You may have seen one of these air conditioning recharge kits at your local auto parts store, which usually consists of a recharge hose with a gauge and some refrigerant. The way this AC recharge kit is advertised lends itself to appear as if it will take care of any issue you might be having with your air conditioning system. The reality is that a recharge kit such as the one below will essentially fix only one issue: if the air coming through your vents is not as cold as it used to be.
I always do my own oil changes, so I get to save money on labor. But, I’m also able to take pride in doing the work myself, while knowing that it’s going to be done correctly. In addition to saving money for not having to pay for labor, I like to find deals on motor oil and stock up on them. Each manufacturer has their own price points and you may have your preference for brand of motor oil, but I’ll lay out the best deals that I’ve come across this year. I regularly update this post so that you have the latest and greatest deals that can find on motor oil.
I recently came across some old photos of the first motorcycle I owned. Gosh, memories just started to flood back as I went through pictures of my old 1999 Honda CBR600 F4. I don’t know if I felt so much nostalgia because of all the good times that I’ve had with the bike, or if it was just because it was the first bike I’ve owned. Perhaps it was because of both reasons. Nonetheless, I wanted to reminisce of some of the memorable times I’ve had with my first motorcycle.
Spark plugs play critical role in the engine combustion process by precisely igniting the mixture of air and fuel in order to produce power. There are several different ways of checking and adjusting spark plug gap with various pros and cons of each method. Most commonly you will see coin style and wire loop gauges being used, but feeler gauges are also used too. Here’s a guide to checking and adjusting spark plugs using the coin style and wire loop gauges, which will work perfectly in majority of cases.
The Ford F-150 has a ridiculous amount of different configurations available, so I determined which things I was willing to forego and which things I knew was a must have. After that, I kept my eye on the pricing incentive offered by Ford and did a lot of online research/shopping at various Ford dealerships around my area. Until the purchase was finally made, it was a mad-dash to find the right F-150 as the one I was scheduled to go buy was sold the night before. Luckily, things worked out and I drove home in a brand new 2020 Ford F-150.
If you own a truck and actually intend to use it as a truck, you’ve probably thought about how you’d want to protect the bed of your truck. You might have just bought a new truck and want to protect the paint surface of your bed, or you have an existing bed liner that is worn, or you just simply want a new bed liner. There’s several options out there and it’s important to understand what the pros and cons of these options are, and choosing the best one that fits your needs and your budget.
A mechanics tool set generally consists of the most essential tools you might use. This might be the main arsenal of tools that you might use for wrenching on cars, fixing things around the house, or for working on any other small projects. Some tools that you’ll generally see in these mechanics tool sets are ratchets, sockets, and wrenches. Depending on which tool set you get, you might get more options such as allen wrenches, hex wrenches, and some other bits. Even some kits lean more on the home improvement side and will offer tools such as hammers, adjustable wrenches, pliers, and screwdrivers. Typically though, mechanics tool sets do tend to include tools that are used for working on cars and trucks. The fact that you’ll see spark plug sockets included in these sets reinforces the fact that mechanic tool sets are generally meant for the average home mechanic.
The No Spring Compressor Method is a way of disassembling your coilover or shock assembly without the use of a spring compressor tool. In your coilover/shock assembly, you have a spring that is compressed by a shock between the top and bottom hat, which are connected to the shock. This assembly of shock and spring can be mounted to the frame of the vehicle (via the strut mount on top) and then to the lower control arm (on the bottom). Rather than using a tool to compress the spring enough for you to remove the shock, the No Spring Compressor Method uses the the weight of the vehicle as well as a floor jack, to decompress the spring.
A little over a year ago, I picked up a 2003 Acura CL Type-S as I was looking for a new project car to work on. I honestly wasn’t even looking for a CL Type-S specifically, but I spotted this one on Craigslist with a 6-speed manual transmission. For those who are familiar with the Acura CL, and the Type-S model in particular, you will know how rare it is to find a CL-S in a manual transmission. It is estimated that there were about 2700 Acura CL Type-S cars ever produced in a 6-speed manual transmission.
