The End is Near

Well after a concentrated mamoth push on our parts, i am happy to report we the end is near on the car job.
I have been too bushed to sign on a make a comment.
Will admit its been a fun and not so fun at times project. We ran out of parts at 6pm yesterday evening, which is a good thing in the sense that we got it all back together. Now loads of torquing of nuts and adjustments and some fluids to be changed and some to be put in.
To give u an idea of what w been up to we too his honda civic and hauled the entire suspension off both back and front. Then out with the culprit rusted cross member and steering rack.
Discarded most except for recently replaced front discs and calipers and a couple of Honda proprietary items like knuckle.
Got second hand subframe from recycler in near new condition, scrubbed it down in a few spots where it was losing paint, had to do a few mods to that due to weld nuts breaking loose when removing bits and pieces from it.
Then my garage turned into a refinishing unit for a few weeks as son got stuck in with grinder and wire cup brush and stripped all rusted items we were recovering down and treated with that rust convertor.
Then we painted all the parts with tremclad paint even the new parts.
Some project creep took place when "Dad" screwed up on removing hand brake cables so new ones were added.
Replaced rear trail arms inc bearings as well as all attaching arms with bushings, new drums and brake hoses and shocks all new bolts.
In front we changed out bearings in knuckle, cv axles tie rods and ball joints and shocks along with new bushings on lower control arm ane stabilizer bar and upper control arm. New engine mount on cross memeber.
So basically if it attached tso lower undercarridge its been replaced or renewed.
Only thing that led me to do this was absolutely amazing condition of this cars under body and topside. Its a 97 and given 17 years of weather up these parts its nothing short of amazing.
Also if were not for price of replacement parts from Rock Auto would also never have done this. Not even with prices from a place like JC Whitney.
Purchased a few new tools in the process most delightful of the bunch was mini oxy acetylene set.
Tried using propane torch and mapp gas for rusted bolt removal but oh boy the difference with the right thing is day and night and fast.
Killed my pancake and bought a 20 gallon compressor with little bit greater capacity. Not what i want but what i could hope to run on the power available. Anyway got parts in process to hopefully recover my pc pancake unit sometime. (Time will tell on that one right now its on a loooong to do list)
Got to say Harbor Freight in the air tool auto line sure has some worthwhile tools at really ridiculous prices if you take on a job like this. They also were an enabler in this project.
Anyhow still have a bit to go but we entering final straight then i can get back to woodworking.
Cant wait to take the car for wheel alignment and see how it feels to ride. Will be like a new car should see him through school and some and then he can get something new when he has a full time job.
Done my bit to teach him whats possible and what he could do with his own hands and a few tools if he is up to getting dirty. Not going down this road again. Now its totally up to him. I got sucked in to being more that a consultant on this one, ended up as lead mechanic. Lol. Got the nose scar to prove it too.

Sounds like a good project Rob. Where is the picture tutorial ?

Yea Rob where are all the pics At least one of the nose

Nice job Rob!

I reckon this will at least something you'll both remember for a long time . Just think in 20 years when your sitting over beers he can say "Dad remember when you got that scar on your noise" and then proceed to tell his kid about this

Actually sounds like kind of a fun/awesome project to have done (done maybe not doing).

Back in the 70's I was an auto mechanic

My father and I owned and operated a Marine repair business

We rebuild machine engines and installed them.

I used to be able to take a WV engine out of a bug in 15 minutes.

I did side work on cars for extra money, brake jobs, tune ups - etc.

TODAY - I absolutely HATE working on cars - I don't do my own work.

I will not replace a radiator on a Civic - how simple is that.

Your story brought back memories to me. Dark memories.

Glad you had fun with it - somebody needs to have fun with it.

Would love to hear a report from you son on this project! He hung in until the end. That's saying something right there.

Sounds like either you both had a good bonding experience, and/or he learned he has to make enough to pay someone in the future.

As someone who once traded in a vehicle because it needed an oil change, all I can say is you did a lot more work than I would have been able to do. Kudos to you both.

