The worst day since long time

Post by **mhyde71** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 4:30 am

^^ DITTO

kinda worried myself!

DOOD, I AM SO SORRY TO SEE/HEAR/LEARN OF THIS...!!

just glad no one was hurt...?

so have we figured out the cause- or just chalking it off as old leaking caps?

curious to know as my 2250 in the boot has not had caps changed and i think about it every time i am in the car...!

m

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 4:45 am

I'm pretty sure it's the caps, i can't see anything else going wrong...

Anyway i started to strip the old car this morning, just had enough time to remove the HU that it started to rain like hell! Good thing is, my new car had a wiring harness for aftermarket radio, so i'll be able to solder it to my HU inside, while waiting for the rain to stop

Post by **stipud** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 6:45 am

Man I figured it was only a matter of time until this happened. One of the risks I knew there would be with helping people recap and fix their own amplifiers! I suppose I feel partially responsible for setting your car on fire

Sounds like some good may have come from this in the end... I look forward to your next install!

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:56 am

Bah it just motivated me to make the next install better! And it saved me the hassle of changing the wheel bearing hub on the old one! You know, they say nothing happens for nothing, maybe the bearing was about to break down, maybe i'd killed myself with the old car if this didn't happens, so i try to just concentrate myself on the new install and not to think about the old one...

Here are some pics of the car, by the way :

Things i've done this morning :
- Replace the faultly wiper motor
- Remove the kenwood HU and installed my Lanzar one
- Installed the xenon light i had in the other cavalier
- Bleeded the clutch, damn that helped alot!
- Started installing the alarm system, but stopped until this weekend, i'll go to my ex boss's place so i can tag all the wires, to make a clean and nice install

Things i've still got to do :
- Go get my license plate
- Install my old air intake
- Install my other battery with the PODBI terminals
- Do the big 3 with the 1/0 part that is still ok
- Change rear suspension with the one from my old cavalier
- Install my reverse glow gauge cluster
- Make oil change
- Make prestone change
- Install the seatbelt holder from the old car, since this one don't have some on the seat
- Fix one of the inside panel with fiberglass resin

Was raining bad this morning so i had to stop, but now that it stopped, i'll try to get the battery and air intake done!

gridracer · Post by **gridracer** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 11:01 am

Tagging your alarm wires isn't really that great of an idea while it makes it easy for you to know which wires are which it also will help even the stupidest theif disable your alarm in seconds.

money-b · Post by **money-b** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 11:02 am

i hope you took your phoenix gold caps off the tires.

thedeal7235 · Post by **thedeal7235** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 12:16 pm

Wow, im so sorry to learn of this too-most important, you are safe-hopefully we can all learn from this, this way noone else will have to experience this either( ive changed my own caps out before, and never had an issue,hmm.........,kinda concerned now

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 5:38 pm

gridracer wrote:Tagging your alarm wires isn't really that great of an idea while it makes it easy for you to know which wires are which it also will help even the stupidest theif disable your alarm in seconds.

Not really a concern, i was planning on tagging them with numbers corresponding to the one in the circuit diagram of my alarm. It's kinda an old habit to tag wires, since i've been building control panels for 3 years. But i have to admit it can make it easier for a thieft, just never really thinked about it...

tonym · Post by **tonym** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 5:46 pm

gridracer wrote:Tagging your alarm wires isn't really that great of an idea while it makes it easy for you to know which wires are which it also will help even the stupidest theif disable your alarm in seconds.

if you can read them and dis-arm my alarm in the time it would take me to come out and activate ur dental and kneecap plan....you can have it...

hehhe.....

Post by **ttocs** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 6:35 pm

its a gm car, what is there to tag? yellow, purple, blue, the wires are all the same color from the late 70s on.

eulogious · Post by **eulogious** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 11:40 pm

Wow, I just read about this! That sucks dude! Glad you are ok man, that fire looks like it caused some damage for sure! That's nutz though. At least you were able to find a new car right quick that was the same thing. Just sucks that you have to go through all the work. Man, that just sucks!

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:54 pm

Yesterday i had the ¨fun¨ of changing the starter unit... What a pain in ass! And the one from my 97 don't fit right on the 96, the holes seems similar but when i installed it there was a 1/4 inch difference, and now the starter makes a grinding noise. I'll probably reinstall the old one with the solenoid from my 97 one, at least this one was fitting ok, but the solenoid was almost dead.

I reinstalled my old battery, but didn't installed the PODBI terminals. I'm going to install my air intake right away, so another thing will be done!

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:52 pm

PODBI are reinstalled, air intake too. I also fixed the clutch fluid reservoir to the frame, since it was hanging on the old air filter box that i removed. Still no clue about the damn starter noise, hope to find a fix soon!

I decided not to tag the wires for my alarm anymore. I'll precut and solder all the wires, so it should be a drop-in piece of cake to install...

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 4:42 pm

Played with the starter again today, and found out that for GM cars, and my particular problem, a shim is needed. Oh well, gonna go to GM dealer and get the needed parts to fix the issue tomorrow!

