The Lifted "KiaStein" keeps working Flawlessly, thanks to God.

 

Recently I did a long voyage to help a Friend to do a minor repair on his 1994, Mazda B2300 extended cab pick up; which is a rebadged Ford Ranger. It has Long Bed, is very tall, and features A/C also a manual transmission mated to an in-line 4 cylinder, twin spark 2.3L engine, made by Ford.

I found a nice parking spot on his Patio, but he asked me to move the car out from that big Shade Tree, because it has many Big jade mangos, and if one falls, it could break the windshield... So I only took this Photo, and moved the car away.

Kind Regards.

For those who might be interested in seeing Photos and repairs done to that Mazda B2300 / Ford Ranger 2.3L, please follow the web link below:

 

~► http://www.ranger-forums.com/member-introductions-12/greetings-honduras-%E2%99%A5-149022/

 

Kind Regards.

Back on the instrument Cluster's Topic:

The new -to us- instrument Cluster, has been working absolutely Flawlessly on the "KiaStein" but... What happened to the old instrument Cluster's Speedometer?

I knew that to Fix a failing electronical Speedometer is almost impossible.

The reason is that those Speedometer / Odometer \ Trip meter units, comes somehow "Sealed" or Closed -Locked- from factory, in a way that their assemblies Breaks and becomes unuseful if you attempt to open or disassemble them.

They're designed like that to Avoid that someone could simply open or disassemble them to turn back the Count on the Odometer; and fool a possible buyer of the car, showing less mileage than what it really has.
 
However, I disassembled the old instrument Cluster, because I wanted to see What could have been the Cause of such a weird fail, and see if I could prevent it from Happening again, on the newer instrument Cluster.

In the following Photos I'll show you my Findings.

 Dissection of the Old (dismissed) instrument Cluster which has the Speedometer's Fail

 

 

I used that Big Fork to remove the Needle.

This is the mere Speedometer / Odometer \ Trip Meter Unit:

 

 

I noticed that everything is moved by a single electric motor.

Also, upon a closed inspection, I found this:

 

 

The Factory left debris on the Varnish that covers the metal tracks that sends the electrical signals, maybe causing some sort of "Short Circuit" and / or Resistance among the affected Tracks, which might have caused the component's Fail.

After this:

 

 

I tried the old instrument Cluster on the Car, only to find that now the mere Speedometer is completely Dead; but the Rest is working alright. 

So I swapped the Newer instrument Cluster back in Place.

Edited October 15, 20169 yr by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

I can repair the Old instrument Cluster, by changing the mere Speedometer assembly shown above, it is sold separately by Kia, and has the part number: 0K2AA55471, you can see it here:

~► # 0K2AA55471: Kia. Speedometer. Speedometer Gauge.

But the new part, which comes with Zero miles on the Odometer, is quite Expensive.

I will keep the Old instrument Cluster as spare parts' source.

Edit: By the way, Removing the Needle is not as hard as to put it back in place, accurately.

Kind Regards.

Edited October 15, 20169 yr by Loyale 2.7 Turbo

From Dashboard to Center Console.

 

The Center Console on these Second Generation Kia Sephias, has a Huge cover that Flips closed or open in its rear part; it Hides a Big, squared compartment under it, which is very Useful; but that huge cover is really Annoying.

Said cover was designed as an Arm rest of some sort, so is Tall and has a pretty small sliding Drawer built-in, for the rear passengers; but each time you flip open that Huge cover to reach the hiding compartment under it, the small drawer pops open out, dropping its contents to the Floor...

By the way, that Cover / mini Drawer \ arm rest, is very Noisy, So I got Rid of it, long Years ago.

Then I have to close the two Holes that said cover left on the Center Console; so I used 4 minutes J. B. Weld and after using masking tape underneath; I covered the two Holes, which were one big hole for the Hinge in the Rear, and one small hole for the locking tab, in the Front.

As you can see here:

 

 

 

Now the Center Console is Quiet, and looks like this:

 

Look what I've Found!!!

 

Browsing the internet, I found in Japan, a second gen Kia Sephia Toy, it looks almost identical to the Real Thing, except the mere engine, which looks like the Sorento's one; also the Wiper Blades' motor, is on the wrong side, but That's it.

 

I'll Love to have one of those ... ♥ ... Kind Regards.

2½ years Report / Update on the Rear Disc Brakes' Swap!

 

 

After more than two years and a half, and around 40K miles of hard and rude usage, including many daily short trips, and very long voyages across almost all the Central American countries, which is documented with Photos on this "KiaStein" Build thread; the rear Disc Brakes finally needed the brake Pads to be Changed for the first time.

 

This is how the Rear Brake Pads looked like, after all this time and Mileage:

 

 

That is Truly Amazing for this Sephia, when you compare such long lasting parts plus the Excellent braking Performance of the Rear Disc Brakes, to the Lousy rear Drum brakes' that it used to have, which needed rear shoe brakes every three months, and monthly adjustments.

