Hachiroku Updates Galore!
You read that right. I have a couple updates to report regarding my wonderful AE86.
First thing’s first, required repairs were completed, tests performed and passed, and registrations completed. My baby is completely street legal now.
In order to pass a smog test, I needed to get 2 things done. The timing was off, it was detonating too late (also explaining the occasional backfire, haha) . I took it to a smog repair shop and they informed me that the electric fans that were installed at some point were no bueno. I needed to get a fan clutch and a new fan. Once that was completed, it was determined that my catalytic converter was not functioning correctly and needed to be replaced as well. Once all was said and done, it cost me about $775 in repairs and parts to get my car to pass a smog test.
The car drives completely differently now. It sounds pretty much the same, but it feels more reliable. I have decided to keep her for a while to see what transpires.
I also installed a CD player and new speakers today. My car is now finally fun to drive in all aspects! It was fun before, but it’s a whole lot different when you can drive it and listen to Darude at the same time.
Next thing on the agenda is new brake rotors and new brake pads. Also, at some point I would like to get new tires and have a full set of rims on the car rather than 2 wheels of one style and the other 2 of a completely different style.
In other news, I have decided that Blogger was too boring for me and not flexible enough so I moved my blog to my own server running WordPress. I picked a theme that I liked and customized it for me and my liking. If you don’t like how it looks, well then tough. It’s my blog, I make it how I want.
My new computer is still down, waiting for a memory RMA. I have the new motherboard, but haven’t installed it yet. I need to though, before the memory comes so that I can just pop it in and be ready to go.
That about wraps it up for me. You probably won’t get to see this post for a day or two as I am still moving my blog files around a bit. Comment if you wish about the new design. I welcome both positive and negative criticism.