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© 1998-2003 Brian F. Schreurs
Even we have a disclaimer.
Freak out your teacher -- go to class early and turn all the desks around.
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At Paradise Garage, we love to do our own car work. It's fun, and we usually learn something about our cars, too. We often learn these things the hard way, and one day it dawned on us that it would be nice to share our knowledge so the next guy doesn't have to go through the same trauma. Thus, we have Stories From the Garage. Telling you how we did it -- what we did wrong, what they did wrong (believe us, instructions are often not worth the paper they're printed on), so you have a better chance of getting it right the first time.
Click on any of the plus signs on this page for more detailed information.
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Engine Articles
Air Flow (Intake & Exhaust)
Installing a Cat-Back Exhaust
One of the cheapest and easiest improvements you can do to improve performance and attitude is to rehab the stock exhaust system. In this era of very expensive catalytic converters, kits are usually sold as catalytic converter-to-tailpipe (or "cat-back") systems. Not only is installing one easy to do, but you get instant gratification for your work! We installed a cat-back on the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (1998)
Gutting the Catalytic Converter
The main problem with catalytic converters is that from time to time they get plugged. Of course, they're not the only part of the exhaust that can plug up, just the most likely. To make sure that the catalytic converter is the source of the problem, gut it first. We do it to the Paradise Garage 1986 Camaro IROC-Z. (2002)
Creating a Cold Air Induction System
We've been having some trouble with the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. It can't take much timing advance and pings like mad in the summer. This simply would not do. We decided it was time for the car to get a colder dose of air. But what to do? At the time, no one sold a cold-air kit. We built our own. You can too. (1999)
Building a Custom Exhaust System
Sometimes budget is the all-important criteria when selecting parts. Instead of dropping several hundred bucks on a stock exhaust system, we built our own for about $40. Col. Mosby, the Paradise Garage 1974 Dodge pickup, is the one with the dropped system. (1999)
Replacing the H-Pipe
The intermediate pipe of a Mustang, better known as the H-pipe, can be the bottleneck in a high performance exhaust. It sure was on the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT, which already had headers and a catback system. We installed the new Tri-D H-pipe to free the air. (1999)
Replacing the Headers
This is a very popular modification, done to just about every car under the sun. But, here we have a twist: the Paradise Garage 1970 Dodge Charger received headers eons ago. They needed to be replaced. This is the procedure to replace headers when their time is up. (1998)
Installing a Low-Restriction Airbox
Take one look at an LS1 airbox and one has to wonder what kind of weed is in the cigarettes at General Motors. But fear not, for it is possible to replace that convoluted maze of plastic with something that looks much better and increases power by a hair. The Paradise Garage 1998 Pontiac Firebird Formula received this bit of cosmetic surgery. (1999)
Creating a Ram Air Volvo
We're not going to spoil it by telling you too much here -- you'll just have to read about it. But, it's something anyone with this car can do. The car in question was the Paradise Garage 1980 Volvo 240DL. (1997)
Cooling System
Installing a Coolant Filter
Taking a well-deserved break from the Vortech supercharger installation, we decided to address one safety area that we felt should have been dealt with on a piece of equipment this expensive. We don't want to take any chances with this engine. So as a safety precaution, we installed a Tefba coolant filter on the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (2001)
Rewiring the Fan Relay
Have you ever wanted to turn you fan on at will, rather than just wait for the computer to do it? If not -- you've never been bracket racing. For those of you who know the feeling, we show you how to install a switch for the fan relay on the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (1998)
Installing a Low-Temperature Thermostat
A low-temperature thermostat is one of those things that does little on its own, but can possibly accentuate other mods. It's cheap, it's easy, and it's one more thing you can add to your "mods" list, so go for it! The Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT was the subject. (1998)
Installing an Oil Cooler
Help your oil fight breakdown and, maybe, lower your operating temperature by installing an oil cooler. The best part is, you can do it without cutting anything. We did it to the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (1998)
Replacing the Radiator
If your radiator needs to be replaced for any of a multitude of reasons (such as, your assistant can't be trusted with knives), it's not as hard as it looks. In fact, with a little patience it's not too bad at all. We did it to the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (1998)
