The OT thread V1

[cockerpunk]

holy crap. sometimes when i take the 944 apart i just sit back and wonder how it ever worked at all.

when i was out in montana on the broadtrip it was having some cooling problems at high altitude jumping over mountain passes. the thin air making both the engine less efficient, and the coolers less efficient. we back flowed the radiator and AC condenser and i scrubbed them out a bit mid-trip and that helped a lot. and once we came down from below ~3500 ft of elevation no problems at all. never overheated, but certainly saw 100 deg C a couple of times.

so, this winters project has been installing the biggest radiator i can find. and rewire the entire electrical power system to re-ground the entire car.

so i get the radiator out, and the AC condesner is right in front of it. and i shine a light through the back of the AC condenser, and look from the front, and easily less than 1/4 of the area shows any sign of light at all. the AC condenser full of 30+ years of rocks, bugs, gravel, grass, little poofy things etc etc. so i spend easily 2 hours just scrubbing and picking crap out of the AC condenser. now light shines through most of it. so the radiator will both be larger ... and will actually get some airflow through the AC condenser

onto the oil cooler. i pull it out of its ducted housing, to find that there is nearly 1/2 inch of shit on the front of the oil cooler. totally blocked. once i peel that back, and shine a light through it, there is total blockage. no light. so i spray 2 cans of brake cleaner through it and literally a river of shit comes out of it.

remember, this is a car making 150% the stock hp and when i was tracking it, could do 30 minute sessions without cooking the oil, or overheating the coolant (at ~1000 ft above sea leve here in MN). how in the world was this possible with a board in front of the radiator, AND no oil cooler air flow?

you gotta love porsche engineering sometimes. the thing is just so overengineered its ridiculous sometimes.

but holy crap this thing is going to run SO much better.

got her fired up tonight.

amazing what grounded electronics do for how a car runs lol. no more gauge bounce!

[Pump Scout]

In reverse, it's amazing what a loose wire can do. Had a customer bring their truck back in yesterday, radio had stopped working. Loose wire from a bunch of aftermarket crap that was removed touched something and zorched the radio fuse. Thankfully, not an expensive fix, and I've still got a super-happy customer.

[cockerpunk]

im excited, can throw the red car back in the side (unheated) garage, and pull the race car in. lots of work to be done on the black car ... basically everything that moves needs to come out (suspension, brakes, transmission) ....

people in the mid west bemoan that we have winter here, because you have to put your nice cars away. i find it freeing. finally some time to actually do a major project without interfering in the racing calender and being under the gun to get the car back together by tomorrow morning.

also, i might buy a truck tonight or tomorrow. im kinda in love. 1995, 300ci straight six f150, no extended/super cab, long box, 2wd, no options selected. an honest pickup truck from a bygone age, when trucks really were manly and awesome.

[Pump Scout]

I was just telling a guy last night on a test drive that the mid 90's was kind of the last of the truck-truck era. As I get older, I really love the creature comforts that come on today's trucks, as well as the "just get in and drive it" build quality, but a mid 90's truck is going to be a hauler for sure.

[cockerpunk]

I was just telling a guy last night on a test drive that the mid 90's was kind of the last of the truck-truck era. As I get older, I really love the creature comforts that come on today's trucks, as well as the "just get in and drive it" build quality, but a mid 90's truck is going to be a hauler for sure.

the low headlight ram was the end of the honest pickup truck:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7i70hMyqRU

brilliant marketing move, changed trucks from something of necessity for the folks who owned them, to something to be desired by the folks that want to show that they need a truck. but most of the time, they don't really need a truck. changed the love from the farmer who loves his work horse, to the man who wants to look like hes a farmer with a horse, but really just lives in suburbia and is scared of a little snow.

keeps those 50+ grand sticker trucks moving off the lot though.