Glad the end is near Rob!

projects like this, tedious, time consuming, its not something I personally would recommend for father and son.
You completed it, best of all, you two didn't kill each other in the process, or at least go to battle a few times.
Ive never done any auto work, don't know how, too old to learn now.(ive replaced tires, air filter, here or there, and even replaced a cracked radiator hose once)

Got to disagree a little bit Alan. A lot of folks would thin a father and son redoing a kitchen from the floor up would be a tough project to do together.

My son and I rebuilt my 1980 Corvette. It was a money pit and we lost a ton of money when I sold it a couple of years ago but it was a great experience for the both of us. Both of us are a total amateurs with little to no experience beyond the very basics.
A few angry moments I'm sure but all in all I would do it again in a minute.

Really ambitious project Rob. My hats of to you and your son. Can't wait to hear about your test drive.

if I added up all the time my son put in to plastering walls, electrical work, minor plumbing work, trim, and other odds and ends, and all the time I put in making the cabinets with finishing, Id say installation counted for maybe 5% of total time put in on project together, if even that much.
I did most of the trim work on the cabinets after installation when he was at work.
We only worked together when I needed help lifting and holding things.
yeah, I agree its a bonding thing, but I know a lot of family projects that went south after a bit.
Im happy it worked out great for rob.

Allen i think taking on a kitchen for your son is way way more of a project than a car repair. In my situation the parts and fix were defined. No design, no error possible in the sense of cutting and measuring etc, and no special finish required. Just strip, clean and buy parts and re assemble. No room for interpretation. Yes lots of room for misunderstanding, my Falconetti nose scar is a reminder

Other thing is my motivations for doing this are way different to what most are assuming. I tend to lead a horse to water once, as a parent, maybe a second try, after that bud, don't want to drink well you live with the consequences not me.
I hope life turns out for my son such that he never has to fix his own car, and can rely on the service industry for all his needs including building a deck etc. I have not taken on this project as a "bonding" exercise as some might think, for me this was about education, safety and reliability and to demonstrate that there are alternatives to what one has pushed by marketing. Maybe on the side we will laugh about it in time to come, but that is not at all why i ended up in this project.

Is this the boy who didn't want to learn to fix up any car? If so, you've come a long way with him. Congradulations!

I think self sufficency is going to come in pretty handy in the next few years in North America.

I remember in Southern Calif. in the 90's when the economy colapsed and so many with leased cars had them repo-ed and had to walk.

When you can drive and bulk of th epopulation has to walk or bus it, your opportunities increase a lot.

And not a single picture? Even of the finished product with smiling mechanics?

Al i will get some pics this weekend. Unfortunately they were last thing on my mind.

Scott i happen to share some of your view maybe for different reasons.
Way i look at it, household budgets have had lots of line items creep in during recent 20 years that have increased cost of living. Currently many perceive items that used to be considered luxuries as neccesities. Not for me to say which are and which are not. But doing what i do, i dont see that wages have kept pace with this added expense. Never mind disposable income or even more important the issue of saving i dont see how net take home - "must have" expense comes out even for a generation that is having difficulty getting work even after having got the piece of paper. Of course many have paper thats only fit for using in the outhouse but thats another matter.
So in my view somewhere along the line there is going to have to be some prioritization of expense. Being able to tackle some things yourself may just help make ends meet. Will depend on the individual. As a parent i felt it essential to pass on one way to make it possible. Time will tell if it has any benefit. Its not the only way, for me i just happen to enjoy doing things for myself and am greatful for all the inputs i got from many many others over course of my life to date that made it possible. My Dad was very much the same way so i owe him the biggest recognition. He was definitely not born with a silver spoon in his mouth and was poorly educated so had to educate himself but never relied on anyone to do it for him nor expected any government to help him out. So apple dont fall far from the tree.

Last push this weekend, and i am on my own this time, son is off camping a long standing commitment and we were hoping to have been finished before now. Will get some pics this weekend.
I smell sawdust in the future lol.


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Scott R Smith said:

I think self sufficency is going to come in pretty handy in the next few years in North America.

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I'd argue that it takes you a lot further in life even in the good times (not disagreeing with your statement merely amending it). Knowing that you can do things even if you don't know how (just a matter of learning) is a valuable skill set in and of itself. Most of my professional "skill set" (such that it is) was self taught (I have a paper in it as well, but the specific learning in it was well obsolete) and I attribute most of the "just doing it" to growing up where and how I did.