Replacing the Thermostat
Though the 928's engine looks complicated and not a little odd, the thermostat is a fairly conventional piece in a fairly conventional location, with no particular trouble accessing it. It's actually quite easy, and it's a good place to start when your Shark thinks it likes warm water. We swapped the thermostat on the Paradise Garage 1984 928S. (2001)
Fuel System
Installing an Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator
Fuel injected cars can compensate for mods only to a point. Eventually the engine needs more fuel, and the pressure regulator is usually the bottleneck. Fortunately, replacing it with an adjustable fuel pressure regulator (AFPR) is a snap, especially on the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (1998)
Adjusting an Edelbrock Carburetor
There are so many types of carburetors that it's really quite impossible to generalize. But, if you need to make some minor adjustments to a Carter AFB or Edelbrock Performer, it is ridiculously easy. The Paradise Garage 1970 Dodge Charger provided the 4-barrel carb. (1998)
Installing Fuel Injectors
Fuel injectors are actually designed to work in a changing environment, and can handle horsepower demands significantly beyond stock. However, asking stock fuel injectors to keep up with a supercharger seemed a bit much. Fortunately, higher-capacity fuel injectors are easy to come by, so we installed a set of 24-lb. injectors as reinforcements for the Paradise Garage Mustang supercharger project. (2001)
Installing an In-Tank Fuel Pump
The last thing we want is to spend huge bucks on a supercharger only to burn a valve from running too lean. The fuel pump inside the gas tank can be replaced with a high-volume, 190 lph unit that will do a much better job keeping up with the feeding demands of the supercharger. It's not too expensive and not too hard, so we consider it cheap insurance for the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (2001)
Replacing the Throttle Cable
You want a sinking feeling? Put the pedal to the metal, then listen as the engine dies down to idle rather than bucking up and screaming to redline. Guess what? Your throttle cable just let go! But, you can get the car home without a tow truck and the cable is easy to swap. We know; we did it with the Paradise Garage 1970 Dodge Charger. Repeatedly. (1998)
Installing a Custom Throttle Cable
We got tired of replacing original throttle cable with more of the same. We were depleting the world's supply of 318 throttle cables! Can't have that. There are restoration people out there who need 'em, and anyway they're not supposed to break. So we moved up to a custom stainless steel cable for our 1970 Dodge Charger. (1999)
Miscellaneous
Dirt Cheap Engine Series
It was high time the Charger's stinky, oily, and slow 318 got out of the way for some real power. To save us from suspension mods, we selected a 360. Follow along as we rebuild the engine and turn the Charger into a screamer, as cheaply as we can stand. (2002)
Replacing the Engine Mounts
Let's face it, do enough hot rodding and eventually the engine mounts are either pounded or shredded into oblivion. Keep your engine where it belongs; replace the mounts. We did it on the Paradise Garage 1970 Dodge Charger. (1998)
Replacing the Starter
Swapping out the starter on the Paradise Garage 1970 Dodge Charger is one of the easiest projects here -- provided you don't have headers. We do. It gets complicated. (1998)
Supercharger Series
At long last! It's the project we've all been waiting for. Installing a supercharger! This project is way too involved to be merely one article, so follow along as we prepare for the supercharger, then install it! We put this Vortech S-Trim supercharger on the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT 5.0. (2001)
Synthetic Oil Life Study
Lots of people use synthetic oil because of how great it is, and lots of people won't touch the stuff because of its cost. Just what are you getting for your money? We aim to find out. (2002)
Installing Underdrive Pulleys
Installing underdrive pulleys frees up extra horsepower in your car by spinning accessories more slowly. Yes, this will have some small effect on the performance of the accessories, but it's all within reason if you buy a street/strip set of pulleys. And, it's all pretty easy to do for the most part. We tried pulleys on the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (1997)
Replacing the Vacuum Advance
The vacuum advance on the Paradise Garage 1985 Jaguar XJ-S lives in a harsh environment: buried deep in the vee of the engine with no appreciable cooling, the diaphragm is prone to failure. We replaced ours to be on the safe side. (2000)
Accessing the Vee
Many projects on the V12 require moving objects out of the vee for access. This can be a very intimidating process, but it is manageable with patience. We took apart the vee on the Paradise Garage 1985 Jaguar XJ-S; this is how we did it. (2000)
Drivetrain Articles
Miscellaneous
Installing an Aluminum Driveshaft
Basically, we have a real problem with the original Ford driveshaft. Their build tolerances were sloppy, thinking the cars would never exceed 65 mph, so they don't spin true. This isn't a problem unless you're going really fast; not quite as fast if your car has steep gearing like the Paradise Garage Mustang GT. To keep the thing attached to the car, we upgraded to an aluminum driveshaft. (2001)
