Opelmania's '98 GLS 2.0 5 Speed

[Opelmania]

Thank you for the pic Tapsa! I love it!

***Warning*** Long post ahead!

So this weekend was spent working on my friend's nB. I knew that a rear caliper needed to be replaced and of course rotors and pads. We started about 4 on Saturday. The bottom bolt on the mounting bracket was frozen solid and of course it stripped out. Went to get a removal tool and a breaker bar. The removal nuts were either too big or too small of course so I ended up heating it up with map gas and using a pair of vise grips. In the meantime, my buddy was out returning the caliper in Gayle because it was for the opposite side. Correct box but wrong part. He was also in search of a replacement 10x1.25 x 35mm hex bolt. He returned and we put the correct caliper on with the old bolt because no one had a replacement. I tried to bleed that side but the bleeder was stripped!!! I decided to put the other caliper back on, pop the frozen pin out, and rebuilt it. We went to put the pads on and they wouldn't go on. Seemed like the carrier was bent. By now it was 10pm. No dinner and no progress. Figured it was a good time to quit. Cooked up a pizza and went home and went to bed. Got back there at 10 yesterday and we went to Ace hardware and got a couple replacement bolts. We decided to return the stripped caliper. Drove 20 minutes away and the closer Advanced didn't have another replacement. Had to go another 20 minutes away for the correct one. Got back, put that one on while my buddy pulled apart the other side. Of course the bottom bolt was frozen there too. We switched sides and I heated that sucker up and broke it free! The top pin on the caliper was frozen on this side too! Popped that one out and rebuilt that caliper. Had to grind down the cheap pads to fit the carrier though. Probably could have done that on the other side too but figured the first one was bent because of the heat from the caliper being frozen. Bled the brakes and went to put the original bad side wheel back on and the pedal went back down to the floor! It is now 2 and no lunch. Decided to bleed them again and then let them sit while we grabbed Jimmy John's. Got back and it held. Finally success!!!

After that I went home, took a shower, and went to a friend's house to help her clean the carpet from her son being sick from the night before. Got that done and grabbed some Popeye's chicken and watched my Hawks pull of a nice win!

A couple good things happened in all of that mess. My buddy still saved cash on the driver's side caliper that I ended up rebuilding and when we got in Gayle to grab lunch yesterday, his odometer was at a nice number.

[EvilinaDM101]

Fantastic number there!!

And glad that in the end, everything worked out!!

Can't wait for TOD!!

[Opelmania]

We got pounded in the Chicago area Friday night with a big snow storm. I left work at 3:15 and didn't get home until 6:45. 3 and 1/2 hours to go 58 miles. Of course I took some pics. I had my car parked in the garage at work so no snow was on it when I left. The first 3 pics was after 30 minutes of leaving work. My windows were pretty frozen.

[Opelmania]

Forgot to put this one in first. The plow wanted to stay behind me on the ramp. Lucky me.

[Kuplamies]

Huh, quite nasty weather to drive. I´m glad, you managed to drive home safely

[Opelmania]

Originally Posted by Kuplamies

Huh, quite nasty weather to drive. I´m glad, you managed to drive home safely

It was quite nasy to drive in. I actually texted Al during some of it. I guess I was jealous of his Florida weather at the time.

Well, since we got all of that snow, my friend, her 9 year old son, Jeremy, and I drove to her dad's place in Green Lake Wisconsin Saturday morning after she got off of work at 6am to do some snowmobiling. Drove over 2.5 hours, but more than twice my commute home the night before! The bigger of the two sleds didn't want to start so we ended up going out on the smaller one separately. Kind of wanted to do a night cruise and have Grandpa watch the kids, but I guess we'll just wait until next time. Grandpa pulled the boys behind the 4 wheeler in their sleds and I ended up pulling them in one bigger landscaping "sled". Had fun with that until I fishtailed them around one corner too many times and they caught an edge and bailed! Oh well, they were fine and we had a great time! Can't wait to get more snow and go again!

[Opelmania]

Ended up working from 7am and didn't leave until after 6pm on Monday and then ened up going to my buddy's house and changed out his coil on his 99 nB with the spare from his original motor. That seemed to help his misfire and we'll end up replacing it with new in a little bit. Ran Gayle through a much needed car wash Tuesday morning and took some pics of him after I got to work. It's probably been 3 weeks since he's been clean! Looking red again now though!

[PaliPrincess]

Great pictures!

Eeep! That means that winter storm will eventually hit us in Michigan! Oh great

[wilky]

FFFFUUUUU snow..... that is all

[Kuplamies]

Oh boy, I love your snowmobile and sled pictures
Must have been a huge fun!!

