A car guys nightmare. Part Two. 

This is what it looked like from the outside.

I knew that I would need a new set of hinges. I found the kit for 180.00 at Home Depot. The springs were extra, available separately, at under 30.00. Like everything else prices have gone up steadily over the years but it had been at least twenty years since I replaced the hinges.  

Based upon my experience, I knew that it was safe to work on the hinges with the door in the closed position. It can't fall forward through the opening because it is taller than the opening. As long as one hinge is still intact and the power opener is attached, it is unlikely to fall back inside. But it could twist and fall back a bit. Damaging the door and power opening unit.

The problem was that I needed some working room. Luckily my garage has extra depth to allow access to the utilities and a path to the side door. All I had to do was to clear some of the stuff that was in front of my parked cars and move them forward a couple of feet. 

I wheeled my two roll away tool boxes out the side door. Then I moved some of the smaller items and stuff outside. I had more space in front of my blue Mustang so I moved it up more. Then I moved the table back and moved the red Mustang forward. Now I had plenty of access to the bad hinge. I decided to wait until I was finished fixing the hinge before I assessed the damage to the red Mustang. There was nothing that I could do about it anyway, and I didn't need the distraction. 

It looks like there is more room than there actually was.

The first order of business was to brace the door in position. I ran a long tie down strap from the opposite hinge to a hook that I had screwed into the wall. I also found an adjustable load brace bar that I had bought from Harbor Freight years ago. I adjusted it to brace the top of the door to the upright on one of my metal storage shelves. Then I undid the nuts that held the springs to the lower retainer and removed the springs. I used my Makita impact driver to undo the door rail. Then I carefully removed the door hinge plate itself. 

As I stated earlier, the driveway is uneven in front of the door, so I took pains to measure everything so that both sides would be even. When I installed the last set of new hinges I used different mounting holes so the lag bolts would attach to fresh wood at a new spot. This took a bit of time and I had to put a spacer under the door to get things aligned. 

Now that the hinge was attached, the immediate danger of the door falling back was eliminated. The next task was to attach the springs. 

The last time I replaced the hinges was at least twenty years ago, and I was a younger man. The door has to be completely open and propped up with a couple of 2x4s. I recall lifting it up by myself and propping it up. I guess that mojo is gone. Just couldn't do it, and I didn't want to ask my Wife to help, no sense in both of us hurting our backs.

So using my brain and my backside, I braced myself against the door and pushed back using my legs. The door swung open a few feet and I propped the 2x2 against it at an angle to hold it in position. Then I went outside via the side door and lifted it some more and again wedged the 2x2 in place. 

A note of extreme caution here. Never, ever, walk under a broken or sagging garage door! If the door were to fall on you, it could very well fall on your head and break your neck! It has happened before! 

I still needed to get the door completely up. I got my small trolley floor jack and in conjunction with that adjustable Harbor Freight cargo bar jacked it up incrementally. I would jack it up, support it with the 2x2, extend the cargo bar, jack it up some more, and re prop it up. It took some blocks under the 2x2 near the end but I finally had it open completely.

I propped it open securely using the 2x2 and the floor jack under the cargo bar. I did not walk underneath, I went around the outside. 

Now I had to attach the springs to the bottom mount. They needed to be stretched a bit to reach the mount. Equipped now with less mojo but more weight, I grabbed the spring and lunged downward, stretching the spring and swung the end towards the mount. It took several attempts but at last, the springs were attached. Now to adjust them by tightening down the nuts which would pull the mount down. 

Again Harbor Freight comes to the rescue. Instead of using an open or closed wrench to turn them a quarter turn at a time I had an opportunity to use my new pass through socket set. These are sockets and a ratcheting wrench with a hole in the middle, allowing you to turn nuts that are on a long bolt or stud. Very convenient! 

The springs have to be adjusted until the door is easy to operate by hand. The springs are stretched in the closed resting position, they help pull the door up and then a cam tightens them as the door swings over center and holds it open. It's an ingenious system. I never had a power door lift until I moved into this house. But if you can't lift the door easily manually, then don't expect the opener to do it either.

I had it opening okay, it might still need a little adjustment. The door stays open a bit, but at least it looks even from the outside. 

