A Below Average Day Working On Your Stagea

[iamhe77]

lol... Ok

So I was all set to install my PM35 headlights today after 18months of waiting for a set to be available at a decent price that were not busted.

Put the car up on the ramps, dropped the undertray.

Removed the airbox, CAI funnel and coolant overflow bottle. Removed front bar & grill.

That was when I saw the transmission fluid everywhere. On the undertray, on the outside of the silicone transmission hose and on the lower trans cooler.

Checked all the hose connections and all were fine. Figured it was the hose. Come back to it after installing the headlights.

Transplanted all globes into the new lights which had the indicator clips missing. uickly found that the NM35 indicator clip does not fit in the PM35 headlight.

"No worries", just go to Nissan and pick up a new set....

... turns out only PM35's use this specific type of indicator clip... F*ck.

Tried Mitsubishi... Not even close. Forget it. Went to Repco, picked up some heavy duty transmission hose and a coupe of clear globes for the indicators (NM35 require orange bulbs, PM35 require clear bulbs). All good.

Operation time at home to make the NM35 indicator clip fit in the PM35 headlight without causing unnecessary damage of dropping crap into the headlight.

Done after taking a mold in Blutack and cutting come of the tags.

Clips fit. Excellent! Load up the Xenons, high beams, indicators and LED parkers.

Install right headlight with the existing mounts. Too easy! Looks fantastic. Yep, MUCH better.

Test light, high beam, indicator and parkers... all fine. (unfortunately I jinxed myself by thinking that it is "all coming together"... Fool!)

Decide to check the front bar fits before installing the 2nd light.

hmm, seems that the PM35 headlights are 7mm longer towards the grill than the NM35 lights. F*CK!!! Won't fit at all with the OE front bar.

Stand there just looking at the ill-fitting front bar for about 2 mins. Crushed.

Uninstall headlight, install NM35 headlights after transplanting all the bits from the PM35 lights.

Check right light, all working fine, left headlight... no light or parker. F*ck, f*ck! Indicator works though...

Get back in the car, transmission warning is on the screen. F*ck, f*ck, f*ck!!! Figure I am low on fluid since the car is jacked up and there is fluid everywhere.

Sun is going down and since my car is outside, I figure I might as well blow out the air filter.

No worries, install CAI and airbox. Leave bottle hanging and close the bonnet.

So, the outcome of an afternoon's work was to put the car up on ramps, take off the undertray and front bar, blow out the air filter and put the engine cover back on.

No, no... please, hold your applause

Not only that, but tomorrow I have to get a couple of bottles of Trans fluid, change the hoses for both trans coolers and fix my left headlight and start hunting for a PM35 front bar that I wan on my car ($ouch$).

Not happy.

At all.

(although the platinum batch Inner Circle rum is helping...)

Which brings me to my question, when have you had a "below average" day working on your car?

Edited June 27, 2009 by iamhe77

[Jetwreck]

f&$K....I am still pissing myself laughing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....that is to funny.....so loving your headlights aye?

I have had many BADWOYC!'s.....at oran park park the moment with the R31.....let me just say as Cartman from southpark say's....f%$kety f#$ck F@#k f%$k!

[iamhe77]

f&$K....I am still pissing myself laughing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....that is to funny.....so loving your headlights aye?

I have had many BADWOYC!'s.....at oran park park the moment with the R31.....let me just say as Cartman from southpark say's....f%$kety f#$ck F@#k f%$k!

Haha! I knew you would (and I knew you would answer first). Yep still love them, just hate the front bar!

Looking for a new one now (or a "for now" PM35 front bar until I have the money for the one I want).

Starting to see the funny side now, so I guess the rum is kicking in!

What is wrong with the R31 Mr. F*ckety?

Edited June 27, 2009 by iamhe77

[Jetwreck]

LOL...and I knew you knew!!!

r31 = wrong cam on the exhaust side......got heaps of low end just know high end HP....cannot event out drag a 308 at the moment...change the cams tomorrow and see what we get...still 4th fastest though.....go the Nissans.

P.S. Funny side = stupid expense...e.g.powerduct!!!!

[Xmetal]

For the uneducated types on here can we see the difference between PM and NM headlights please?

[msports180]

Oh yes i have had many days like that working on mine, go to fix one little problem and end up making/finding some more and dont actually fix the original problem.

