“Indie 500” is the name of the race they’re talking about. They’re saying it was exciting because cars were passing a lot and the finish was super close.
A “T-bone” crash is when one car hits the side of another car. It’s usually the kind of impact that’s hard to avoid once the cars are in the wrong positions.
The “Coke 600” is a big NASCAR race that’s 600 miles long. Sometimes it gets shortened if it rains, and there are often caution periods. The hosts are talking about how this particular Coke 600 went and what made it exciting.
“Rain shortened” means the race got cut short because of rain. Instead of running the full distance, they ended it early for safety. The hosts say it was only cut by about 10 laps, but it still changed how the race felt.
A “mile and a half track” is a NASCAR oval where one lap is about 1.5 miles. Cars often need a specific balance to do well there because the corners are long and fast. The hosts are saying this car is especially strong on that kind of track.
They’re talking about special race-day moments honoring Kyle Bush. These are usually emotional ceremonies shown during the broadcast. The hosts say it was done thoughtfully given what happened.
A caution is when the race slows down because something happened on the track. Everyone drives more slowly until officials say it’s safe to race hard again.
Chevy (Chevrolet) is a car brand that races in NASCAR. The hosts are talking about how Chevys were running up front alongside Toyotas, especially around restarts.
Near the end of a NASCAR race, teams have to make a big decision that can change who wins. They might decide when to pit and what tires to use based on what the weather is about to do and how the race is unfolding.
During a pit stop, teams can swap tires. “Two tires on” means they only change one side (two tires) to save time, which can help them get back on the track ahead of others.
A restart is when the race goes back to full speed after a caution. The order cars line up in matters a lot because it affects who can accelerate and pass first.
At certain points in the season, the standings get “reset” so the race for the next phase stays close. It gives more drivers a chance instead of one person running away with it early.
Phoenix is mentioned as another race stop where the speaker hopes a driver wins. Phoenix races are typically held on an oval track, which changes tire wear and driving strategy compared with road courses.
The gauge cluster is the dashboard unit with the needles and warning lights. They took it out and tested it, and some gauges work while others don’t, which helps narrow down what’s broken.
A voltage regulator is a device that makes sure the gauges get the right amount of electricity consistently. If the alternator’s voltage changes, the regulator smooths it out so the needles don’t bounce around.
A bimetal spring is a strip made from two different metals that bend when heated. In this case, the heat makes it switch on and off to keep the gauge power steady.
The alternator is what charges the battery and powers the car’s electrical system. As it changes how much voltage it outputs, the gauges can act weird unless something smooths that voltage out.
A spare cluster is a replacement instrument cluster used for diagnosis or as a temporary fix. The host buys one “supposedly tested and it works” so they can quickly swap it in and determine whether the original cluster/voltage regulation is the root cause.
“True mileage unknown” means nobody can confirm the car’s real mileage. Because of that, changing the dashboard cluster won’t be as big of a concern for showing an accurate odometer reading.
Classic Industries is a company that sells aftermarket parts for car projects. The speaker is saying it’s the source behind the gauge components they’re installing.
“Single DIN” just means a common size for car radios and their mounting brackets. If a gauge holder is “single DIN,” it’s built to fit in the same space where a single radio would go.
A temperature sensor is the part that measures how hot the engine is and tells the gauge what to display. If the thread type doesn’t match, you may need an adapter so it can screw in correctly.
An adapter is a connector that lets two parts that don’t directly fit each other work together. In this case, it’s needed so the temperature sensor screws in correctly.
That “5/8-18” is the exact screw thread size on the sensor port. If your new sensor uses a different thread, it won’t screw in unless you use the right adapter.
“Red blocks” is a nickname for a Volvo engine family. Here it’s used to say the adapter is made for that specific Volvo engine/head so the temperature sensor can fit.
This is the thread type used on many GM temperature sensors. The adapter changes the Volvo head’s thread to match, so you can screw in a compatible sensor and make the gauge work.
A power probe is a tool that lets you quickly send power to a wire or component to see if it works. Here it was used to try to get the washer pump to run.
Weber “DCOE 40” is a type of carburetor. The “40” means the throttle opening is about 40 mm, so parts like gaskets and base plates have to be the right size to fit and seal properly.
A base plate is the adapter/mounting piece that sits between the air filter and the carburetor. If its holes aren’t the right size, the filter won’t line up cleanly with the carburetor openings.
A gasket is a thin sealing piece that helps keep air from leaking. If the gasket holes are the wrong size, the carburetor and air filter parts won’t line up right.
Throttle bores are the openings inside the carburetor that the throttle controls. If their size doesn’t match the parts you’re installing, the air filter adapter won’t fit correctly.
On some carburetors, “trumpets” are the intake tubes that help feed air into the carb. They need the right clearance and opening size in the air filter/base plate so everything lines up.
Aftermarket parts are parts made by companies other than the original manufacturer. Even if they’re supposed to fit your car, sometimes the measurements are slightly off and you have to adjust or reuse a different gasket.
The speaker is discussing aftermarket air filters and their compatibility with Weber carburetors. They note that cheaper filters can come with gaskets that have the wrong diameter, leading to fitment issues that may require reusing the correct gasket or modifying parts.
A wing nut is a nut you can tighten by hand because it has two “wings” you can grab. The speaker prefers a faster clip-style fastener for easier filter changes.
Term
itg sausage filters
These are aftermarket air filters. They’re shaped like little “sausages” and are meant to let the engine breathe better while still filtering dirt out of the air.
The Mitsubishi Starion is an older sports car from Japan, and many versions are turbocharged for extra power. Because it’s not a brand-new car, it can require hands-on repairs and maintenance. The podcast mention suggests someone is bringing it to a shop or a knowledgeable person to fix or work on it.
A smoke machine is a tool that pumps in harmless smoke to help find leaks. If something isn’t sealed, you’ll see smoke coming out and you can track down the problem.
