What Did You Do To Your Smart Today?

[Willys 747]

Yep, I didn't clean mine regularly enough and the dust settled around the lower cage under the glass....After a good wash I noticed there were two or three lines running through the dust almost directly in the middle of the screen.....so I added a little smeer of sealant and it has stopped for now. The little bugger is too tight air wise when you close the doors so much so it's difficult to always simply close the last door shut like the first would close easily without the air pressure. There is a mod somewhere I saw that keeps a window open slightly then after it closes the door it closes the window completely, or at least someone was thinking of designing this window system for this hard to close the door due to air pressure. I don't think they were thinking of the leaking issues just the fact you had to slam the last door closed to get it to shut on the first attempt. But as you mentioned, the constant positive pressure being applied to the glass may be enough to break the seal on the adhesive after many years? I plan on replacing my windshield next summer on the good car as I have many stone chips now from frig'in gravel trucks, I live on a main artery to the city that they travel on. Our biggest menace up where I live are the gravel truck drivers!  I planned on doubling up the sealant around the glass when the new shield goes in just to help maybe slow the leaking down...?

 

[Leadwing 565]

7 hours ago, Chopper said:

I may try and sort vent out a cabin vent of some kind to help equalise pressure when closing the doors.

 

This is why I like my no-slammin' feature on my winter beater.  When the door is opened, it automatically lowers the window about 2" (5cm) and raises it again after the door is closed.  One of our members made this marvelous device and I wish I could get more.  Unfortunately, this member hasn't been active on this site since January 9, 2015.

[MikeT 744]

The cabrio soft tops take care of this themselves.  Shame the coupe is so airtight!

[Chopper 264]

Mine is a cabrio!

 

[tolsen 630]

Then old age made yours leak. 

[Willys 747]

4 hours ago, Leadwing said:

 

This is why I like my no-slammin' feature on my winter beater.  When the door is opened, it automatically lowers the window about 2" (5cm) and raises it again after the door is closed.  One of our members made this marvelous device and I wish I could get more.  Unfortunately, this member hasn't been active on this site since January 9, 2015.

Can someone reverse engineer it?    I'd like that feature for sure, the wife gets the door to shut once out of 10 times I bet, drive her and then me crazy!...lol

 

[Chopper 264]

8 hours ago, tolsen said:

Then old age made yours leak. 

Screen is the same as the coupe, so i would suggest that when the leak its for the same reasons.  

[LooseLugNuts 557]

bottom of my windshield would lift about half inch when closing doors when i first bought it

 

never really noticed until a light showfall

[Willys 747]

6 hours ago, LooseLugNuts said:

bottom of my windshield would lift about half inch when closing doors when i first bought it

 

never really noticed until a light showfall

LMFAO...!!!


I also didn't know it until I saw the rain marks running down the crash cage.

The winter beater will get a royal coating of the black silicon goo before she is put into service, a real ugly job too...lol  Plus the sun roof will get a good coating of it to keep it sealed up tight. I will used what is called draft stop, similar to silicon but you can peel it back off when you're done with it.

[Willys 747]

I had to leave my Smart sitting all alone today in the driveway...poor thing.....we bought the son a few laps driving a stock car at his local speedway for his birthday......they teach you the finer points of racing, I would guess do not wreck the guys car and here's the go pedal and here's the clutch as he said it had no brakes to speak of. Maybe that's why he seemed to crawl along compared to the ride along car, who was really on the edge of staying attached to the track!  Next time I'll slap him in that car instead.....lol. Some of the people who got out of that car were white...lol. A few even waved with the other hand because the hand next to the roll cage was firmly gripped onto it....lol!

Maybe tomorrow I'll get back on the lathe and finish off the pieces for the lift kit. Steering extension and strut spacers are all that's left.

[smartzuuk 167]

I drove mine around the block a few times and got the temp up to 80c. And then parked it a bit further into the carport so I can tandem park the Mazda CX-5 behind it.

 

Will have a few things to do in the next month before I park it for the winter, The plates will transfer over to my Toyota Echo which can take the rain and winter nonsense....

[Willys 747]

3 hours ago, smartzuum said:

I drove mine around the block a few times and got the temp up to 80c. And then parked it a bit further into the carport so I can tandem park the Mazda CX-5 behind it.

 

Will have a few things to do in the next month before I park it for the winter, The plates will transfer over to my Toyota Echo which can take the rain and winter nonsense....

My echo is finally done, tried to start it today, altenator finally siezed solid and the clutch is all but toast!    Oh well, at 560,000kms she served us well from new.  Time to call the tow truck!

[smartzuuk 167]

I have just 180k on this one, new clutch not long before I bought it. 3rd gear a bit notchy, but it should drive for years yet if I want to. Good shape local BC car no rust! They are boring as heck though. But boring can be good, it means way less wrenching! 

[Willys 747]

I am finally holding in my hands the last piece to the puzzle that enables me to get my STAR system up and running....and here we go....!!!!

[Willys 747]

18 minutes ago, smartzuum said:

I have just 180k on this one, new clutch not long before I bought it. 3rd gear a bit notchy, but it should drive for years yet if I want to. Good shape local BC car no rust! They are boring as heck though. But boring can be good, it means way less wrenching! 

