3900 RPM, but it was above 340 ft-lbs from 2600 to 5200 RPM. Peak torque on the nitrous was a hair under 496 ft-lbs, but the mixture was PIG rich (between 9.5 and 10.2 :1 air-fuel ratio).

-Bob C.

(sorry it's off-topic)

[Project84]

Bought a compression tester kit and a remote starter switch so I can crank the car while under the hood and test compression alone.

Saturn has been having VERY dull power lately, I'm wondering if there's internal problems (or possible a plugged up cat) although there are no engine codes. Gaining speed is like a chore, the car just DOESN'T WANT TO DO IT.

Never got around to testing it though. Spent Sunday getting my Camaro back on the road... took this pic w/ my cell phone. Click the link below to view!

1994 Camaro Z28

I had forgotten how loud/fast/angry that car is... yikes!

[Ratman667]

well, i was taking a girl out to walk on some nature trails and had my ride die on me. after several minutes of cussing at it, i decided to try and tap the gas tank and see if that helped(i knew it was fuel related, it would start for a second or two, then die). it did, so i drove it straight home. so i spent yesterday dropping the gas tank to check the fuel pump (luckily i was almost out of gas). turns out, i got lucky, the pump just picked up some trash and clogged the screen. so i cleaned that and then drained and cleaned the tank. i also filtered the gas that was in it. gotta love funnels and coffee filters!

needless to say, the car runs fine now. actually, it runs better than is has since i bought it.


oh, and a good cavalier forum is clubcav.com

[Ratman667]

Originally Posted by Project84

Bought a compression tester kit and a remote starter switch so I can crank the car while under the hood and test compression alone.

Saturn has been having VERY dull power lately, I'm wondering if there's internal problems (or possible a plugged up cat) although there are no engine codes. Gaining speed is like a chore, the car just DOESN'T WANT TO DO IT.

Never got around to testing it though. Spent Sunday getting my Camaro back on the road... took this pic w/ my cell phone. Click the link below to view!

1994 Camaro Z28

I had forgotten how loud/fast/angry that car is... yikes!

have you checked the vapor canister? well, i don't know how you would check it, but i am sure there is a way. i had a 93' sc2 that wouldn't go and thats what the problem was. mine was a obd-1 and only had about 30 different codes it could throw, but it didnt throw one. im sure if you check saturnfans.com, they should be able to help you out.

[Project84]

I'm a member over at saturnfans.com so I guess I'll post up a question in s-series tech. Thanks for the suggestion... I have another thread going on over there about rebuilding/re-ringing the DOHC, things are about to get interesting for my DD.

[Erik]

Originally Posted by Project84

Bought a compression tester kit and a remote starter switch so I can crank the car while under the hood and test compression alone.

Saturn has been having VERY dull power lately, I'm wondering if there's internal problems (or possible a plugged up cat) although there are no engine codes. Gaining speed is like a chore, the car just DOESN'T WANT TO DO IT.

If you have a vacuum gauge, it will be easy to "test" the cat. Hook it up to manifold vacuum and go for a drive with a long vacuum hose so you can watch the gauge from the passenger compartment. If the vacuum goes way down as you slowly accelerate and stays really low at a steady 55mph cruise- the cat is likely clogged.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by BEEF

cutting wires and modifying the electrical system isn't what really scares me, it is not having the proper documentation and just going on what some random person says on the internet (no offense to anyone).

Have you checked with your local libraries to see if members have access to the EBSCO Auto Repair Resource Center? Here's what I got from it for the headlight wiring on a base model 1997 Cavalier.

[Ford Man]

Today I started hooking up an air horn on my '88 Escort so now I'll be prepared whenever people blow at me for driving too slow to suit them. I'll just give them a blast of air. Didn't get it finished though, because I didn't have the wire to do the electrical and didn't want to drive 30 miles round trip to get it when I would be in town tomorrow anyway.

