Teh Official "Dude Where's My Forum?" Thread, Brought to you by the minds of Box, and her fiancée, Lorelei Options

[Bitter]

But where has them?

[Box]

Found a French auto parts site that has them: http://www.24piecesauto.fr/1062374

Any foreign Amazon listings for them they're out of stock, but there are listings for the left handed traffic version 082397 on foreign Amazon listings ready to ship. Oddly enough both 200mm versions can be gotten in the U.S. easy though, but here's the right hand traffic on U.S. Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Daihatsu-1987-1993-1...ds=valeo+082464

I thought about messaging the seller Gear245 to ask if they could get ahold of the 082395 housings. Though then the Cibie housings would be about twice as much as the Hella ones.

[Bitter]

So there's no US stock of the 165mm Valeo/Cibie, right? I'm not sure I want to wait to import any.

[Box]

Not that I can find, any leads are over in Europe. Seems like you're pretty much stuck with Autopal, Hella, or generic crap if you have 165mm x 100mm housings.

[Bitter]

A couple UK places maybe.

What size headlamps do you have? I thought you had 4x6?

[Box]

165mm x 100mm or 6" x 4", H4666 was the original sealed beam just like the Capri.

[Bitter]

Ok yea that's what I thought but you were talking about 200mm and I got really confused.

[Box]

I was plenty confused earlier so it's ok, mostly was saying hey you can still get 200mm so why not 165mm as well. Oh well, seems like 7" is where it's at for sealed beam conversions since you can get the Cibies for $44 each off Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Cibie-082440-82440-L...9937&sr=8-1

I knew I wanted a NA8 Miata for a reason, now I know.

[Bitter]

Ordered the Hella 4x6 on Amazon, missed the "used" set they had for $20 off though, argh!

[Box]

I'll be interested in seeing a comparison of the lamps. Also I finally remembered to steam open the window sticker for the Firebird, the project thread on the red anniversary ST reminded me. It and the Firebird pretty much cost the same:

Sure the Celica has a nicer interior and is a little better built, but it's still kind of funny to me given the performance difference. I never drove my Celica stock but I'd guess it'd still handle better stock for stock given the smaller size and weight plus independent rear suspension, but the Firebird isn't a slouch in that regard either. They're both fun in their own way and I still miss my Celica from time to time.

[Bitter]

I will certainly post photos. The Autopal have pretty terrible foreground, once you use something better you'll understand what I'm talking about more.

[Box]

So finally got the radiator drain plug out, of course it had to be stubborn and trying to remove old plastic that's constantly heated and cooled without breaking is always fun. The coolant looks brand freaking new, I could've reused it but oh well. That's ok I wanted new coolant in it anyway just to know exactly where I stood in terms of mileage and age. Now for the block drain plug and then to flush with distilled water, then drain again and get to work on removing the pump. Fun fun...

[Bitter]

Don't forget your shower cap!

Too bad the opti spark is buried, otherwise I'd say take it out for safety sake.

[Box]

Had to come back in to get a better picture of the drain plug location, this crawling around on the ground is kicking my ass. Once you go lift nothing seems as swift, or something like that. Since they're both cam driven you'd think they could've done the Opti on top, oh well.

[Box]

Ughh can't reach the freaking drain plug... I don't even know then since it needs to be as empty as possible because of the stupid Opti-spark.

Scratch it, took the inlet hose off then taped off the thermostat housing neck then used the Shop-Vac on the inlet line to pull everything into the radiator where it can be drained. Will be able to flush it but seems will have to finish tomorrow since today was such a cluster.

This post has been edited by Box: Oct 22, 2016 - 5:53 PM

[ClevelandGaint]

So......... I bought a new toy today, 92 vr4 to be beside my 94 vr4. Extremely happy right now

[Box]

Every time I hear VR4 or 3000GT I still get mad, they're the reason I won't buy a car with an interference motor that uses a belt. Long story short previous owner snapped the belt and only threw on another then sold it, wasn't noisy initially but sure enough after buying it gives up on life. Though if I could find one that was actually looked after properly and had documentation on maintenance I might be willing to give one another go, turbo V6 AWD is interesting and unique. That's ok even when they were well looked after that doesn't protect you from Mitsubishi having over engineered everything. Anyhow, pictures!

Sooo only took me like 4-5 hours to get all the coolant out... Of course a lot of that was time wasted trying to get to the bolt drain plug and fiddling with the radiator drain plug initially. That and it legitimately kills me to crawl on the ground even with cardboard to lay on. Decided will flush tomorrow since it's dark that and I figure it's better for the cooling system to be empty and sealed with antifreeze residue than full of water and sealed. I do have some good news though, it's the cleanest 20 year old cooling system I've ever seen.

[Bitter]

That is good news.

I fixed my bulb problem, there's enough room inside the switch to locate a 5MM LED and I happen to have one prewired for 12V laying around, so I soldered it to the switch and it's now lit, although a little too bright. I'll tint the nose of the LED with some sharpie later. If I roll the dimmer full dim it's about as bright as the bulbs on full bright.

[Box]

I can't tell you how nice it is to have a car where the previous owners genuinely cared about it, I'm just ready to get the new pump on it and drive it again though.

Huzzah LEDs to the rescue! Reminds me I need to get around to doing interior LEDs still.

[ClevelandGaint]

Back story on it, has 90k, the 120k maintance was already perform, binder full of receipts since New. 2nd owner, original was the guys father. I know the horror stories behind them. I've owned closed to 10 different 3ks through out the year. Can work on them with my eyes closed. Oil pump, water pump and timing belts are number one things that need changed always. I usually do them every 50k. The active aero still works which is great. Interior is near mint as well. Only problem is the clear coat is going