[Opelmania]

Originally Posted by PaliPrincess

Great pictures!

Eeep! That means that winter storm will eventually hit us in Michigan! Oh great

Not sure if you got hit with that last one, but it's almost 50 and sunny today!

Originally Posted by wilky

FFFFUUUUU snow..... that is all

Originally Posted by Kuplamies

Oh boy, I love your snowmobile and sled pictures
Must have been a huge fun!!

We did have a great time Tapsa. Too bad the bigger snowmobile wasn't running and we didn't have more time. We got about 2" overnight on Friday and about another inch on Saturday night. It's all melting away now though. It's been a very mild winter.

[PaliPrincess]

Yeah, we did get hit. Like 2inches LOL, it has only snowed twice this year! Btw, you NB is amazing!

[Opelmania]

Originally Posted by PaliPrincess

Yeah, we did get hit. Like 2inches LOL, it has only snowed twice this year! Btw, you NB is amazing!

Glad to see the storm left most of it on us, NOT! We've also really only had 2 or 3 storms. So much for worst winter in years! Thank you for your comments on Gayle!

So it's been a while since I've taken pics and posted. Mostly because we've been getting hit with light snow and the roads have been nasty. Gayle has been filthy. His CEL had been off again on its own for about 1K miles and just came back on last night. Oh well, still haven't looked into the airbag light yet anyway so what's one more light. Anyway here are some dirty pics from my driveway and the bowling alley where Jeremy had a birthday party to go to on Saturday. I don't think I've ever taken pics of my car this dirty ever. I probably have over 10K shots of it too.

[Opelmania]

So since I had 2 hours to kill I gassed him up and ran him through the car wash and dried him up. Went to Wally World to grocery shop and snapped a few pics. He had been clean up until I leave from work in about 5 minutes. It had lightly snowed today so it'll be messy. Busy week at work but I'll be on here when I can. Later all! Thanks for stopping by!

[MichelleRoze]

Man, seeing Gayle all clean makes me want to wash Probie! lol

Those winter pictures make me chilly!!!! Brrr....

Love seeing pics of Gayle!!!

Hi Joel!

[Kuplamies]

Originally Posted by MichelleRoze

Love seeing pics of Gayle!!!

Yeah, me too!

Have a nice week, even it will a busy one...

[Opelmania]

Originally Posted by MichelleRoze

Man, seeing Gayle all clean makes me want to wash Probie! lol

Those winter pictures make me chilly!!!! Brrr....

Love seeing pics of Gayle!!!

Hi Joel!

No excuses for you missy! I'd be in shorts down where you are! Hi Michelle!

Originally Posted by Kuplamies

Yeah, me too!

Have a nice week, even it will a busy one...

I should take more pics of him then for you guys. Thanks Tapsa. You too!

[scarabY2k]

My man, those are some choice pics!
I'm continued to be amazed over the sky in your area I love those thin, winter clouds against that clean, blue sky... our Florida skies are getting jealous

Love the shots of the water tanks in the background. Looks like the mother ship in a holding pattern

Glad to see some of that snow clearing up for you.... c'mon spring, c'mon on!!!

[mybugrocks]

Great shots Joel!!! I definitely need to do that with Fiona the next time it snows, all of our snow melted I hope it snows soon...just enough to make the ground white and pretty for pictures

[Opelmania]

Originally Posted by scarabY2k

My man, those are some choice pics!
I'm continued to be amazed over the sky in your area I love those thin, winter clouds against that clean, blue sky... our Florida skies are getting jealous

Love the shots of the water tanks in the background. Looks like the mother ship in a holding pattern

Glad to see some of that snow clearing up for you.... c'mon spring, c'mon on!!!

The skies have been gorgeous around here lately Al! I dig them too. I don't have much time to go anywhere for pics and the water tower is right by Wally World. Thought it wasn't a bad spot. I liked the snow mounds too!

Originally Posted by mybugrocks

Great shots Joel!!! I definitely need to do that with Fiona the next time it snows, all of our snow melted I hope it snows soon...just enough to make the ground white and pretty for pictures

Um, Casey, I'm 60 miles South of you. You should have piles of snow in parking lots by you still. Although, I still have snow in my front yard. But that's because my house faces north.

So last night on my way home I noticed the gorgeous full orange moon and tried to get a few shots. Not the best, but not too bad either. Then this morning I snapped a couple more right outside my work with the moon and then I took one of my Building. 2 more months here. Enjoy the pics!