In this podcast, “Master” seems to mean a highly skilled air-conditioning technician, not a car. The point is that the person working on the car has special training for the car’s A/C system. That helps when diagnosing or repairing cooling problems.
Here, compression means how much pressure each cylinder builds when the engine turns over. If one cylinder is much different from the others, it can point to an internal sealing problem like a head gasket.
Term
r12
R-12 is the refrigerant fluid used in older car air conditioners. It’s harder to get today, so fixing an old system often means careful leak testing and sometimes converting to a newer refrigerant.
Freon is the special fluid that makes a car’s air conditioner work. It’s put into the AC system, and if there’s a leak you may notice the AC stops working or the refrigerant smell shows up.
Keyed power is electricity that turns on when you turn the key to ON. It’s a way to test a component using the same power it would normally get while driving.
The accumulator is a tank-like part in the AC system that helps control refrigerant flow so the compressor isn’t harmed. It’s often located near the front of the system.
“Sending the head out” means taking the engine’s top part off and having a shop inspect and fix it. This helps the engine seal correctly after a gasket replacement.
The title is the official document that proves who owns the vehicle. If the title info doesn’t match the car’s details, it can slow down or complicate selling.
DMV is the government office that handles car registration paperwork. If they enter the wrong numbers, the title and records can end up incorrect.
Term
mvd
MVD is the local government office that deals with car registration and title paperwork. The host thinks it may have been entered incorrectly.
Concept
DMV car
“DMV car” here appears to mean a car whose mileage history is tied to administrative records rather than a consistent, verifiable odometer reading. The host contrasts it with a “true” mileage car, implying the dashboard reading is expected to align with the documented mileage.
On some older cars, the speedometer doesn’t get its speed electronically. Instead, a cable connects the transmission to the dashboard gauge to show how fast you’re going.
Gear reduction is when gears make something spin slower but with more pulling power. If there’s no gear reduction, the output speed tends to track the input speed more directly.
It’s a set of parts you buy to change a car from using drum brakes to using disc brakes. The goal is usually better stopping power and more consistent braking.
Mounting plates are the parts that hold the brake hardware in the right spot. If they’re put on the wrong way, the brakes can end up misaligned even if the bolts go in.
A bolt pattern is how the bolt holes are laid out on a part. Two parts might share the same hole spacing, so the bolts go in, but the part can still be installed the wrong way.
Rear wheel drive means the car’s power goes to the back wheels. Because of that, some parts around the rear wheels—like brake and wheel hardware—can be different than on front-wheel-drive cars.
Bearings are the parts that help the wheel spin smoothly. If the bearing doesn’t fit correctly on the spindle, the wheel can’t sit right and the brake/rotor setup won’t work as intended.
The spindle is the part the wheel bearings mount onto. It’s what positions the wheel assembly correctly, so if the bearing doesn’t fit the spindle properly, things won’t line up.
Kelsey-Hayes disc brakes are a brand/style of disc brake hardware. The important part here is that the caliper and brake lines are shaped and placed in a way that can affect whether certain wheel sizes fit.
A four-piston caliper is the brake clamp that squeezes the brake pads. With more pistons, it can apply braking force more evenly, but it can also take up more space near the wheel.
A brake line carries brake fluid to the brake caliper. If the line is routed in a way that sits too close to the wheel, it can physically interfere when you install the wheels.
To “foul” means something hits or rubs against something else. In this case, the brake hardware is close enough to the wheel that it can interfere and cause fitment problems.
Aftermarket wheels are wheels you buy from a company other than the car maker. They can be shaped a little differently than the factory wheels, so they sometimes need extra fitting work to clear brakes or suspension parts.
OEM just means the factory-made part. The speaker is comparing the aftermarket wheel to the factory wheel to figure out why it might not fit the brakes the same way.
A “bolt-on kit” is supposed to be an upgrade that installs with basic tools and no major cutting or custom work. The speaker is saying this one is taking much longer than it should.
They’re working on a Ford Mustang. Even though it’s a popular car and people often upgrade parts like brakes, the speaker is saying the install still ran into unexpected fitment problems.
The engine makes power, and the transmission sends it to the wheels. They’re trying to get the car assembled enough that it can start and drive before finishing other systems.
Fuel injection is how the car delivers fuel to the engine. The speaker is excited to learn the wiring and setup details because getting it right is what makes the engine run smoothly.
Wiring options are different ways to connect the electrical parts for the new setup. The speaker is trying to figure out the cleanest and most reliable way to do it.
The wiring harness is basically the car’s electrical “wire bundle.” A stock wiring harness kit means using a replacement that matches the factory wiring layout, which can make troubleshooting and repairs easier.
The idea is to buy a car that still has most of its parts, even if it’s not working. That way you don’t have to hunt down every missing piece, but you may still replace parts that are too rusty or damaged.
An ultrasonic cleaner is a machine that uses sound waves in a cleaning liquid to scrub small parts clean. It’s useful for restoring parts so they look better and fit back together properly.