[Project84]

Originally Posted by Erik

If you have a vacuum gauge, it will be easy to "test" the cat. Hook it up to manifold vacuum and go for a drive with a long vacuum hose so you can watch the gauge from the passenger compartment. If the vacuum goes way down as you slowly accelerate and stays really low at a steady 55mph cruise- the cat is likely clogged.

Yeah, I've got a vacuum gauge, but no where on the mani. to hook it up to! Would it be acceptable to "T" into the PCV hose? I don't think there is any other suitable place.

Sorry to have stolen the topic...

[KARR]

I've blocked the radiator to increase water temperature. It works pretty nice.

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by Project84

Yeah, I've got a vacuum gauge, but no where on the mani. to hook it up to! Would it be acceptable to "T" into the PCV hose? I don't think there is any other suitable place.

Sorry to have stolen the topic...

I T'd into the brake booster hose on my Escort and it works really well.

[Erik]

Originally Posted by Project84

Yeah, I've got a vacuum gauge, but no where on the mani. to hook it up to! Would it be acceptable to "T" into the PCV hose? I don't think there is any other suitable place.

Sorry to have stolen the topic...

It might be easier to T off of the fuel pressure regulator vacuum line.

[Wazabi Owner]

Originally Posted by Ford Man

Today I started hooking up an air horn on my '88 Escort so now I'll be prepared whenever people blow at me for driving too slow to suit them. I'll just give them a blast of air. Didn't get it finished though, because I didn't have the wire to do the electrical and didn't want to drive 30 miles round trip to get it when I would be in town tomorrow anyway.

What air horn did you get? I've got a little guy on my Smart, for small cars and motorcycles. Compact Air Horn.

[JoeBob]

Originally Posted by Ford Man

Today I started hooking up an air horn on my '88 Escort so now I'll be prepared whenever people blow at me for driving too slow to suit them. I'll just give them a blast of air. Didn't get it finished though, because I didn't have the wire to do the electrical and didn't want to drive 30 miles round trip to get it when I would be in town tomorrow anyway.

I'd love to find a locomotive horn for my Geo...barring that, I think I might just get a set of Cadillac horns for it. Anything to be heard!

As for what I did to my rides this weekend, I put $3 worth of gas (paid $40) in the Cad. Drove to LA and back.

[philip1]

re-did everything

[theholycow]

I should have finished that abandoned grille-blocking project. It was cold this morning...

[Jay2TheRescue]

Were you blocking the truck? I thought you already had a block in the VW.

-Jay

[theholycow]

I need to do both. Once the roads get slippery I'll park the car and drive the truck every day, but for now as it gets colder I'm still driving the VW. I have to transplant the battery from the Buick, since the truck's battery died and sulfated (my charger refuses to even try to charge it, stupid "smart" charger) while I let it rot for the last month.

I only have an upper grille block in the VW, which covers almost nothing. There's a big gaping grille at the bottom with just the license plate covering it.

My truck needs pretty much the same grille block as yours.

[Jay2TheRescue]

LOL, sulfated batteries. I always buy the top of the line Wal-Mart batteries for my Buick as it normally doesn't get driven much and the battery usually doesn't last through the 3 year free replacement warranty period. Its normal for that car to sit for months on end as I normally don't drive it much, if at all in the winter. Since it doesn't have ABS or 4wd it does not move if there's the slightest chance of rain, snow, or ice. I bought one battery about 10 years ago and every 2 - 3 years they give me a free new battery. If you need any help or ideas I'm just a PM away.

-Jay

[dkjones96]

I did the brakes on my car, put some nice new rotors and ceramic pads with a bearing repack.

This next weekend I'm taking the fuel system apart to flow test the injectors. Car is running rough at idle and in neutral going down the road starts taching under 500 rpm and shaking the car.

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by Wazabi Owner

What air horn did you get? I've got a little guy on my Smart, for small cars and motorcycles. Compact Air Horn.

It is just a cheaper model I picked up at Harbor Freight. It just says Super Loud Air Horn on the package. The sound level is 135 db and has each a high and low tone horn, compressor, relay, and mounting hardware. I don't know just how good it will be, but the original horns on the car sound like they are about shot.