This year is the earliest in a long time that I've broken hibernation...

Posted by jonrev This year is the earliest in a long time that I've broken hibernation... https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52704169955_758aff3c39_c.jpg

there is still almost 2ft of snow left on the ground up here... down in the village less that 5 miles away? Nada. Nice to see the Fiero again.

Also happy to see the Fiero again. Mine is still tucked away for the winter, which is apparently never going to end.

Both dailies ended up needing replacement over the past couple of months. I mentioned to my wife that her beloved Jetta wagon wasn't worth putting much more work into, and three days later my Rav4 decided to spit its transmission out on the highway.

Anyway, after a bit of panic, she ended up with a nice Mk7 Golf wagon (1.8 TSI/manual with no sunroof), and a couple of weeks ago after owning over 200 cars, I purchased my first Nissan. (Not including two Datsuns).


V6, 4x4 and a 6 speed manual. It actually gets better mileage than that stupid Rav did.

So far I love it. Life without a truck has been a pain. I've been looking for a small one for ages, and in the current market a 2010 Ranger with 200k on it is a $10,000 truck. I sort of forgot Nissan existed (for reasons), and then spoke with a few friends that had these and didn't really have anything negative to say.

And somehow I managed sell the Rav4 for a lot more than I paid for it, even with a transmission that failed so badly it lost neutral. I suspect it will end up on the other side of the ocean.

The Jetta wagon will live on as a backup vehicle.

It's enduro season, and again I am reminded of how head-smashingly difficult it is to find a running and driving car for under $800 with an owner who actually responds to inquiries.

This slightly wrecked '05 Volvo XC70 was listed an hour north of me for $750. Messaged the guy about it at 11pm this past Wednesday, went up to see it Thursday and drove it home that evening.



Only 190k on it, but there are some powertrain issues and it has not been maintained well (as in, at all). Should be fun to whip around a quarter-mile track, after it's surgically converted from AWD to FWD of course.

(Fun fact: both of the front airbags in the XC70 are a massive pain to remove. Good times.)

Posted by Harvestman It's enduro season, and again I am reminded of how head-smashingly difficult it is to find a running and driving car for under $800 with an owner who actually responds to inquiries. This slightly wrecked '05 Volvo XC70 was listed an hour north of me for $750. Messaged the guy about it at 11pm this past Wednesday, went up to see it Thursday and drove it home that evening. https://i.imgur.com/qHC7Jqwh.jpg[/eimg] Only 190k on it, but there are some powertrain issues and it has not been maintained well (as in, at all). Should be fun to whip around a quarter-mile track, after it's surgically converted from AWD to FWD of course. (Fun fact: both of the front airbags in the XC70 are a massive pain to remove. Good times.)

I don't know why, but those AWD systems are made of glass in that generation. My V70 came to us cheap because of the AWD system being busted. Should make a good enduro car!

Speaking of enduros, if we run any cars in our enduro at Lawrenceburg, it may just be the back up of the D3. After an unbelievably prescient decision last year to run the back-up K9 instead of the new one, we're a tad shy about putting a main car out in that race.

(For those who didn't see it, last year during the Hornet Enduro at our home track, a car rolled in front of our K9 car, nearly yeeting the K9 into the catch fence. Everyone was okay, but both cars were yard-saled)

Posted by jellybeans95 I don't know why, but those AWD systems are made of glass in that generation. My V70 came to us cheap because of the AWD system being busted. Should make a good enduro car!

This actually came from a guy right in Middletown, pretty sure he worked at Cliffs or some other occupation of a metallic nature. The tires were dry rotted to shit. I'm surprised they made it down 75.
And yeah, it ended up doing fantastic in the enduro. Got rear ended like 5 times and the tailgate was still completely straight at the end. I got spun out by another car, and after hitting a disabled car in the infield, nothing in the powertrain was responsive and I had no brakes. Went to retrieve it after the enduro and it started right up and drove off like nothing had happened.

Next up is finding a van for certain 'Burg-related purposes. I'll chat with you about that when I see you at the track next.

Posted by Harvestman This actually came from a guy right in Middletown, pretty sure he worked at Cliffs or some other occupation of a metallic nature. The tires were dry rotted to shit. I'm surprised they made it down 75. And yeah, it ended up doing fantastic in the enduro. Got rear ended like 5 times and the tailgate was still completely straight at the end. I got spun out by another car, and after hitting a disabled car in the infield, nothing in the powertrain was responsive and I had no brakes. Went to retrieve it after the enduro and it started right up and drove off like nothing had happened. Next up is finding a van for certain 'Burg-related purposes. I'll chat with you about that when I see you at the track next.

Godspeed, buying in Middletown. We've bought 4 Cavaliers in town so far and every one of them has just been an adventure. My favorite one is the guy who sold us the 22 car you see at the 'Burg. Told us his entire life story, from how fist fighting with his son led to him breaking the TV (which is why he had to sell the car) to how he had his license suspended for DUI, but was out driving anyways.

Of all our Volvos, we've only managed to actually kill one (and by "we", I mean Ryan). Turns out, shoving 30lbs of boost down stock internals turns a piston into liquid. Who knew! (In fairness, that engine was coming out anyways, and that was just a case of "Let's see what the limit is". We had the new engine on standby for the "when", not "if"). Did you figure out why yours hiccuped?

