Feb 2016
The Mechanical Stuff:
I’ve ordered a new exhaust system, and a valve cover gasket. So far. Tomorrow we do an oil change and a complete inspection. Who knows what else we find.. I do know there is an oil leak, but not sure where. I’ll clean the K & N filter.. turn down the idle, and see what happens.
At The Auto Shop:
Really the only things revealed from the inspection was the front CV axle boots, ( 3 of the 4) and the exhaust header gasket. Since there is a little play in the CV joints, it’s a better deal to replace the axles as a complete assembly. So we are doing that tomorrow as well as the gasket. It’s a big job, so we need all day. Today we replaced the muffler and tail pipe. I also changed the oil and filter. Then we tackled the valve cover. When we removed it we discovered a broken gasket. It was leaking oil out both rear corners. Perhaps 90% of the oil we see all under the motor was from there.. Some other oil may have been coming out the drain plug! the plastic washer was broken. After installing a much better looking valve cover I had with a new gasket.. We fired up the motor and turned down the idle. It ran smooth ! Really smooth. Why the F**K was the idle so high ? Who the F**K changed the oil last ? After all that I could not find any other things needing fixing. We even got the plugs out of the diffs and the transmission.. oil in those is good.
Feb 11 2016:
I went to the shop early. And while waiting for my help I decided to clean the underside of the Sidekick.. motor, transmission and parts of the frame. All have oil on them. Now that it’s clean any leaks should be easy to see. While cleaning I discovered a loose U-Joint on the front drive shaft. So I had another sent up. Dave arrived in time to see me removing the drive shaft. We pressed out the old and pressed in the new. Done! Then set to work on the exhaust gasket.. Took till lunch just for us to do those two things.. But we did get the two axles replaced by the and of the day.. The Suzuki is back in my shop.. mechanically sound … mostly.. I’m sure something else will pop up.
So here we have the motor .. looks much the same except for a better looking valve cover. Runs way quieter ! And idles like it should. So what got done?
- New muffler and tailpipe
- New front CV axles with boots
- New valve cover and gasket
- New U-Joint for the front driveshaft
- New gasket on the header pipe flange
- Oil change and filter.
With the known mechanical stuff out of the way.. it’s time to Pimp.. No wait I’ve some holes to fix…. and other stuff.
Feb 12 2016:
Good news (so far) NO oil leaking onto the floor. NONE. Lets hope we have all the leaks fixed. Onward to other things.. The seats have been a real thorn in my plans.. It would really blow the budget to have them redone. So we came up with a solution. Since this is the one I’m fixing to flip.. and I’m keeping the Tracker.. then the nice seats from the Tracker will go in the Sidekick.. and these bad seats will get seat covers for now. I’ve ordered them, and I’ll install them semi permanently. Now I feel I can make some color & design decisions. Here’s what is planned for the sidekick:
- New Red paint job exterior, with black trim.
- Paint the exposed interior metal semi gloss black.
- Re-upholster the door panels and rear panels in black.
- install keyless power locks
- New stereo and new speakers
- LED interior lights.
- LED driving lights
- Tint the rear quarter windows.
- Transfer the alloy wheels over from the Tracker.
- Transfer the front seats over as well.
So all that said.. lets start a new page for the bodywork..