Dude...seriously. This sucked absolute balls. I"m stuck in traffic on the I-75/85 connector in ATL friday after work heading to a friend's place in Birmingham for the weekend. Totally stoked. Concerts to be attended. Awesome foods to be eated. It's the first time I've run the AC since...like a year ago. With the RR Racing F/R inserts, the car vibrates like a mofo w/ the A/C on @ idle. No big whoop, free back massage, right? Well, as we all know, AC + FSDE = 4whp, so it takes a little extra from the right foot to get rolling. I've done this 150 times this afternoon, and I'm about sick of it and ready for open road. Car ahead moves. Roll onto throttle, s*** starts rattling, little extra throttle, s*** dies. Uh...wtf. Stalled? Huh. Turn key. Car cranks...then dies again. I'm 2 lanes from the shoulder. Hazards on, manage to use the starter to get my ass off of the interstate and have the good fortune of parking directly under an overpass. You know, some times you've just got to see the silver lining. Anyway, this is only part 1 of the drama.
Pop hood, find the coupler on the REAR of the MAF for my intake sheared in 2. WTF. Damn, that sucks. After a quick survey, I figure that I can just remove the lower intake pipe, steal a coupler off of that, and put the filter directly onto the MAF. Quick thinking for the MFing win! Where the mother **** is my god damned screwdriver? And then it hits me: I took every single tool that would be useful out of my car when I cleaned it last weekend. Seriously? You're sitting me. I've ALWAYS @ least got a multitool, or a pocket knife! Son of a damn it. After a quick survey of the car, I found ZERO suitable tools. After a quick survey of my person, I start trying my keys. Only 1 fits in the groove of the screw for the worm clamps, but the things are so tight on there (hot cold hot cold hot cold hot cold will do that
) that the only key that fits (my mailbox key) bends. s***.
Another quick survey of my car reveals: Wheel lock key. Yes. The key for the Gorilla wheel locks. Ladies and gentlemen, where there's a will (I was stuck on the biggest interstate ever) there's a damn way. In case anyone was interested, in a pinch, with a pair of gloves, a Gorilla wheel lock key can function as a flat head screw driver. I wish I were kidding.
I managed to get everything back together where I was pretty sure it would hold on until I could get an actual screw driver to tighten everything down. And sure enough, the Atlanta PD shows up in the nick of time to help. Right after I got it running. OMG thanks! (yupnope) lol. Whatever, he was cool about it and opened up a spot to let me back on the road, and got one more 'contact' to add to his 'not-quota'. Called a friend that lived on the west side of town, got directions to an advanced auto parts, borrowed a screwdriver and 10mm wrench to reset the ECU, the CEL was on from where I tried to start it w/o a temp. sensor (it was still lodged in the intake pipe I 'borrowed'), and promptly bought a bad multitool just in case.
Long story short, I made it, the car's running fine, and sounds really good w/ the filter a little higher up in the engine bay. It is a bit less powerful though, due to the more turbulent air over the MAF from having the filter directly attached (that extra foot or so of pipe does a lot for smooting that out) and there's a good chance everything will hold together for the 2.5 hour drive back (I'm sure I just jinxed myself).
I think advance or pep boys (ugh) sells the couplers I need, so I can just get a new one tomorrow or Monday. That old coupler had a little gash from when I got the intake. It was never all the way through, and had been McGuyvered w/ the persuasion of some electrical tape (just in case), but I guess the added shaking from the engine due to the A/C, plus me sucking at driving my car when the A/Cs on (due to that aforementioned 4whp), it just sheared.
Anyway, that's my story. How was your weekend?
Pop hood, find the coupler on the REAR of the MAF for my intake sheared in 2. WTF. Damn, that sucks. After a quick survey, I figure that I can just remove the lower intake pipe, steal a coupler off of that, and put the filter directly onto the MAF. Quick thinking for the MFing win! Where the mother **** is my god damned screwdriver? And then it hits me: I took every single tool that would be useful out of my car when I cleaned it last weekend. Seriously? You're sitting me. I've ALWAYS @ least got a multitool, or a pocket knife! Son of a damn it. After a quick survey of the car, I found ZERO suitable tools. After a quick survey of my person, I start trying my keys. Only 1 fits in the groove of the screw for the worm clamps, but the things are so tight on there (hot cold hot cold hot cold hot cold will do that
) that the only key that fits (my mailbox key) bends. s***.Another quick survey of my car reveals: Wheel lock key. Yes. The key for the Gorilla wheel locks. Ladies and gentlemen, where there's a will (I was stuck on the biggest interstate ever) there's a damn way. In case anyone was interested, in a pinch, with a pair of gloves, a Gorilla wheel lock key can function as a flat head screw driver. I wish I were kidding.
I managed to get everything back together where I was pretty sure it would hold on until I could get an actual screw driver to tighten everything down. And sure enough, the Atlanta PD shows up in the nick of time to help. Right after I got it running. OMG thanks! (yupnope) lol. Whatever, he was cool about it and opened up a spot to let me back on the road, and got one more 'contact' to add to his 'not-quota'. Called a friend that lived on the west side of town, got directions to an advanced auto parts, borrowed a screwdriver and 10mm wrench to reset the ECU, the CEL was on from where I tried to start it w/o a temp. sensor (it was still lodged in the intake pipe I 'borrowed'), and promptly bought a bad multitool just in case.
Long story short, I made it, the car's running fine, and sounds really good w/ the filter a little higher up in the engine bay. It is a bit less powerful though, due to the more turbulent air over the MAF from having the filter directly attached (that extra foot or so of pipe does a lot for smooting that out) and there's a good chance everything will hold together for the 2.5 hour drive back (I'm sure I just jinxed myself).
I think advance or pep boys (ugh) sells the couplers I need, so I can just get a new one tomorrow or Monday. That old coupler had a little gash from when I got the intake. It was never all the way through, and had been McGuyvered w/ the persuasion of some electrical tape (just in case), but I guess the added shaking from the engine due to the A/C, plus me sucking at driving my car when the A/Cs on (due to that aforementioned 4whp), it just sheared.
Anyway, that's my story. How was your weekend?