Replacing the Clutch
The clutch GM uses on the LS1 F-body is okay, but it's no miracle worker. When the clutch on our 1999 Pontiac Firebird Formula proved shagged at less than 50,000 miles, we decided to upgrade with a performance-oriented replacement. (2003)
Installing a Shifter
The stock GM shifter in the LS1 F-body is okay, but there's always room for improvement. It turns out that improvements come fairly inexpensively, so we ditched the GM piece for a Pro 5.0 short-throw shifter. (2003)
Installing a Shift Kit
Darn those modern automatics for being so smooth! Fortunately, there are a couple of companies which can sell you a kit to make an automatic feel racier. They also claim that the stronger shifts actually prolong the life of the transmission due to less slippage and wear. If you like authoritative shifting, these kits aren't hard to install if you have moderate hot rodding experience. The donor transmission is an AODE in the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (1998)
Replacing the Torque Converter
Many maladies can be caused by a lousy torque converter. We were pursuing a noisy clack-clack-clack sound. Whatever the reason, the transmission has to come out to get at it. We remove the transmission and swap the torque converter on Col. Mosby, the resident 1974 Dodge 100 pickup. (2000)
Installing a Transmission Cooler
One of the few modifications most people recommend, and just as effective on a normal car as a hot rod, is an accessory cooler for your slushbox. It can help prolong the lifespan of the transmission, especially if it frequently experiences heavy loads. We installed one on the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (1998)
Fabricating Transmission Lines
At this point it shouldn't surprise anyone that the transmission lines, going to the cooler in the radiator, were total worthless redneck junk on the Paradise Garage 1974 Dodge Adventurer. One section was even made of copper! Rather than buying new lines from the dealer that probably wouldn't work with our stuff anyway, we bent our own. This is how. (2000)
Chassis Articles
Brake System
Rebuilding Brake Calipers
Do much autocrossing or road racing, or even spirited mountain driving, and sooner or later the rubber boots on your front disc brake calipers will fail. That's not a good thing. Fortunately, replacing them is within reach of the home mechanic, and far cheaper than replacing the whole caliper. We did it to the Paradise Garage 1998 Pontiac Firebird Formula. (2000)
Upgrading the Brake Fluid Reservoir
The remote brake fluid reservoir fitted by Jaguar to the XJ-S is certainly of questionable design. While we were ripping into the brake system anyway, we figured we'd take care of that deficiency by retrofitting a better-designed unit. The subject car is the Paradise Garage 1985 XJ-S. (2000)
Replacing the Brake Pads
It's pretty rare that we get to praise the factory for intelligent design. But we gotta hand it to GM, swapping the pads on the Paradise Garage 1998 Pontiac Firebird Formula is a piece of cake. We upgraded to high performance street/track pads and race-grade brake fluid. (1999)
Replacing the Brake Rotors
Rotors wear out from time to time, and they wear out even faster if you use the aforementioned street/track pads. Take it from us, there's no such thing as a street/track pad unless your idea of street pads is shelling out a couple hundred bones to overhaul your brakes every three months. Here's how to replace the rotors on the resident 1998 Pontiac Firebird Formula after you don't take our advice. (1999)
Replacing the Front Brake Pads & Rotors
We investigated a pulsing under braking and were not surprised to discover warped rotors. The pads, two years old, were also finished. Swapping them all at once is not only easy, it's advisable. We do it on the Paradise Garage 1993 Pontiac Bonneville SE. (2000)
Replacing the Master Cylinder
When the brake pedal starts doing the creep toward the floor every time you use it, that's a sign that the master cylinder is going bad. Time to park the car and fix the problem; this isn't something to drive on. Fortunately, replacing the master cylinder on the Paradise Garage 1985 Jaguar XJ-S is ridiculously easy. (2000)
Replacing the Power Brake Booster
Nothing gets your attention quite like not having any brakes. The 1974 Dodge 100 Adventurer pickup got our attention. We listened, and traced the problem to a dead master cylinder/brake booster unit. (1999)
Suspension
Removing the Cage
Many, perhaps most, of the projects you could encounter on and around the Jaguar independent rear suspension are best accomplished with the subframe, or "cage", removed. It's not as hard as it sounds -- the thing was designed for it! We remove the cage on the Paradise Garage 1985 XJ-S. (2001)
Disassembling the Cage
It's not enough to remove the cage; sooner or later, parts will have to come off it. Just to be really thorough, we took all the parts off it. See what happens when we reduce a 1985 XJ-S cage to its component parts. (2001)
Rebuilding the Front Suspension
After failing a safety inspection for a number of suspension parts, we decided to overhaul the whole thing. We replaced every wear item on the front suspension of Col. Mosby, the Paradise Garage 1974 Dodge pickup. (2000)
