The Unofficial "Ask a Stupid Question" Thread

Shit! frpp doesn't sell them, but late model restoration does for 225. IIrc, ou can swap in your airbag, if ou don't like the pony. :)
 
FRPP stopped making them a long time ago, the LMR ones are good quality, only drawback to them is they're simulated leather rather than real leather if that matters to you. They're actually more expensive than the FRPP wheel when hey were new, which was like $150 shipped
 
The're a better alternative to most jy ones I've seen. The one in the tbird was trashed, and spattered found me one, when he found me a hood. He shipped both airbags too. :)
 
I got looking around lmr, and they're promoing the 202x chevron-type led lighting; anyone ever seen those in a jy? They look similar to the hood curve around our headlights; possibly, a modded headlight housing could hold them. That would be a fix for those damned lenses, lol.
 
80% humidity, lots of rain now. I'll try bug/tar remover. Whats a good conditioner
 
Pantene?
:rofl:
IDK, I never found one I'd recommend. I use whatever I use on the seat leather pieces. White bottle. :zshrug:
 
Rainy humid days are when my steering wheel leather would act up. Armorall will help, but anymore I just use griots. I'm sure maguiars would have something good as well.
 
Maguire's used to have a conditioner that was like a lotion. I haven't been able to find it recently, but haven't needed to look either. Maybe it's still out there. It is great stuff.
 
Zep5.0 said:
Maguire's used to have a conditioner that was like a lotion. I haven't been able to find it recently, but haven't needed to look either. Maybe it's still out there. It is great stuff.
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That's what I use should still be available, at least I hope it is
 
Vicinity said:
80% humidity, lots of rain now. I'll try bug/tar remover Whats a good conditioner
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You might consider a product like damprid if you think the high humidity is a problem for the interior. I leave a tub buckled in my back seat, and one in the trunk.

DampRid Moisture Absorber No Scent 2 lb 1 pk Mfr# FG50FFESB - Ace Hardware

DampRid hi-capacity fragrance-free moisture absorber is the fast, easy and effective way to control moisture in large spaces over extended periods of time. It's incredibly easy to use - just remove the lid to activate the crystals and place it on a flat surface. And when the crystals have...
www.acehardware.com www.acehardware.com
 
Do you engine builders have a recommendation for an engine stand? Or brands you'd stay away from?
 
A doubly-stupid question since I know we were just discussing ball joints/control arms somewhere but I can't find the part I was wondering about. So, from what I remember of the discussion it seems like people in the know aren't really sold on aftermarket ball joints/arms that are greaseable, correct? It is the consensus that the OEM design is better? And that also goes for rubber bushings over urethane bushings for those arms?

I need to replace 1 or more ball joints and I was looking online and ran across O'Reilly and they have upper and lower arms from Precision, the uppers are greaseable. It's weird, I thought I'd read somewhere about some supplier making these arms with replaceable ball joints but that doesn't seem to be true? it's the whole assembly or nothing? It's been a while so I might have been looking at the wrong thing back then. But is there a preferred manufacturer for the uppers and lowers (I'm not sure which ones are bad yet)?
 
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I’m generally of the opinion that if there is no hole in the boot for the grease to get out, then there is also nowhere for water to get in, and the main point of the grease is to keep contaminants and corrosion away, so leave it all sealed the way the factory did, and it should be good. Having said that, we are now getting to a point of taking what you can get. Multiple times lately I have ordered full sets of the same brand parts, only to have a mix-match of greaseable and non-greaseable, so now I just order a name brand and take what I get. Lately the Mevotech stuff has been pretty good, just make sure to get the better line cause they are named kind of deceptively. The “original grade” are the cheap junk.
 
IIRC ACDelco was the last company that sold upper control arms with a replaceable ball joint. Last I checked upper control arm options for these cars was limited to cheap aftermarket stuff. We should be glad we can even get some of these parts still.

I read some old pasts on the other site about replacement lowers. A few people were saying the OEM non grease-able ball joints had a better design that helped steering feel... Something about the lining they had :confused: I grabbed an extra set of TRW lowers, they were still available NOS on RockAuto few years ago.

I agree with what Mike said above with regards to sealed joints. Also, an off road vehicle grease fittings can have an advantage.
 
There's a thread on the old site about Mevotech. They've discontinued the Supreme line for our cars. Those had greaseable and serviceable joints. You can still find NOS on the shelves at Napa or O'Reilly if you are lucky but it is getting more sparse. The greaseable RF LCA is just about non-existent now.

