How to replace the tensioner with pulley on a 92 Z24 Cavalier

So it seems as though my son may have a completely restored car by the time things stop going out on this bad boy! I don't blame the car for all of it. Teenage boys can be hard on vehicles and that's why I bought him an older car. And I bought a Cavalier because they are really sturdy vehicles...at least, in my experience they have been.

Since my tensioner bar broke on a previous project and after I spent $114 on 2 new belts (one is for my car) and a new pulley assembly, I opted to just get creative with this project for the folks out there who are also on a pretty tight budget. I also live a jaunt away from the auto stores that rent out tools, so I never choose that option. Get creative with your tools as well! I tried to choose tools that most people who like to dabble in their own auto repairs would have on hand.

Supplies:

Ratchet (small and medium)
15 mm socket
1/2" socket
A very long closed ended wrench
A new tensioner with pulley
Floor jack or any auto jack

When my sons tensioner pulley broke, the spring exploded out and everything. I spent a ton of time trying to get it off before I realized that the bolt holding it in was still there. If your pulley assembly is still on your vehicle, the bolt is holding it in. End of story. Its not a new type of pulley system that you're not used to like you may have seen in other projects with different things.

I found that on this car, it was infinitely easier to get to it all from underneath. There's a little area by the wheel well that allows room since it's just under the body of the car. You can get a medium weight ratchet in there while the belt is off but I found it easier to use the little guy.

When installing the new pulley assembly, it's best to put the bolt in before you try to fit the pulley on. You will also notice that there's a cute little nub on the one side of the pulley. He is your alignment friend. You can't go wrong if you insert him in his hole (if he's not too good for his home like Happy Gilmore's ball) and then begin to manually screw the bolt in. Get it good and finger-tight and that will hold the whole bit in place while you grab your ratchet or your 15 mm open ended wrench or whatever you're using. Viola' she is ready for her belt.

Now, you can search online for the belt diagram, but its pretty straight forward with this serpentine belt system. The pulleys with grooves with take the threaded side of the belt and the smooth pulleys take the smooth side. Easy Peasy! I made sure to install the lower two first and push the belt to the upper end of the vehicle. I then weaved it over and around all of the pulleys except the little tiny one on the alternator. I used the drive of my medium weight wrench to move the tensioner pulley. Now, because its tight quarters in there, I had to rest my ratchet on the pulley below the tensioner and use a really long closed ended wrench to pull it up. I initially used a ball hitch wrench, but both ends proved to be too large to get the full movement, so I had to go down a size. If you have a second person, pushing it up from underneath while they slide the belt on would work just fine. And, you wouldn't have to worry about your wrench size near as much.

Once you get your new belt on, your medium weight ratchet will be stuck in there pretty good. You can use a pry bar or anything good and heavy duty to shift the motor over enough to knock out the ratchet. I HAD to use that ball joint wrench since it wasn't helpful with the belt installation. Make sure your belt is aligned and start the car. She should purr like a kitten. Good job Grease Monkey! You are a badass!

How to insulate your Grease Monkey garage

This was one of the hardest and coldest winters that we have had in South Dakota for a long time. The new addition to my home is the part that connects to the garage and is very useful as a laundry room. However, with -30° weather, the cpvc pipes froze and then burst. (I will do a plumbing post on that little ditty)

There was just no way to keep that garage warm without insulation and walls installed. And no way to keep heat in while working on cars in those elements. So, lets begin!

Start by measuring your space. Length by width is just right. I also measured the space between the studs. Since they were 15" for most of them and the height of my garage up to the rafters was 8'. It wasn't terribly hard to figure out how many rolls of insulation that were needed. I counted the spaces between the rafters and multiplied times 8 to get the feet. The rolls came in 50 foot length so then I divided the total length by 50 to get the number of rolls that I would need. Feel free to add one more roll to your list.

I needed one piece of drywall for the area that needes patching and the remaining walls needed OSB. OSB came in 4X8 sheets. That's 2 rows on my walls. The rest is easy to figure out. I do recommend getting one more sheet than what you calculate...just to be sure. The OSB and the Insulation and the one piece of drywall cost me in total $200. The pneumatic stapler cost around $78. So, this project was highly affordable for me.