Replacing the Front Shock Absorbers
Shock absorbers are really easy to replace, especially if your car has a torsion bar suspension like ours. Just undo a few bolts and presto! Out it comes. With new ones in, your car will ride much better. The Paradise Garage 1970 Dodge Charger provided the ancient, crusty, shocks. (1997)
Replacing the Rear Shock Absorbers
Rear shock absorbers should be every bit as easy as the fronts; maybe easier. This was not the case for us. Ours taught us a new meaning for humility after we broke a rare and expensive part. But, once that was straightened out, the shocks themselves weren't so bad. The Paradise Garage 1970 Dodge Charger provided the leaf-sprung rear suspension. (1997)
Replacing the Shock Mounting Plate
This was the rare and expensive part we broke while removing the rear shocks. Finding another one was way, way harder than putting it on the car. If you break the same thing we did, this story will help you make it right again. Of course the vehicle was the Paradise Garage 1970 Dodge Charger. (1997)
Miscellaneous
Replacing the Front Wheel Bearings
Normally something you don't even think about, the wheel bearings on any car -- whether Dodge or Porsche -- are very important to you. These are what makes it possible for the wheel to spin freely. The ones on the Paradise Garage 928S were allowing the wheel to spin a little too freely, so we opened things up and replaced them. (2001)
Body Articles
Miscellaneous
Replacing the Bonnet Struts
Jaguar provided the Paradise Garage 1985 Jaguar XJ-S with wimpy, halfhearted bonnet struts. To add insult to injury, they're stupid expensive! We replaced them with common aftermarket units which are stronger and open the bonnet further -- then we added a cool trick to it. (2000)
Replacing the Hatch Struts
If you have a hatchback, you're all too familiar with the little gas-charged struts which allegedly are able to hold the hatch open. Although these are usually designed to be easily replaced, this is not always the case. The struts on the Diamond-Star triplets, for example, are probably the worst design we have ever seen. There's a trick to it, and we reveal it. The subject car is the Paradise Garage 1992 Eagle Talon TSi. (1998)
Installing a Ski Rack
With this fancypants practical wagon thing at Paradise Garage, we get down and functional with a gennie Subaru ski rack to go with the gennie Subaru car. Subaru knows how to make a good ski rack (actually, their supplier does; it's not made by Subaru) -- it requires no tools to install and works well. (2002)
Interior Articles
Gauges
Installing an Air/Fuel Ratio Gauge
With a supercharger installed, it will be more critical than ever to maintain as close to a stochiometric air/fuel mixture as possible. We figured a great way to keep an eye on this would be to tap into the oxygen sensors and monitor their feedback. So we installed an air/fuel ratio gauge and a toggle switch to watch both banks on the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (2001)
Installing a Boost Gauge
Sure, we can tell whether the supercharger is working based on the seat of the pants, but we figured with the money involved in this installation, perhaps a proper gauge monitoring its behavior would be the more prudent option. Installing the gauge on the Paradise Garage Mustang was a snap compared to the rest of the project. (2001)
Installing a Fuel Pressure Gauge
There gets to be a point in fuel system modifications that one wonders what is really going on with the system. A cowl-mounted fuel pressure gauge has that cool retro look, so we installed one on the Paradise Garage 1995 Mustang GT. (1998)
Installing an Oil Pressure Gauge
The stock oil pressure gauge is near useless on a Mustang. It just goes up to "normal" and stays there. It might as well be a light if that's all it's going to do. We mount an aftermarket electric oil pressure gauge on the A-pillar so that we can see what's really going on. Featuring the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (1999)
Installing a Transmission Temperature Gauge
Usually there's no way to tell that the transmission is going to die, until it dies. But since heat kills automatic transmissions, on an auto you can get some advance warning by mounting a trans temp gauge. We put one on the A-pillar of the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (1999)
Miscellaneous
Disarming an Air Bag
Some people like air bags, some people hate air bags. A few people don't care. For those of you who don't care for the idea of explosives mounted in your steering wheel, fear not! Despite the hoopla you may have heard about asking the Feds for permission to disarm your bag, that is only true if you intend to pay someone else to disarm the bag! If you're willing to do it yourself, it's perfectly legal! And, it's easy! Paradise Garage's 1993 Pontiac Bonneville SE became the testbed for this little operation. (1998)
Creating a Change Holder
We can't quite think of a use for ashtrays in a Jaguar, so we converted ours to change holders. It requires a bit of fabrication but it's not hard at all. We used the Paradise Garage 1985 Jaguar XJ-S. (2000)
Replacing Climate Control Knobs
