I just bought a screaming metal deathtrap

[DuctTapeNinja]

Ok, here's the first thing that told me I really need to redo some of the work that the guy I bought it from (hearby referred to as 'dickbag') did. This is the interior side of the B-pillar on the passenger side.

But it's not the only thing I need to address that dickbag did. When I peeled back the carpet, the doorframe is welded to the floor in a similar (though not quite as bad) fashion. So I started pulling the seats and interior paneling. (free tools from under the seats ftw)

These pics don't really show the craptacular welds well, but I figured I'd post them up anyway. Like I said, they are better than that B-pillar weld, but they need attention. And I don't know if you can make it out at all, but there are sheet metal screws in the floor/doorframe seam as well. D:<

And of course, there's more. Underneath that same seam, there's 3 or 4 places where there's a mini-crossmember under the cab between the frame and doorsill. Dickbag cut those to replace the doorsill/doorframe but never refit them and rewelded them. Sorry for the fuzzy pics.

In the process of removing the interior, I found this:

Damnit, dickbag. There's a reason for that hole, you can't just fill it with bondo. Here's the other side of that 'repair'.

This thing's supposed to go there:

It's a switch that turns on/off the dome light when the door is open/closed. Here's the one from the driver's side.

And of course, here's another example of why dickbag couldn't take this truck to completion. This is one of the 4 bolts that hold the rear seat in.

Thanks, dickbag.

Anyway, now that the teardown is done for the welding, I'm planning on fixing dickbag's welds tomorrow. So hopefully I'll have more to report then.

 

[Chevalier_Schiff]

Man that looks like utter crap lol.


That's too much work even for a tinkerer like myself.

 

[DuctTapeNinja]

Man that looks like utter crap lol.


That's too much work even for a tinkerer like myself.

I'll be honest, after getting it home and going through it thoroughly, it's more than I'd like to have to do, and just a little overwhelming. But by breaking it down into smaller individual projects, it's doable. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't regret taking it home just a little bit.

 

[Chevalier_Schiff]

Man that looks like utter crap lol.


That's too much work even for a tinkerer like myself.

I'll be honest, after getting it home and going through it thoroughly, it's more than I'd like to have to do, and just a little overwhelming. But by breaking it down into smaller individual projects, it's doable. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't regret taking it home just a little bit.

Should see my car, rofl.

Needs

two new brake rotors
New calipers
two wheel hubs (mainly just one)
CV joints

And probably 50lbs of bondo and sheet metal. My car is what appears to be a Hurricane sandy victim... All interior parts were replaced, the the amount of rust and the locations of cancer just screams flood damage.

 

[DuctTapeNinja]

Update time. Almost all the welding is done. I thought I had it all done over the weekend, but I found another place that needs attention. I should've grabbed a pic, but I didn't think of it and it's too dark out now. There's a hole above the right rear door, where I'm assuming dickbag was pulling on the doorframe to straighten it. I've also finally managed to get the right rear door controls working correctly. The window would only roll up and down when using the switch on that door, the control on the driver's door wouldn't work it, and I got nothing from the power lock system on that door. But I spent today tracing the circuits to main connector for the right rear door, which was just dirty. I'm embarrassed at how long it took me to track that one down, lol. I also spent the evening the other day starting to coat the undercarriage with POR-15. I got about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way done with that. Btw, if you ever use that stuff, wear gloves. I didn't, and it wouldn't come off of my skin for shit. Not even MEK would take it out. I ended up scrubbing it off with a scuff pad.

I test fit the flares the other day, as well. I don't like them as much in person as I did in pictures, but I'm still convinced they're an improvement over the 'penciled-in eyebrows' style flares that were on it.I might have to get about 1/2" or maybe 1" wheel spacers though since the wheels are tucked under too far. That's part of why they looked weird.