Someone with CAD knowledge really needs to mock up some tubular arms with serviceable joints and bushings.
 
Can someone make a napkin sketch? Never done 3D cad but I could try on some odd weekend. Do we need PDFs or do we also need a source model
 
Derphound01 said:
Someone with CAD knowledge really needs to mock up some tubular arms with serviceable joints and bushings.
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You can build anything in a computer ... 🤔

I heard a rumor there was somebody planning on making these out of titanium or something. 🤣
 
Digital mock-up. :rofl:

Although technically you could 3D print any CAD design to test fitment. Once that was confirmed, actual prototypes could be welded or CNC'ed.

This is all in theory, of course. R&D isn't my field. I just fix them when they break.
 
Derphound01 said:
There's a thread on the old site about Mevotech. They've discontinued the Supreme line for our cars. Those had greaseable and serviceable joints. You can still find NOS on the shelves at Napa or O'Reilly if you are lucky but it is getting more sparse. The greaseable RF LCA is just about non-existent now.

Someone with CAD knowledge really needs to mock up some tubular arms with serviceable joints and bushings.
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Now that I'm looking online I see some places saying they carry the Supreme line for the Mevotech arms (upper and lower). I also see greaseable for the lowers (CARiD) and non-greaseable (Mevotech site), same with uppers that are greaseable (eBay). Which ball joints are replaceable/serviceable, the press in or screw in versions? Or does it depend on the arm? Also, do they all share the same dimensions? Meaning, if I actually get these Mevotech arms with serviceable ball joints, if down the line I can't find replacements from Mevotech would a Moog or some other ball joint work or is it time to buy complete assemblies again? I'm assuming the dimensions are the same, similar to how control arm bushing dimensions are the same regardless of manufacturer.

Also, I've seen that O'Reilly has Precision arms that look like Mevotech Supreme arms (blue boots, greaseable) but I actually called Precision and they said their arms' ball joints aren't serviceable.
 
No clue but I do not like them. I ordered a radio cage from them and they cancelled the order without notice. When I asked why, the response was they didn't stock those (even though they happily charged my credit card for it). I told him that was an unprofessional way to do business. His response was to blacklist my username and IP addresses from his site.

I would not touch them with a ten foot pole. It sucks for them too. The same day, they posted a Grade A set of blue seatbelts I was going to order. Their site shows they've still got them, too.
 
My rear seat retractors are shot and won't wind back up.
 
That's usually because they're dirty, I'm sure martin can attest they retract much more smoothly after washing


Tbscshop I always assumed was a SCCoA guy but I don't know anyone who knows him. I'm indifferent, I don't understand his pricing, some common LX stuff is obscenely overpriced and some truly rare SC stuff is oddly underpriced, or at least seems like it is to me, I think the grading system needs work too. But I think I bought sunvisors through their ebay page before and it was a good experience, but most of the time I look there hoping to save a JY trip but am turned off by the price and just wait until I inevitably find what I'm looking for locally
 
They worked when I bought the car. The first time I pulled each one all the way out to install a child seat, they both froze with the belts fully extended. So I am thinking it is more than just cleaning that is needed.
 
The grease in the mech needs to be cleaned out and replaced, just like the seat tracks.
 
I got my SC fog light switch from TBSC shop almost 15 years ago. I emailed them when it didn't work and a guy named Ryan Sunquist replied - I imagine back then he may have been (and still be) the owner. A few years ago they rebranded from Thunderbird SC Shop to TBSC Shop and started selling junk for more than MN12 and FN10s, so I can only imagine he expanded and cares less about individual buyers now due to more volume and less time. Clearly there's no inventory management happening. It's a shame it went downhill because with better management and service it could be a very appealing way to get parts.
 
Derphound01 said:
They worked when I bought the car. The first time I pulled each one all the way out to install a child seat, they both froze with the belts fully extended. So I am thinking it is more than just cleaning that is needed.
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The other thing you can do is add a couple more turns to the spring, it's a delicate process since the spring wants to burst out but if you lift up the edges of the spring casing with a flatblade screwdriver to fully unclip the casing, whilst keeping a firm hold over the case with your other hand you just add 1-2 turns it and that's usually enough to give it a little more returnability if cleaning doesn't work.

There's not much in the way of grease in the mechanism, not in the part that actually effects freewheeling returnability anyway, that's all contained in the inertia casing, I never found any need to mess with it
 
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