Sometimes, the easy solution does not become apparent until after you've already done the hard solution. This was one of those cases. A climate control knob stopped working, so we tore the dash apart to find out why. Read this before you start working! The car was the Paradise Garage 1993 Pontiac Bonneville SE. (1997)
Rewiring Fog Lights
Correct the mistake of some half-baked Ford engineer who decided that fog lights should only come on with headlights. We show you how to rewire your Ford fog lights so that they come on any time you want them to, as long as there's ACC power. The Ford in question is the Paradise Garage 1995 Ford Mustang GT. (1998)
Replacing the Heater Core
We just can't force parts to last forever. Heater cores live in a pretty tough environment, so a 30-year survival is pretty darn good. But when the core in the Paradise Garage Charger finally gave up, we weren't going to wimp out and take it to a mechanic -- we met the challenge! (2000)
Replacing the Seat Cover
There comes a time in any truck's life when the original seat is too skanky to sit on, but the truck is too worthless to justify a complete reskin. Enter the seat cover. It entered Col. Mosby, Paradise Garage's 1974 Dodge pickup. (1999)
Disassembling a Trunk
As a direct result of trying to replace the above hatch struts, we learned all about how to take apart the trunk area of the Diamond-Star cars. There's a lot of interesting stuff under there, so we'll show you how to tear it apart in case you need access to something -- or you lose a bolt while fixing the struts. Our car was the Paradise Garage 1992 Eagle Talon TSi. (1998)
Other Articles
Miscellaneous
Adja Comes Home
How on Earth did Paradise Garage find ourselves restoring a 1940 Chrysler Royal coupe? Sometimes a chance encounter takes a life of its own and cannot be stopped. All we did was find the car. After that, it followed us home. (1999)
Disassembling a Truck
It sucks to be a 30-year-old truck that won't sell. At some point your options become: a) rot in a salvage yard; or b) get parted out by your owner. Paradise Garage finally had to say adieu to its longtime friend, the 1974 Dodge 100 pickup called Col. Mosby. (2002)
Dragstrip Baseline
What good is it to have a musclecar if you don't know how fast it is? We couldn't think of an aswer either, so we backed up our dyno runs with a trip to a local dragstrip and ran the numbers. (1999)
Dynamometer Baseline
It'll be a lot more fun, in a couple of years, enjoying the new power of the restored Paradise Garage Charger if we can compare it to the current power. So, using history as an excuse, we get a dynamometer baseline. (1999)
Inspecting the Chrysler
Years of grime and neglect can hide, well, more years of grime and neglect. There's only way to find out how bad the damage is: break out the cleaning supplies and the shop vac. Our 1940 Chrysler Royal got the welcome-home cleanup/inspection. (2000)
Weight Distribution
To get a car's handling to balance properly, it's important for the weight of the car to approach 50/50 front/rear, and indeed it would be even better for the car to see 25% on each corner. But this kind of information isn't something you can just look up, so we've devised a couple of ways to find out for ourselves. (2002)
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1940 Chrysler Royal
Basic Statistics
241.5 c.i. (4.0L) inline-6
3-spd. column-shift manual
rear-wheel-drive
body-on-frame
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1970 Dodge Charger
Basic Statistics
318 c.i. (5.2L) V8
A-904 3-spd. automatic
rear-wheel-drive
unit body
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1974 Dodge 100 Adventurer
Basic Statistics
318 c.i. (5.2L) V8
A-727 3-spd. automatic
rear-wheel-drive
body-on-frame
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1980 Volvo 240DL
Basic Statistics
143 c.i. (2.3L) inline-4
4-spd. floor-shift manual
rear-wheel-drive
body-on-frame
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1984 Porsche 928S
Basic Statistics
291 c.i. (4.7L) V8
M-B 4-spd. automatic
rear-wheel-drive
unit body
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1985 Jaguar XJ-S H.E.
Basic Statistics
326 c.i. (5.3L) V12
TH400 3-spd. automatic
rear-wheel-drive
unit body
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1986 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
Basic Statistics
305 c.i. (5.0L) V8
TH700R4 4-spd. automatic
rear-wheel-drive
unit body
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1992 Eagle Talon TSi
Basic Statistics
122 c.i. (2.0L) inline-4 turbo
5-spd. manual
all-wheel-drive
unit body
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1993 Pontiac Bonneville SE
Basic Statistics
232 c.i. (3.8L) V6
4-spd. automatic
front-wheel-drive
unit body
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1995 Ford Mustang GT
Basic Statistics
302 c.i. (4.9L) V8 supercharged
Tremec TKO 5-spd. manual
rear-wheel-drive
unit body
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1998 Pontiac Firebird Formula
Basic Statistics
346 c.i. (5.7L) V8
Tremec T-56 6-spd. manual
rear-wheel-drive
unit body
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2002 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport
Basic Statistics
155 c.i. (2.5L) H4
5-spd. manual
all-wheel-drive
unit body
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