LIVE
1000 cars sir you have a thousand cars I don't think I'd attempt to try this
stunt or we owe this horsepower to Uncle Sam's too big a car like I put my beer belly on
it yeah you can't immediately tell somebody how many cars you have you'll
really give those up at a yuppie something to think about stay on the bar
don't go off the bar with your Bronco 1980 Volvo horns what's right man's
coolant he's like oh I thought I'd be small it's for a small car and oh yeah
but it's still an automatic transmission they're never gonna be light
it's definitely gonna have to crash starting off with Brad by another car
that's the West you know is this a Nigerian oil print I also wish you drove
a tan Camry anyways that's a very horrible podcast content very inside
they'd love to be driven hard
welcome back to Auto Off Topic hello Brad even better how are you to be honest
not great okay I'm alright yeah I mean from talking to you earlier it sounds
like I'm doing a lot better than you actually so yeah I just been under the
weather this week it's not gonna it's not been a fun week so I'll spare you all
the gory details yeah so not a lot of project car work or no you did some
earlier over the weekend I did some stuff this past weekend yeah so I guess
something to talk about at least all right yeah and pretty much sleeping
otherwise so yeah like we talked about it was a big racing weekend right so I
didn't watch the iPhone race I know you probably didn't because I don't know kind
of a it's probably boring I know it's interesting that it's not it normally I
feel like it was Monte Carlo but it's not it wasn't Monte Carlo it was
something else instead I don't know why but you mean this past weekend is
normally a Monte Carlo weekend it's normally Monte Carlo any 500 Coke 600
but it was some other Grand Prix I don't aware as I wasn't following it
worst podcast on F1 ever it's good thing about an F1 podcast exactly but
Indie 500 was pretty darn good yes it was one of the best I've ever watched
some were really good racing and they didn't really get did they have any
there but I kept talking about the rain coming but it never came yeah yeah so
yeah there was a lot of the big thing it was like so much passing like that was
what was really cool what was it like I mean it was the record for the most ever
in that race was it 70 I don't remember the number but it was the most all-time
so I know at one point with you know a good amount of laps left and it was up
to like 55 and just watching those guys make runs from like it was what was
impressive to me was the third to first passes I mean did you watch yeah his
names escaping me now I'll figure it out in a minute but there was one
particular driver who passed like half the field in one lap
car daily daily I was gonna say it's daily yeah yeah he just it was like it
was like playing a video game on easy yeah just just drove by them all like
nothing it was wild I still don't even 100% understand how he did it yeah but
yeah that was that was a really good race I really enjoyed it the finish was
incredible so close and just watching the car like just watching them all battle
and how they dart out and try to block each other and block runs and you know
the first and second place guy trying to block each other and the third place
guy is like slingshot engage these like suddenly in first yeah crazy so yeah that
was um that was really impressive I I'm glad it was good race unfortunately I
actually missed it I think I took we're watching it and the house and I took a
quick break to take a shower and I missed what happened to Catherine leg but I
guess she wrecked but she was trying to avoid another wreck yeah somebody spun
in front of her yeah instead of t-boning them she put it in the wall yeah so
unfortunate I really wanted to see your complete that race because she did
complete the coke 600 which is cool so she did was like 12 laps down
or something but she did it yeah so you could believe more laps than Carl
Larson Carl Larson last year yep and when it was Felix Rosenquist Rosenquist
there's so many like I said there's so many quits Dutch the tracing drivers yeah
he was pretty stoked I guess he just had like a baby it's pretty cool like like
a couple weeks ago and then you know boom and dad and then you win the new
500 it's pretty wild yeah it's pretty well pretty wild super cool to see a
first-time winner of the about to yeah well there was need to see another it
was I wanted come it came down the last the guys that were trading first and
second or it would have been first-time winners right yep I can't remember the
second place driver was right now because I don't normally follow the
series my Lucas I think so yep yeah yeah so yeah overall it was really good
race it basically just made me I want to go back and see it again live that was a
cool experience it's such a cool vibe there so yeah it's a good time
I enjoy it so would you say about the coke 600 I was also a very good race I
mean it was it was rain shortened which is unfortunate but it was still a good
race it was only rain shortened by like 10 laps but they had quite a few
cautions and it was a little awkward with some of the stuff but the that car
just runs so good on a mile and a half track it seems to be its best track set
up is the mile and a half track for sure I will say so watching it the beginning
opening stuff with all the tributes for Kyle Bush that was that was pretty
incredible I yeah it's kind of hard to watch yeah I mean considering the
circumstances that was really really well done and really thoughtful and nice
to see everybody because you know it's funny we must have missed most of his
career because we had we've been out of the we sort of left NASCAR in like the
2000s when he kind of came in yes for sure and kind of my only experience of
really watching him the guy was just an absolute menace on the track like just a
complete like jerk would win a lot pre current gen car so you know certainly
had the skills to back it up but you know in recent years was really just like
seemingly fighting with just boop on the back which is kind of felt a little
weird but turns out to find out he was a really nice person off the track yes
yeah very film film tropic yeah and also support of other racers and stuff
which made the win for Daniel Swar is very special because I guess he helped
Daniel Swar is out a lot when he first came into the sport which is pretty cool
he also gave Wallace his chances in the early days as well yep so you know
overall really tough loss it's gonna be you know interesting you know somebody
an interesting stat that that race was the if you were born after 1979 that is
the first race you've ever seen without an urn heart or a bush in it
that's a wild fact that I had not heard yeah wow that's crazy yep and RCR has
retired the number eight for the time being saving it for brexton yep so it's
a bit it's not gonna be run by any adults until he has the option to run it if he
makes it up series which is a potential because he's already racing and he's
11 so yeah but yeah so the race was pretty interesting it had a couple
cautions red flags for rain I think it was the end of the second stage I
think it was car caught fire that was a little awkward like he was just an
also ran he's a dude who doesn't run very often yeah he only runs a selected
events I could remember his name either Tim something yeah but he came in right
before the stage when the pits are open and the car caught fire and the state
you know they close the pits and the stage ended and then they couldn't bring
the cars in because they're trying to burn his burning car was in the way yeah
