Blerv's Car Chit-Chat

[Evil D]

Makes me miss my Merkur. That was a really fun car. All it took was a cheap manual boost regulator to really wake it up.

[Blerv]

Makes me miss my Merkur. That was a really fun car. All it took was a cheap manual boost regulator to really wake it up.

Haha, so true!

I had an 84 SVO with the same engine. Always loved those XR4Ti's. :D

The Mustang tuners for my car didn't do much with turbos but they figured out how to get more boost (drilled the wastegate... :eek:). 3" exhaust and a MSD. A nice engine, classic first-gen turbo tech. Low compression, big turbo, lots of boost. :)

[Evil D]

Haha, so true!

I had an 84 SVO with the same engine. Always loved those XR4Ti's. :D

The Mustang tuners for my car didn't do much with turbos but they figured out how to get more boost (drilled the wastegate... :eek:). 3" exhaust and a MSD. A nice engine, classic first-gen turbo tech. Low compression, big turbo, lots of boost. :)

Yep. I had mine running on 17psi but it still had the factory down pipe and a measly 2 inch straight pipe all the way out the back with no muffler so it didn't breathe very well but it sounded pretty nice for what it was. All the import kids loved it because you could hear the turbo spooling from a mile away. It wasn't very fast but it was fun, the boost pegged at about 3k but with the tiny exhaust it ran out of breath at about 5k. I ended up trading it straight up for the paint and body work on my Mustang. I miss that car a lot, it was so clean and it was one of those cars that every car guy came to see at car shows both import and domestic because most people didn't know what it was.




The wheels came out pretty nice for rattle can paint :cool:

[Blerv]

So great, David :D Definitely a car well ahead of it's time.

[Blerv]

Nice work Takata...

60 million car bombs installed in steering wheel. Theoretically at least...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/ ... bag-crisis

Here's a list of the possible effected cars:

http://blog.caranddriver.com/massive-ta ... cles/#list
and a friendly VIN lookup
http://www.safercar.gov/

Be safe, people. :)

[Evil D]

There is nothing quite like the sound of an angry rotary engine....maybe an equally angry 2 stroke dirtbike engine but that's about it.

https://youtu.be/5NZmUkA5rGQ

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Regarding the air bag issue, aside from standard seat belts, what are other alternative safety measures that can be economically engineered into cars and passenger vehicles, to prevent severe damage, that have not already been tried? I read they have experimented with foaming agents but there are problems of cleaning it up, and it getting into nose and mouth, etc.

Secondly, if a car is factory designed with airbags, would modern auto companies allow you to specify that you want the same model without airbags, or is it sortof like factory produced knives: Unless you want to modify it at your own risk after purchase, that is not for the customer to be able to specify? Also, legally, could you have an auto mechanic who knew what they were doing, remove the airbag system altogether, in case you didn't want to risk an accident as shown in the Bloomberg article, or, would your car then fail inspection rules?

And for those here who like unusual cars, check this out:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... 1RXJpXmppM

a FOAM CAR!

From the article:

" The Spira uses reinforcing fibers and aluminum to provide a strong a protective cage covered with soft foam on both the outside and inside. Foam can replace steel in cars for a more cushioned impact just as foam has replaced leather soles on most shoes and sandals. Foam protection on the outside of autos is needed because over half of vehicle deaths in large cities and developing countries are pedestrians and motorcyclists."

It weighs only 300 pounds.

[Mad Mac]

You can't stretch a prophylactic over the entire world. Give me a break.
There is no shortage of people.

Cheaper and more effective. Yes. A six-point harness and a helmet.
This shows we are not serious about saving lives.

Half of automobile fatalities are the result of head injuries.
But on the other hand, we need organ donors from somewhere.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Are there publically accessible race tracks that will allow a person, for a fee, to race against someone else, or, are they all set up so you can only drive your own car at top speeds?

[Mad Mac]

http://www.exoticdrivingevents.com/ takes their stable of exotic cars around the country
to different race tracks and lets you drive them. Don't know how fast they let you drive.

SCCA Autocross is a lot of fun. You can use your daily driver.
But it's solo, not wheel to wheel. https://www.scca.com/pages/i-want-to-autocross

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/ for a couple of grand, you can flog your beater around the track and compete wheel to wheel with other budget racers.

[Blerv]

Are there publically accessible race tracks that will allow a person, for a fee, to race against someone else, or, are they all set up so you can only drive your own car at top speeds?

Racing courses are very expensive. With exotics I expect the paperwork you sign and costs are even more extreme.

For the price of a Skip Barber course I would probably buy a helmet and an old sporty car. Even a ratted-out Dodge Neon with sticky tires can terrify you.

[SuckSqueezeBangBlow]

There is nothing quite like the sound of an angry rotary engine....maybe an equally angry 2 stroke dirtbike engine but that's about it.

https://youtu.be/5NZmUkA5rGQ

Symphony

[SpyderEdgeForever]

What is the most unusual car or vehicle you have ever driven?

[Evil D]

What is the most unusual car or vehicle you have ever driven?