Our echo did that milage on the orginal clutch and I finally decided to draw the line and say enough is enough, time to get a better vehicle for the wage earner....next spring.  Maybe one with air conditioning that works...maybe?

It's another scorching hot day here today!  Hi humidity and wickedly hot in the sun!   It allows time for more summer put off jobs to maybe get done before the snow flies...lol.

 

[smartzuuk 167]

It's still a $2000 car here in it's condition, I imagine it's half that in Ontario for a 2000 Echo!! Rust being the big factor. This car could run a lot of years here for someone

 

The smart is at 198500 kms roughly - I will get a few hundred more on, change out oil, and then she's done til spring. Other than warm ups here and there.

[Willys 747]

My wife drove this car back and forth to work daily through the hotest days to the worst winter could throw at it, she ditched it 5 times, it was backed into before it was a month old in BC I pulled the rad off the engine with my hands and then once home here in Ont. I put in pull blocks in my garage to straighten it out better, I have used those blocks 6 times after ditching it and that first incident..it's had 3 front bumpers and the last one is held on now with deck screws because there isn't any metal to catch using regualar clips etc...and it still well did get 50MPGs and run flawlessly, no oil burning, but the clutch finally went. It also has very little surface rust anywhere. It had the air con cut out a few years ago after it died and sliced my hand wide open....yep. I snapped!  I just can't warrant spending over a grand to do the needed work on it seeing as it has the issues it has. BUT it'll still rip the tires off itself if you ask it to!  It is a 5 speed hatch 2005 the last of the best....R.I.P.

 

Edited September 18, 2018 by Willys

[Willys 747]

Back to the Smart Car.....I must be getting very old and slow or something, IT never took me this long to do things way back when, Damn!
It took me all afternnon to fit and piece together the rear lift and get it all lined back up again......good thing I don't get paid to do this...lol.  I'd be fired already! Maybe by tomorrow the rear will be finished...?  Then it's on to the front.  I still need to machine the strut spacers and steering shaft extension. BUT, I'll tell you it's kind of difficult to get things all back to where they are supposed to be once you allow them to drop where ever they want to. Something you need to do to get those coils out if you choose not to compress them. I thought I had a coil compresser, guess I didn't.....BUT IF you wish to risk personal injury hose clamps do work in a pinch!   Many were sacraficed on the first coil spring....then I found out I was forced to undo the X frame and everything flopped loose! Getting that back where it belonged  was the fun part!
The joys of getting old I guess...lol    Things take longer than I remember.

 

[Willys 747]

OK, I'm officially a member of the Smart Car club now...

This morning the altenater was siezed on my daily driver.....augh! Simple wrench and it was OK, but now it concerns me. I need to get it off and deal with it asap.

Also the winter beater's lift kit is coming alone just great, rear is now complete but the front, well.....lets say one broken coil is giving me some grief.....I've officially run out of hose clamps and its finally semi on the strut now, just need to get the clamps off without it exploding. I will say this isn't the best way to deal with a coil spring....it's NOT safe!    It's flown apart 3 times already!!!   Good thing I had a new set of springs to change it out with.!   Thanks Nigel...

 

[Nigel 287]

You’re welcome.  I didn’t expect you to be into them this quick.  

See you in the spring.

Nigel

[Chopper 264]

Today I drove mine in a strong wind for the first time.  Twitchier than John Inman in a semaphore class.

[Willys 747]

34 minutes ago, Chopper said:

Today I drove mine in a strong wind for the first time.  Twitchier than John Inman in a semaphore class.

Strange isn't it, much the same feeling as when riding a bike in a huricane...lol

 

[MikeT 744]

Improvements can be made: sports suspension, BRABUS front spoiler and wider wheels with 175/195 tires. 

 

In that configuration, the car does a slow waltz in high winds rather than break dancing.

[Chopper 264]

It doesn't worry me, although the Brabus spoiler sounds Nice!

 

One thing annoys me a bit.  The 450 has been defunct for nearly 12 years now.  The mainstream users and trendy type owners have either disappeared, or moved onto the later models.  The only 450 owners are tight buggers trying to wring every last mile out of them, or old mechanical perverts like us who are happy to keep hiring them along.  Therefore, the market for used 450 parts has shrunk dramatically.  That being the case, why do people ask stupid money for Brabus parts? They sit on eBay and the like to for months and months, never actually selling.  Why not ask sensible money and actually stand a chance of punting them on?

 

It's a bit like the so called "Cosworth tax" that afflicts Ford enthusiasts over here.

Edited September 19, 2018 by Chopper

[Mallory 12]

My partner and Dumpling got run off the road earlier today. Someone just cut him off and forced him to either slam into the curb or smash into the dude that cut him off. He chased after them and tried to get them to pull over by honking and flashing his lights, but they just drove off. He got their license plate number but ICBC won't do shit because there's no evidence. The front wheel is all screwed up, the tire loses pressure rapidly and I don't even know if there's further structural damage. We managed to inflate the tire and hobble Dumpling home and have to consider what to do next, because my partner is going to be considered at fault even though it was some other moron's criminal negligence that caused this.

 

First thing tomorrow we're buying a dash cam.

Edited September 20, 2018 by Mallory