The Yellowy Eyes

Finally got to doing this!!!

I had made mention a couple of posts ago about the driving lights on Kutcher. I had bought some round yellow aftermarket replacements around 5 years ago, shortly after we'd bought it, but hadn't figured out how I was going to mount them. This is the driver's side original, you can see it's quite fogged and cracked. It's actually pictured upside down, and you'll notice the adjustment screw coming off the back of the mount. That adjustment screw made things interesting in the installation of the replacements!!!

This was the side that had the hole in the lens, and it's gone through two bulbs, both when it had rained. Since it kinda blends, I outlined the hole here.

Here's one of the replacements, after I'd come up with how I was going to install it. Firstly, they came with brackets, and the lights were threaded for them... but it didn't come with any screws to attach them!!! I tried some SAE screws, and it turns out they were threaded for Metric screws, I believe they are M6x 1mm thread. I have a limited amount of Metric screws, but it turns out that the engine from Scruffy had several that fit the bill. They were hex headed flanged, and all oily, but they cleaned up fine. Next, the brackets were made so that there is about a 3/8” space to the light, and that would make it way too tall to fit in the area. A few new holes added, and I was able to more or less get them where they'd fit.

After that... the bracket didn't really sit where it could be mounted, because of that clearance for the adjustment screw!!! I used some of the plastic sheet that was left over from the Scion badge project to make a couple of pieces that fit inside the bracket, and then was wider to where it can screw down to either side of the clearance. You can see the screw holding it onto the bracket right behind the wire.

And speaking of the wire, to keep from having to hack up the wiring, I located two sockets that plug right in!!! One was on the LED bulb I had made mention of in the other post that had been in the side with the hole, and the other was on the converter box for the HID bulb that was on one side of Zonker. The other side, it plugged right into the converter box!!!

And there's the side view of one installed!!! It shows a little of the aluminum housing, and they both look like they're pointed downward. I'm fine with that, they didn't really aim 100% straight, either, but to me, I don't really need anything beyond what the headlights put out, so they're more for looks.

And I really like the looks!!!

In the dark when they're illuminated, they don't even look that much different than the yellow of the halogen headlights!!! And since it's been a long time since I've posted a picture of Scruffy, there you go!!!

One Headlight

When we got my wife's car (Kutcher) most of the systems worked fine. The dome lights worked for a little, but then stopped working. I picked up some replacements from the junkyard, and one of these days I'll get around to putting them in... If I can locate them again!!! I went looking for them a while ago, and didn't find them.

Not long after we'd got it, one of the headlight bulbs burned out. I pulled it out, it was a Sylvania Silver Star, and replaced it with one that I had from my bag of light bulbs, quite possibly one that had been in 3. A little after, the other one burned out, as well. It was also a Sylvania Silver Star, and I've made a mental note to never buy that brand!!! Replaced it, and went on for a while with no issues.

After a while, the driver's side burned out again... or so I thought. I tried a different bulb, and it wasn't working either. I messed with the socket, and it would work in certain positions, but not when it was just at rest. OK, bad socket. Picked up a replacement from Auto Zone, and soldered it in place, with heat shrink over the junction. It had heavier wire than the original, and looked like a quality piece. It worked again... once again, for a while.

A few weeks later, it started flickering on and off at random. I checked the bulb again, and the socket still looked fine. Cleaned the socket and contacts, and gave the contacts a little tweak to make better contact, and it was... no worse. I messed with it a little, and it looked like it had a break farther back in the loom. I'd wiggle it, and it would come on. I gave up, and drove it for more than a year with one eye.

Around 6 months ago, I had the idea to get a relay, and make it switched from the passenger side light. I could do both wires, but it's probably just a break on one side, so before I start in, I get my meter out to check which side is flaky. When I check, though, both sides seem like they're good. Huh, was it just another bad socket all this time??? Had a spare Saturn socket, albeit with fairly light gauge wire, and put that in, and once again, it's working fine!!!

For a while, anyway...