Well my Merkur pictured above was pretty unusual and not very common anymore. I once drove a twin turbo '87 Mazda RX-7 that was the scariest thing I've ever driven myself. I rode in a 9 second ~800 horsepower '69 Nova once but didn't get to drive it. Maybe the rarest thing I've ever driven was actually my very first car, which was a '74 Buick Apollo GSX 350. At the time it was just another old car that nobody cared about but it ended up being a fairly rare car today. It wasn't anything special performance wise and the GSX package was just cosmetic but it was a sweet car. I was under 16 and couldn't drive it and ended up having to sell it because it needed too much work underneath.

It looked like this:

[SuckSqueezeBangBlow]

What is the most unusual car or vehicle you have ever driven?

The first time I drove a rotary powered car was interesting. It's a unique sound and delivery. It was a Mazda 1300 wagon (looks like an R100) with a 12A motor.

Once I got to drive a friends R32 GTR. At first I thought it wasn't any quicker than my Ke20 4age+t Corolla, and I questioned their low advertised 0-100 times...BUT then he suggested dropping the clutch up around 4000rpm. Split second of wheel spin and then the front tyres bite, snatch second gear and you are instantly (seemingly) at 100kph. Amazing car of the day.

Ps. Yes, he had a spare gearbox

[SuckSqueezeBangBlow]

I hired a Camaro SS, picked up from Fresno and had a few days in Three Rivers to see the giant Sequoia trees (including the worlds largest tree by volume) and drove it up to San Francisco.



As you can see from the next pic, the road up from Three Rivers is great fun. It was my first time driving LHD but you get the hang of it pretty quickly.



Driving the convertible with the top down through Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park was a highlight of our trip, for me. I'm not sure I would ever own a convertible though, the wind noise on the freeway with the roof UP is horrible, plus people might question which team one bats for, not that there is anything wrong with that.



It was the 6.2L with auto, 300kw with Brembos. The torque is ok, but nothing like the XR6T i had, even the missus was disappointed. The auto blips the throttle on manual downshifts which sounds pretty rad though and the heads up display is a nice touch. Just like lots of things in the USA, there is always someone needing to make an extra dollar out of you: The navigation requires you to press a "dial in" button, the person picks up and you tell them where you want to go, then the navigation will direct you there. Of course it needs a subscription and I couldn't work out any way of manually entering an address. Stupid.

The brakes came in handy.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Car upkeep question: What is the highest amount of miles one should put on their car before they buy or lease a new one? What is the safest mileage limit that you would personally put on a car? I have heard differing numbers from people I've spoken with: Some say 100 000, others say 50 000, and some have said they would keep doing all they could to repair and replace parts until it became impossible, before they'd buy or lease a new one.

Basically, at some point the cost of replacing parts and adding new repairs to the vehicle become more than the car is actually worth, is that correct?

Also, what are your opinions of used cars that cost in the 1000 or under dollar range? Are all such "deals" really scams, because there is no way you are going to get a functionally-good vehicle for that price, or, could it be a truly honest and good deal, with no major problems hidden "under the hood"?

[SuckSqueezeBangBlow]

thats not really quantifiable IMHO. It depends on too many factors. some people run their cars into the ground for many 100,000s of kms, with no thought of replacing suspension bushes or engine/tranny mounts.
I used to fix every little noise as soon as they appeared but as I've gotten older I let things go a little longer before spending the time and money on it.

I bought my Isuzu diesel ute brand new and intend on keeping it to at least 200,000km, most probably 250,000km.

I firmly believe replacing fluids regularly extends the life of parts.

I always change engine oil in my diesel every 5000km, as truck oil is recommended and its cheap. I use synthetic fluid for the manual transmission, transfer case and differentials.

I use synthetic engine oil in my Volvo and will do it twice a year, probably 6000-8000km OCI.

The Volvo was bought second hand with 160,000km on it, higher than I would've liked but the previous owner maintained it very well and I'm not worried by it. I have, however, changed all fluids for peace of mind although I found none of them to look terrible - which was reassuring.

Things like power steering, differentials and gearbox fluids and possibly even coolant should all get replaced sooner than manufacturers recommendations if you drive the car hard and intend on keeping it. If you read handbooks which come with vehicles, they often list service intervals for severe use - which can include mostly short trips and extended idling in heavy traffic as well as hard driving.

Unfortunately suspension bushes can be a pain to replace and you can't really do any preventative maintence there.

Again, some people are happy to drive clunky, noisy, smokey, worn out turds and can get lucky for many kilometres.


EDIT: some people renew leases at the 2 year period as thats when the tax deductible proportion of the payment starts to lessen.

[Mad Mac]

We've been keeping cars and trucks 10 or 15 years. The new ones last a lot longer than in the bad old days. Mission critical parts that should be changed, whether you buy a used one or keep one a long time, are the rubber parts that can fail and leave you stranded on the side of the road. The tires, belts and hoses.

[Blerv]

Car finally got the parts installed this weekend. Quite a bit louder...and quicker.