Not driving my car much-depressing

[Russell]

I retired 4 months ago. Have only driven my bmw 400 miles. Of course it is winter and cannot even clean it as the weather is too cold. May not even put on my winter tires as i have a 4-wheel drive vehicle to use as needed. This is all sort of depressing.
One bright spot, I am accumulating parts for a front steering rebuild this spring. Anything i should look out for? Been told by my indy shop and alignment shops the suspension is solid with 233,000 miles yet it has not been replaced. Just does not seem right???

[bimmer nut]

Can't speak to your steering rebuild question, maybe someone else can chime in. But you need to do something like bikers do. Ride/drive for the sake of driving. Drive to a distant breakfast spot that involves some twisties along the way. Or even a good view. I did that on my Beemer every Sunday morning with couple buddies there for a while. It was good to get out with no purpose in mind. Was actually really relaxing. Need to get back into that.

[Russell]

Can't speak to your steering rebuild question, maybe someone else can chime in. But you need to do something like bikers do. Ride/drive for the sake of driving. Drive to a distant breakfast spot that involves some twisties along the way. Or even a good view. I did that on my Beemer every Sunday morning with couple buddies there for a while. It was good to get out with no purpose in mind. Was actually really relaxing. Need to get back into that.

Nice idea, think I will do some driving with no purpose.

[Bill R.]

I do the same thing since i work out of the house and don't commute/travel much i make up excuses to go drive for awhile

[shogun]

I do the same thing too since I retired in January. The good thing: I can choose when I drive and where I drive, can avoid the times with traffic jam (morning and evening before/after work) and select the car by the route I drive.
E32 750iL for the more luxury ride
E36 M3 for the more sporty drive
and my '97 Honda Acty truck with 660 cc and 'almost' 40 HP :) does the rest when I work for our volunteer project

[Bill R.]

I'm envious of the little honda truck, do they come with a/c?

[shogun]

Yes, my one is a 1997 with AC and even automatic transmission. That is with the E07E engine with carb, from wiki:
The E07A is a three-cylinder gasoline engine developed and manufactured by Honda, with a total displacement of 656 cc. The engine is intended for light-vehicle applications. The E05A and E07A were replaced by the Honda P engine.The E07A is based on the Honda EH Engine, a SOHC 2-cylinder engine. Like the Honda D engine, it rotates anti-clockwise from the timing belt side. The engine was available with either a computer-controlled variable venturi-type side draft carburetor (PGM-CARB) or a multi-point fuel-injected (PGM-FI) version.
That PGM-CARB is quite interesting, it has 2 solenoids which open automatically with the throttle position and let more/less air in. That were the ONLY items I so far had to change, as they according to one of my japanese friends last max 100000 km, but were quite cheap like all the other parts on this car. Here is a jap. site where they test the function of one of these solenoids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zblyxQzyf4
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kurumanosentakuya/archive/2012/3/25

Easy to service, that is a pic of the complete fuse box http://s245.photobucket.com/user/calfranch/media/HondaATCY/Presentation1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
not as many as on our BMW's

Utilizing a cross-flow design, the intake and exhaust valves are opened and closed by the rocker arm driven by a camshaft timing belt. The two intake and two exhaust valves are positioned on either side of the spark plug which is mounted on the top center of the combustion chamber. The cylinder block and cylinder bore are made of die-cast aluminum, as are the valve covers and oil pan. Early Japanese emissions requirements for passenger automobiles required that exhaust gas purification be accomplished by means of a three-way catalyst. The requirement was later amended to include commercial vehicles as well
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Acty
As long as you are not taller than 180 cm, there is no problem with leg room on the driver seat, otherwise it might be difficult.
The truck came in various versions, 2-wheel, 4-wheel drive, dumb car etc

Since I own the truck I am also a member on this japanese mini truck forum http://www.minitrucktalk.com/forum.php
Here someone added a snow plow http://www.minitrucktalk.com/showthread.php?13516-Front-winch-bumper

Makes really fun to drive, here a pic from last week when I picked up stuff from someone who gave it to us for the volunteer work to sell on the fleamarket
http://produkte.bilder-speicher.de/13122307303090/foto/honda-acty-truck.html
Got it 3 years ago, built 1997 and had only 12000km on the clock, now 42000, so you see I use it a lot. Kei cars as they call the mini cars here in Japan are now >50% of total sales here.
The new ones have everything one needs, aircon, automatic trans, auto windows etc pp, Honda just brought their new N-One model onto the market which is a hit, styled after the original 370cc car around 40 years ago http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_N-One
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/01/honda-n-box-is-done-with-mirrors-w-video/
http://www.caranddriver.com/photos-media/432050/honda-n-box-concept-photo-432256

[genphreak]

LOL!

I reckon what you get on that little thing is no less than 4x what I can fit in my 2500cc e34 Touring (which is about half what I can get on the roof racks of my 525 sedan!)

[632 Regal]

I have only drove mine about 5 times since I moved down here. Keep the dead yet revived battery charged though so if needed I can drive it. Michigan really took it's toll on it in every way. The body I can fix no big deal but when I went to put my summer tires on and tried to jack it up... uh oh. Ended up having to use blocks of wood to distribute the weight to prevent crushing the thing. How sad, only has 250k. But on a high note it has lots of goodies on it that can be harvested and put on the one I just bought about 30 minutes ago. Another Georgia car. Love these southern cars. I'll post this on another thread.

[BMWFatherFigure]

I just driving my cars for the hell of it too. Getting back to original post: I would suggest replacing the reaction bushes. They seem the first to go.

[632 Regal]

I just driving my cars for the hell of it too. Getting back to original post: I would suggest replacing the reaction bushes. They seem the first to go.

WTF is a reaction bushing?

Thrust arm bushing?

[mattyb]

I am curious as well, what is a reaction bushing? when a chik punch's u in the head when you grab her on the bush?

[genphreak]

Dude's yo dem bushings da ol' man is speakin' aboutz are jez thrust arm bushings yo...

but if u grab ur ho on the mo dat doesn't mean u won't get no reaction- so no need to change norm-o behaviour now, u know what I'm sayin'?

[mattyb]

Ja Man