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What Did You Do To Your Smart Today?

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Finaly manage to remove the intercooler.... :angry:

The holes at the bottom are very visible, I think it will be "easy" to repair with silicone.

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Encore un vice de conception! <_< Tu devais bien l'entendre la perte d'air à 16 psi de pression dans l'intercooler!? C'est quand même intéressant de voir que du plastique peut user de l'aluminium à ce point...

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Got a bit closer today.Tore down the right front suspension today and assembled the new strut. The new impact e-Torx sockets and Torx bits made short work of removing the lower strut strap and the lower ball joint from the spindle.Got out my new, $22 Campbell Hausfeld sandblaster with a $5 bucket of glass sand medium and had at the axles, brake drum backing plates and rear upper spring mounts. Pardon the pun, but this thing is a blast! I wore my safety glasses and a cheap dust mask, but a disposable tyvek suit wouldn't have been a dumb idea. The sand goes just about everywhere! It works superbly for cleaning and stripping chassis parts.With Neighbour's help I peened the new reluctor rings onto the axles. Nowhere near as easy as all you guys make it sound! I really need to make a jackscrew tool to do this with more finesse next time.Scrubbed all the parts as well as the chassis and suspension with a 3:1 water to Marine Clean solution, then slathered on the Metal Prep before HVLP spraying POR-15 on all the parts and brushing it on the rusty or bare suspension and chassis areas. Perhaps another coat tomorrow, then the new Stebel air horn goes underneath before the rebuild begins later this week.

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I gave the dyed leather part of the Canada 1 another dose of Connolly leather care cream. It's getting glove soft now.

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We gave the GT, the Convertible and the Nightrun a clutch adjustment and general check over using the Star System, it was great to have lunch and learn from Stickman 007 thanks very much it was great to meet you JonESmash

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Pulled the headlights apart and replaced the Cree led city lights (one was burnt out)with a new brighter Samsung version...

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I received my replacement front wheel bearing today. I noticed on taking it out of the box that it is actually a febi 28230, so I'm not really sure what role Lennon Automotive plays in all of this, maybe they're just an importer? I'll be having Glenn install it when I'm passing by London on Thursday on my way to the Midwest Rally.Also, slightly disappointed to find that Wrench Monkey did NOT include a return label in the box as they said they would. I'll have to give them a call tomorrow and have them send me one that I can print out. That would be preferred, but I may just be able to drop the part off to their London location. I guess we'll see.

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All the paint done, today I installed the new lower ball joints, new front stab bar links, new rear shocks and springs, brake backing plates, new wheel cylinders, new rear bearings and the painted axles. I forgot to leave the car in reverse when I disconnected the battery (to kill the brake lights with the pedal half-depressed to keep the lines from dripping), so I'll have to pop the wheel centre caps and remember to torque the hub bolts when I get the wheels on the ground. Red lockout tags sure are handy for old farts with holey memories, like me. The x-frame went on with zero trouble. I'm in the middle of installing the struts, but supper was more important. :) Next up: the new coil-over struts, front bearings and the horn. Calipers and braided lines should be in by Friday. Gawd I can't wait to be back on the road.

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Replaced the engine air and cabin pollen filters on our new-to-us smart cabrio -- both were obviously past due! Also tried to clean the engine room up a bit with a soft brush and shop vac -- it's really dirty/dusty in there. Still not great but its a start...And I found what might be where water leaks are causing the floors under the carpets to get very wet. I posted some info on the maintenance forum along with photos. It looks to me like both roof rails is where the water is getting in.Rod.

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Went back to the garage after supper and finished up the front suspension and bearings. The "special tool" works great on struts, but man is it a PITA on the coil overs; the dust bellows is always in the way, and because of the reduced rod area it's difficult to get it up out of the way to insert the two halves of the tool.I was on a roll so I decided to reinstall the wiper motor. Lots of cursing. I may need to touch up some of the silver tridion paint on the edges. In the end I removed all the push rods, tightened the splined shaft bushings, then had to figure out how to pop all the rods back on under the cowl. I finally found the right tool to snake up under the centre of the cowl: brake spring pliers! They were long and slender enough to reach to the end of the longest rod above the motor, and the hooked jaws were perfect for clamping the rods together.Somewhere along the way I've managed to lose the wiper arm washer nipple (the little plastic one that pops into the hole at the shaft). I won't align the wipers until I'm done with the brakes later is week or early next. Meanwhile, ordered parts for a little project that will help finish up this one. I'll post that in a separate thread after I build it and take pictures.