so that like sort of delayed the race a bit so he also was not
in his own pit box yeah so they had to make sure they really cleaned up the
pit box that his car burned to the ground in because you know it would have
made it unfair for whoever had to pit there yeah it means I know slide on the
dirt pieces and yeah fire retardant stuff so yeah yeah so that was you know
that was interesting to see just people complaining about watching Indy 500 with
no stage breaks and then NASCAR stage breaks which I don't really mind doesn't
bother me anymore no I'm totally fine with it because I like the like the
regroup I like the rewreck I like and the new strategy that it brings to the
racing with the you know do you stay out and get stage points or do you come in
and flip the stage to get your tires and not have to pit after the stage ends so
it's a whole new extra bit of strategy involved now so I like that a lot it
gives it gives people a chance to come up from the back where they might not
otherwise because no matter how good of a drive you are or how good your car is
if something happens and you wind up in 30th it's real hard to get back up to
the front I don't care if you have the fastest car on the track you still get
to pass 29 of the cars yeah so if you have that opportunity to flip the stage
and go in before change your tires and then not change it afterwards wind up
you know the head of the pack afterwards then it's a good way to do it I
think yeah and speaking of like my son's favorite driver Joey Logano who's
having a terrible year was like started like a bad remarko but I don't feel bad
as a fan because I don't like Logano no but he started like 35th and then
somehow by the end of the race made it up to the top 10 in fact when I bought
your son the Logano transport truck for his birthday yeah really hard time pulling
the trigger yeah I want to buy in this he loves it so yeah and unsurprisingly the
Toyota's were dominant for most the race and you had what handling up there
reddick but then it was right all yeah and like then it's like the rest of the
Hendrick cars except for Carl Larson were like several laps down it just doesn't
make sense and they're having a rough year yeah and then you know car
was able to get taken out he got into a wreck with Blaney that was a hard hit so
they're both out of the race Blaney's had some bad luck
Corners Hill just had some terrible luck everywhere outside of you know like the
O'Reilly series and so like it was like all Toyota's there's a couple of
Ford's up there but it was like you know Larson had a fast Chevy and then
surprisingly you've got I mean is it really surprising the guy's been working
on his racing like definitely spending time on it SVG was up there running top
10 most the race top 10 all day yeah so it was like them and then sort of some of
this the spire cars were starting to sneak up and that's where we get into
late race strategy call there was I forget why the cost came out well maybe
it was for rain but they knew rain was coming right and there were a few rain
cautions so the number seven of Swara's came in
everybody else puts four tires on his team is looking at the radar they make
a call to put two tires on gets out of pit lane first and then ends up with
Larson behind him on the restart of course it's two Chevy's and you've got
Toyota's so you know you know they're not team cars but they are manufacturer
cars so I thought it was cool that you actually got to see him like you had his
hand out the window like hey push push push so like Larson pushed him got him
out front so that I think was Redick was on the outside couldn't get a run on
him or maybe it was Hamlin erratic or Hamlin depending on which restart you're
talking about yeah but that's the thing he made it through two restarts
sure and you're like okay and then they were they definitely took a gamble on
this and then it came down to I think there was like 10 or 12 laps left and
it just started down pouring so they red flagged the race and it was like it was
funny because the announcer they're like are they gonna call it and then all
of a sudden they were like yep they called the race and you're like oh okay
that's awesome so sure he was even out of the car yeah so and it was pretty cool
actually because it turned out like the last race that Kyle Bush won in the
truck series was an ever-seven truck and then Swares runs the number seven and
he said he won it for Kyle Bush so a friend of his so that was pretty cool
happy to see which I feel any driver would have to say I would too yeah it's
also good that he did it yeah but it was it was cool to see Swares win he was he'd
been he was he was I don't want to say oh to win but he's been working for a win
for a while well he deserved it yeah even if it wasn't a full race whatever but
well the funny thing is that people always say whenever it's a range or a
race oh he didn't deserve it you know he didn't run the whole race but he was
there when the race finished like he was at the top and it wasn't like he didn't
work his way to be there you know it was it was between the driver and crew chief
they made a bunch of crazy good calls and there they are so two good restarts
and he did it so could easily been a Toyota in the front if he messed up the
restarts 100% and honestly I mean the only the only thing I would say that he
got a little bit of luck on his side was when the rain started Hamlin if Hamlin
had another lap Hamlin would have been in front of him oh yeah with the four tires
versus the two but because he was pretty much it was you know he was halfway down
his quarter panel probably yeah when the yellow came up yeah so but that's the way
it shakes out so yeah 100% and I think I think SVG ended up like 11th which is
pretty good so yep you know they're already talking about top 16 towards the
end of the year so a lot of it I think you know going back to the chase was the
right move there's a lot of really deserving drivers now in the top 16
that have done really well and been really consistent so it's nice to see
that right it feels like it feels better that this stuff's like consistent
driving is being rewarded versus just win one race you're in and then you can
just coast for the rest of the season so yep when does it guarantee you play
off this time no so I think we're seeing a lot better racing because people are
really pushing to be up the front and get stage points and now winning five
races does pretty much guarantee you're in yes yes and then continuing to place
high week to week yeah is his points spread he's over a hundred points over
second place and then the rest of like second through 20th is separated by
less than a hundred points so then they'll reset that I think it goes from
like 2100 to 2000 points when they'll reset it so yeah I don't know the numbers
something like that that should be interesting but you've got you know
we'll be in San Diego we've got another road course so that road course coming
up I think there's one or two more that's like three weeks away so there's a
pretty good chance that SVG will be in the top 16 I don't think there's a
chance he won't be no and honestly I think he's gonna win a race this year
at oval yeah that's what I mean an old worries yeah I would lose my mind if it
happens when I'm at New Hampshire so yeah that'd be cool but your sake I hope
it does for my sake I hope it happens in Phoenix yeah so yeah that was a that was
really good race it was long though that was a long race it was like five hours
of that was very long they're actually four stages which is what more than
