Daily Driver Garage: Air Filter Change

How to Change Air Filter in a 2002 Ford Focus

A friend recently needed a couple simple things done to her 2002 Ford Focus. I’m a classic car girl, and so far have almost exclusively only worked on old cars – but I couldn’t turn away an opportunity for learning, so I told my friend I’d look into fixing her problems. What she needed was an air filter change, brake flush, and to replace the sway bar linkage.

Having never looked under the hood of a Ford Focus before, I popped the latch and looked for the air filter. I saw a couple places where I thought it might be lurking beneth, but I wasn’t sure. So to try and make sure I went looking for some answers in her Ford Owner’s Manual. I was surprised to find they didn’t have this basic information! So then I turned to the internet. Again, I was surprised that there were plenty of threads on Ford Forums of people looking for the air filter – with one fellow stating that even the dealership tried to tell him there wasn’t one.

Now…I think some of these people may have been confused between an engine air filter and a cabin air filter…but I followed one guys suggestion that it rest beneath the windshield wipers. Not being able to get the plastic piece off enough to fully access this area, I could see enough inside that although there may be a spot for an air filter, it definitely wasn’t somewhere that led to the engine – maybe it was the cabin air filter. So, I decided to stop looking for answers and instead, looked under the hood again and tried to use my common sense. Sure enough, common sense worked! A few twists of the screwdriver and four screws later, I landed upon the air filter.

Taking it with me to the parts store (reference books are nearly always right, but I just wanted to be sure!) I puchased a replacement filter and exchanged the old for the new. Putting everything back together in the opposite way which I took it apart, the job was done. This job should only take about 2 minutes. The cost of the filter from the auto parts store was $7.99. So the money saved doing this yourself versus at a quick change oil service, or worse yet the dealer, is about $10-15 of savings.

A little bit of learning goes a long way – next time your air filter needs replaced, do it yourself! Not only will you save a few hard-earned bucks, but you can feel like a bad-ass for getting your hands a little dirty!

How To Metal Flake Your Ride

How To Metal Flake Your Car

Just because I love grease, doesn’t mean that I don’t love sparkly things too! Before going to Viva Las Vegas this year, I wanted to add a little bling to my 1955 Studebaker Champion with a metal flake paint job.

Studie and I have been through a lot together in the five years I’ve owned and drove her. I’ve become attuned to her original patina’d coral and white paint job. So originally the thought of changing her exterior in any way made me nervous. But the more I thought about adding a subtle sparkle to Studie’s white roof portion, the more I liked the idea.

Not knowing the first thing about how to paint, I was lucky to have an expert nearby. Pati Fairchild is the newest member of my car club, the Gasoline Girls. She also happens to be a professional paint and body chick who teaches the subject at El Camino College.

After polling friends on Facebook and looking through various paint samples, I paid a visit to Coast Airbrush in Anaheim for my final selection. I went in knowing I wanted an abalone sort of flake that would disappear in the shade but be super sparkly in the sun. The friendly guy at Coast Airbrush highly recommended the House of Kolor Ice Pearl Flake.

I’d had a little experience with Ice Pearl before. Co-Gasoline Girl Lori’s F1 is covered in ice pearl over bare metal – and it’s a crowd stopper at every car show we attend (as you can tell in the picture above!) After being blinded by the sparkling white ice pearl in the sunshine, it didn’t take me long to decide it was the way to go.

With Red and White House of Kolor Ice Pearls Flake in hand, I gathered up my fellow Gasoline Girls. We were all hands on the job as Pati walked us through the steps to give Studie a professional metal flake paint job! They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, so follow along and learn the process in the great video below! (Thanks to Lori for the video skills!)

We ended up doing three coats of White and Red House of Kolor Ice Pearl flake mixed into clear, covering that in two coats of plain clear – for a total of five coats. Pati showed me how to spray as she did the first coat and then I grabbed the gravity feed gun for the last four.

Gun in hand for the first time, I was a little nervous about how to paint. Keeping in mind that Pati told me to spray even and steady, I quickly found a rhythm. The ladies said I looked like a pro. I’ve gotta say I’m looking forward to my next chance to paint!

The Ice Pearl Paint sure does sparkle when the sun hits it right! Although ultimately I might want a heavier metal flake, I think the ice pearl flake was a great decision. It kept my patina’d roof looking just like it always has…but when the sun hits it, watch out!

I’ve still got a ways to go before giving Stude the real body attention she needs. But until then, she’s got a little sparkle inside and out…just like me!

Happy Trails,

Grease Girl

Many thanks to Pati Fairchild, El Camino College, and the Gasoline Girls!

If you know of any young ladies interested in car careers, check out El Camino College’s Women in Technology Program!