Our guy at work who does bodywork and paints trucks when we get them in doesn't have much to do this week, so the plan is to get my truck in either thursday or friday for bodywork and paint. I kind of wanted to do the bodywork myself, so I could learn to do it, but this way it'll be painted a lot sooner. My boss said he'd let me spend time helping to do the bodywork, though, so I might learn something.

 

[DuctTapeNinja]

Teaser

 

[DuctTapeNinja]

Here's the first actual pic with her painted. I'll have more pics tomorrow once I've seen her out in the sun.

Obviously, she's only black. My boss, the manager, had agreed to the 2-tone scheme I wanted, but the owner of the shop caught wind that we were doing a no-profit job and put the stop on that. We put the black on her yesterday, and my boss told me if I came in today and unmasked/reassembled her then first thing monday morning we could spray in some bedliner that was left over from another job and would go bad if we don't use it up, since the shop time would be about the same as if our guys were tied up unmasking/reassembling her. She looks good in black, though, so I'm happy.

 

[DuctTapeNinja]

[URL='http://www.ign.com/boards/members/chevalier_schiff.2119786/'][URL='http://www.ign.com/boards/members/chevalier_schiff.2119786/']@Chevalier_Schiff[/URL][/URL]
You ever do the front brakes on your Canyon yourself? I just finished doing all 4 corners this evening, and changing the front disks (the old ones were warped and needed replacement) was a huge pain in the ass. According to the GM dealer service manual, the only way to change the disks is to remove the steering knuckles completely, but I got away with only removing the hubs thanks to some tricks found on google.

 

[Chevalier_Schiff]

[URL='http://www.ign.com/boards/members/chevalier_schiff.2119786/'][URL='http://www.ign.com/boards/members/chevalier_schiff.2119786/']@Chevalier_Schiff[/URL][/URL]
You ever do the front brakes on your Canyon yourself? I just finished doing all 4 corners this evening, and changing the front disks (the old ones were warped and needed replacement) was a huge pain in the ass. According to the GM dealer service manual, the only way to change the disks is to remove the steering knuckles completely, but I got away with only removing the hubs thanks to some tricks found on google.

The only brake job I've done on my canyon was swapping the calipers+pads for something with more stopping, I never had to touch the rotors.

But if memory serves me correctly, I did notice the way the wheel hub was done, and it did look like I would have to mess with the knuckle.

 

[DuctTapeNinja]

Alright, if anyone's interested, here's the driver's side front brake being reassembled. I should've taken some pics while tearing them down, but didn't think of it. Sorry.

Let's start with the steering knuckle, with the dust shield/caliper/caliper bracket/hub removed and everything coated in POR-15, minus the mating surfaces.

Close up of the ABS sensor, which cannot come through the hole with the drive axle in place (which cannot be removed without pulling the knuckle)

And you replace the old disk (2 shown)

with the new one. (front and back shown)

And you bolt it on

And then everything else

And follow it up with the wheel

And you're done

Easy as pie.


The tricky part is getting the hub to separate from the knuckle. The bolts are tucked tight enough to the drive axle on the back of the knuckle that you need to get creative to get them out. Then the hub is welded to the knuckle with rust. But wedging a board between the hub/disk and the frame and using the power steering to force it apart takes care of that quite handily. I was quite sure I'd fucked my ABS sensors, though, as everything I found said they were supposed to come through the hole and stay on the hub, but mine physically couldn't and split, staying half with the hub and half with the knuckle. But they went back together and I've got no ABS codes after driving the truck around a bit, so I think I got away with it.


I have to say, though, thank god for never-seize. This is the only time I've ever taken off aluminum rims that I didn't install and not had to fight them off of the hubs. With the lug nuts off, the wheels fell right off. I don't know who had them off last, but he must've done my usual never-seize soaking.

 

[Evil-i]

What kind of savage owned this truck? Sweet Jesus, this thing is biblically fucked. Hope you find a miracle or two.

 

[Evil-i]

Just had a horrible thought. Doesn't this kind of damage and repair pretty much turn the vehicle into a write-off as far as insurance is concerned?