usual yeah and it was on Amazon and coverage is like so much better in fact
they also like that the last quarter of the last stage they are less half of the
last stage they went commercial free I mean it's a subscription service I
commercial free but yeah listen I'm yeah 100% I got home because I didn't watch
the race live so spoiler alert I was doing project care updates but when I got
home to watch the race I was furious because it didn't record and then I
realized it was on prime yeah actually had Naomi search for it on the prime
because that's not a little manner there the prime I had Naomi search for it on
the prime yeah because I didn't want to like accidentally find out who won and
sometimes you turn the TV on and the smart TV side like the home screen it's like
here's YouTube here's Amazon here's Hulu and Amazon would like sorry I mean YouTube would
show me who won the race or something so yeah thankfully she found it for me and I was
my TV does not scroll very well doesn't give you the little preview to see what you are so
you kind of like have to hit it and then stop and then maybe I make it through the commercials
maybe I don't it's kind of annoying but on crime yeah yeah the fast forwarding is infuriating
yeah because it goes on my TV anyway it goes 10 seconds at a time yeah but if you hit it too
many times now it goes times two times three times 10 and then it's almost impossible to slow back
down again and you don't know how far you've gone yeah it's that's that's my biggest complaint
a you're right a subscription service should not have ads number one and then number two
the fast forwarding needs to be fixed and it was also you know it's bittersweet but I think
having it on prime they did a much better job honoring Cowboys than I think Fox sports would
so the broadcast had an entire hour dedicated to him before the race started so that was cool
and it was super cool that his brother put out eight roses on the number eight during the race
and after the race was over all eight roses were still laying in the same place
which is wild because normally cars go sliding across the infield and
but they never got hit at all so super cool
but anyway that is our race coverage for this week so now you can fast forward or not be fast
forwarding put a marker in this is where you to start listening yeah all right project
updates I've been working on the Volvo so close so close to drive it I mean it would you would
drive but just try to finish up a few details to make it better to drive mostly the gauges are
being weird and not working all the grounds are good I took the cluster out my dad and I were
were fiddling with it testing it and got the gauges to sweep
and I thought maybe you know it's got that the voltage regulator in the back of the cluster
to prevent the gauges from jumping around from the alternator charging and like the voltage
moving around it's like this little it's actually a bimetal spring that heats up with 12 volts and
then puts out it heats up like opens and closes and basically gives out an average
of five volts to feed the gauges it's kind of crazy like that just mechanical thing is probably
been working maybe for 40 years 50 years and seemingly when we first had that car running
the temp gauge was pegged I don't know if that what like ruined it maybe but now we plugged it in
we checked it we got him to sweep it just won't they won't do anything fuel gauge won't do anything
plugged in so maybe the fuel's sending in it in the tank is bad I haven't checked that yet
but the gauge cluster has no lights they're not working they all seem to not be blown out
temp gauge doesn't work at all it's very weird so I there is a way that you can build a digital
version of that voltage regulator for very very cheap so maybe I'll do that but in the meantime
I bought a spare cluster off ebay for a decent price supposedly it was tested and it works
so I can at least plug that in and see what happens and the car is already a true mileage
unknown car anyway so it doesn't matter it's gonna solve its title I might just if that cluster
works I'll just run that cluster and then I won't feel bad if I want to take
apart this other voltage regulator and put a digital component inside of it I just wanted spare
parts to work with and just the other thing too looking at when you look at my gauges the fuel
needle is like buried all the way to the left you can't even see it and in the one I bought it's
the gauges up where you can see it like kind of where it should be at rest I think so I think this
cluster is maybe not good in my car interesting though so we'll see I'm gonna play with it and
hopefully get that working because I definitely need a fuel gauge the temp gauge I'm not as
concerned about because I ordered another moon eyes gauge which was made by classic industries or
classic instruments to match my oil pressure and volt meter and I got a it's pretty neat this
single din three gauge holder it actually fits perfectly in the hole that was cut in the dash
for the single single din radio that was in there and it angles it towards me the driver seat
yeah I saw the pictures it looks pretty good it does look really good actually
so the only tricky thing I had to order an adapter because the temp sensor in the head
Volvo used a 5 8-18 thread so not pipe thread completely non-standard thread for a temp sensor
so luckily and I have to admit I ended up using Google Gemini to find this because
Google search doesn't work that well anymore because it's for reasons I mean Google Gemini
and Google search kind of the same thing now they're both AI based so basically Gemini works
is better search which is annoying I don't want to go on that road right now well let me take a sip
of my water before you use it all for your search in the little parts but it pointed me in the
direction of finding on eBay somebody makes a custom adapter for Volvo red blocks that adapts
that 5 8-18 thread to the 12 millimeter GM thread so that you know classic industries
classic instruments makes a sending unit in that GM thread pattern so I can
bolt the sending unit into that and then bolt that into the head so that'll work out really well
so I'll just have the temp gauge will be on the other gauge
so not to worry about solving that problem I just want a working fuel gauge
so I'm waiting for those parts to come in I actually have the gauge today
the standard of course the standard sensor yeah that comes with
sending unit sensor is 3 8 so I have to buy a separate GM style one from them
we'll say that a working fuel gauge is not as necessary as long as you have a working odometer
yeah so that I don't know if the odometer works I hope it does we'll see
it's usually easier to fix yeah so that's pretty much where
I think that's pretty much where we're at oh the washer pump right so the washer pumps
uh it was it's got this weird setup where it's got a bottle and the cap of the bottle
actually huts the motor for the washer pump and it drives this shaft that to this little impeller
that is in the bottom of the tank so it's all this integrated unit and of course it was burned
out it doesn't work I tried to get it to move I put some WD-40 in it some contact cleaner and hit
with power probe and it kind of wanted to move but was jammed up it's rusty and that sort of
explains why the previous owner had a aftermarket one kind of taped to the side of the windshield
washer tank and wired up and of course it's got the nozzles cut into the hood super annoying but
whatever um I'm like well in Massachusetts I need working squirters to get a sticker so