Wrench and Learn: Overheating Problems Fixed Roadside

How-To Fix Engine Overheating Problems on the Roadside

What do you do when your car overheats? With temperatures reaching the 80′s this past week in LA, the 383 small block Chevy in my 1955 Studebaker got hot in protest.

Thursday was my first problem. After 30 minutes of freeway driving and 30 minutes of stoplight-and-street traffic, I lost power and came to a stop. After letting Stude cool down, the only thing I noticed upon inspection was that my fluid was a little low. I filled up the radiator with a coolant/distilled water mix and was back on my way, hoping maybe this was all I needed. I got home fine that evening and through the 25 mile drive to work the next day without a glitch. This made me feel better, but I was very worried… Studebaker had a date as a wedding getaway car for some close friends of mine on Saturday. I didn’t want her to miss out on the excitement!

As I pondered what was going on with my overheating, I knew the most likely candidates were the radiator, water pump, or thermostat. I’ve dealt with my radiator and water pump already, so I was pretty sure it wasn’t either one of those. But the thermostat, I didn’t know anything about. Having recently helped fellow Gasoline Girl car club buddy change the thermostat in her 1965 Falcon – I knew it was an easy job.

So when I hit Friday afternoon traffic and my car lost power again, I knew what I needed to try first. Replace the thermostat. Luckily, there was an auto parts near to where I’d broken down.  After letting Stude cool off, I started her up again and got safely to the parts store. There I purchased a thermostat (about $7) and a thermostat housing gasket ($1). While I let Stude cool down again, I used the time to do a little interior adjustments on my wind-lacing.

Pulling out my trunk kit o’tools (always carry tools with you!) I eventually set off to work to change the thermostat.

Before I began unbolting the housing that the thermostat sits under, I just wanted to be certain the car wasn’t too hot. Carefully un-capping the radiator proved that the temperature was sufficiently cooled down so I proceeded to unbolt the housing. It was a very simple 2-bolt job and the housing was off. What I found at that point was that I didn’t have a thermostat at all! I’d heard of cars running without them – a thermostat really just regulates water through the cooling system based on water temp. (Editor’s note: Run a thermostat! Without one, it takes much longer to warm your engine up (if it ever does in cold weather) and when it does, it might not ever cool down as you see here.)

I knew the tricky thing would be to get the new gasket to create a water tight seal. I have trouble remembering what gasket sealer to use for which gasket (if it’s in contact with water or oil for example) so I decided to try it without using any. What I did do was use a screwdriver to clean off the metal surfaces that come in contact with the gasket – leaving as close to a smooth surface as possible… which is a good idea for any place a gasket is used.

I tightened down the bolts snug, but not too tight (I know that on some parts too much torque on a bolt head can cause damage) and started up the engine. Right away a bunch of water was spraying from my thermostat housing. Turning the car off and inspecting led me to quickly realize I had a crack in the thermostat housing!

That crack wasn’t there before… I would’ve seen fluid sprayed all over the engine compartment. It’s possible that my taking the housing off and tightening it back on again agitated a crack already there. Good thing I was at the parts store still!  (I must interject here, I had very good luck with my parts guy today at O’Reilly – good job for knowing that small block Chevy’s come in a wide range of makes and models!) I just walked inside with the old part and had them find me a new one ($8.)  Situations like this are a good example of why I chose to put a common engine, like my small block Chevy, in my daily driver classic instead of rebuilding the original Studebaker one!

As I waited yet again for my car to cool down before putting the new thermostat housing on, I was glad to have a little entertainment with me in the car. My laptop and a Mad Men DVD to watch made the time fly-by… brake downs don’t have to be miserable experiences!

After replacing the housing and doing a little adjustment to stop water leaking – I was finally back on the road!

Within five minutes my temperature gauge was reading at a possibly dangerous level… but this was only guesswork. My temp gauge is the original one with only “marks” and no actual numbers. I’m used to the gauge being at almost the very bottom. When it hits the middle (as it did when I was in 100+ degree weather this summer in Las Vegas) my car shuts down. So when it was at this mid-level within five minutes I was on the ready for another car breakdown.

There are certain sink-or-swim moments when living with an old car, and this was one of them. I wouldn’t know if my car was overheating still unless I kept going. So I kept going… and going… and going. It seems that my overheating problem is fixed! Stude has been fine, even when sitting in traffic!

On Saturday Studie was cool as a cucumber and looking better then ever for her first wedding appearance. She was a big hit at the wedding!

As for the gauge, I’m guessing that adding a thermostat is making my temperature read at a different level. After all… it seems like the middle is a better place for it to rest at normal operating conditions then all the way at the bottom!?! I should add a more accurate gauge that will show me the actual temperature so I can more accurately assess what’s going on with my engine.