Went to change the fuel pump on mine, undoing the fuel lines of the little cap on the tank, hoses wudnt budge so got some pliers and tried wrigling the hose off, pliers went straight into the hose and 1/2 cut it, must of gone off and gone soft. So i jacked the car up to replace both hoses from the tank outlet to the hardpiping, cudnt get the clamps undone under the car, had to try and get a hacksaw/cutters in there to cut the old clamps off, managed to get one off, cudnt not get the other, so had to cut the hose short and used a barbed ftting to join the new and old hose, off course had to go all over town trying to find said barbed fitting.

By the time i was done i couldnt be assed changing the pump.

And there is plenty more.

[QWK32]

a below average day working on a car pritty much sums up everytime i worked on my old 32. a simple service turned into tear down of the manifolds drilling out and relpacing snapped off and missing studs. or installing braided brake lines i notice a blown out rear subframe bush, had to pull the whole subframe out to fix up. luckily nothing like that has happened to my with the stagea yet (....keeps fingers crossed.....) but then i've only just start modding it.

[iamhe77]

For the uneducated types on here can we see the difference between PM and NM headlights please?

My apologies Ian.

NM35 headlight.

PM35 headlight.

The difference?

The slight extension on the lower right corner o the PM35 to make it more pointy.

The left side, not that you can tell with these pics, is the same.

Edited June 28, 2009 by iamhe77

[andy65b]

I can relate....

I have reset my Idle at least 20 times in 2 days and each time it sets perfectly. every time I turn the car off and restart the car the idle is back around the 900-1000 mark.

Ground hog day again.

Having read any and every bit of information I can put my hands on I have come to the conclusion that the fault is to do with power dropping out to the ECU when I turn the car off. There is no exact science to prove this conclusions but as I have no fault codes and I know that I have lost power to acc's when driving by the key moving slightly, i am sure (hopeful) that this is the problem. Going to talk to my alarm installer tomorrow and discuss how it is wired to the ignition in case this may be part of the problem or other wise I presume the barrel is the problem.

I hope by the end of the week I can have a car that idles correctly and economy comes back slightly.

Cheers

Andy

[260tech]

Below average day for me generally;

anything remotely related to engines that have not been molested for a while, specifically cylinder heads, were the job includes exhaust manifold studs/nuts or V8 valley cover bolts. I just know it's going to be a bad day before I start.

I hate easy-outs & have a fair bit of experience with small titanium drill bits, Dremels, left hand drill bits, cold chisels & the great leveller.....oxy acetylene plus cutting hand piece/tip when sweet reason fails.

Cheers, GW

[zei20l]

i have a story like that, similar. a few actually. but im hungry and dont want to write it

sucks mate that your light dont fit. heres one thing to try, rekon you can disassemble the front light cover (the clear bit) and reattach it to the PM35 lights? youll need to stick them in the oven to get the glue to melt and soften up, but you might be able to do it and glue them back together, might be faster and cheaper than a new front bar!

[iamhe77]

i have a story like that, similar. a few actually. but im hungry and dont want to write it

sucks mate that your light dont fit. heres one thing to try, rekon you can disassemble the front light cover (the clear bit) and reattach it to the PM35 lights? youll need to stick them in the oven to get the glue to melt and soften up, but you might be able to do it and glue them back together, might be faster and cheaper than a new front bar!

No mate, don't fit.

They are different sizes, internally and externally.

No matter. PM35 RX front bar has been ordered. Just hope it gets on the next container shipment bound for IM warehouse.

[zei20l]

nice work! same colour and all?

is the grill the same too? or does that come with the bumper?

[[[d a n n y]]]

hm..

intresting..

i havent really done much work on my car yet so...

[iamhe77]

nice work! same colour and all?

is the grill the same too? or does that come with the bumper?

Nope. They did not make the PM35's in pearlescent blue, so it is silver and will have to be repainted.

Not the front bar I wanted, but it looks better than mine, is plastic instead of fibreglass, in very good condition and I couldn't argue with the price!

Using my existing grill.... maybe.

[GTR91]

LOL I can relate, but for mine it starts off with a simple washing of the car. Whilst washing I begin to notice things, like the interior needs a clean, then that leads to the engine bay, and that leads to ....

Before I know it, what started off as a simple wash can end up with bits of car all over the garage floor