I'm like well I'm gonna figure this out so VP auto parts has a bottle and the pump it's like 200
bucks something like that kind of sucks because they don't make the pump anymore so I was doing
some more searching looking for it I used Gemini again because it's better search
it ended up finding me the factory part number or searching that I found it on ebay under this
listing for like $85 no pictures at all like it said it was a brand new inbox I'm like well
I'll take a gamble on it if it's not right I'll just return it or whatever even though
sellers say you can't you definitely can't through ebay because that's you're buying
through ebay not necessarily through the seller right um so I took a chance on it I got a few days
later sure enough it is an nos brand new inbox Volvo OEM windshield washer pump like perfect
score like mint yeah I was shocked because they use these in the 140s and then later in early
240 wagons as the rear washer motor so um yeah pretty cool um so that's all set I just gotta
like plummet but uh that's good to go and then oh I put different air filters on which I'll
one because one was on a back order last reading the same part yeah so the base plates are the same
the foam is the same annoyingly actually I need to email them about this
it's itg which is a good filter company it's a base plate made for dcoe 40s like standard dcoe 40s
matches that Weber base plate the gasket that it came with the openings for the like um
for the uh bores so the throttle bores so whatever you want to call it
blanking now where you put the trumpets are that should be the yeah that should be I think the
overall bore should be 40 millimeter that's why it's called dcoe 40 yeah what makes sense the gasket
holes are like 38 millimeter like you don't fit I'm like how could I possibly open this up cleanly
to 40 millimeters without having it look like I cut it with a hacksaw so a dremel with a sanding
bit on it yeah and maybe I'd get it right but this should just be stamped out the correct size
and that's like I'm gonna email them this is this is the world of aftermarket parts right like
every time you buy an aftermarket part that's supposed to be correct there's always that chance
you kind of have to modify it to work I was Naomi was working with her Mustang this week and we've
you know she's learning that from the Mustang parts because it's standard Mustang stuff but at
the end of the day like sometimes things just don't work the way they're supposed to and it's
frustrating but if like these with a car in a minute 40s or the dcoe 40s are even more standard
like they're using so many things um so then I just end up using I wonder if they sent you a set
from a set of 38s but the opening in the base plate was the right thing it was the gasket that was
wrong so like the the trumpets fit perfectly perfectly in the base plate so and then that's
the other thing so for like the much cheaper like $30 air filters I had on there uh I just
used those gaskets and those gaskets are the right diameter so I'm like how can they not get this
right I don't know anyway that was my solution I just used the luckily the gasket on there was
not damaged so I just reuse that but they do fit better uh they give more clearance and I like the
way they work instead of having to spin off one wing nut it's like a quick uh it's like a speed
fastener on it with like a thing and you just unclip it and like fold it down so you had to
it's the way that the the ones are on the um egev weathers fairly a metal clip that goes over the
filter yeah so these two little itg sausage filters which they don't look as vintage but
they look they're like they're functional yeah I had an itg filter on my old yamaha yeah so
but yeah so that's all set up um that's pretty much it I put the you know put the air guide on
top of the radiator like cars pretty much ready to go I gotta get a right battery for it you have
the tires mounted wiring's basically done figure out that cluster and then it should be good to go
so start driving it I think I'll stick around the block today that car is all set
good to do that that's the excellent because that's always a stressful moment in Massachusetts
yeah my local guys recognize me now they're like whatever
bring dots life is good all right so what did I do um I went down to mesa to uh our friend
josh's place um to work on the starion he actually had requested to borrow my
smoke machine to try to figure out why his turboed 2.4 swapped second gen muddy max wasn't
running correctly so I brought my smoke machine down to him and also he is like a air conditioning
master tech so we decided I would take the starion down there and we would do a 2.4 one I'd
help him with his truck you help me with the ac and the starion so success on both parts uh
short version of a long story on his truck uh it was nothing the smoke machine could have figured
out because his head gasket decided to go bad and uh opened up a channel in between the two center
cylinders so that's why it was misfiring because there was 60 pounds of compression in each one of
them and 180 pounds in the front of the rear so that's all better now but um my car took a little
bit of digging to figure out what was going on ac obviously didn't work it was not a priority to
get it ready for the drive in california and out in california I was gonna be driving in you know
70 degree ocean side weather and mountain weather all weekend so it wasn't an issue but here in
phoenix it's going to be 100 soon so figure it was time to get the ac working and we sort of
accomplished that uh I have a bunch of cans uh r12 and the car is an old r12 system so the first
thing we did was pressurize the system and see if it would hold pressure and when we went to test
it right away it already held about three pounds of pressure from before we had even done anything
just like well that's a good sign let's you know drive vacuum out of it put some pressure into
it and see if it holds and it did it held for like a good amount of time like all right well
that's a good sign let's put some free on it and see what happens so he put some free on in it and uh
uh it wouldn't cycle on
so instead of trying to figure it out we're like well we figured it we filled it with free on
we did test the we jumped the compressor to see if it would work initially make sure that it pulled
in and everything was functioning everything was free spinning so we used that same jumper wire
and just ran it to keyed power and put the ac in the car on and the car made ice cold air uh the
on the temp gauge the little ir temp gun it was 29 degrees Fahrenheit so that's plenty cold
but we couldn't figure out why it wouldn't turn on with the switch in the car so
so that was our big our biggest issue to figure out so doing a little digging um most ac
ac systems or all ac systems have a high pressure switch so that if the pressure the pressure is
wrong it says it won't turn on right traced all the lines could not find the high pressure switch
so that's the only thing we hadn't checked to see if that was causing the problem or not
drove the car home with it just run to keyed power and it was ice cold the whole way home
but i did start smelling the free on when i opened the door so i think there's a leak
somewhere inside the car so i gotta figure that out next but when i got home i pulled out the
factory service manual and did i already tell you this andrew where the pressure switch is
is it on the valve on the evaporator it's core on the dash yeah
which is an incredibly odd place to find it normally it's way up front near the the dryer
or the accumulator or somewhere up there um uh anyway it's not it's not impossible to get to
