Because it's Friday! (Car Stuff)

Yesterday my exercise was washing my cars (and Dad's car)

Today I went to visit Don the mechanic.
He will be closing his shop in two weeks. For real, this time.
Don has been selling and getting rid of stuff. He has a lot of stuff.

When I wrecked the first Green car, five years ago, I left a lot of parts at Don's shop.
They were going to be installed into the new Green car, but we never got around to it.

Today I went to pick up some of those things.
Don wasn't busy, so he actually installed them.

One of those things was this brace that goes over the motor:

It attaches to the body, above the wheels, and helps keep the body stable, around turns.

Another part Don installed, was a different air tube and air filter.
Here is the original air tube and filter:

Removing the plastic tube,
This is the throttle body, the part that opens to let air in, when you step on the gas.

On closer inspection, I see it has my name on it.

This is because back in the day, everyone would swap parts and motors.
We all had the same kind of car and motor, so we had to keep track.

One of the limitations of this car's motor, is the amount of air it can get.
Larger motors need more air, to combust more gas, to make more power, and so on.

This is kinda why you will see far-out things like this, on race cars:

The Green car is what you call "naturally aspirated," so no Blower or Turbo or Nitrous.
Also, those kind of things are not legal for a car that's driven on the street.

Anyway, here is the original air filter.
It sits in a canister:

Don drilled a hole into the car, and made a bracket, where the canister used to be:

Now the car has a great big air filter, and it will get fresh air from outside and underneath.

The external filter could get water in it, so I'll have to avoid big puddles.
I don't drive in the rain anyway.

Here is the new air tube, now installed:

Don made this himself.
(His original area of work before retiring was making custom exhausts.)

I haven't had this part on my car in the five years since I wrecked the old one!
I can't wait to feel the difference.

Don also tightened some bolts on the transmission pan.
This is where it was leaking.

For several months I didn't drive the Green car at all.
I thought the transmission was completely broken.
Since Don doesn't rebuild transmissions anymore, I didn't bother to have him look at it.

I was glad to finally see that it was in fact, only a leak, and it should be OK...


I'm forming an excuse to go out somewhere, just to be able to drive it again!