A couple months ago, it went out again. When I got around to pulling the bulb out and checking for a burnt out bulb, I discovered the plug was as seen here, burnt and melted!!! I had seen Rock Auto had a high temperature bulb extension socket for not much, so I ordered one. It was shown as a male-female extension, but what arrived was a pair of the plug ends. Soldered one on, and it's working again. Hopefully, it really is high temperature and takes care of the issue for good!!!

Conversely, when I got the Sky, it needed some things done. As I mentioned when I got it, there were several questionable “upgrades” done to Zonker. It had a lot of the lights changed out to LED or xenon bulbs, and other than the low beams, I'd changed 'em all back to conventional lights and got the turn signals working right. Also, the turn signal lever wasn't canceling when I got it, and I replaced it, as well. Also adjusted the coil overs up near stock height, added a bluetooth adapter, and as previously chronicled, got the exhaust quieted down some. Not mentioned, shortly after I'd got it, the check engine light came on, and clearing the codes didn't last, and I've just been driving it as it was and knowing I'd have to do something before smog check time (which is coming up). A little after I'd had the exhaust done, the light turned off on it's own!!! I checked, and the old codes were still in there, so I cleared them, and they haven't come back, so hopefully all it was was the exhaust leak.

The radio antenna was broken off when I got it, and it didn't tune very well because of it. Because of where it's positioned on the rear flank, it is apparently an issue with the Skys, so I got one of the short rubber antennas that had been popular back in the 80's. Made a world of difference in the radio quality. The Monsoon subwoofer speaker cone was detached from the foam surround, and I glued it back into place with some RTV to fix the speaker rattle.

Back to the time when we were having constant red flag days, and the Sky had been moved to the bottom of the hill, as I was getting ready to move it back, I noticed that one of the projector driving lights was missing. Really??? Just missing??? Did someone seriously manage to steal one of my lights???

I opened the hood, and it turned out the light had only been rotated off to the side, but the light bulb itself was just gone, with the plug dangling.

When I finally got some free time, I took the light out to see what happened. Turns out, of the three mounting points, only one was remaining. I checked another mounting point, and the plastic tab was still there. I epoxied it back on, and while I had the light out, I discovered that the bulb and it's metal base were still inside the light!!! The first outside picture shows a big black scrape right below the light hole, I'm pretty sure I smacked a tire tread, and that's probably what broke everything!!!

Kutcher Swallows a Water Heater

Welcome to the season of blogging very much!!!

On Monday afternoon my wife was doing the dishes, and she says, “Why isn't the water warming up??” Huh. I've heard this kind of thing before...

Down to the basement I go, and sure enough, it's wet on the floor around the water heater. Not a lot, I've seen worse, but bad enough to put out the pilot light. I tried re firing it, and it came on for a moment, but wouldn't stay going. Back upstairs, I dig through my warranty file, thinking it was a while ago, but not that long. Thought I had a 10 year warranty, but that was wishful thinking, it was only 6. Now, when did I buy it??? Here's where there's a practical application for blogging!!!

When I first did the math in my head, I'd thought it was just about 7 months out of warranty, but it's actually 2 years and 7 months. Shopped around that night and ordered the same brand, but with a 12 year warranty. Not making that mistake again!!! Or rather, I'm paying the extra $300 to get one with twice the warranty. I'd also broke loose the water inlet and outlet pipes, and ran a hose out to the street and started it draining.

I don't think I've made mention recently, but I'm back on the weekend shift for a little more than a year now. When I'd started doing this shift, it was 4 hours on Saturdays, and Tuesday through Friday for 9 hours a day. Once again, they bump your pay some for doing the weekend shift, but in my current role, it's a good amount more than when I was filling. Found out after I'd started, when the company has a paid holiday and it falls on a day you have as your day off... they give you your day off. No extra, no you get to take a different day off. I voiced my view on it and was told, “Oh, it all evens out!” SO, for Memorial Day, Labor Day, and both Christmas and New Years I got boned. When the time came around this year, I had a couple of requests. First, can I get a different day off, either Tuesday or Wednesday, and is it possible to start my Saturday shift later. I had been starting on Saturday afternoons at 3:00, and it put a time crimp in the afternoons sometimes, I asked to start later, up to 6:00 PM, and they came through with starting at 5:00, and so far (2 weekends thus far) I've liked it fine. And, long story short, now I have Tuesdays off!!!