I went to check it out this morning and found that I had failed to sufficiently tighten down one of the hinge plate mounting screws and noticed how the plate was now out of line. I tried to loosen the mounting screws a bit and encourage it to move back into alignment with a crow bar. That didn't work. I realized that I needed to unload the hinge assembly by removing the springs! What followed was a replay of yesterday, except that I was able to raise the door to a completely open position by myself.  But I wasn't able to hold it up by grabbing the 2x2 I had used previously, without a helper. So I went back to using a jack and doing it bit by bit.

I realigned the hinge plate then re-tightened it, adding another lag bolt. This time I adjusted the spring tension much tighter, on both sides. Then I spent an hour re adjusting the movement of the door opener. It is really easy to manually raise the door, and the opener seems to be working okay for now. 

Another crisis averted, or at least delayed. It cost me a bit under two bills for the parts. My labor of course was free. If I'd called a garage door guy out, I bet the call would have been at least that much. Then I'd have to pay for the parts. He probably would have pressured me to replace the door by refusing to do the repair. Sure, I'd like a new sectional door, and a new driveway for that matter. I checked out the prices at Home Depot and those sectional doors started at a grand, plus installation. Plus removal and disposal of the old door and opener. I can still do that myself. 

There's nothing wrong with a one piece garage door, as long as the hardware and the door are in good shape. I can add some different trim pieces, paint it and give it a new look.

The driveway is another matter. The offending section of concrete can be ground down or it could be cut out and patched. I'd rather go with the lower priced alternative, as replacement of the entire driveway is a consideration already. 

My Wife and I have decided that this is going to be our retirement home. We aren't planning to move, so we are slowly adding improvements and repairs until our house is just what we want. We have lived here for 36 years so it does need some work. I'm just relieved to get it back on the holding pattern.

I saved the best news of all for last. The door didn't actually fall onto my '96 Mustang, so it didn't sustain any damage. That's at least one thing that I'm thankful for!

 A car guys nightmare!  Part One.

This picture is from a Home Depot ad.

The garage door hinge broke while both of my cars were in the garage!

I've had one of the springs break before, this was before the springs had all the safety retention devices. The broken end shot off somewhere, it took me a while to find it, luckily the car wasn't inside at the time! It took a while to find the broken off end, which fortunately didn't do any damage.

The springs now have internal retaining devices, as well as retainers on the ends that connect to the hinge arms. I became aware that the spring was broken when the door wouldn't open. I've replaced several springs and a set of hinges over the years. Springs retain lots of stored energy, that's their thing. Old, wooden one piece garage doors are very, very, heavy, There is a lot of potential for severe injury working on these systems. They have to be treated with respect and a high level of caution and awareness. 

If you cruise around the less affluent parts of town you might notice a lot of old one piece garage doors that are hanging crooked when open, or they are bowed and sagging in the middle. Of course the ones that are really bad just remain closed all the time! Most of my neighbors have upgraded to the sectional roll up type of door. I haven't, so I guess that I'm the less affluent guy, living in the now more affluent neighborhood!

My garage door is the original plywood unit.  The driveway concrete is sectional and has buckled a bit right at the opening, so the door can't close completely. It closes, but the door hangs up a bit on the raised area of concrete and sticks when it opens. The door opens with a bit of a twisting motion. 

A couple of nights ago I backed my truck into the driveway to unload my Wife's newest antique cabinet find. I climbed into the bed to undo all the straps and moving blankets that I'd used for the move. It had been misting and I found the truck tailgate a bit slippery. As I stepped off, I grabbed the edge of the open door as a hand hold, and I let it support some of my weight as I jumped down. I heard an unusual metallic "pop" as I hit the ground. 

I thought that maybe something had fallen off a shelf, or maybe worse, that a spring had broken, but I didn't immediately see anything. My first concern was to get the cabinet, which was quite large, out of the truck and safely into the house before it started to rain. 

After I had that taken care of, I tried to close the garage door from the inside. The door lurched crookedly then stopped and reversed direction. Of course I tried a couple of times with the same result. Then I went to check for a broken spring. 

It gradually dawned on me that one of the hinge arms, the long one that the springs attach to, had broken off of the rail that bolts to the door. The big stud that was staked on the rail had broken free. It was standing straight up free, but with the end in contact with the surface of the door, and still holding it up!

Note that the long upper arm has the springs attached at one end The other end is attached to the door rail and it pivots on the hinge plate. This is the arm that provides the leverage force for the door to open. The lower arm acts as a guide in a parallelogram fashion, to move the door out into the proper position. It doesn't support the very much of the weight.