The only other thing that needed replacement so far, were the Parking Brake Cables; because the Honduran rebuilder used the old, rusty covers from the Junk Yard ones, and the steel cable never slide smoothly into those.

Despite that only one broke, I decided to change the Pair, you know: Left and Right, in order to have peace of mind, and long lasting parts there; otherwise the other old and rusty cable could fail soon.

► The Left one has this Part Nº 0K2A2-44-420E

► The Right one has this Part Nº 0K2A2-44-410F

Here's a couple of photos taken with my cheapo cellphone, of the old Cables next to the new ones, at the aftermarket Store's parking lot:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the Parking Brake Lever moves Smoothly, like never before. Besides that, everything has been Performing Flawlessly, so far, thanks to God. 

Kind Regards.

No matter how much experience or skills we have at doing something, always we could make the stupidest mistakes in the least expected thing.

 

My Wife's car, the "KiaStein" is automatic and two weeks ago, the Battery suddenly gave up; so I went driving my "BumbleBeast" and parked next to her; I left it at idle meanwhile I popped both hoods and started to attach the Jumper wires, from my car to hers, one clamp at a time.

 

I will never know how or why I attached the wirings to her car, with inverted polarity, and furthermore I tried Two times to start her car without any luck; then I went outside and realized my Mistake ...  ... Rapidly I changed them and her car started at the first try; and something weird has happened since then:

 

The Chime Box for fastening the seatbelts on her car, which wasn't working since almost two years ago, suddenly came back to life again, along the instrument Cluster's warning light for that. I already had verified all the wiring and fuses on her car, long ago, and I concluded that such Chime Box, was bad, and we never cared about it.

 

This happened two weeks ago, now her car has a new Battery, and everything still is working Flawlessly since then, including the Resurrected Chime Box; which used to have a "Peeng-Peeng" digitalized noise from an alarm, which I changed for a blue LED light, years ago; in order to avoid that noise from awakening my sleeping baby daughter... Photos of the Chime Box mod, on the link below.

 

 

 

Have you faced such weird situations? ...  ... Kind Regards.

 

~► http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/101718-kia-sephia-sporty/page-7?do=findComment&comment=1115513

That sure is a weird outcome to my polarity mistake, which in my own Humble Opinion, it was a God's Blessing.

We went on the lifted "KiaStein" the past weekend, to "Test" it in our favourite weekend trips, the Family "Mountain Adventure" Offroadings, those are Light to Medium duty offroadings, nothing cruel to the car, but not for the average sedan on the road, you know...

 

 

The car is working Flawlessly, Kind Regards.

I know that the second Gen Kia Sephia, is the main Subject of this Thread, but it is not limited to it, nor ours, the "KiaStein"

 

I've shared photos from other cars in which I've done repairs / modifications, and other cars that are available in the LADM (Latin American Domestic Market) but not in the USA; also I showed that many of the Kias, were Mazdas "made in Korea", such as the second gen Kia Sephia, being a Korean Mazda 323; or the Kia Credos, being a Korean Mazda 626; or the Kia Potentia, being a Korean Mazda 929, and so on... since the 1970's, with the Kia Master.

 

 

But also many non-Kia cars are displayed on this thread.

 

 

This time I'll share with you some photos of the Hyundai Galloper II Touring Wagon.

I shot this photo of a friend's Hyundai Galloper, under a twin Rainbow, here in Honduras.

The Hyundai Galloper, is a Korean Mitsubishi Montero, built with the Body style from the old generation, but having many improvements over its Japanese counterpart, such like the Suspension Travel, which really is much Longer on the Galloper; Despite that, this Galloper shares many parts with the Montero.

 

You can find centercaps for it, that either has the Hyundai Logo, or the Kia Logo:

I did minor repairs on this Galloper, such like basic maintenance, changing the timing kit, etc... All the Engine's parts that I used, were Mitsubishi original, for the L200; as it is the Turbo-Diesel 2.5L in-line 4 cylinders one.
 
 

Also, I installed twin "Bosch" horns,
Which previously were on my Subaru "BumbleBeast"



That's the reason why they're painted in yellow ... ...
The original horn sounded annoying, like a Scooter!

The Hyundai Galloper is a Huge Touring Wagon, that has seats for Nine people



Has interesting details, such like a multi speaker stereo,

factory alarm with remote control, a third rearview mirror on the pass side Fender



and a dual range, five speed Hi-Lo manual transmission



among many others...

My friend and I went offroading together, many times...



...here's my friend's Hyundai Galloper, next to my Subaru Loyale.

 

Here ~► http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/87725-an-open-request-to-loyale-27-turbo/page-5?do=findComment&comment=1093091

 

You can see much more Photos of that offroading trip   

The only thing, besides the Horn, that I disliked from the Galloper, is the background illumination on the instrument Cluster; because it had some bulbs already burnt and they were all from the rare, intermediate size known as "24" which is a T-6.5 and is hard to find.

 

Here you can see the intermediate sized bulb, next to the...



...two most used ones on instrument Cluster's illumination.

By the way, 130 KPH in fifth speed Hi-2WD on a flat surface, seemed to be its top speed...