you can drop the glove box and get back there so i will test that but like i said unfortunately
i've been a little under the weather all week so i have not been out there playing with the car at
and i'm not even sure because my whole drive home was interstate and the ac started getting warm
rate when i pulled off the interstate so i'm not sure if it's just the way it was cycling
and the system not working 100 properly or if i ran a free on between the drive home and
josh's house in my house so there's a little more digging to do but the important thing is is that
the ac system works essentially it makes ice cold air um below ice cold air 29 degrees to be
to be factual so it was a very pleasant to drive home and actually josh and i used the car
driving around down there running errands and going out for lunch and uh in the heat of the day
with the sun blaring through the windows it was still very comfortable so the good news is is that
it will work the bad news is is that we're not 100 there yet so a little more digging to do but
we'll get there good news for josh is his truck is 100 fixed and runs so he sent the head out had
a plane and put the gasket in and called the deck um so that's it for the stereo and also i realized
that that's the first time i've driven the stereo since that road trip a month ago
it's been so busy i got put in the garage and i haven't gone to any events and just been sitting
so it was good to get the car back out again and put some more miles on it local miles anyway
so still some more stuff to do with that car but i've been spending all the time in the garage
buffing and cleaning it and i'm still not done it's the car looks pretty amazing um actually
surprisingly multiple people stopped in compliment of the car out in public when i was out for one
day just driving it i mean the car is super shiny and i'm uh super happy with it so i cannot
wait for you to see it andrew so did you have did you see the car when i first got it you're not
been here since i had the car no the last time i was there you had the truck and the truck wasn't
running oh so you've been it's been a while since you've been here mm-hmm so you'll be here next
month and i cannot wait for you to see the car and hopefully by then i'll have the ac fix so you
work on okay also the recor getting that thing ready for the cars and bids auction i submitted
everything to cars and bids and they came back and they're like hey your mileage is wrong either
or your title or your dashboard and i was like okay so i looked into it and it looks like when i
registered the car here the local dmv or here it's called the mvd must have either fat fingered
or switched numbers around uh it's not off by a ton but it's off by enough so the title says
that when i registered it had 84 000 miles on it and the car is 84 300 or something and the dashboard
now shows 83 000 and 300 so it's off by about a thousand miles and it's less than what title says
so unlike your Volvo this car is not a dmv car it's a true 84 000 mile car which i think is important
and i'm trying to figure out how to fix that yes so i talked to them and they're like well just
drive the car a thousand miles i was like yeah easier said than done like when i'm gonna drive
a thousand miles in a reasonable amount of time so i had the idea that i could pull the
speedometer cable from the transmission and chuck it up in a drill and do the opposite of what a
shi used car salesman would do and add miles to the car um a thousand miles however is going to
take entirely too long of a time because the fastest drill i have only spends the cable
at about 57 miles an hour no boy yeah so i would be running my drill for like 20 hours or 18 or
19 hours in order to make that work so that's really not a good option um for a couple reasons
one my drill is battery powered and i would go through a battery an hour two i don't want to
burn my drill out while you're here running for 18 hours and three that's just incredibly
inconvenient i don't want to do that so it would take me daily driving it takes me daily driving
a month and a half to do like a thousand miles so yeah it's kind of annoying yeah yeah super
annoying so i was even talking to them about i was like she can drive to work because i don't
have a commute because i have a company car that i have to drive for work because my work has me out
on the road all day so i can't even like drive the car so it's even harder for me to go a thousand
miles because i never drive the cars you know i probably do 500 miles every couple of weeks
for every week i mean but unfortunately i'm in a company car so
not sure how i'm going to handle this yet um the other option is just to let it run on cars and
bids and just explain the thing away i don't know what kind of the value hit i might take from that
my thought is that might be what i wind up doing because
it's not like it's a million dollar car yeah we're talking a car that's less than 10 grand
so i don't think the hit's gonna be enough to worry about it because the car is super clean
otherwise it kind of speaks for itself otherwise so i think the choice i've made is just to
let it fly so i was very shocked that the drill speed was so so slow compared to
what the transmission speed must be i mean there's no gear reduction either at that point
because you're running right off the drill but still it was a bit surprising that it was like
57 or 58 miles an hour so i don't know we'll see what happens but more than likely you'll see it on
cars and bids with a discrepancy but an explainable discrepancy and hopefully that's fine
whatever i just honestly i want the space more than anything so it is what it is and if the car
sells for six versus nine am i really gonna lose sleep over it i don't think so i think that it's
gonna take that take the chance of it like hopping and being a 15 to 20 thousand dollar sale i think
that chance is gone but i still think it'll go for a decent market value so again i didn't buy
the car to make money on it i bought the car from a friend for a decent price and i'm trying to just
move on to the next owner so i'm not gonna lose any sleep over it because i'd like to make space in
the garage for a couple of things uh one of them being Naomi's busting because she's been working
away on that and as of now she has one side of a suspension in the car suspension breaks the whole
nine so once the second side is in which she's off tomorrow so i assume we'll be tomorrow uh i
want to be able to pull the car in the garage so we can put the motor and trans in the car
yeah oh yeah so i alluded to it earlier um the aftermarket parts scenario
she bought a
disc brake conversion kit for the car and first of all the instructions are horrible
but it's okay we got through it first mistake we realized was that the mounting plates
are stamped l and r but they're backwards oh yeah so that took entirely too long to figure out
well why would you it did make any sense yeah they're stamped yeah yep they're stamped um and
they look and and the the bolt pattern that's on them the four bolt bolt pattern is perfectly square
so they'll go on either side but and the pictures they send in the kit are black and white so it's
hard to really tell which way the flange is facing um so we just had to kind of use some
common sense and figure it out but you got that all figured out the second issue was
obviously you've done a rear wheel drive car as front brakes before usually the rotor
or sorry an older car the rotor has the bearings in it
yeah it's all part of one assembly yeah it's an older style yeah yeah it's the older style