Suppose you get this thing on the road and have an accident with it. If the insurance company finds this repair during their investigation, I'm pretty sure they'd anull your policy on the spot, leaving you swinging in the breeze.

 

[DuctTapeNinja]

Just had a horrible thought. Doesn't this kind of damage and repair pretty much turn the vehicle into a write-off as far as insurance is concerned?

Suppose you get this thing on the road and have an accident with it. If the insurance company finds this repair during their investigation, I'm pretty sure they'd anull your policy on the spot, leaving you swinging in the breeze.

I don't intend to crash.


But seriously, yeah the insurance company would definitely fuck me on it because of that, even if the accident was nowhere near and had nothing to do with that repair. I'm satisfied that it's solid enough after working on it (that pic is before I worked on it) that it's as strong as it was from the factory, but yeah, try telling that to an insurance company. lol

 

[Chevalier_Schiff]

if you ever get into a crash, just hope those a-pillar covers don't pop off. Dem purrty weld puddles would get the insurance agent all giggly.

 

[DuctTapeNinja]

if you ever get into a crash, just hope those a-pillar covers don't pop off. Dem purrty weld puddles would get the insurance agent all giggly.

I've only been in 1 accident since I started driving in 2004 or 2005, and it was within 6 months of getting my license. I don't take risks when driving. But yeah that means shit when someone runs a redlight and t-bones me. I'm currently planning on keeping an eye out for one with a stick shift and the 3.5L 5 cyl in good condition with low miles and a low price and trading up. I miss driving a stick every day.

 

[Evil-i]

Gotta ask. Why did you sink all this time, effort and money into not just into an orphan, but an orphan that's an automatic insurance write-off?

That entire vehicle, both platform and power train, is no longer in production.

 

[Chevalier_Schiff]

Gotta ask. Why did you sink all this time, effort and money into not just into an orphan, but an orphan that's an automatic insurance write-off?

That entire vehicle, both platform and power train, is no longer in production.

The hummer H3 shares the platform of the colorados.

edit: Okay I see they stopped making the H3. carry on.

 

[DuctTapeNinja]

Gotta ask. Why did you sink all this time, effort and money into not just into an orphan, but an orphan that's an automatic insurance write-off?

That entire vehicle, both platform and power train, is no longer in production.

Boredom.

 

[Evil-i]

Gotta ask. Why did you sink all this time, effort and money into not just into an orphan, but an orphan that's an automatic insurance write-off?

That entire vehicle, both platform and power train, is no longer in production.

The hummer H3 shares the platform of the colorados.

edit: Okay I see they stopped making the H3. carry on.

The Hummer division hasn't existed for several years.

 

[Chevalier_Schiff]

The Hummer division hasn't existed for several years.

I never cared for the hummers, never cared to know about em. In fact I despised the entire lineup excluding the military lineup.


Hence my edit.

 

[DuctTapeNinja]

Screaming metal deathtrap just might make it to the junkyard after all. She took about $10k worth of damage from a tree falling on her a couple weeks ago, which is probably about twice what she was worth before the tree. My insurance is liability only and apparently in that situation it's supposed to be my fault/my insurance even though it was someone else's tree that fell on my truck. Doesn't sound right to me, but what do I know.

Fuck me, right?

 

[Daog]

wow men

 

[blinkz0rz]

Screaming metal deathtrap just might make it to the junkyard after all. She took about $10k worth of damage from a tree falling on her a couple weeks ago, which is probably about twice what she was worth before the tree. My insurance is liability only and apparently in that situation it's supposed to be my fault/my insurance even though it was someone else's tree that fell on my truck. Doesn't sound right to me, but what do I know.

Fuck me, right?

"Scrap it."
- ycdeo

 

[DuctTapeNinja]

"Scrap it."
- ycdeo

I don’t think ycdeo ever posted anything that coherent.