BAWC Forums

Thought I would just start a thread that entitles stuff I find at the junk yard. Its usually pretty bland, but every so often it gets interesting. Feel free to post your findings as well.



So 3 days prior to yesterday I get this notification from Row 52. Its a 95 VR4 Spyder in the Stockton yard.





Fast forward to yesterday when i show up after work.



Only thing left was the block and the front head. Everything drivetrain and Spyder based was GONE! Even took the calipers with the wheels still on. Someone must have spread the word.


I did manage to nab a few odds and ends as there wasnt much of anything left. Below is the ECS controller and the factory keyless entry.





Take a closer look from the back...


They hacked up the brackets to fit in the back. Then used sticky tape to keep it all together. Those cuts were made with tin snips btw.

Its was interesting to see how they modified the rear of the chassis to work with the solid top. It wasn't really pretty back there. You could tell it was done by a shop with hand tools and various welding equipment. Quite a bit of rust at a lot of hidden joints too for being a Cali car.

It was fascinating to see how they were built. They were definitely done with a ton of manual labor. We would have kept ours if we had a car barn.

While down there I also stopped to pick up some new mirrors for the Mrs' MDX. She had a habit of whacking them on the garage pillars as she got in and out. The passenger got so bad that the mirror would just jiggle around on the highway.

I finally got tired of it and picked up some used ones from a premium yard. While there I noticed that the rear end collision exposed the passenger radar system that my wife also broke when she backed into my work truck. Guy was nice and included it in the deal. New they are $900. Hopefully it works as the bracket that holds it is shot. The sensor looks fine though.

You're way more willing travel for the hope of parts than I am lol. I'm barely willing to head from Lincoln to Rancho Cordova to hope an Outback still has what I'm looking for.

Ive driven by the local pick n pull in sherwood a few times but never stopped. Used to go all the time to ones in Wisconsin though. There really isn't much of a need for me to go anymore.

Hopefully that radar module doesn't have some crazy calibration procedure.

[quote=""ChargerX3""]

Only thing left was the block and the front head. Everything drivetrain and Spyder based was GONE! Even took the calipers with the wheels still on. Someone must have spread the word.

[/quote]

Yeah, I told the Spyder group. Sorry, Jeff said it was cool.

[quote=""Chris GTO TT""]You're way more willing travel for the hope of parts than I am lol. I'm barely willing to head from Lincoln to Rancho Cordova to hope an Outback still has what I'm looking for.[/quote]
I was already headed that direction for work that day so I just got it up on the way back. Usually you have a couple days before people go nuts.
[quote=""Jeff V.""]Hopefully that radar module doesn't have some crazy calibration procedure.[/quote]
Please no. That would blow.
[quote=""vegasidol""]Yeah, I told the Spyder group. Sorry, Jeff said it was cool.[/quote]

It was cool. I don’t have a Spyder. Mostly looking for any suspension or drivetrain components. They really skinned it.

https://rts.i-car.com/oem-calibration-r ... html#sbrbs

OEM Name: BSI Radar Unit
Calibration/Initialization Requirement Events:

If BSI radar unit is removed/installed or replaced
If body panel repairs are made near the BSI mounting location
If rear end structural repairs are made
If DTC indicates

That's for the 2016 model. We have the 2010 model. I didn't see anything about recalibration for that but you're welcome to use your googleFu.

Spent a good part of Saturday working on the Mrs. MDX. As mentioned earlier I had the following issues to attempt to remedy:

-Passenger side mirror was broken internally. Got a used replacement in the same color.
-Passenger rear blind spot detector was broken. Got very used and questionable one from same yard as mirrors.

First to tackle was the passenger mirror. Mine was tossed in the passenger seat and sat in the junked car for who knows how long. Had a couple more scratches than I wanted too. This is a stock photo as i didn't take pictures of this part. Its hard mounted to the door, so I had to remove interior panels to swap it out. It wasn't too hard to remove as there is a YouTube video I referenced. Installed the used one and fired up the car. Everything worked! One job completed.




Finally it was time to tackle the radar sensor. Luckily I didn't have to remove the entire rear bumper, but I had to take a bit of the passenger side lose to access the mounting point. My wife broke off 2 of the 3 hard mounting point for the sensor during the accident. After removing it from the car the sensor looked much like the used replacement, but you could see a light smudge across the face of the sensor. That is where it made direct contact with my trucks front tow hook. The harness also seemed to come off a little too easy, so i plugged it back in and fired her up, just to be sure. Nada, sensor not registering. Then I got to thinking about how Jeff said they needed to be calibrated, especially if the harness was ripped off.

I decided to quickly install the new sensor and see if it would act the same. Nope, it fired up and the dash light went out. Ok, at least its not showing an error anymore. That doesn't mean it works when vehicles are in the other lane. That will have to wait until i fix the bracket and get it all back together.

The brackets I have available to me are either my original one in 3 pieces, or a the one from the rear ended MDX. Pictured again here:



Turns out the crashed unit I picked up was in slightly better shape than mine, but not by much. It was in one piece, but it was completely cracked through on each of the mounting points in one place. Also the bracket had been "flexed" in its current position for too long and was holding its awkward shape after being removed. It didn't want to go back to straight. What to do??? I turned to my zip tie collection and some fresh tubes of JB Weld to force it back to shape. After letting it cure and removing about 8 zip ties that held it together.






Install wasn't too bad. Hired the wife with her small hands and my youngest son to hold the important tools.




Surprisingly everything lined up pretty well with the 3 bolts and it went back together. Here is a picture shooting down in between the bumper. Had to use some stubby wrenches, but it all went back into place. Reinstalled the tail light and all the bumper bolts and had the wife take her out for a spin.





Initially she drove around the block and said it didn't recognize any of the parked cars. I had to remind her that it only detects objects moving within 6 mph of you, so ideally things that stay in your blind spot. She took it back out on the main road and came back with a big smile on her face. It worked!

Now after over a year of the car being partly broken, its now back to being like new again.

Nice it all worked out!

Also your son really looks like you!

Thanks, it was really starting to become a safety hazard with the passenger size of the car not having any blind spot detection, or even a mirror that would stay put. Much happier to see it all back and working like it should.

Good job. I hate working on the wife’s vehicle because if it doesn’t work it messes up I never hear the end of it.


Coop

I get that. My wife comes from a family of patched together cars, so luckily she's not difficult to impress.