You will need:
Circular Saw
Jig Saw
Air Compressor
Pneumatic Stapler and Staples
Table
Extension cord
Chalk line
Tape measure
Marker or Pencil
Long trigger clamp

Utility scissors

Drill and bits

Gloves, dust mask, safety glasses (the usual)

Start by unraveling your insulation roll. I kept the vast majority of the roll at the base of the wall I was doing. I only unraveled enough to get to the top of the wall. I used a squeegee to get the extra reach to push in the insulation between the studs. You can use whatever works for you.

Once I got to the bottom of the wall I tucked the insulation in and pushed towards the back of the wall to  get a seam. If this is the technique that you use, do not cut right on that seam. You will need another inch or two of insulation. It takes a bit of practice, but you'll get the hang of it really quickly. For the vacancies between the studs that aren't the width of your insulation, I suggest rolling the insulation up and folding it to the side so that you have an idea of where to cut using your utility scissors. That was the easiest for me. Insulation is very forgiving. You can always add more so long as you don't add way too much. Go around the rest of the room in the same fashion.

I found it easier to install the bottom row of OSB first. Initially I had started with regular screws and a drill. But that was way too time consuming. Since I do have an air compressor the only thing I needed was either a nail gun or a Pneumatic stapler. I opted for the stapler since many of the nail guns that I saw in my price range we're Brad nailers. Brad nailers will in no way hold up your OSB. I bought all of my tools and supplies at Menards. I was able to save $100 compared to Lowe's.

I added my full pieces first to each wall. When installing the bottom layer of OSB make sure that you install the bottom portion to the lower stud first. I basically just made sure that the base of my OSB was lined up with the base of the floor and kicked it into place and then stapled it in. Since my OSB was 8 ft long, this part went by really fast. And no, I didn't clean out my garage...I just pulled things forward since it's the middle of the winter. That wasn't the most conducive to less annoying...just sayin'.

Next, you want to measure from the last piece of OSB all the way to the final stud in your wall. Use your tape measure to go across the length of the sheet and Mark the top of the sheet and the bottom of the sheet. If you are not used to using a chalk line, Mark the center as well just to verify that your measurements are correct. Lay your chalk line at the top mark and pull straight down to the bottom mark and hold tightly while you snap your line. Perfect straight edge! Later, I did this to the top portion of the wall as well so that I could find the studs when I need them for hanging things.

Use your circular saw to cut that line. Remember to keep your saw on one side or the other of the chalk line. Particularly if you have to go around to the other side to finish the cut. Position your bored and hammer it into the tight spots. Trim any areas that you may need to. Staple it in. Go around the room and do the rest of it in the same fashion.

If you have any electrical outlets, you will need to cut out a piece in your sheet for that. Since I am not a professional Carpenter, I was okay with small errors. I basically measured from the last piece of sheeting hung to the outlet, measured up from the floor, and measured the height and width of the outlet and marked my OSB. I drilled holes in the corners of my measurements and used my jigsaw to cut out the piece. Before talking down your board make sure it fits around your outlet.

Now for the somewhat challenging part! I am a whopping buck 15 soaking wet. My son was unavailable for the first day of me working on my garage. I had made a lot of progress in that first day so I wanted to keep going with the stamina. What I did was pull a table up against the wall and position my cheating on top of it. I found a number of different things that I could continue to stack on top of that table to get it close to the right position. I've been placed one of my manual car jacks underneath so that I can manually turn the Jack and slowly get it into the right spot. Although this is pretty time-consuming and most men wouldn't have to do that exactly, it was highly functional.

That little black blob is my manual jack

The corner was easier to position by myself - no jack needed

In order to get the top portion of the OSB completely fastened I did have to use a trigger clamp but before I remembered that I had one, I used my trusty old jack again. Because my OSB was slightly warped and didn't lay 100% flat it was very challenging to use my body weight to push it completely flush with the wall. The Trigger clamp was handy as heck! Go down the rest of your wall in this same fashion. 

