changed the oil today
 

okay, seriously, is everything I do on this car going to be such a pain in the nutz?

I probably have only myself to blame, doing this sans manual or clue, but really... this teeny ass filter won't accept a normal wrench, so $6 down the toobs for a new tool.

Then I unscrew this thing, and dammitall, in spite of my efforts, oil still spills down all over me. As I lurch upward in shock, I smack my face on the control arm.

WHAT IS THE DEAL?!?!??!? ARRRGHGGGH!

I thought about removing the splash pan, but I'm not sure it woulda helped. I need to fab a sheetmetal intake (ahahahha, yeah right, me welding alooomium) to gain some space. CURSE THESE AMERICAN HANDS! I bet those Japanese hands I've had on order since I got my first 240Z (which is, to this day, straight diggity dope, don't even trip a bit) would have come in handy.

Oh, and the funny part? After shlepping my ass to Kragen for a filter wrench, I'm pretty sure it was loose enough I coulda removed it by hand. GRrr.r..

On the bright side, I Seafoamed it today and FINALLY got the billowing smoke clouds I'd been promised; neighbor dropped by asking if I blew a headgasket. AHHAHAHAH, no, it's supposed to do that! It's not a flaw, it's a FEATURE! Like torque steer!:dancegay: :dancegay: :dancegay:

If tonight's post is less articulate than usual, don't blame me. blame the imperial stoute.

I remove my filter from above the car. You can't fit your hand down in there? I think its much easier that way.

Yup. Spin it out from the topside and you won't loose any oil.

It helps if you have that bracket on the bottom of the intake manifold removed.

you want a fun oil change job? go change the oil on an I4 '93-'97 MX6! The oil filter is on the back of the engine, up high, right in the middle. you have to get completely under the car and reach up between the frame rail and the exhaust with both hands and unscrew it. Hated changing the oil on that thing. at least my v6 MX6 had the decency to have its oil filter on the front at the bottom of the engine. 5 minute job on that car. :)

My '93 Miata has been in the family since '97 and the splashgaurd came off day 1. We've never had any problem of any kind with it not being there...

However, we'll see if I have any overheating problems here next week when the turbo is in and running. If it is a problem, I'll probably make a new one out of sheetmetal rather than put that crap plastic piece in.

FYI, i'm not running a splashguard and i have no issues with overheating. All i have cooling wise is an all-metal radiatorbarn.com replacement radiator.

blah blah blah I've changed oil on like 650 cars... try brand spanking new cars... robot tight oil filters suck ass. Worst oil filter ever.. Saturn one of their passanger cars... middle of the back of the engine... above the headers... no way to get it from above and to get it from below you have to squeeze your hand inbetween two of the header pipes and then one you are elbow deep you can reach it and hope it wasnt dry gasketed last time.

i hate RX7's and thier easy top mounted filter
http://www.camdensuperchargers.com/images/rx78-2.jpg

I wish that were true. Is there a secret, or maybe its a 1.6 thing?

What year is your 240Z? I use to have a white 1971 but it was from Detroit and was a rusty peice of shit. I had brand new factory floor boards for it and was in the process of grinding out the old ones and welding in the new ones. But I had to sell it since I was leaving for boot camp and had no where to leave it. Do you have any pictures of yours? And oh, by the way, my Homer Simpson drinking glass is way better then yours.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i2...1/DVC00048.jpg

Dude, my homer mug owns you. It's about 20oz. :D Nice seats though!

Z is a 1972, AZ to Ca in the late 70s, not a speck of rust, restored it almost five years ago. Full poly, 9.5:1 L28 port/polish, the works. Fun as hell on the track, a little abusive on the street.

If you could, pm me some pictures. I'd love to see it. I keep telling my self when I get some extra money I'm gonna buy another one.

website: http://www.sonic.net/~kyle/kylez.html

track day pics: http://gotbluemilk.com/web061014/23/

glad to hear the old school flava still has a fanbase!

:eek: WOW :eek: Mad props for a very clean and a very very pretty 240Z!
I'm shure you have already seen this, but check out this twin turbo Q45 240Z.
http://forums.thecarlounge.net/zerothread?id=2115791

It's not hard on my 91 1.6. I change the oil from a lift, and I can tilt one side down to facilitate draining the pan, so perhaps that gets the messy ounces out. The memory of my 96M is faded, but I recall also getting that one out from the top side, passenger fender.

I found that wearing a rubber glove and accessing it from the top work the best.

I'm cheap, so I use old T-shirts for shop rages. I cut up the old T-shirts, use the "body" of the shirt to make rags and I save the sleeves for oil changes.

I slide a sleeve from an old t-shirt over the oil filter and against the engine before I loosen the filter. It catches most of the leaking oil when the filter is removed. I try to work as quickly as possible to keep as much oil in the filter as possible.

On my miata, I always reach in from the top to change mine, but I'll admit, I'm no body builder. Skinny arms help when changing the filter from the top.

See, that's what I thought too... I was super clever and stuffed a rag up by the filter before I unscrewed it. Hahahaha, riiiight, still managed to turn my Tshirt into a nice new completely soaked shop rag WHILE I WAS WEARING IT. Ugh.

+1

I've found that draining the oil first and letting it sit for quite a while will nearly eliminate spillage. A diaper under the filter is a good backup, those bastards can hold a lot of fluid! :)