Replaced the front right brake caliper that was sticking and overheating the rotor. Also finished installing new coil springs up front and new shocks all around. Wow, what a difference over the rock-hard ones that I've been riding on!!

 

After fixing up my friends 03 D2 so well, his brother in law wants a D2 so after a little looking around (missed out on a flawless 01 D2 for 950.00 by 5min....) I found an 03 D2 SE7 in decent shape for 750.00. It had the drive shaft come apart and totally kill the transmission and it left the Transfer Case resting on the cross-member as it tore the aluminum casing to bits.

It hadn't ran in over 2 years and the seller "said" it fired over with starting fluid and needed a fuel pump. I took all of that with a grain of salt. Got it home after my buddy was rear-ended in traffic not once but twice by the same idiot hitting the U-Haul Trailer.

It was late so we rolled it off the trailer and called it a night. Well today I had enough time to start trouble shooting it. Starting fluid DID NOT make it even wanna run, swapped out the fuel pump relay, checked fuses, jumpered the fuel pump & it ran so that left the Crank Position Sensor. My buddy bought a new one and dropped it off. I got it replaced after playing with the silly connector for 20min, and after it got fuel up to the fuel rail she sputtered to life. The black crap it shot out from the tailpipe & broken Y pipe was something else. The idle settled down and it actually ran pretty good for sitting over 2 years. I connected my scangauge II monitored the engine temps (made sure all fluids were topped off before I attempted to start it). I let it idle for about 15min and it got up to 198F and stayed there. No over pressurized hoses, no coolant leaks (radiator is new under the 2inches of dust lol). And not a single TICK TICK TICK TICK.....

Then I've got a friend with an 04 Transmission and Transfer Case that is just gonna cost 400.00 total so 1150.00 and it'll be able to move on it's own power for the first time since the big BANG.

Gonna change the oil tomorrow, fix the fuel line as it along with the return line got nicked from the drive shaft exploding.

This D2 was probably in fantastic shape 2 years ago before it sat, had a window busted, and had the dash warp from being out in the sun.

 

Replaced 2 window regulators today. One got mangled really bad and had to cut the riser so i can unstuck it from inside. I also found the reason why my other window wont work. Wire broke.

Metal riser stuck coz all bent inside door.
Both wires broke inside the rubber boot between door frame.

 

Drove in 100 degree heat at 70 across Idaho, AC on, 197 temperature, finally got the coolant temp under control

 

Changed broken and dried out SAI rubber mounts. No more vibrations on the firewall on cold start as it contacts metal on metal. Sounds more like a Leer jet now instead of a 747 when cold.

 

They're actually spray painted with duplicolor wheel paint. They need some touch up but other wise its worked out well.

Repaint is #65 on my to do list.

 

Finally got around to doing my headliner

I also cut the B pillar moldings because those junk seatbelt sliders didn't work and I think they look wayyy better without. If you notice, I actually cut the top section off just to tie the transition of the headliner back in with trim pieces. I'll need to find something to cap the bottom of those just to make it look a little better.

Overall this wasn't bad to do. Putting it back in was the worst part because I knew I was scratching the paint / creasing the fiberglass as I forced it in from the back door. I'll use some touch up paint or something to fix the minor scratches if I feel like it

 

Sadly, I was underneath, wiping oil off all the parts, trying to figure out what happened that caused it to leak all the oil out and almost completely die. THankfully, it still wants to turn over. Just not sure if the block is cracked or a gasket is bad or what....

 

Read this on the interwebs....

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Installed a new Terrafirma gas tank skid plate to replace the partial, flimsy stock unit. Bolted on reasonably easily with not too many hiccups.

1. Do this with a near empty gas tank. An empty, light tank makes the job much easier (as it says in the instructions).

2. The instructions mention loosening the hitch mount to allow it to move down to make fitment easier. In my case (OEM hitch mount), it was one of the rear hitch bolts itself that blocked installation. Had to notch the plate as there was no way it was going around, over or under that bolt. Didn't loosen any hitch bolts.

3. At least it had directions (a rare event for Terrafirma).




New skid plate.



Old flimsy partial plate.



Notch to accommodate rear right side hitch mount bolt. Skid plate is asymmetrical so this only happened on one side.