I copied this from my local forum.
Since this is a 240 forum, I figured a friendly weekend thread would fit in just fine. “Mudder” is the AutoX nickname that the guys gave my GF in case you’re wondering.
She tends to bring the extra sunscreen, sandwiches, sweaters, etc. to each event. And she competes…
Nothing going on here today, and I need a study break, so here goes :lol:
I have to throw this one in here first.
I woke up one morning this week, and thought I saw snow coming down out the window.
First I thought I was going mad, then I opened up the front window and saw this.
Poor thing…
Saturday, between the rain showers, I decided to pick at the 240 a little.
On the agenda were:
- Build 2 more wood blocks to allow me to get a jack under the car
- Check out the driveshaft/diff for a vibration that I had felt the other day
- Bleed the clutch
- Hook up the windshield wash, after AutoX claimed the line coming from the pump last weekend
- Take the wheels off, wash them, and try to get some cone rash removed
- Same deal for the bumper
- Give her a much needed wash
8 ) Wash/wipe the grime off some of the rear suspension bits
I ended up building the extra blocks for the rear, and then ran into another problem.
Unfortunately, I have 2 regular jack stands and 2 giant old bus jack stands…:lol:
In order to get the whole car in the air, I needed to get the rear on jack stands first, as the front jack stands were huge.
However, I found out that the wooden blocks originally built to give the 240 some height work fine for jacking the front OR the back, but once the rear wheels are off the ground and on jack stands, the front bumper is once again too low to fit a jack under.
I can’t make the front wooden blocks any higher, because they’re already as high as they can be to fit under the bumper.
Anyway, I played with the heights a little, then removed the bumper and it all worked out alright.
Here was the scene.
Next on the agenda was the inspection of the driveshaft.
Hey, look how baller I am…I have decals on my driveshaft…:lol:
As you can see in the last pic, the rear of the driveshaft had rubbed the rubber sheath of one of the handbrake cables at some point, probably when I felt the vibrations. The armor of the cable did it’s job, so the cable is fine. I just need to drop that end of the shaft the next nice day, and fix the clip so that it holds it higher and out of the way. It wasn’t reachable very much from where I was.
Next came bleeding the clutch and hooking up the windshield wash.
After I bled the clutch, it felt much much better.
I think I’ll do it again this week, as I didn’t have any extra fluid with me at the time.
I bled from the Max to the Min mark to get out of a pinch out around the bay, and Mudder parked it up a hill without stalling right afterwards, so it must have improved…:lol:
The windshield wash line was straight forward, a little blast with the garden hose to fill her up, and I can now see the road… yayy 
Random brake shot
After cleaning the car, the wheels and the bumper, I decided to try something out.
I was a little let down that I couldn’t get all the cone rash off of the bumper and the wheels with the limited product that I had, so I decided I’d try my “Drift Wheels”
Oh look, they fit!! Joy
Good ol Maxima wheels with old summer rubber.
The 17’s happen to be much higher than my 18’s since the sidewall is so high.
I believe they’re a 205/55R17 compared to my 255/35/R18
They also happen to be much narrower…excellent
Well that’s it for the pics that I could get off the phone.
After all of this, I drove back to Topsail in the drizzle, so the 240 got rotten again.
I parked it inside and wiped it down after it dried…so it was once again clean.
Then Jeff showed up and thought he had a leak…so the 240 had to sleep outside for the night while the Celica slept all warm and cozy.
Not sure why I haven’t been taking advantage of the garage at mudders parents spot out in Topsail.
I guess I enjoy the desk lamp strung out with 3’ extension cords in the driveway too much.
It’s gotten me out of many a jam, and wrenching in the rain tends to motivate you to get it done now rather than later…:lol: