1957 Performer Havoc speed boat restoration transom and floor

This is old boat I bought w. my brother Ben for $600 we put in about $900 or so into materials and weeks of labor. When I found it in the classifieds it looked a lot better and I had no idea it had a completely rotten floor and transom. It's been quite a project, but it sure turns heads at the lake and is a lot of fun now. There are only three of these out there to my knowledge. Theres one in Las Vegas NV that is stripped and dry docked, mine, and one fully restored in England http://www.mydadstoys.co.uk/Cars/Performer.htm Ours is the only one of it's color scheme. I also installed in it an ahw- oooo- gah horn I had from a 1912 Dodge to add to the classic nature and character of the boat. The gas tank had to be fiberglassed inside and out. We also created a sight window to view the fuel level from the outside. I didn't get pictures, (didn't want resin all over my camera and then was too pooped to photo) but this project entailed a tremendous amount of fiberglass on the ribs, runners, transom, floor and bow. The entire floor and transom had to be fiberglassed in.

2004 Suzuki Forenza check engine light code P0342

This car had the symptoms of an intermittent check engine light illumination. I was also hard to start in the morning. Fuel economy was decreased and it had a rough idle. I hooked it up to a CAN (computer area network- 0r network of computers) compatible scanner and got code P0342. This indicates low imput from the camshaft position sensor. I did a little checking to verify this and went to work replacing the faulty sensor. I found that AutoZone had it available to order three days out, no one else had it either and they wanted almost $90 for it. The local dealer had it in stock for about $45. The new sensor is slightly different than the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). This is likely to be that the new one is updated and therefore less likely to fail. The car only had 45,000 miles on it and Suzuki wouldn't cover it under the valid power train warranty.
Here's how to replace the cam sensor. To replace the sensor you remove the top engine cover by two allen screws on top. Next remove the air filter box. After that raise or otherwise support the engine slightly to take the weight off the passenger side engine mount. Now remove the fasteners from the top of the mount. The mount may be siezed and require an orange rubber mallet. = P Now you can access the M6 10mm head bolt that secures the timing cover in place. Take it and the plate out. Now you have access to the sensor. Note the whole timing cover doesn't need to be removed. Inside you'll see the bottom brassy metal half of the sensor. There's a special "E" socket required to remove the bolt on the sensor. I say "E" because that's what the sockets say like "E8" it's basically a female torx bit. Torx are like "T55" etc. You can buy a set at your local auto parts house. They look like a star as apposed to a hexagon. BE CAREFUL! While you remove the bolt have a magnet wand right there to catch it. If you don't you could drop it into the timing cover to eat your timing belt. No big deal, just hours of extra labor you don't have to do. (Suzuki engineers actually designed similar traps featured in the Indiana Jones movies = ) Just kidding) OK now you can pull out the sensor from the top and unplug it! You now just need to wiggle the new one in and Indiana Jones that Freaky Deaky "E" bolt back into it. Good luck!

1996 626 oil leak cam seal

This one is a 1996 Mazda 626. It has the 2.5 liter V6 that is also used in the Mazda Millenia and the Ford probe. The complaint was a severe oil leak. I traced the leak from dripping off the oil pan to the inside top of the timing cover. It appeared to be coming from a rubber plug, but turned out to be a bad cam seal on the front bank. The seal was burned out to just a metal shell. The cam oil journal had become clogged due to infrequent oil changes. The customer understandably thought that because other leaks required topping off the oil frequently that that was like a virtual oil change. I don't blame him at all. The trouble is that the filter isn't ever changed either and so the crud accumulates in bad places in the motor. Without lube the cam became red hot and melted the seal as well as severly scoring the cam and the cylinder head. The correct action is a $1500+ replacement of the head and cam. I told the customer I might save the both by clearing the oil journal and cleaning it up and installing a new seal all for $250 with no guarantee. That was several months ago and it's still doing just fine- not leaking at all.
= ) This customer was a gambling man and won!