Project INFINITI Update!

Luis from Safelite with the windshield install at home. 

PROJECT INFINITI (to fix up a car for a young relative) keeps moving forward, which for a car is a really good thing! Hey, it even moves backwards in reverse too! I mean, the CAR goes in forward and reverse, while the project keeps moving FORWARD! Two big steps in today's blog include the new windshield, and doing an alignment. Let's go!

23 years worth of leaves and debris around the windshield wiper motor. 

I really learned a lot watching the windshield job. These two suction cup gizmos go inside the old windshield, and then you wrap a wire around the entire windshield, and one of the suction cup gizmos winds up to tighten the wire and break the seal on the old windshield. GENIUS!

No more broken and chipped windshield!

Hey, that looks like a brand new FUYAO brand windshield!

Installing the new windshield over the new adhesive. Very convenient at-home installation at NMS-North. 

NEW WINDSHIELD!

The background story on this car is that it had what mechanics call "PROBLEMS" and NMS is working to FIX those "problems." With the first object to make the car drive, then drive safely, and finally to drive safely and reliably, we're nearing the end of those steps and getting into the "nice to have" cosmetic appearance phase a bit. As you can imagine, if we'd started polishing the car before the engine was reliable, well, we'd have a nice shiny 23 year old piece of metal that would have been very good at wasting our time!

PROJECT INFINITI on the alignment lift. 
Thanks to York Technical College for the classes, and use of the equipment. 

We're down to a small bit of oil seepage somewhere, so it was time to narrow that down and add some UV detectable dye in the engine, run it to get the dye all through the engine system, and then see if we could spot where the oil might be coming out. No conclusion on this one yet, still testing. I said TESTING, not TASTING the oil. 

After replacing some suspension parts and mounting new tires, it was time for an alignment. Thanks to my instructors at York Technical College, I was able to use their facilities and alignment rack to get the INFINITI within specifications. Oh, an alignment is important when you change the suspension and tires, and it's really nice when you can do it for free! One side note here, just for fun following the new tire install by a shop, I decided to geek out and check their lug nut torque and air pressures. The lug nuts were fine, but let's just say that the tire pressures ranged from 4psi too low to 16psi too high. Seriously. 

A little negative rear camber is OK. 
Thrust Angle close to zero tells you the car's rear wheels are aiming straight down the road. 
Rear Toe is a bit out of spec, but, it's not adjustable. 

With the car running fine for now, and feeling like we're going to really end up with a driver, it was time to replace the windshield. That would be the windshield that came with a long crack and three chips in it. I gathered cost estimates from multiple shops around town, and went with the cheapest one, which turned out to be a national brand, so that surprised me. Lucky for us this car does NOT have any fancy sensors or electronics embedded in the glass, so it was a straightforward piece of glass, which made it more affordable too.  I've read that a windshield with all the ADAS and other technology in it is way more expensive, so we're happy with some plain old vanilla solid glass that you can see through! No, I did NOT lick the glass to confirm it was plain vanilla,  it's just a hunch. BONUS: I noticed the glass came from a company named FUYAO. There is an interesting NETFLIX documentary about this Chinese company that came to the US, and opened a glass factory in a former AC Delco or GM plant, and has now expanded to several plants in the US, including here in SC up near the BMW factory.  NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

Individual rear Toe is red, out of spec, but, the Total Toe is OK! Go figure!

The car has over 160,000 miles, so we'd say "used" describes things nicely. Oh, and it was used by a smoker, so we've carried out some smell abatement and gave the interior a cleaning of the fabric, plastic,  and leather seats to help clear out the stale odor. Brian had already set off an odor eating bomb inside it, and I think that has neutralized a lot of the left over smell. 

At the top of the screen you can see the front wheels Camber and Caster are in spec, and the Toe is pretty good too. 

We prioritized the engine and suspension, then tires, as well as the interior, so with everything there now improved, we've started to clean up the outside a bit and make it look nice.