I was very proud to be able to do a roadside fix all by myself and be successful! It made me remember my earliest days of trying to learn about cars… I had a couple of very unsuccessful tire changes. Back then I felt I’d never be able to do car work by myself. This experience reminded me how far I’ve come. I’m confident that with a little courage, guts, and thinking I can fix whatever comes my way!!

Until next time,

Happy Trails!

Eight Myths About Car Batteries – Take the Test

Truth about Batteries: 8 Myths Revealed!

1. Setting your battery on concrete will ruin it.
2. An AGM battery is a “gel” battery.
3. If a battery is dead, all it needs is a jump.
4. Starting your vehicle up periodically while in storage is good for the battery.
5. An OPTIMA is ruined if it is deeply-discharged.
6. Only off-road guys care about vibration-resistance in a battery.
7. A longer warranty is always better.
8. Dropping a battery will help break up sulfation and restore performance.

Do you agree?

These are all FALSE!

Start story:

1. Setting your battery on concrete will ruin it.

FALSE! Back in the olden days, batteries had wooden cases, which could expand if they came in contact with moisture, possibly causing damage to those batteries. Wooden cases were then replaced with hard rubber cases. Electrical current could be conducted through those cases, if moisture on the floor allowed the current to find an electrical ground. Modern batteries of today are constructed with polypropylene cases, which is far more insulated than the hard rubber cases of years past. That means not only can you set a new battery on a concrete floor, you can store it there, if the location is also cool and dry. So ditch the 2×4′s, they’re not needed!

2. An AGM battery is a “gel” battery.

FALSE! Although AGM batteries are commonly referred to as “gel” batteries, they are actually absorbed glass mat (AGM) lead-acid batteries. This means you can treat and charge them just like a regular lead-acid battery in most situations. However, some chargers have “gel” or confusing “gel/AGM” settings. Those settings should be avoided, as they will not fully-charge an AGM battery such as an OPTIMA Battery and could damage it over time.

3. If a battery is dead, all it needs is a jump.

FALSE! Most alternators are designed to maintain car batteries, not recharge deeply-discharged batteries. If your battery has been discharged to the point where it won’t start your vehicle without the assistance of a jump-start from another vehicle, you need to make sure your battery is fully recharged with a battery charger as soon as possible. Relying on your alternator to recharge a deeply-discharged battery can lead to a cycle of dead batteries and jump-starts, until either the battery (expensive) or alternator (really expensive) fails.

4. Starting your vehicle up periodically while in storage is good for the battery.

FALSE! If you are storing your vehicle for an extended period of time, the best thing you can do for your battery is keep it properly-maintained with a quality battery tender or maintainer. If that isn’t possible, fully-charge your battery and disconnect it from your vehicle. If you leave your battery connected and start your car up once a month or so, your battery is probably getting slowly discharged over time from parasitic draws in your car’s electrical system and from the energy it takes to start your car. Unless you drive your car for at least 10-15 minutes and a reasonable speed, your alternator may not have a chance to replace the energy used to start your vehicle in the first place.

5. An OPTIMA is ruined if it is deeply-discharged.

FALSE! Deeply-discharging any battery is not a good idea, but deep-cycle batteries are designed specifically to be more resilient in those applications than an SLI (starting/lighting/ignition) battery, which is designed primarily for starting and operating stock accessories. Many battery chargers will not recognize or charge any battery that has been discharged below a certain voltage threshold (usually around 10.5 volts). If your battery has been discharged below that level, you may want to try the parallel charging technique described in the video below. The OPTIMA guys have told us that many of the “bad” batteries returned to them are just deeply-discharged and work fine, when properly recharged. Other folks have apparently figured this out, as we’ve heard stories about folks buying “dead” OPTIMAs, recharging them and selling them at swap meets and we’ve even spotted a few folks selling “refurbished” OPTIMA batteries, which were also probably only deeply-discharged by their original owners.

6. Only off-road guys care about vibration-resistance in a battery.

FALSE! Have you ever watched a drag car pull it’s wheels and slam them back down to the asphalt 60 feet later? Boaters are big fans of vibration-resistant batteries too and OPTIMA batteries are up to 15 times more resistant to vibration than flooded lead-acid batteries. Their sealed design also makes them a safer option if something really bad happens (like an accident).