rear wheel drive car yeah so the bearing for the inside doesn't sit tight on the spindle
like the spindle was how many are you gonna say numbers because I don't remember
but say 25 millimeters actually I think it's inch and a quarter is actually what it was
because it's not millimeters because it's an American car get my brain out of the European
stuff um I think it's inch and a quarter and the bearing we had was like almost inch and a half
the outside bearing race fit the bearing itself fit the rotor but the inside was too open
and I was like I don't think that's right I think the bearing obviously has to ride on the spindle
so we're going back and forth trying to make sure we were correct and it's you know I don't
remember but it didn't make any sense to not have it actually ride the spindle I was like well
maybe the outer bearing and the spindle not hold it in place I was like no that can't be right
that's that's not gonna work so thankfully the local rally's has the inch and a quarter size
bearings in stock because they're pretty common for most American cars of that era that's the size
of the inner bearing is inch and a quarter so we're able to get the right side bearings but
that's another two or three hours of frustration right because that all together now this kit
is specifically designed to fit a 14 inch wheel I don't know if you've heard the term like Kelsey
Hayes disc brakes that's what they are that's the style of brake it is so it's a four piston caliper
it has a hose or a brake line a metal line that goes from side to side to make the pistons and
both sides go out but that hose is not very tight sorry that metal line is not very tight to the
caliper it sticks up a little bit and it fouls the 14 inch wheels now is that frustrating 100%
and I 100% blaming that in the company I guess not because they don't know what kind of wheels
you're going to run I guess so the inside barrel of the wheels on her car might be because they're
aftermarket wheels they're the the western vectors so they might have a different style
inner barrel than an OEM wheel does so maybe I won't blame that 100% on them but it does mean that
I'm going to have to figure out a way to either bend them down or take them out completely
and cut a few millimeters off of each end and then reflare them to put them closer to the brake
caliper so a little not quite bolt on but close I guess so it's just frustrating because all of
these things should be quick simple easy like this is a bolt on kit this should not take much time at
all and that one side took you know an entire day because of all the weird little errors that
were involved with the kit we got so that's frustrating especially because it's a Mustang it
should be like super simple everybody does this this is far from a unique situation we're not
restoring a old Mitsubishi or Volvo here it's it's a Mustang but nonetheless that one side is together
the brakes aren't plumbed or anything like that yet they're just it's on the car
the goal is to like I said get both sides put together get the wheels on the car and then be
able to roll it in the garage so that we can start installing the engine and transmission into the car
and have a runner soon so the hope is that by the time the 100 degree weather is gone here
that the car will be running and driving and be able to turn some laps in the neighborhood
so but again she's doing most of it herself and I am incredibly proud of what she's accomplishing
for never having restored car in her life so car is coming out really really nicely nice so
I'll put a picture of it on the auto off topic page maybe maybe tonight or tomorrow
so super cool it's gonna be a good car I'm actually looking forward to learning the wiring and setting
up of the fuel injection setup on the car I think that's gonna be fun so yeah those seem pretty
straightforward though so they do and I that's why I think I'm excited about it because I'm excited
to do a fuel injection swap that is fairly straightforward and learn some stuff about that
so that if I have so that if I actually want to do that on a car that's not quite as straightforward
I'll have some experience already yeah oh the key is going to be just running everything neatly
yes yeah yeah I'm still trying to figure out different wiring options but
yeah I don't know yet because it's a Mustang I could technically we say we could technically get
a full like stock wiring harness kit and just pull everything out of the car and you wire the whole
car probably not terribly difficult but we'll see what we went up all depends on the condition of
the wires in the car currently or still don't look too too bad the only stuff that's been tapped into
is because it was towed by an motorhome the brake lights have been tapped into but oh the van it
seems pretty uh pretty stock so should be good but yeah progress is being made so I think you were
talking about being frustrated that every weekend you're having to spend 30 or 40 dollars on hardware
for the Volvo but it's been the same for us with this car so every weekend it's like oh this hardware
don't get by more hardware back to ace hardware yeah I mean that's the thing about trying to buy
the most complete car you can even if it's broken because that's usually where you save is you
don't have to source all the little stuff but sometimes a lot of issues with what we're doing
with this car is that she replaced so much stuff that we don't want to put the old rusty garbage
hardware back in because it looks trashy yeah yeah that's all that we've cleaned a lot of it up with
the the ultrasonic cleaner um which does a really nice job and she painted a lot of stuff but some
of the stuff is so far gone the car is an arizona car but it did spend a lot of its life laying
in a field and actually it did spend some time in massachusetts when her father was stationed at
Devin's so it does have some winter in it
but it's coming together and it looks really good so I'm pretty happy with that
anyway that's the project her updates in this house yeah that's pretty much it
I think I'm gonna call this an episode my friend sounds good to me
all right so as always um you should come check us out on the discord there's
lots of stuff going on there lots of people working on stuff it's it's warmer weather basically
everywhere and people are working on their projects um so yeah come join our discord
or just follow us on instagram uh on our topic I'm racing anger on instagram uh
brownworth where can they find you they could find me on instagram at tsi ss 350
oh they could find both of us occasionally on scale auto gas doing scale auto stuff
yep all right so keep cars analog and aim theroses
About this episode
Racing talk kicks things off with “Indie 500” praised for “so much passing” and a wreck where a driver avoided a T-bone by hitting the wall. The hosts then bounce through NASCAR strategy—stage breaks, rain red flags, and two-tire vs four-tire calls that shuffle the restart order. Between race recaps, they get hands-on with Volvos: diagnosing dead gauges via a bimetal voltage regulator, swapping an NOS washer pump, and sorting sensor-thread adapters. The episode ends with more garage troubleshooting, from Weber air-filter fitment to brake conversion headaches.
We're back for another week with some casual race coverage and then some project car updates. The Starion got colder and the Volvo moved a few steps closer to being on the road.
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Comments, Questions, complaints; email us at [email protected]
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