[PBSteve]

It's kind of crazy, when I was working geotech several of the owners I talked to spent a lot of time bemoaning the non-existence of small, useful, fuel efficient work trucks. They needed something simple to move gear and employees across the state on a daily basis. Everything's gotten huge and literally twice as expensive, which means half your work crew at jobsites for the same money.

Ranger - gone. S10 - gone. Tacoma - same size and price as the Tundra of 15 years ago

[cockerpunk]

It's kind of crazy, when I was working geotech several of the owners I talked to spent a lot of time bemoaning the non-existence of small, useful, fuel efficient work trucks. They needed something simple to move gear and employees across the state on a daily basis. Everything's gotten huge and literally twice as expensive, which means half your work crew at jobsites for the same money.

Ranger - gone. S10 - gone. Tacoma - same size and price as the Tundra of 15 years ago

the death of small size trucks is a huge loss too. for exactly the reason you say.

i think the whole "we can load up this chrome monstrosity with leather, info-tainment (WTF), heated everything, 6 doors, massive wheels/tires/suspension, super expensive diesel engines we can charge a premium for .... sticker the thing for 65 grand, give 10 grand in "discounts" and laugh all the way to the bank selling these things on 7 year loans to every joe shmo who wants to feel tough"

and

"i'm a young mom, i need a 7 seater CUV with leather, infotainment, massagers and heated seats, GPS so the car companies lift there mid-sized car on longer springs, add a 50 grand price point, and sell them all day."


between the two of those folks, why bother selling a 25 grand mini-truck, or a real, honest truck without all the shit? how do you fight for the honest, 4 wheels, some seats, and a set of brakes car anymore?

why do we live in a world where every car has to be able to do everything? why can't we accept the notion of just buying exactly what we want/need for a particular application? its FAR more economical long run to just buy cheap purpose built cars than it is to demand 1 car do everything all the time.

[Pump Scout]

Our biggest sellers are the F-150 XLT with the 302A package, and your choice of 2.7 Ecoboost, 5.0 V8, or 3.5 Ecoboost. They'll clock in somewhere between $39k and $43k, depending on engine. Good solid trucks, with just enough tech toys to keep most people happy. We do have kind of a cool option package on the lot right now (two of this setup). Standard cab, short box, XL truck with the 2.7 Ecoboost. Lightest possible 4x4 setup with 325hp and 375 torques, right around $30k.

Ranger is coming back. I maintain a list of people who want them as soon as they're in our hands. Anticipation is a 2018 model released sometime in mid- to late-2017. They've already let the cat out of the bag a bit with the Fiesta-based EcoSport crossover as a 2018 model.

[pbjosh]

A friend and I sketched up that exact concept for truck a bit ago. We figured we could source most of it (He works for PACCAR, and we did go as far as getting a list of part numbers for some of it): dana axles, some standard off the shelf bits for suspension, existing transmission. Source a solid modern engine, a gas and diesel option. Styling about the same as an International or Russian truck of some sort. Bench seat the only option. 4x4 or 2wd. Size it like the old S-10s. We just wanted an honest Truck. Cheap. Simple. A tool.

CUV

Cute Utility Vehicle

[cockerpunk]

Our biggest sellers are the F-150 XLT with the 302A package, and your choice of 2.7 Ecoboost, 5.0 V8, or 3.5 Ecoboost. They'll clock in somewhere between $39k and $43k, depending on engine. Good solid trucks, with just enough tech toys to keep most people happy. We do have kind of a cool option package on the lot right now (two of this setup). Standard cab, short box, XL truck with the 2.7 Ecoboost. Lightest possible 4x4 setup with 325hp and 375 torques, right around $30k.

Ranger is coming back. I maintain a list of people who want them as soon as they're in our hands. Anticipation is a 2018 model released sometime in mid- to late-2017. They've already let the cat out of the bag a bit with the Fiesta-based EcoSport crossover as a 2018 model.

when i said 25 grand for a stripper model truck, thats not actually that far off. i felt i was somewhat exaggerating on that price point. strip the 4x4 out of that truck and your close.