Found a deal for a Roadster 66 too, but just realised that the RSD i just buyed won't play at full power with it, since they are dual 4ohm... So maybe a RSD and a XS together, or something like that. I'll see when i get it! Just have to get more funding... Will probably start working in the weekend like before i guess...

ZTwenty8SSR · Post by **ZTwenty8SSR** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 4:54 pm

You do not need to go to gm for the shim you can get them at any auto parts maybe even canadian tire.

oldschoolfan · Post by **oldschoolfan** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 7:45 pm

You should not need a starter shim for that car. I do a lot of car work on the side and have not had to use a shim in about 15 years. Unless it is from the early 80's or older. Even then it is really rare to need one. Just double check and make sure the starter is the correct one. 1/4 inch is way too much difference and they don't make a 1/4 inch shim.

gridracer · Post by **gridracer** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 11:56 pm

str3atwarrior wrote:
Found a deal for a Roadster 66 too, but just realised that the RSD i just buyed won't play at full power with it, since they are dual 4ohm... So maybe a RSD and a XS together, or something like that. I'll see when i get it! Just have to get more funding... Will probably start working in the weekend like before i guess...

It will play at 2 ohms which is what the roadster is rated for. Your dual 4 ohm RSD will be great on that amp.

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 1:33 am

Yeah but i have 2 RSD to hook, so they're gonna be hooked at 4ohm...

yeddy · Post by **yeddy** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 7:06 am

Wow I just caught your thred, man that sux hard! I wonder if the fire could have made that 1F cap blow? I've had a small cap in a 2 way speaker blow once while playing it, that tiny cap made a huge bang! I couldn't imagine the damage a 1F cap or larger would do, probably blow the back end off! I was wondering if you were present for the fire? was the system in play? have you opened the amp yet to try and figure out how the fire started? I personaly would try and figure out how the fire started just for peace of mind...

ps, if you don't go with the roadster I have a Ti600.2 and Ti500.4 I could part with. LMK...

gridracer · Post by **gridracer** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:00 pm

just use 1 of them

Post by **ttocs** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:06 pm

I can remember small caps exploding during labs when I was in tech school and you would be suprised how big of a "POP" you get from those little cans. One of them went off with such force that it embedded the silver cap on the top of the cap in the drop in ceiling tiles.

even medium sized caps have a small hole on the bottom/top to allow them to vent if it does need to go. I have never seen anything big go up but always imagined them when I was hooking them up.

Post by **stipud** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:06 pm

gridracer wrote:just use 1 of them

Or two at 4 ohms. Either way, same output. Single sub would have double the power (+3dB), but two subs have double the cone area (+3dB). I'd go with the single sub myself if only to save on trunk space.

eulogious · Post by **eulogious** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:34 pm

stipud wrote:
gridracer wrote:just use 1 of them
Or two at 4 ohms. Either way, same output. Single sub would have double the power (+3dB), but two subs have double the cone area (+3dB). I'd go with the single sub myself if only to save on trunk space.

I agree with using just one of them. I have one RSdc124 in my car with a ti400.2 and a cube, and DAMN! It's freakin' loud! I am pushing 500watts @2ohms, so I can only imagine what a few more watts would do.

So I would only run one sub, sell the other one, and pick up a cube. You will not regret it! My cube was probably the best upgrade that I have bought for my car stereo wise. Ya the sub was a great upgrade, but the cube made all the difference, even with my fosgate. But with the RSdC, it's just so much better

The cube just makes that little ti400.2 just pound! My .02

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 12:36 pm

yeddy wrote:Wow I just caught your thred, man that sux hard! I wonder if the fire could have made that 1F cap blow? I've had a small cap in a 2 way speaker blow once while playing it, that tiny cap made a huge bang! I couldn't imagine the damage a 1F cap or larger would do, probably blow the back end off! I was wondering if you were present for the fire? was the system in play? have you opened the amp yet to try and figure out how the fire started? I personaly would try and figure out how the fire started just for peace of mind...

ps, if you don't go with the roadster I have a Ti600.2 and Ti500.4 I could part with. LMK...

Nah, i was sleeping when all this happened. And i didn't had the motivation to check the amp, it's still lying on the corner i putted it when i dismounted the car in parts...

str3atwarrior · Post by **str3atwarrior** » Thu Aug 19, 2010 3:34 pm

I found some shim at a local usinage shop for my starter. I was thinking that 3 would be enough, but it seems that 4 of their shim is equal to 1 of the original GM shim in size. So i bought 3, installed them, and i can see a very good improvement! I've found a tutorial on the net for gm starter shim, and found out that i need to be able to fit a 1/8 diameter bar between the armature shaft and the ring gear on the starter. I'm still missing just a little bit to be able to do that. So i'll go buy 4 or 5 more shim tomorrow, and it should be good to go!

I also changed the oil today, the guy told me it was done when i buyed the car, but man this oil was nasty black! The car now idle at 800rpm instead of 1100rpm, and i remember that my old car had done the same thing when i first changed oil, and worked alot better after this!

Still have lots to do on it, but i'm pretty happy with the current results! And i have to say i love this car! It may sounds dumb, but i like it when i have something to fix, and that once it's done the result is there, makes me feel good as hell!