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Lawwwwllz. Yes. I was spraying the straw into one of the ports on the plenum and the vacuum sucked the straw right off and right into the runners. After trying madly to get it out with a grabber tool, I only ended pushing it further in. I eventually gave up and ran it through the engine. That was a few years back and I never think it did any damage. Moral of the story: attach some thin pvc tube or similar to the nozzle. That way you can always keep the can upright, and the straw wont get sucked through the tube.

Sounds interesting. Any cutting involved?

Shouldnt be any need to fabricate the cooler itself. Ive found 73, 60, 45cm wide thin coolers, or an XR6 replacement intercooler. Plenty of off the shelf choices.

Im gathering some ideas about putting a front mount on the stagea. Im looking the pros and cons about same side outlets to reuse the existing pipes too. One other issue is the shape of the intercooler. Something like an XR6 intercooler seems to have a quite good surface area up around ~1400cm^2 over the stock ~380cm^2, however with the license plate and bumper, a more square intercooler looks like it will be at a disadvantage with airflow. A longer, thinner intercooler seems to be a better option, as there is a wide, but not very high opening at the bottom of the front lip. But that comes with a disadvantage of surface area. To match the above surface area of the XR6, it would be more like 70X20cm = 1400cm^2. However would less surface area be better if nearly all the surface has a stream of fresh air? Any thoughts

Both the inner tie rods and outer tie rod ends are ball joints and subject to wear like the other ball joints. More the outers since they are more exposed to water and dirt. The inner tie rods screw into the ends of the steering rack. There are specialised tools for getting them in and out, however they can be done without them, using a thin spanner or even a wrench. Its a bit of a pain to put new ones on since you have to bend a locking washer with a hammer and chisel, but other than that its a straightforward job with easy access. Dont rush to put new ones on without checking the old ones. Pull the inner side of the dust boot to expose the inner tie rod ball joint. Then check to see if there is any play in the socket, feel if there is any grainy abrasive feeling when you move the rod, or any corrosion.

I think youre aware of my thread on the sticking pedal. I think I have located it to the actual release mechanism, which is unfortunately right up under the dash behind. The whole assembly will have to come out. Can you describe more symptoms? Can you not move it all out by hand while using the release mechanism? Ie, not letting the spring pull the pedal back. What if you try wiggling the pedal side to side while pulling on it?

What are you even trying to say? First you say that "No car has an inner ball joint.", which is completely false, now you're being a contrarian to who knows what.

Sorry. Mine is 4WD. 2WD has an outer ball joint. 4WD has an inner and outer ball joint.

If youre pulling everything apart, might as well do the ball joints. I replaced them all on my 96 stagea. Inner front 2 were well worn, outer 2 were borderline, rear 2 were fine. At most I wasted $50 on a rear set. So many factors go into their life. How much weight is on them, if water and dirt gets into the socket etc.

Hennessy Cadillac is where its at.

If you can get the ball joint pin out of the hub, you'll be able to check whether there is play, then it would probably be easiest and cheapest to just remove the arms then take them to somewhere to be pressed out. Would take 15 mins.

If you cant seem to feel any play by hand, but the pin is quite loose then it still may be the culprit, as the weight of a car is obviously far greater than you can exert by hand.

If the ball joint is clunking, it means that the socket is worn and grease will do nothing. If you can feel any play in the socket by hand, it means it needs replacing Replacing them is easy if you have all the tools. You'll need: A small hydraulic press (6 tons was enough) Circlip pliers Various pieces of metal tube. I used a piece of 60mm wide steel tube with 4mm thick walls and put it underneath the ball joint, then used another piece of tubing over the pin to push the ball joint body through the hole, which then falls into the 60mm tube. Dont forget to remove the circlip first, they are usually hidden under dirt. The most labour intense bit is usually getting the tapered pin out of the hub, unless you've got a ball joint clamp.

If we are talking an auto trans, then first signs would probably be slipping gears, since fluid is required to engage clutches.

Huh? Im going off memory since I have 4WD front suspension, but don't you have a lower control arm connecting to the bottom of the hub with a ball joint? The tie rod end is a ball joint too but that isn't what I was referring to.

I think Ive ruled out any issues with the cable and rear brakes. When the pedal sticks, there is still tension on the cable, so there doesnt appear to be resistance in the cable. The springs in the rear brakes seem to be retracting the cable fine. This leaves the pedal mechanism. I would really like to avoid having to remove it. What is the shock absorber type device? Is that purely to soften the movement of the pedal? If so, that may be a problem area. Also the spring may have weakened.

What about ball joints?

Not sure where the 2 cables join. Didn't have the car that far jacked up that I could see where the cables go.

Both cables were sliding in and out of the connectors, I just don't know whether that is where the resistance is.

A more regular partial drain and fill would be the easiest option.

I pulled off the rear rotors and blew all the dust away with some compressed air, then put some anti seize on where the cable comes enters. Didn't make a difference, unfortunately. Will have a look under the dash again to see if anything can be done there.

My parking brake has recently become a bit sticky, as in when you pull the brake release, the pedal retracts very slowly and does not go the whole way by itself. I have to pull it up with my foot the rest of the way. Ive looked under the dash and sprayed some WD on the moving mechanisms and that hasn't helped, which leads me to wonder if the problem is further down the cable. Maybe unrelated, but I recently fitted some poly subframe collars, in which I had to lower the subframe which did put some tension on the connecting lines, like the parking brake for example. There was no difference to the parking brake directly afterwards, so maybe not related.

The other, most sane option is to not get under a vehicle held up on a single jack.

I cant see any extra support on that car, who is the crazy bastard under the engine?

Well, I was with you up to that point.