Drove 300 miles from Detroit are to Pittsburg and 300 back. Longest I've driven with this car, and the ride was smooth. Filled up before I left and filled when I left Pittsburg, took about 1.5 tanks of gas total.
Things done recently:
Replaced brake rotors and that broken stud.
The hub and brake plate have a notch under the caliper bracket so you can get a lug out and in.
The notch was not deep enough so I had to beat the shield down just to get the new lug into the hub. Oh well.
The brakes work great now. Stops well. No more vibration.
Some new things include replacing the license plate bulbs with these ones:
https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... t-car/199/
Wanted natural white bulbs and bright but not too bright. The new ones are much brighter and nicer.
I also covered the tops of the license plate light bubbles with aluminum foil and used duct tape to hold them on. This was purely cosmetic as I noticed without them the light would shine up through the crack in the top of the trim piece.
I also was able to smooth out that dent in the rear hatch. It's still slightly bumpy but looks way better than it did before, except that it needs some touch up paint. So no pictures yet.
I picked up a cargo cover from the junkyard. I don't have any pictures of it but it needs a bit of cleaning. It helped to conceal my luggage during my trip.
I also discovered that, in a pinch, 194-size bulbs will fit in the high third brake light socket. This is only temporary as I plan to convert the high brake light to LEDs, hopefully this next week.
KingKrab65 wrote:
I used the 3M to clear my headlights.The package comes with a 3000 sandpaper that you use with the 3M "rubbing compound". It did take a lot of haze out on my headlights but there is still some tiny pits in them even after treating them twice. Maybe someone has had better results with some other brand.
Well drat. I was planning on trying the 3M kit. Now you're making me reconsider.
Upcoming fixes include getting a front end inspection and hopefully an alignment, because I noticed the alignment was off during my trip. Ended up rotating my good tires to the front in Pittsburg because of it, so my more worn tires wouldn't wear more.
Also, fixing this.
It broke at the beginning of the week. I have a temporary joiner half clamped on, but it rattles. I'm trying to see if I can get the flange apart so I can put a flange replacement on it.