car

Today I replaced the passenger-side braking support rod bushing on my 1982 300SD. The job didn't go so well on the driver's side, because I attempted to use all of the specified replacement hardware. Unfortunately, Meyle is currently delivering substandard and improper hardware for remounting the bushing carrier, with the effect that the nut shears off of its captive shim and causes you to live in a world of hurt. Using the original hardware with some red thread locker seems to be a workable solution; I've done it on the other side with good results, and now I've done it on both sides. In the process, I also learned that one can trivially press the new bushing in with the old hardware.

When a one day job becomes a two day job because a part is incorrectly specified or otherwise wrong, you can be sure that you are having an excellent time. When the new self-locking nut intended to retain one end of my driver's side front suspension carrier sheared away from its magical captive shim during yesterday's automotive repair attempt, I knew that I was in for a really good time.

Today I managed a successful test drive of my pickup after reinstallation of the aft fuel tank, in which I have replaced the broken rubber pickup with a short piece of Gates multi-fuel compatible fuel line (3/8" ID.) This time I made it to town and back without mishap. It was actually fairly amazing how quickly the truck started up; I didn't do any air bleeding until after I got back.

The temporary placement of the CDR on my custom F250 intake was apparently a little too temporary and I lost it on the way home the other day. So I hustled out and picked up another one from a GM 6.5 liter diesel in a van at Last Mile in Upper Lake.