TeamSwift

I'd like to correct an error in my post above.
The underbody brace which picked up the axle grease is a Turbine Tech, (not 3 Tech) addition.
Apologies to the readership.

In any case, if you see some discoloration near the middle of it, you can bet your axle boot has given way!

My simple oil change became a much more involved dual axle swap.
The oil is pretty decent and its pretty hard to see the level:

and the brakes still have plenty of meat left, despite the wild ride last month at the Malibu Teamswift meet.

The passenger side axle was easier to change, and was done yesterday.
But what I wanted to mention was an addition to my floor jack.

Normally, I put a small 2 by 4 block in the cup of the jack and lift the car from the front or back.
Because I wanted to rotate the tires, it was better to stick the jack under the side.
There's a lip which sticks down, which prevents a person from using a plain block of wood.
This is what I came up with:



It worked fine; not sure why I didn't think of it years ago...although I did post earlier in the week trying to get some floor jack information. Too bad, he had a real chance to help.

No matter which floor jack combination you use, don't forget the jack stands...of course, this excludes the rich folk here with post lifts.

The Wife's convertible seems to be okay since the new half shafts were installed, and is heading towards 175,000 miles. It gets about 31 miles per gallon.

Not sure
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....jv&s
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Here's a cheerful thought...change out that air filter!

On line, they are less than $10 delivered.

A few pages back I installed some rear mud flaps and the pictures were't so great.
Here's a close up of the driver's side:

They are barely noticeable and really do a great job this time of year.
T3ragtop put me on to them, topdown supplied them for the Wife's car.
I'd call that a Teamswift double play.

This car just hit 175,000 miles and continues to click them off at about 32 miles per gallon.
The underbody brace still has the grease from the cracked boots...
We'll get to that later!
In the meantime, a couple of upgrades are coming.

As pvr007 has mentioned, we bit the bullet on one thing:

I think Phil's losing it. I didn't supply those pieces. I sent him the splash guards that are in the wheel well at the rear of the tire. An invisible part unless you look for them.

Ha!
I stand corrected.
Well, at least I got the mud flaps right, just not the position.

In November this car hit 180,000 ish miles.
And, after close to 60,000 on the timing belt:

she gave up the ghost.

So we popped the timing cover today:


and a closer inspection showed that indeed, it had given way:


I wasn't in the mood to clean up the engine block, but I did manage to get the belt back on correctly:


and using the spring visible in the earlier pictures:


set the tension on the belt, put the timing cover, crank sprocket, water pump pulley, alternator and A/C compressor belts back on, set their tension and gave it a whirl.

After 3 months of sitting in the garage, she fired up and took her place in the yard:

so that the MK1 in the picture could drive into the garage for some maintenance.
But, like the '63 Ford undergoing restoration, that's a story for another day...

If you look at the timing belt, it looks almost brand new, except in one place.
I haven't had one break in a long, long time.
Usually I change them before they break.
Anyone have one break which looks like this?
I'm thinking it might be related to uneven compression, or something weird going on in the engine.
So if you have any thoughts or experiences like this, kindly holler.

This convertible served us very well.
The axle boots look new, and after reading back a page, I understand why.
Most of the car is in pretty decent shape, and it probably has several good years left in it.

I'm on the fence, regarding what to do with the car, as it is now 'extra' ...
It does have a full tank of gas, so maybe I'll bite the bullet and actually drive it while I'm straightening out an issue with the crankshaft gear on the MK1.

...oh the shame!!!

I have a car that would chew the belts like that
and after the third belt change I figured it was because the driver would "Lugg" the motor out
I proved this right buy switching out the car for another MK1 (same driver) another belt snap
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also about that spring For anyone whom is reading this owne a MK1
the spring as shown
is used for setting the belt after the initial belt stretch and you tighten down the Idler pulely and bracket that spring is no long in play ...in us remove it and save it for your next T-belt change
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