Posted by jellybeans95 fist fighting with his son led to him breaking the TV (which is why he had to sell the car) to how he had his license suspended for DUI, but was out driving anyways.

Middletown!

Posted by jellybeans95 Did you figure out why yours hiccuped?

I did not. I drove it to the track (in full paint, with no windows, on 74) and didn't have a way to get it back home or diagnose what the issue was. One of the other enduro teams took it home with them for $300. For all I know they'll enter it in the next race.



Fun race, but thank goodness for those foam collars.

So uh, yeah, got another Fiero. This is #3 in the collection and the 7th I've owned now.

This particular one has about 300 horsepower and came with awful wheels. I sold those and put the stock GT basketweaves on. Paint is unfortunately a mess, car is insanely solid and was built by an automotive engineer. It's really well done, until you get to the stereo which is some gaudy Alpine unit hanging halfway out of the dash, with balls of tape holding the wiring together, an amp crudely stuffed under the seat and rear speakers hanging from the B pillar trim by wood screws. I guess that's where he gave up?

Anyway, it has a series 3 supercharged 3800 swap from an '06 GTP, with larger injectors, a smaller pulley on the supercharger and a fairly aggressive tune. He was having issues with a couple of injectors dropping out, so I bought it with the supercharger removed and a new harness included - just waiting on a new base gasket to throw the blower back on and hopefully it runs. It's nice having an OBD-II port in a 36 year old car.







Yes it's super easy to work on. Taillights are removed because they're worth more than an actual Fiero and in a very vulnerable spot with their .002 mm thick extra brittle lenses.

is it running out of duty cycle on the injectors? 3800's stock weren't really known for flowing the juice, especially with the supercharger. They were a lumpy torque factory to get gramma's Park Avenue up to velocity on the parkway at a reasonable waddle. A fair amount of those engines didn't even have an intercooler. (that's using your noodle, GM!)

that swap is pretty straightforward and pleasant. A friend of mine turbocharged his brother's Fiero GT 2.8L. I think i might have sent you pics of it on shitbook.

Posted by Samurai is it running out of duty cycle on the injectors? 3800's stock weren't really known for flowing the juice, especially with the supercharger. They were a lumpy torque factory to get gramma's Park Avenue up to velocity on the parkway at a reasonable waddle. A fair amount of those engines didn't even have an intercooler. (that's using your noodle, GM!) that swap is pretty straightforward and pleasant. A friend of mine turbocharged his brother's Fiero GT 2.8L. I think i might have sent you pics of it on shitbook.

I didn't notice your reply, sorry. I reassembled everything and swapped in the new engine harness and it fired right up, and without a single fault code. Holy mother of god, this car moves. It's the car they should have built.

It's amazing what you can find 5 minutes from home.

Posted by bandi https://www.thesam...ry/pix/2417816.jpg It's amazing what you can find 5 minutes from home.

Even in that condition, I'm fairly jealous

So, on June 28th, I lost my dad to a heart attack... he was facing down lung cancer, refused to stop smoking. In the end, i think his bod just gave up and he said fuck it. Anyways, a year or so previous, we had the unpleasant conversation of who got what in the case of his demise. He left me his old pickup, a 1996 Ford F150 4x2 with 191,213 miles in the odometer. 302- V8 hooked to an AOD. It looks ok, has to have some frame corrosion repaired, but still runs and drives ok, which means, like a Ford F-series, it wants to go all over the road just to keep things interesting.
A bunch of years back, Dad freshened up the truck and decided to re-paint the silver, but added the two-tone, a 98 Mustang color called "Emerald Flash". He painted/dyed the interior black (it was blue). As the years have gone on, the paint/dye is fading and the blue is starting to bleed through, but I don't care.

Anyways, i got around to cleaning it out a couple of days ago.
[Personal] 1996_F150_spa_day(9-14-2023)(d) by Samurai Harris, on Flickr

[Personal] 1996_F150_spa_day(9-14-2023)(c) by Samurai Harris, on Flickr

[Personal] 1996_F150_spa_day(9-14-2023)(e) by Samurai Harris, on Flickr

[Personal] 1996_F150_spa_day(9-14-2023)(b) by Samurai Harris, on Flickr

The circumstances suck, but that is a damn nice truck. I love those things.

This has been my little pet for about 8 years now.

I love it too much. Probably pulling the engine this winter for a refresh.

Album of her.

https://albums.memento.com/1986GL

My daily for the past few years, a Ecodiesel Ram.

Mild tune to shut off the undesirables and get 29 mpg on trips (22 around town) makes this one of my favorite vehicles ever.

Album

https://albums.memento.com/AppaRam

Posted by jeepdave https://sharedalbu....jpg?class=display[/eimg] This has been my little pet for about 8 years now. I love it too much. Probably pulling the engine this winter for a refresh. Album of her. https://albums.memento.com/1986GL

i adore that generation of Subaru.

Posted by jeepdave https://sharedalbu....jpg?class=display[/eimg] This has been my little pet for about 8 years now. I love it too much. Probably pulling the engine this winter for a refresh. Album of her. https://albums.memento.com/1986GL

I miss the era of Subaru where they didn't look like every other car on the road.