7. A longer warranty is always better.

FALSE! Not all warranties are created equally. Many warranties are pro-rated, which means the customer pays something when they return their battery for a warranty claim. Some pro-rated warranties start the day you buy your battery, so even if it fails a month later, you have to shell out more cash to get a new battery! Other warranties include specific language that will void your warranty if you happen to deeply-discharge it below a certain voltage level, so it’s a good idea to read the warranty closely before making a purchase. It is also important to remember that unless you were one of those lucky folks who bought a battery from JC Penney with a lifetime warranty, the warranty on your battery will not reset every time you return it. The clock on battery warranties generally starts ticking the day you buy your original battery and while you may get lucky and get a 16-year old kid with one week on the job to give you a new battery after the original warranty expired, don’t count on that always being the case. Most battery companies are willing to take the hit for the first couple of years of ownership, but they don’t want to reward battery abusers with a lifetime supply of batteries or they know they’ll end up like JC Penney.

8. Dropping a battery will help break up sulfation and restore performance.

FALSE! We don’t know who came up with this suggestion, but it is a terrible idea. Anyone who has ever lifted a car battery will tell you they are generally pretty heavy. Drop one on a hard surface and there is a good chance you will crack that fancy polypropylene case. Flooded batteries will begin leaking battery acid all over your floor, although some cracks may not be as noticeable and will wait to start leaking until after you’ve installed them in your freshly-painted engine compartment. Some higher-end battery chargers will have a special “desuflation” mode, which is a far safer and more sensible option. The best way to avoid sulfation is to keep your battery fully-charged at all times.

Disclosure: MyRideisMe.com is sponsored by Optima Batteries.

If you’ve got something to add, we’d love to hear it. Leave your comments below.

Classic Car Insurance – Agreed Value Insurance Explained

Agreed Value Car Insurance – Do it Right

No matter what kind of ride drives your passion, a hot rod, classic car or collector car… or those antique cars that spend most of the time in the garage, we all need a special kind of insurance.  That awful day when you need to actually use your classic car insurance, you better be ready!

I’ll try to help here by answering:

• What is Agreed Value Car Insurance?
• How is Agreed Value Established?
• How does MyRideisMe.com make Agreed Value easy?!

What is Agreed Value Car Insurance?

It’s the leading type of classic car insurance so we should know exactly what it is, right?  I got a little confused when my pops was shopping for insurance for his ’64 Ford Fairlane and ’23 Ford T-Bucket. Another insurance company said, “Just watch out… some insurance companies only say that’s the agreed value…” Is there something tricky going on if the worst happened and my cherished ride gets totaled?
To get the real answer, I went to MyRideisMe.com sponsor and my insurance company, Condon Skelly.

Condon Skelly said:
“Our policies are ‘Agreed Value’ meaning whatever value the insured decides to place on their vehicle and we, the underwriter, agree to, then in the event of a total loss the insured will get that insured value with no depreciating value.”  Pretty simple really… the trick is getting the proper amount of insurance.

How is Agreed Value Established?

“We dont like to under or over insure classic cars. We like to advise clients to insure their cars at the fair market values. If a client is looking to insure over what our sources show we suggest they get an appraisal done on the car. We usually give them a list of what a qualified appraisal should consist of because we’ve received appraisals that don’t give any information! The appraisals will state the inspector has looked at the car and states it’s worth an outrageous value with nothing to substantiate the value.”

This means, don’t pay alot and get nothing… a professional appraisal includes specific details.

In many cases, an appraisal is needed if a radical amount of customization’s been done, but don’t worry… Condon Skelly employs car people that know our parts aren’t available at a local parts house. Replacing even simple things like bumpers and tailights can be a real challenge and cost more.

But sometimes you get lucky!

How does MyRideisMe.com make Agreed Value easy?!

You can use your MyRideisMe.com garage! When I needed insurance for my 1927 Roadster, I needed it within a few days (of course) because my other insurance was expiring and I needed to drive my car.  When I called Condon Skelly and began discussing the agreed value, I simply showed them my garage and that was enough info to establish the agreed value insurance amount.  Piece of cake!  (Click for my garage to see what I mean)

Condon Skelly gave this final advice: “Once an agreed value insurance policy is in effect it is up to the insured to decide when to increase the agreed value to stay with the current market. (see, they get it!) We will advise them they can call us and ask what our price guides are showing.”

To summarize, your classic car insurance is an important decision and you should have all the facts before choosing which company to go with.  Condon Skelly’s made it easy and continues to make it easier.  They can also supply more explanation of the different type of policies out there such as “Actual Cash Value” , “Stated Value” and the Agreed Value policy and more guidance on finding the fair market value of a classic car.

As soon as I can, to follow up on this article, I’ll tell you about what happened to a friend’s T-bucket when he totaled it just a week after switching to Condon Skelly. Until then, read these tips about why I switch classic car insurance.

Condon Skelly is the official classic car insurance company of MyRideisMe.com.

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