Here's the reason for the pop! You can see the rail broke
 and allowed the stud to pull free.

Not only did that chunk break off, 
look at that crack!

When the door is completely open, the door is parallel to the floor, more or less. The long arm is pointing straight up. Now I found it pointing straight up with the end in direct contact with the door surface. The door is also of course, directly over my two Mustangs!

It was already late, 9:00 pm. but I had to deal with this right away. I went out back to the backyard, to my lumber stash, looking in the dark for an 8 ft 2x4. I could only find a 6 ft. 2x2, but that would have to do. I wedged it just forward of the hinge pivot point, so that would support the open end of the door. I needed the end of the long arm to move to allow the door to swing down. I forced the loose end of the arm to the side to clear the door. My plan was to release the "traveler" of the power door opener, pull hard, and allow the door to swing down, supported by the intact hinge, hoping that it would pivot on the top of the 2x2. The traveler is the device that travels up and down on the motorized track. It snaps into a connection that attaches to the arm that connects to the garage door and provides the mechanical muscle to move the door. Everything was set, at least in my mind. The door should pivot off the 2x2 and swing closed.

Didn't happen!

As soon as I pulled on the door I realized my mistake. The lower arm couldn't support the weight of the door. The door swung out, then fell a couple of feet. It looked as though it was resting on the back of the roof and deck lid of my '96 Mustang!

Oh Jeez! What do I do now? I was too traumatized to take a picture of this situation.

The only course of action was to push on the top of the door from the inside, while I tried to pull it down. I was squeezed between the two cars with very little room, but I got it straightened out. It was down more or less, and I wasn't worried about someone breaking into my garage by lifting the door. Though I did engage the traveler back into position.

Then I went inside the house, had a late dinner and coffee, watched some TV, and tried to forget about it until tomorrow. 

I decided not to try to check for damage to my Mustang. I might sleep better not knowing!

I'll finish the job in the next post. Of course I didn't wait to finish the actual repair, which I completed the next day. I'm just splitting the reporting. 

As everyone knows by now, it's always one thing or another!

 The day that I feared for so long, has finally arrived!

The bad news is highlighted in yellow.

One of my cars, the 1996 Mustang, has failed the smog test! 

What am I going to do?

It wasn't that the check engine light came on, and the car threw a code. Instead the car failed the tail pipe test, obviously exhaust emissions are too high. But why?

I had the car smogged last April, when I was going to try to sell it. It passed, but I thought that the margins might be getting slimmer. 

There are a lot of miles on the engine, the compression has been deteriorating a bit as the rings and valves are not sealing as well as they once did. That can be attributed to normal wear.

I've always felt that a point would come where it is not a failure of a system or part, but just the general entrophy of the motor itself. I see a lot of vehicles with the 4.6 motor with extremely high mileage. Just look at all those livery service Town Cars. 250K and higher miles is not uncommon and those cars are sold with clear smog tests. At least I think that they are.

To be honest, 217,000 miles is a lot of miles, of course the engine is worn. But is it worn out?

So what should I do? Rebuilding or replacing an engine is an expensive fix. 

The important thing is to slow down, and take a breath!

Getting started, I will compare the results of the last test with this one. I need to determine how slim the passing margins actually were, and compare them with my current test. 

The technician did not offer any suggestions, but that really isn't his job, it is a test only center. He tried to console me by reminding me that a second test is free, within 90 days. When I asked him what he thought that it could be, he just replied, "Old cars are funny, sometimes they will pass, when on another day they will fail." I wasn't going to give him a hard time about it, but I can understand that he isn't going to try to diagnose the problem. 

I copied the following segment from my post on the AACA forum, that's why the font is different.

I have the two prior smog tests to compare my results with the latest test.

On 12/07/20 at 214,204 miles I had it smogged for '21 registration. Passed.

On 04/20/22 at 216,278 miles I had it smogged for potential sale. Passed.

On 1/17/23 at 217,513 miles I had it smogged for the '23 registration. Failed. By one point in max H/C @15 mph.

 

Prior to the April/22 test I had replaced the plug wires, coils, spark plugs, and air filter. On the current test it failed the roller h/c check. I'll address those margins. The max permitted at 15 mph. is 50 PPM, at 25 mph the max is 34 PPM

On Dec '20 the measured results were: 15 mph. 35 PPM,   25 mph. 14 PPM  Passed by margins 15 &20 PPM

On April '22 the measured results were: 15 mph. 31 PPM,   25 mph. 14 PPM  Passed by margins of 19 &20 PPM.

