What Have I done to my car today (2005 Trafic (Vivaro))

[a10 gf]

My old Vauxhall-Opel-Nissan-Renault-Vivaro-Primastar-Trafic (+ General Motors)... so happy today for having mounted a new boot on the steering rack. Small detail, yes, but the old cracked one gave me nightmares as  winter approcahes > water, salt, sludge, dirt ingress > damage to inner steering tie rod + rack itself (seals > servo leak > $$$).

Went very well. And got wheel alignment back to it's former setting (fine markings, counting thread turns).

So, now can enjoy a friday evening with great sense of fullfiiment, inner peace, meaning to life, selfconfidence etc (...and ingest some back pain pills with good conscience :O)

[muskrat]

G'day E.
It does give a sense of fulfillment, especially at our age. Working under a car/truck isn't much fun at any age.
With cars/trucks these days I point to the mechanics shop.
I'm lucky now that Deb and I have new cars (2 years old). I haven't lifted the bonnet on either of them, oh I lie, I had to top up the windscreen washer bottle 
Cheers

[berger]

those boots in two halves and super glue work wonders on the fingers

[a10 gf]

those boots in two halves and super glue work wonders on the fingers

Super glue loves fingers lol+++

Yes, looked at some split boots, but the ones available here didn't seem to be of any quality, so went for original, and having changed lots of inner\outer steering rods I knew how to avoid any pitfalls.
But damn, for some unknown reason it was much easier to do such work 35 years ago :O)
Anyway, always a pleasure when self-done and no garage stole any money.

[a10 gf]

New brake pads front just done. And a stbilisator + steering rod. Have started a rejuvenating job on my old (nearly rust-free, reliable, immensely useful) van. More to come...

As always, security 1st! Flat surface, solid (double, triple) support, park brake on, 1st gear, whatever needed, before doing anything.

Doing such work oneself, the amount of $$$ saved over many, many years = a small fortune that did not leave one's bank account. Part cost is crumbles compared to garage's hourly price here.

[a10 gf]

The spare wheel support. Not in a condition like the rest of the car, looked like 90 years old and potentially dangerous.

But after sanding and cleaning turned out there was ample solid, fresh steel left.
So worth the dirty work, very satisfying result! Zinc spray + several layers of matte black.

[berger]

i got rid of my under van spare wheel thing and put the wheel in the back of the van with a small ratchet strap so it now stands upright behind the seat , not much room lost at all and better than getting it out from under the van.

[a10 gf]

^^^ Yes, agree, was close to doing exactly that. And yes, under the van not very practical.
But did it anyway, had an urge to fix something :O)

[Joolstacho]

My 1982 'bush-pig' Nissan Patrol is impossible to kill. Diesel, has a 24 volt system like a 'real' truck. This job doesn't sound like much and it isn't really, but the only battery I could get at a sane price had the terminals AAF*, so I had to reverse the battery cables to match 'cos they couldn't reach the AAF terminals (about 8 cables in all). It all needed re-routing. As I said, no big deal, but it's all tough HD, (and I'm not nowadays!) - anyway it's back in woodgetting form.

* - a*se about face

[a10 gf]

Inner steering rod done. Outer next. Old cars = lots of "fun".

[a10 gf]

Now moved over to rear, needed indeed 

Heavy rust++, brakepads disintegrated at the slightest little shock. But ok, over 5,5 years \ 80.000km, with over 5 salty Norwegian winters. Calipers, no rust on pistons and glide bolts, all well. Lubed parkbrake cables.

And a prevention plan, will swap turbo control \ airflow \ atmospheric pressure sensors. Maybe not needed right now, but cost very low and easy work, should secure some future reliabilty.

[a10 gf]

Fitted some led lights, goodbye to the old orange, dim glow from the candles :O)

And after the work done lately (not that much really, all went very well), passed it's MOT \ Roadworthiness tests with 0 errors \ comments, done by a meticulous, non-bribeable garage (I want to know if something needs looked after).

= happy day. The old Nissan\Renault\Vauxhall\Opel white box seemingly worth keeping for some more years, as very satisfied with it's usefullness vs expenses ratio. The lack of chassis\panel rust (over and under) quite impressive, a very good galvanisation job from the factory.

[muskrat]

G'day e.
Is that reversing light hooked into the car lights or on a separate switch? A big difference with the headlights.
I have two small (100w) on the back of the Ranger. I'll be hooking them up to a switch to deter tailgaters.
I luv not having to work on our cars, their only 3 years old and have another two years before they need a roadworthy.
Cheers

[BagONails]

We are spoiled here in 'stralia with no salt on the roads and a very dry climate, particularly here in Adelaide. There's no annual inspection here either (in SA) irrespective of age or mileage (kilometerage ?) not unless that is you get pulled over by the rozzers for some sort of minor misdemeanor whereby they might look more closely at the vehicle and issue a dreaded defect notice. ie. blown tail light bulb etc. In which case you may have to sell your own mother to get the car back on the road...

We have a 2009 Subaru with 260,000 km and its all like new underneath not a single trace of orange on anything except maybe the still original exhaust. I serviced the brakes for the second time last year changed the rotors and pads all round. Every fastener undid easily using only the normal tools, no great big hammers, grinders or gas torches and everything was good to go back on apart from the wearable items. Its almost a pleasure to work on cars here!

The Scooby's not perfect though, it's never let us down and has only ever needed normal service items but it leaks a lot more oil than my Beezer does! 

[Joolstacho]

+1 for Soobs. We bought Mary's MY2003 about 8 years ago, and it's been pretty well faultless - just normal servicing.
My only reservation is bad wind-noise. But then, it is a Forester - fairly box-ish.
Now she wants a newer one, (it's getting up around 400,000 kliks) so we're looking for a mid twenty teens one. I used to be sceptical because of the boxer configuration, but It's proved me wrong.
OTOH my son wants us to buy his 2012 Kia Sorento - turbo Diesel, it goes very hard and is very smooth and comfy. Only $8000k.
Hmmm.