If you have Windows in your garage oh, you will have to cut out a vacancy for them. I did it in the exact same way as I did the outlets. I used my chalk line since my window took up a good portion of the OSB. I was surprised at how accurate it actually was.

Pretty proud of this guy's turn out!

If you have someone on hand, it is significantly quicker if they can at least help you position the sheets on the top half while you tack down the lower half and come back later to clamp. When my son helped the next day...literally an hour or more shaved off of my time. I had all of my boards pre-cut and ready though too. 

Once you have gone around the room in this fashion...pat yourself on the back! This is all I did in my garage and what a difference!  Although a friend of mine has a drywall lift and he also did the top rafters as heat does rise and escape that way. This is all I cared to do. Good job Grease Monkey...now you can design your garage any way that you see fit!! 

How to replace a wheel cylinder 92 Chevy Cavalier z24

Have you ever tried to bleed the breaks and oops, one of the bleeder screws was welded on there with rust? What a pain!! My bleeder screw just twisted right off. It made more sense to just replace the wheel cylinder instead of drilling out the hole and re-tapping it. So, here we go!

Jack up that end of the car and remove the tire. Pry off the cover that goes over the lug studs as though you were changing your break pads. You will see the wheel cylinder in there. Pry off the springs and the bar below it to allow yourself some room for removal.

Remove the two torque bolts on the reverse side and the break line. If yours is as rusted as mine, you probably twisted off the break line and somehow destroyed at least one of the bolts. I had a new line on hand, so that was nice.

I tried to weld a slightly smaller socket onto the bolt in order to pry it off. However, it didn't make a solid connection and the weld wouldn't hold. And the angle was atrocious! A friend of mine suggested the use of an air hammer and that really did shave that head off of the old bolt.

Now, take the old wheel cylinder off and put in the new one. Make sure you get the springs on the break pads tightly and the torque bolts in as well as the line. Replace the tire.

You will need to bleed the breaks before taking her out for a spin. Viola' easy peasy! You are officially a Grease Monkey.

How to install the linkages to the stabilizar bar

I bought my son a 1992 Cavalier Z24 Convertabe last year. There were some hidden flaws in that little guy. The stabilizer bar was not connected at all. And one of the linkages was almost welded on there. What a great opportunity to use my grinder!!!

First things first. You will need to remove both front tires. And you will need both sides of the front of the vehicle raised. Once that is done, remove all previous linkages by grinding them off. TIP: even after you cut halfway through, the bolt will still twist so that you may get the other half.

Next, use a pry-bar of sorts to pry down the stabilizer bar. Do this on both sides and if it wont hold on its own, jam something in there to hold it in place so that you can add your assembly.

They should go on the bolt in a washer, rubber, rubber, washer arrangement. There will be a metal spacer between both ends as well. Use your prying device to help position the sway bar onto your bolt assembly and get the final nut crewed on top of the whole thing to hold it into place. To around to the other side and do the same thing. Then, tighten them both down. Put the tires back on and drop the vehicle.

You ARE a friggen Grease Monkey!!

DIY Bumper Replacement 98 Chevy Malibu

Have you ever been driving along at night and seemingly out of nowhere BOOM! something hits your plastic bumper? Depending on the speed and the weather conditions it's highly possible that that plastic bumper will just shatter! That is exactly what happened to my son and I a few weeks ago when I was taking him to his dad's for the weekend. It was bitterly cold and we were driving around 65 miles per hour. A pretty standard rate in the back roads of South Dakota.

I looked all over online for a quality bumper replacement and I found quite a few that were decently priced. But then once you looked at the shipping it was outrageous! The claim was that the bumper was about 95 lb to ship. When in all actuality,  it was closer to 5 to 10 pounds. So I did what I always do and I dug around on eBay and on Amazon. I found one that I thought was worth the price on amazon.com. I very well could have gone to a salvage yard, but I am in the middle of a rattle can paint job that I plan to finish this summer and the bumper was already black...❤ it!