On Jan  '23  the measured results were: 15 mph. 51 PPM    25 mph. 25 PPM  It failed by exceeding the max reading @ 15 mph. by 1 PPM. It passed with a margin of 9 PPM @25 mph.                                                                                            

 

Accumulated mileage since 12/20 was only 3,300 miles. Over the years, I have been monitoring the margins for passing the test. Looking at the '20 and '22 test, I felt that I still had plenty of room for success. Since the car is now used entirely as a hobby car, it will accumulate mileage even slower in the coming years. I bought my '06 Mustang to use as a driver and figured that I could still own the '96 for many years without having to rebuild or replace the motor. 

 

As I mentioned earlier, the car has been sitting in the garage since Sept. with only an 1/8th of a tank of gas. I'm wondering if due to the cold and the extreme rain, maybe there was a lot of condensation in the tank, I didn't even add any new fuel before the test. The battery had also gotten so weak that it couldn't start the car. I jumped it and let it run for about a half hour before taking it to the test center which is ten miles away. It didn't have any problem starting the car when I restarted it before leaving. Usually I will add at least a half tank of fresh gas and use the car everyday for a few days before taking it in for smog. I would aim for at least fifty miles of use before the test date. The low voltage might have had a bad effect also. I had a ton of problems with my '07 Mustang when the battery went bad on me!

 

After failing the test I added a half tank of new gas, and half a bottle of Techron additive. After I use that up, I'll add another half tank of the good stuff, Chevron, and the rest of the bottle of Techron, and drive some more.  I've got 90 days for a free re-test. If it doesn't pass, then I'll have to consider checking the catalysts and other things. 

 

I had been looking into remanufactured motors last year. A new long block would solve a worn engine problem, and truthfully, an engine swap is easier to do than a transmission swap. 

The car wasn't worth a lot of money before this happened, and now the value has dropped down to the scrap level. 

The strange thing is that the car runs great, doesn't smoke, and idles smoothly. 

I received some suggestions from my AACA forum members. Someone recommended checking the EGR system, another told me that O2 sensors can go gradually bad without throwing a code. Maybe, my first job will be to clean the MAF sensor, I've already put a couple of hundred miles down, using up the old gas, and added another half tank of gas, plus Techron. 

While I am quite concerned, it's not the end of the world. I really don't need this car to be in service, so there isn't any real pressure to come up with a solution. That means that I don't have to immediately spend any money on it. It can wait, I can take a careful, measured approach, and the car can sit in the garage while I decide what to do.

This is the first time that this has happened to me. I have owned this car longer than any other before, and it has the highest mileage. That's not completely true, my '97 Explorer was bought with over 235K, with a clean smog certificate. It was smogged two years later for the registration renewal. Not to say that I wasn't sweating that one out. I'm sure that many other enthusiasts have been in this same spot. That's why most car guys will choose a '75 or earlier car, that is not subject to smog testing in California.

Updates will follow.

This is a black cloud hanging over my head, but I'll deal with it as the situation develops. I've got other projects that I'll be working on in the meantime.

 I just took my first top down drives of the New Year.

Not my actual car, but close enough

The first was in my '06 Mustang. I had changed out the MAF sensor and wanted to take a longer test drive before I called it good.

I took the '06 up through Los Gatos and Saratoga in a 50 mile loop. On a beautiful, clear, sunny Bay Area winter day. It was still pretty cold, so I kept the heater turned up. 

During the drive I was reminded of how much I like this model Mustang. It combines the comfort of a personal luxury car, with the performance of a true GT car. The styling is the perfect homage to the first generation of Mustangs and it satisfies my desire to own a classic older Mustang. I was pretty lucky to find this particular car, I had almost given up on locating one. Then I found one in this great color combination in great shape with relatively low mileage. 

This on the other hand, is my actual car
taken over ten years ago in Pacific Grove.

The second drive was a day later in my '96 Mustang.  As I've written, it failed the smog test last week. It had been sitting almost four months, with only a little fuel in the tank. I took it straight to the test station which might have been a mistake.

I wanted to put on more miles and burn up some gas, so I drove the '96 out to the Casa de Fruta then into Hollister and back. Another beautiful but chilly day. I wanted some higher speed running and kept it to 70 mph, with a few bursts to 80-90. My plan was to heat up the catalysts and burn them clean.

