Recent Posts

Installing Brake Pads and Bleed Brakes

In a previous post, we had replaced the rotors and brake calipers in the Miata, and this one describes changing the brake pads and bleeding the brakes. You need to bleed the brakes if you change the calipers. You must buy DOT-3 brake fluid, 2-3 cans just in case, from your local parts store.

Details on the front brake pads change can also be found in an earlier post.

Installing New Rotors and Brake Calipers

In an earlier post, we had done a front brake pads change in the Miata, but while doing that change realized that one of the bolts slipped because the threading in the calipers was damaged. So we ended up doing a complete front and rear caliper replacement using remanufactured stock calipers from RockAuto. The good thing about these new calipers was that they were painted red which would look great on our car. In this post, we demonstrate how to go about removing and installing calipers. This work was done in August 2020, but we only found time a year later to write this post. I spent hours editing the photos.

This post outlines the installation of new rotors and brake calipers for both front and rear of the car, and it has a lot of pictures. You may find that installation of the front calipers may have been demonstrated on Youtube but it has not been done for rear calipers.

The next post outlines how to do the brake pads, and bleed the brakes.

Plastidip Front Grille & Emblem on Infiniti G35 Coupe

The silver front grille and emblem of the Infiniti G35 Coupe was looking worn out and ugly. So I removed it using a trim removal tool from Harbor Freight (blue tool in Figure 1) and purchased a $7 black Plastidip spray can (Figure 2) from Home Depot to paint it. The process of doing this is very simple and can be done in under 20 minutes for the first coat, and every other coat can be applied every 30-40 minutes.

Fuel Pump Replacement on Infiniti G35 Coupe

In the end of the previous post, I ended up fixing the fuel leak on the 2005 Infiniti G35 Coupe, by using new bolts and O-rings. Since I had damaged the fuel gauge sensors on both the fuel pump and the secondary fuel gauge sensor, I purchased an after-market replacement fuel pump (Figure 1), made by UltraPower (Figure 2), and secondary fuel sensor (Figure 3), made by Autotecnica, from RockAuto.

Installation follows the same procedure as outlined in the earlier post, but be very careful while installing the pump back in, since you need to avoid damaging the fuel level sensor. Remember to remove both the fuel hoses from the old pump first, as shown in Figure 4, and then attach them to the new pump before install.

Unique Subaru Robin EX21 7HP Engine with EFI

While looking for not running cars on Craigslist, I came across this Subaru Robin EX21 engine that claimed to have 7HP and had Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI). The seller said it was not running and had fuel injector problems and wanted $50 for it. I offered the seller $30 and got it for myself. The goal is to see if I can fix it up and learn something in the process. Cheap education !

Two years ago I acquired a Briggs & Stratton engine which still does not run as I have not disassembled it yet 😞 and not had time to. The plan is to fix both these engines by the end of the year, hopefully. Then I will try to make a go-cart with them.

These Subaru Robin EX21 engines are rarer than the Briggs & Stratton or the Predator engines found in lawn mowers and pressure washers. I think this is from a generator, but cannot be sure. Either way, 7HP is nearly as powerful as those 80cc two-wheelers being used in various Asian countries, so should be interesting.