Although my vehicle is a Chevy, and this bumper is a universal fit, I was able make some minor adjustments and get it on there properly. There were some challenges. Partially because it was smaller than the box it came in and because it was plastic they did fold one end of it. It is still the middle of winter and so that plastic did not just magically go back into place. A little winching and a little strong-arming and she is now positioned seamlessly. 

So to start off, what you will need to do is pop the hood and remove all the body retaining clips. You will need to remove those from the grill as well although in this vehicle it is an entirely separate part from the bumper. I learned something new on this project! These retaining Clips are the type that have a plastic cylinder that goes through a retaining nut type of deal. I will show pictures. Some people use a special tool for those. However, you could use a butter knife to get those bad boys off. Just slide your butter knife or putty knife or whatever tool you choose to use right under the little circle at the top of the retaining clip. Lift up and viola! It comes out super easy! And you don't have to buy new ones. They go in just as easy as they come out if not easier. Keep the center pin up when you insert the bottom portion and once seated, just push that pin down. Super Easy!!

Super Blurry...Sorry!

Unfortunately, it's not quite that easy throughout the remainder of the project. If you think this is going to be a 45-minute job, maybe you're lucky and it will be that way. Mine, since I had never done this before, took me about three hours. (I took frequent warm up breaks).There will be a number of body clips that you need to remove along the top, the wheel well, and a couple just under the grill area on the bumper. There will also be screws that need to be removed underneath the bumper and on the inside wall of the bumper.

My special tip for this project is to have a saw on hand. If you are not keeping the old bumper...just cut it away so that you can easily access one of the screws on the inside wall. Otherwise all of the other screws can be removed fairly easily if they're not rusted onto their body clips, which a lot of mine were due to salted roads etc.

Once you have the bumper off, you can start installing the new one. Be sure to check your reflectors and make sure that they fit snugly inside the vacancy that was meant for them. I had to shave off some of the plastic on the new bumper to get a good fit. You can use your old retaining clips on the plastic as well however you may have to shave down that side to get the hole to line up too. If you bought a salvage bumper, this wouldn't be necessary of course.

Naked and Afraid!

Now to line it up and make it fit!! My tip here, would be to make sure each side matches on the wheel well area first. I originally tried to center the middle portion by the grill. However, since that bend was in the new plastic, it didn't line up by the tire. Even after aligning the grooves on the inside of the plastic that hooked up to the rest of the body. So, I had to winch it that extra 1/2 inch or so to hold it into place while I got that screw on closest to the wheel well. I tried a number of different locations on the bumper before I found one that would actually winch it in the right direction (sideways instead of up closer to the body). After you button all of that up, the remainder of the adjustments are fairly simple.

The rest of the project is the reverse of the procedure. I opted not to add those ridiculous inner screws that are closest to the light on the inside of the body, but you may feel better about making sure that they are installed. ☺ I almost always have a leftover screw or two with a project that has a ton of them.

Excellent work Grease Monkey! You have yourself a shiny new bumper for your hot ride!!

See the link below for the bumper that I found on Amazon for my Malibu. Or dig around for your own. Happy wrenching!!

The Bumper that I bought:

https://amzn.to/2EnPuy7

How to replace break lines for 92 Chevy Cavalier Z24 The one person Method

Supplies:

12 mm line wrench or open ended wrench
8 mm open ended wrench
2 feet of 1/4 inch clear tubing
Tin snips
12 mm socket
Ratchet
Tie wraps
Floor jack
Jack stands (4 or 2 with ramps)

Important Note: it is much easier to just pay the extra money to get a flaring tool and line by foot and line nuts than it is to buy a full ready made kit. This blog post is for those of us who are frugal or when money is just super tight.

Difficulty: Not for the faint of heart ❤ (Moderate)

The first thing that you will want to do is to remove all of the lines from the break module. Unclip all of the electrical lines to the module and then remove the module. It will be necessary to utilize the space where the module is in order to replace the lines, even if you aren't replacing them all.