The younger and I got in the wife's Matrix and headed over to pick up the new water heater. Took a bunch of rope, being unsure how it would fit. Slid the front seats all the way forward, and it slid right in , and the hatch closed without issue!!! If Scruffy can do it, then so can the Kutch!!! (None of us ever call it Kutcher, it's always the Toyota or the Matrix) Will It Fit: Matrix Edition part II!!! Driving back was a challenge, though, I was so far forward I couldn't really move my right foot over to the brake, so I was 2-footing it!!!

The younger and I were able to move it around fairly easily, the hardest part was the 4 steps from the street to the foot of the house. The box had instructions to cut along a dotted line around an inch up from the bottom, so that's what I did, and from there was able to roll it on the edge of the base pretty easy. The removal of the old one was easier this time, too, it seemed to have drained most every drop by having the hose attached to the drain all night. None of the fittings fought me, and about the hardest thing was locating a roll of Teflon pipe sealing tape!!! I know I had more that I'd bought from my work, but I found a roll that may have come with our house, so over 25 years old, but it worked just fine!!!

When I had gotten up on Tuesday (actually before I got out of bed) I had the thought that I should take the aerators off the kitchen and bathroom sinks, since having the water off gets a bunch of air in the lines, and it seems to knock a lot of crud loose when it comes back on. Didn't do it, and the bathroom one ended up nearly plugged. It didn't come off easy, but I flowed good once I got it off and cleaned out... but it kind of ovaled from the removal, and it seems like it's leaking down the inside now. Might be able to get it fixed up, but I'll probably be installing a new faucet soon.

Badge Engineering

As I'd previously mentioned, I had picked up a Scion badge for the Matrix when I was at the junkyard. This is the tale of how I modified it to make it fit!!!

To start off with, here's a close up of the grille as it was when we got it.

I picked up a sheet of black plastic from my work and cut a section into an oval. I actually did two ovals, but this one is the one I sanded to the size of the badge, the other one is slightly larger, to sandwich to the back of the grille.

The little hole aligns with the pin molded onto the back (the one that didn't break off when I was removing it!!!)

After I sanded the scratches out of it, I drilled a series of holes and threaded them. I put some long rounded head screws on either end, and some short flat head screws in between.

The long screws end up going through the empty area of the Toyota logo area in the grille and mounting to the back oval. The flat head screws I put between with the idea that the epoxy I was using to mount it down would get some grip around them and hopefully hold on well.

It didn't come out perfect, but it looks fine at a casual look, which I imagine is all it will usually get!!! I'm pleased with the result!!!

Oh, and since I'd made mention of the Voltz that was sold in Japan, a blatant case of actual badge engineering, I figured I'd include a picture of one of those, too!!!

Upgrades

As with any used car we buy, there's usually a few things that it needed. When we bought it, the paperwork was a mess (honestly that was the thing that gave me the most pause about buying it) and it took quite a bit of going back and forth before it looked like it's squared away. Now that it appears that everything is in order and in process (we still don't have the title in hand, but it appears that we have it all sorted, and have mailed it in and payed it, and the web portal seems to have it cleared) I felt OK going ahead and starting in on a few things.

Last weekend I stopped by the junkyard to see if I could get some of the specific parts. There were 4 Matrixes (Matrii???) and 2 Vibes. The Matrixes were all fairly picked clean, the only thing I could find was a gear shift knob that's not split open. I think the XR designation that ours has, one of the things they come with is leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear shift. The wheel is OK (at least on the leather grip surface, the Toyota logo in the center is badly scratched up) but the gear shift knob is, as I said, split open. The replacement I found is rubberized instead, and worn a bit smooth, but still looks better. When I was pulling it off, it has a little button under the gear change knob to switch the overdrive on and off, and I ended up breaking the wire off figuring that it would have some kind of plug, but saw how to remove that portion and use the one from what's on there.