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Put new summers on the rear today. Ran the winters a little longer to wear them out cause I'll get new ones for next year. I'll have to wait for the fronts till I get an alignment though.There's almost a 1/4" of tread difference between the inside and outside of the front tires. I know the smarts wear the insides more than the outsides but I'm guessing that much isn't normal. I'm going to give the front end a once over on the weekend and if it doesn't need anything I'll send it in for the align.

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funny wearing my winters out too. check the front springs, both mine were broken and wore out the inside of the fronts.

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I did that last year. Some winter tires graduate to a summer or all-season compound once they wear past a certain point. I used my Contis all summer but kept speeds lower than usual just to be safe. By September they were pretty bald but I stretched them to mid-November, by which point they were almost shiny! Picked up two Yokohama Avid Ascend rears this spring.

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Today I changed the lift arms on my rear window. This winter when it was -1,000,000 I tried to open the rear and blew both arms. I've been using my head/a stick ever since. Forgot how convenient it was to have to window stay open!

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funny wearing my winters out too. check the front springs, both mine were broken and wore out the inside of the fronts.

OK, thanks. I was reading a bit on the forum last night and seems like it could be the problem. The car drives straight as an arrow. I know the springs aren't broken but could be worn out as its it's a little low in the front. I saw on Kijiji that germanparts sells Springs for $65 each. Does anyone have experience with them?

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...changing the RF wheel bearing, which smart Nanaimo will do for $75 (my part). That'll happen next week.

Got the car back today and the total bill was $81.50 with taxes etc, the car was washed and vacuumed and the bearing is SO NICE and quiet. I think I may just pick another one up in Europe this summer...

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Yesterday, had Eddy from Flying Tiger install new axle seals and ATF fluid.Two hours and we were good to go... :smile_anim:

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When my springs were broken the car still drove straight as an arrow as well, the fact that your car is sitting low in the front would lead me to believe the springs are broken at the top which is much harder to tell without taking the struts off and finding out for your self. And if indeed your springs aren't broken and your car is low in the front than your springs are probably about to break, definitely replace them.

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Ok, thanks. Got a hold of germanparts and even though they have a current listing on Kijiji they do not have any. Not until July. Anyone know where I can pick up a new set for a decent price?

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I'm in Kalamazoo, MI now, on my way to the Midwest rally. On the way, I stopped at Glenn's shop and had him replace my wheel bearing. Turns out it wasn't the one that I thought it was, it was actually the bearing that hadn't been replaced (Even though my ears could swear it was the other one!). Sooooo, probably not going to be able to get my money back on the bearing as a warranty repair. Oh well. While I was at Glenn's, I grabbed a new brake booster check valve, and a spare set of trim pieces for around the speedometer and the pods for another project to come...

Anyone know where I can pick up a new set for a decent price?

I think Glenn (smart142) had a few in his pile of stuff from the two cars he just stripped...

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I emptied it out today, getting ready for the new owner. It goes Saturday. I have some final pics from Whidbey Island, including with a SAME colour Morris 1000, and also the canada1 coupe came around tonight and we grabbed a few photos with it just for the heck of it.....

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Gave the group of cars a wash this morning the dam street cleaners made a horrible mess upon my cars. Not smart related but I just burnt through my first tank of fuel in my new to me 05 Jetta tdi 5sp manual, 1,079km, 42.6L used ($55.40 fill up) 3.95L/100km! Boo yeah. Much more comfortable then the smarts for commuting 200+km :lol:

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Those last PD 1.9s are incredible engines. Great torque, decent enough power, and because they're damn near bulletproof, TONS of headroom for major mods. A buddy is pulling close to 230 whp and 465 lb-ft of torque with his stage 4 1.9 Golf, but still averages 4.5 l/100 km on his relaxed 75 km back-highways commute to the airport.

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