My '96 is like an old friend. It's a cozy, comfortable, mellow little car that has plenty of performance that doesn't overwhelm the experience of driving it. A perfect car for top down touring. I have to admit that I don't put the top down as much as I used to, or should. 

I didn't see any other convertibles with the top down. In fact, I didn't see any other convertibles at all. 

Which is not surprising, it seems that convertibles are just not as popular as they used to be, 

Which is a shame, top down motoring is a real treat. Early automobiles were all open cars and driving a convertible is an experience that ties you to the roots of motoring.

As a former motorcycle rider, I liked travelling out in the open, it really makes you feel connected to the environment. Of course sometimes you don't want to feel that connected; like when it's too hot or cold, or raining. 

Then again, it looks like motorcycling is not that popular either. 

Now it seems that some people are gravitating towards three wheel vehicles. Some with two wheels in front.

Some with two wheels in the back.

I have to respect a guy that doesn't want to call it quits with his GoldWing

.

These trikes are for the motorcycling diehards. Most are conventional motorcycles that have been converted into a trike. Spiritual descendants of the old Harley meter maid three wheeler. These seem to appeal to an older demographic, or to those that have physical limitations that prevent them from balancing a 700-800 lbs. machine at stops. I have never seen the appeal of these things, but I have a buddy who told me that he would choose one of these when he gets too old to ride his Harley safely. 

The other traditional design is the motorcycle plus sidecar combo.

"Gimme a hacksaw, I'd rather ride alone."

This was a utilitarian adaptation that allowed greater flexibility and utility to the rider, It has been more popular in Europe but was quite popular here in the beginning of the 20th Century. Most combos were  the sidecar attached to a conventional machine. One popular modern machine has a driven third wheel which makes it similar to a trike. Conventional sidecars take a lot of practice to master. I spoke to a rider of a new BMW rig and he was very enthusiastic about the set up. The side car was very plush with a radio and a detachable hard top. Again I have to ask myself, "Why?"

The Can Am looks like a regular motorcycle with two wheels attached to the front. It appears to be the sportiest of the bunch.

The rider sits on a regular motorcycle seat and steers with regular handle bars. The front track is similar to a compact car, so splitting traffic is out of the question. When I pointed out one in traffic to my Wife, she asked, "What's the point of that?"

Good question. But take a look at the following item.

"Mister, I think your car is missing a wheel!"

Even worse is the abomination known as the Sling Shot. It looks kind of like a mutated, mechanical scorpion. Imagine the front half of a Miata attached to a single driving wheel in the back. The driver and passenger sit in regular automotive bucket seats, and the driver uses a steering wheel. From what I understand these are pretty fast, though I would imagine that they are also pretty traction challenged!

Again one might ask, "What's the point?"

These are legally considered to be motorcycles, so the rider and passenger are required to wear helmets.

I can tell anyone that has never ever experienced cornering a motorcycle in a perfect arc through a curve, that these three wheelers will never be as satisfying. I rode motorcycles for over thirty years, a three wheeler isn't going to replicate that experience, and they aren't really any safer than a regular motorcycle. My concern with motorcycles isn't about possibly going down in a curve, it's about being hit by a car! Truthfully, nothing but being in a car with seat belts and air bags is going to make a difference. Even that, can't guarantee that I wouldn't suffer some injury. I guess I feel that I'm too old and have a history of previous injuries, where I'm not willing to take the chance. 

It's all about the balance.

On the other hand, guiding a good handling car through a series of curves has it's own grace and appeal. The Mazda Miata has delivered a lot of motoring happiness and satisfaction to an awful lot of motoring enthusiasts. At one time, there were lots of British sports cars that provided the template for the Mazda. There are still lots of fans of these British roadsters. Count me a fan of the Triumph Spitfire.

Convertibles have always provided sporty open air fun, and you can choose your favorite model. I've settled on the Mustang. If a convertible isn't right for you, then I would choose a car with a moon roof. I've got two other cars with moon roofs. I occasionally drive those with all the windows down.

It's not my intention to criticize other rider's choices.  Everyone should follow their own path. For myself, I think that once you can no longer lean a machine into a turn, you might as well ride on four wheels. You don't have to wear a helmet in a convertible, and can enjoy a completely unobstructed view. 

In any case, Spring will be here soon. Time to get out there and Drive.