On to the Vibes, that seems to be the hot ticket if you're looking for parts!!! Found most of the other things on my list on the first one I looked at. The center console is a double unit, with a shallow storage area in the lid, and a deeper portion under that. The lid for the top was not only split open, too, but the hinge is broken. The one I got is in much better shape, but one of the 2 hinge ends is broken. Still better than what was on there. Also, the gear selection indicator was broken on ours, but the Pontiac had one that's still intact, albeit it has some stress cracks showing already. It's a pretty basic piece, so if it ends up going eventually I can probably fabricate something better up. Perhaps I'll have a 3D printer by then, and can do something very stylized. I also got the cover for over the 3rd brake light. It wasn't bad without it, but having it on there gives it a finished look.

It also had both of it's dome lights, something that has never worked on ours. They have the slider switch, which some of the others didn't have. Unfortunately, it didn't cure the problem, so I'm back to the drawing board for those. It also had a very clean steering wheel center that I grabbed. It has the Pontiac logo, of course, but I like the look better. Another thing that's missing is the grille logo. I couldn't find one, but even before I'd gone, I was telling my wife I'd like to find a Scion logo and slap that on the front, because they appear about the right size and it's a Toyota brand, so why not??? I also found out that they had sold the Pontiac styled ones in Japan as Toyota Voltz, with the Pontiac V replaced with a chrome V for Voltz. I looked around to see if I could find some of the badges online for the rear hatch, but no dice. ANyway, found a nice Scion badge, I've got to do a little modification, but the size is right.

I figured it wouldn't be too hard to swap the center console lid and gear shift knob, so I tried doing that last week after work one day. The center console lid was easy, but the shift knob didn't go so well. I was being careful to not break the wires to the switch, but I wasn't able to get it detached. I'm not sure how it's going to go, but I'm thinking of adding a plug under the shift. While I had everything apart, I changed the stereo. The one that was in there was a Dual that cycled through whorehouse colors. AM stations were always terrible on it, too. I might have been able to change the display, but I really don't care much for it, and I had the stereo from 3 that I really like, so in it went. The AM reception is no better, so a new antenna is probably in order. I had been thinking about grabbing a different mast from the junkyard, but never got it on my list, and didn't remember. If the thread is the same, I'll try the one from Scruffy on it sometime and see if it's any better.

Bought a bunch of stuff from Rock Auto, too. Not having had taken a look at the air filter, bought one sight unseen, as well as an activated charcoal cabin air filter. The engine filter looked pretty decent, so I've saved the old one, but the cabin one was filthy, and full of leaves and sticks. That was quite easy to change. Bought wiper blades, the one for the back glass is missing it's rubber completely. I'll probably wait until the weather starts turning to change them, lest they bake in the summer sun. The airbag light on the dash has always been on, and a bit of online sleuthing showed that it's often a part called the clockspring, located directly behind the steering wheel. I'll do that at some point and see if it fixes the issue, and do the center for the steering wheel at the same time. One of these days, we've got to get in touch with a Toyota dealer and see if the Takata air bag recall has been done for it!!! Under moderate to hard braking, it would give the warped rotors (or biuld up on the rotors) feeling, so I bought new rotors and ceramic brake pads. Those went in yesterday, as well as some new fasteners for the under engine panels and the rocker panel extensions. (The one on the passenger side felt like it was barely holding on) One thing that I forgot to mention having removed from Jade on her way out was the horn. I did this because the horn on the Matrix sounds like a little Japanese import car's horn, a little 'beep', while the one in Saturns sounds much bigger than the car it's from, a commanding 'HONK!!!'. I put that in at the same time. I've got a front and rear view dash cam to install someday, and I still need to come up with a decent phone holder!!!