question for the home mechanic

[madmoomoo]

Alright. Totally understood now. Thanks once again.

New question: Has anyone had experience using a ford EL falcon O2 sensor in their skyline? I've been reading up and it seems that people use this as a cheaper alternative. Apparently it's a straight swap, except for a little rewiring. I went down to autobarn to enquire about this, but Gene there reckoned that I shouldn't stear away from nissan genuine. Is there going to be a difference? (as long as they both put out the same voltage range and fit the screw threading?)

[The Dan]

Like someone has mentioned earlier, possibly in another post (not sure), the o2 sensor is a bosch one. This sensor would match a variety of different cars. The voltages would be the same throughout many vehicle if not all.

The only differences between your o2 sensor and the ford one would be wire configuration and thread pitch and size (which happen to be the same)

[madmoomoo]

sweet. I'll go with that. It needs to be changed, so I'll go grab one of these babies and wire her up later.

By the way, I changed over the fuel filter yesterday. I took off the bracket so I had a bit more room to twist, but it took me a good 20 mins of pulling and twisting and destroying my hands to get the stupid thing off. Is there a better way of doing this without annihalating one's own hands? (I've got 2 cuts and my fingers are killing me).

Cheers!

[51jay]

pair of long nosed curved pliers makes it easier to get rubber tubing off

[The Dan]

sweet. I'll go with that. It needs to be changed, so I'll go grab one of these babies and wire her up later.

By the way, I changed over the fuel filter yesterday. I took off the bracket so I had a bit more room to twist, but it took me a good 20 mins of pulling and twisting and destroying my hands to get the stupid thing off. Is there a better way of doing this without annihalating one's own hands? (I've got 2 cuts and my fingers are killing me).

Cheers!

Would you like a tissue?

nah, just kidding...but seriously...would you?

Once you have cut your hands and arms as many times as I have you start to get really tough skin. Soon sharp edges just run away from you.

[51jay]

hahaha!...... using the right tool for the job results in less cuts and scrapes.

re the discs. You could get the discs machined on the car in your driveway then change the padsl

[The Dan]

I would find it hard to get an on-car machiner on there without damaging the hard line into the caliper by bending it outta the way. Unless you disconnect it, but then you gotta bleed the system after that.

[51jay]

Didnt have any problems with mine

[The Dan]

fair enough.

[madmoomoo]

Seeing you guys are so good at getting stuff off, any hints on how to unscrew the stupid O2 sensor? I barely had enough room to get the socket wrench in there, but used all my force and nothing moved. I bought some anti rust stuff today that i'll spray on it tomorrow, and also got closed/open ended spanner to fit. Is this enough to get this sucker off? Is it easier if I put the car up on stands and get underneath?

In regards to the "on car machiner", is there something I can get to machine the discs myself? hmm.. very interesting... I thought it had to be done on a lathe or something....

[The Dan]

pour a couple of capfulls of brake fluid over the base. Let it soak for about 5 minutes and try again. Watch your knuckles coz she'll crack straight away, I can almost gaurantee it.

BTW, the On car machiner would set you back several hundred dollars and it is a type of lathe, it's kinda portable and bolts to the wheel studs as a mounting point.

[MerlinTheHapyPig]

uhh, u may as well get the brake place to change the pads, coz they're gonna have to take the pads out to get the discs off to machine them anyway.

you could just take the discs off yourself, and get a mate to drive you to a brake place.

All you need to do is take the pads out, unbolt the caliper (2 bolts behind caliper), and the brake disc just pulls forward (rears can be hard to come off coz of drum break in centre, there are 2 holes inbetween the studs that you can screw bolts in to push them off).

I think there is a tutorial on it somewhere.

[madmoomoo]

hmm, don't know if I'd go and by a disc machiner thingy...

I spent almost 3 hours trying to get the stupid O2 sensor off today, sprayed a pile of anti rust stuff on it and tried everything from every angle. Nothing budged!

My solution: I called up local mechanic, drove down and paid him 10 bucks for his troubles. It took him a grand 10 seconds! Not a bad 10 seconds work!

Anyway, he had the right tool for it, so if anyone is going to change their O2 sensor, I highly recommend going and finding the right tool, because you basically can't get the right leverage with a spanner or shifter.

Here's what it looked like: It's a bit like a long socket, like what you'd use one deeply recessed wheel nuts, and it has a gap along the side, so you can get over the wiring. It just goes onto the ratchet and takes a few seconds. It would be 22mm from memory.

As written up a couple of places throughout the threads, the wires from the nissan sensor won't really take up solder, so you need to pull the pins out from the back. I couldn't even pry the metal clasp thing open to get old wire out, so i cut it short, then wound new wire around and soldered on.

Finally it works!

[The Dan]

That sounds a bit dodgy. I went to Jaycar electronics and bought a whole new plug and just crimped the connections down on both side. *click* she works like a charm...no solder.

[The Dan]

BTW, how much did they charge you for the O2 sensor? Where did you get it from? and did you get the universal or the proper ford one with the plug.

[madmoomoo]

hmm, I was thinking of doing that with the plugs. What happened in the end was this: the mechanic was about 5 mins away, and on the way back, because i had removed the heat shield from turbo for access, the cable had touched it, and had stuck to the turbo!!! That sucked. I only found out after i soldered the other side up. Anyway, next time around I'll change the whole plug.

So now, instead of the smell of petrol rich exhaust, I have the smell of melting plastic!

O2 sensor was the ford EL one, $82 from repco. There was also the universal one, which was bout $130. The lass there said there was something different about them. Can't remember what. I think my brain was just thinking "50 bucks difference? hmm... maybe not"

Yep, cut the plug straight off. I think there were 2 black wires and one blue one. I was thinking maybe i should try and find the other side of a ford plug, so next time I change it, I just plug new one in...?? Anyway, I won't have to worry about that for a while.

BTW, can anyone recommend good books to learn about tuning?? I'm wondering if i should get "Forced induction performance tuning" and/or "four-strok performance tuning" - both by A. Graham Bell. I'd really like to learn a whole lot more about tuning, and I can handle details and technical data.

Cheers!

[madmoomoo]

Next question:

FUEL INJECTORS...

1) Do these need to be changed over at any stage, or can they just be cleaned? (I found this handy thread: http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...clean+injectors)

2) I see ppl asking where to get them done, so do I need to take them in to a specialist to get them done, or could i use contact cleaner or something of the sort.

3) If I am changing them myself, what else do I need to get/replace while i'm at it (do I need to get a "rebuild kit" as suggested in the other thread)

4) If i have to get them cleaned by someone, any recommendattions for melb - pref not too far from Carlton/Fitzroy?

5) Will this help solve my terrible fuel-consumption problem? (I've so far changed spark plugs, fuel filter and O2 sensor, but am still getting sub 300km per tank)

Hopefully my latest bunch of questions can be answered by you intellegent lot!

= )

Cheers!