This ain't no build thread!

[chiefmg]

I ended up taking a drive with the top up. I can recommend doing this occasionally so you can find problems you might not otherwise. Interior seems quieter now, however I did notice some wind noise coming from the passenger side at the back of the window. Got home and had a look, there was a bit of a gap between the window and the weatherstrip:



It’s a little hard to see but it was there. Easy enough to adjust if you haven’t before. Simply pull the weatherstrip away from the channel to reveal three screws:



They are in oval holes to provide for adjustment. I loosened all and pulled the bottom as far as I could towards the outside, then tightened the screws. Replace the weatherstrip back in the channel and voila!



Had her out again today top up and that noise is gone. The shifter is making a rattling noise now, it goes away if I lightly touch it. I figure it’s either something not assembled correctly after my transmission fluid change, or maybe the new shift knob is a different weight. Either is easy enough to test.

[—Bryan—]

I feel totally ignorant, but I can't really tell the difference in the photos

(I believe you that it worked. I'm just struggling to understand what changed.)

[chiefmg]

I feel totally ignorant, but I can't really tell the difference in the photos

(I believe you that it worked. I'm just struggling to understand what changed.)

Better get that prescription checked old man!

It wasn't a big gap, and I knew it would be hard to see but too many folks need the visual. I am going to check my factory manual (it has information on adjusting the window/weatherstripping etc) to see if I can move the window itself so it's compressing the weatherstripping more.

[chiefmg]

Today was somewhat warm so I set about replacing the headlight film. My last set was X-pel but I wasn’t really happy with how they turned out (couple of large bubbles around the edges). I couldn’t find and X-pel kits so had to settle for Laminex.

First step was to remove the old film. This was somewhat easy with the judicious use of my heat gun. Once I got an edge lifted I then pulled it back on itself and it came right off without leaving any residue. Laminex instructions say to clean the lens using only water so that was done. Then you mist the lens with clean water, remove the backing from the film and put it on. This is a challenge given all the curvature of the NB headlights, but I feel like I did a better job than with the last set. Ended up with the film adhered to the headlight about ¾ of the way around from the inside edge. Then you spray the outside of the film with more water and use the provided squeegee to work the film down. I had a couple of spots that kind of folded so lifted those back up to straighten it out. Now I just have to wait for it all to set up and then trim around the outside edge with the provided razor knife. Pictures will follow once that is done, it’s hard to take pictures working this film in place with only two hands.

After some thought I decided to replace the urethane exhaust hangers previously installed with some factory style rubber ones to see if that gets rid of some of the interior noise with the top up. Those are incoming from Rock Auto.

[—Bryan—]

Interested to hear how both work out for you!

[chiefmg]

Couple of pictures of the completed film application. First two are how they looked after being put on, if you look closely you can see the four tabs that Laminex puts on to make it easier to handle.

Driver’s:

Passenger’s:

Using the supplied razor knife I trimmed the edges of the film. This thing is sharp and cut right through the film with no problem (likely helped by the film being thinner than what X-pel used). Here is the final result:

Driver’s:

Passenger’s: [/url]

There are still a couple of small spots where all the moisture hasn’t evaporated yet, after another couple of days if they are still there I will use a needle to pop the hole. I’m happier with this result so far, no big lifts like my last set. The slight bit of haze you might see is from the inner painted reflectors gassing off. This has happened before, I remove the headlights and swish some alcohol around inside to get rid of it.

Still waiting on my exhaust hangers to arrive, Rock Auto use DHL Commerce for some reason and they are being slow. Hoping I might get them tomorrow.

[—Bryan—]

Thanks for the pics. I've considered doing film covers, but ended up just having them re-cleared when I had the front end painted.

[chiefmg]

Thanks for the pics. I've considered doing film covers, but ended up just having them re-cleared when I had the front end painted.

That'll keep them clear for you, but the film also serves to protect against stone chips/damage.

Weather wasn’t too cold here today and the exhaust hangers arrived so dove into that job. Once I had her up in the air and had a look, I figured I’d be able to replace them all without removing my lower diffuser. As it turned out, of the five hangers total (four on the muffler, one on the midpipe) three were urethane and two were rubber. One thing that can make this job easier is an exhaust hanger removal tool like this one:



I was able to use this for most of the hangers, it makes a possibly frustrating job better. I also use WD-40 as lubricant both for removing the old hangers and installing the new ones.

Started on the passenger side of the muffler and got both of those off without too much difficulty. Here is a picture comparing the urethane hanger with a new rubber one:



Next moved to the driver’s side. The rear muffler hanger was rubber but was hard to get off due to a very small clearance between the end of the chassis hanger and the body. A little finagling got that out. The forward muffler hanger on that side was urethane, after some struggling I decided to just cut it off so did that. The hanger on the midpipe was a little bit of a struggle as there is not much clearance for the removal tool so I ended up doing the old-fashioned way with a large flat blade screwdriver (it was rubber so not too bad).

One thing to note, if one of the metal hangers has a bend in it, put the flexible hanger on that side first. You will save yourself some headaches.

Took me about an hour all in, long enough to listen to most of the latest Candy Dulfer album and for my toes to get slightly numb.

[chiefmg]

I figured out the ringing noise I was hearing was from the new shift knob. I was able to slightly move the wood overlay over the insert. I tried a couple of ways to remove it entirely without success. Looking down inside the bottom opening it looked like there was a space where I could get something in to seal it up. Mixed up some two-part epoxy and put it down in there using a 3 ½” nail. That worked well except that I put too much in which kept the knob from going onto the shift lever as far as it should. I checked different drill bits until I had one that would fit inside the hole without touching. I put that inside the old knob to get the needed depth and put a piece of tape on the bit to let me know when I got the that point. Easy does it with drilling, didn’t want to punch through the top of an expensive knob. Here is how the bit looked in the new knob showing how far I needed to drill:



That’s all done, knob screwed on just fine (it’s nice and tight too). No apparent movement of the wood relative to the insert so should be good to go.

[—Bryan—]

I'm jealous of how handy you are, man.

[chiefmg]

I'm jealous of how handy you are, man.

There is nothing I do that anyone else can't. Just have to put your mind to it and press on.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

How long have you had this car, Chief?

[chiefmg]

Bought her in September of 2010 so about twelve and a half years.

[chiefmg]

So, after all was said and done with the new shift knob installation, there was about a ¼” gap between the bottom of the knob and the boot. I couldn’t recall how much there was with the original knob, but I got to thinking about how one of the stock shift boots from one of my Mazdas had a plastic cup-shaped piece on the bottom of the boot that sort of took up a gap and kept the top of the boot in shape. That piece came off one time when I was moving stuff around and I never got around to replacing it. Since my brain was working I decided to get some nylon washers from Ace and use them as a spacer/shape holder for the boot. I measured the shift lever and top of the boot and came up with 13mm and 29mm diameters. Went up to Ace today and picked up the washers. Ones I ended up with were 25.4mm OD (1”) and 11.4mm ID (0.45”)/14.3mm ID (0.56”). All were around 1/8” thick. Here they are side by side:



Put them on smallest one first and put things back together. The smaller one didn’t allow a lot of engagement of the knob on the shift lever so I tried the bigger one. Here is how they sat on the shift lever:





The bigger one did the trick. Here is the final result:

[—Bryan—]

Attention to detail, man.