With the beginning of the lines removed, you can start disconnecting the line organizing clip and cut away the lines that you will be replacing (its easier for removal and there is no shame in working smarter not harder). The lines are pretty much fitted to the plastic or rubber fittings that keep them lined up so you will want to snap those out. There will be a metal bracket that isn't removable closer to the firewall. You should bend and pull the old lines through that. It will be easier if you cut as closely to the bracket as possible while giving yourself room to grab onto it, being sure to only cut the break lines as other lines will be going through there as well that look very similar. Be patient and take your time.

If you're like me, and have limited upper body strength...get resourceful and get leverage! This pic identifies 2 different ways to do that. You can use a metal pipe or your extension that comes with most socket sets and a socket big enough to fit your handles.

Next, I would go to the farthest end of the vehicle and disconnect or cut away the lines as close to the nut as you can. Many older cars have a lot of rusted on nuts and it will most likely be quicker to use your socket than the 12 mm wrench to get them off. There will also be more plastic organizing clips along the way that may need to be removed. I only removed a couple of mine by the back end to assist with realigning the lines to the body. Not all line clips will need to be removed if you are going to use the wraps to snug up any new lines in the end. If replacing ALL the lines, continue to do the same thing for any remaining lines in the same fashion.

Organize your break lines and begin the installation. It is easier to first feed your longest lines through the bracket by the firewall and shimmy them up while gently bending and straightening the lines through that space, up to approximately where the break module area is. Don't pin them down right away. There will most likely be some adjustment needed after the module is reinstalled. I like to get the hardest parts over with first, then its smoother sailing for the remainder of the job. Some folks remove the tires, I didn't because I only needed to replace the back break lines.

Seating the lines: Some areas are relatively difficult to get the line seated properly. You will notice that your line isn't correct if you keep tightening the nut and you never get anywhere. Something that I found helpful is to do micro-bending of the line. Just slightly line it up while it is detached and see if it sits in the orifice in a straight line. You may need to do this a couple of times before you get it right. If you get roughly halfway down into tightening that nut...SCORE! You got it seated in properly. You might feel like a hero if you happened to be struggling with one for 30 minutes or more. Then you will realize that there are a few more lines to go! Ha ha ha...just breathe, you will get there. I have talked to a number of shade tree mechanics and we all agree that there are some Zen moments that get you through. Often, its right before you give up and start breaking sh*t out of pure rage and frustration....breathe and relax...the appifany to your problem will come.

Repeat the above steps for each line. There will be some locations where you have to rebend an area almost entirely. Be somewhat gentle, but definitely dont be afraid to make it all fit within the vacancies available for the lines as much as possible. You can now start tying up the longer lines that fit the length of the body. I didn't remove all of my organizing clips. I did remove some that seemed really important with the plan to tie wrap the remainder of the lines to the other ones. That was a huge time save! Consider trying the same thing as well. Technically, you could tie wrap throughout, it just seemed a little cleaner in the end and (in my mind) more durable over time.

Bleeding the breaks solo:

Supplies:
Break fluid
2 feet of 1/4" clear tubing
A lighter
1/4" drill bit
Smaller drill bit for an air hole
Clear plastic bottle with a lid

Start by bleeding the slave and the master cylinder. Your tubing may not be flexible in the cold. Heat up one end of the tubing and while warm, push it over the relief valve to get the appropriate size. Put the other end of the tube into the reservoir. Open the relief valve and start pumping the breaks. Since the lines are new...this will take a while. If you need a break, walk around the vehicle and look for leaks in your line and tighten those that need it. Pump out as much of the air as you can for now in both the slave and the master cylinder of your module.

Now, drill a 1/4" hole in the top of your plastic bottle lid and then make another breather hole to allow air to escape. Feed the non-heated end of your hose through the 1/4" hole and put a few inches worth of break fluid into the bottle. Make sure that your hose gets pretty deep into the fluid in your bottle and tighten the cap down. Use the other end to attach to the opened bleeder valve. Start pumping the breaks until the hose is full of fluid and no bubbles. Go around to all of the valves and do the same thing. For good measure, I bleed the module one more time. If the car still has some good breaks after starting it...You have conquered the beast and deserve a congratulatory shoulder punch. You are officially, a GREASE MONKEY!

You can find a pretty decent flaring tool at Amazon.com here: 

And some lines with the nuts: