• Member Since 2nd Nov, 2012
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Admiral Biscuit


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  • Today
    March Music Monday 3

    I think I mentioned in the first one of these that my manager always plays the same top-40 Country station all day every day.


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  • 1 week
    March Music Monday 2

    Alrighty fellow music lovers, it's another Monday in March, and you know what that means!

    ... 'cause you read the title :heart:


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    This one doesn't have as much of a back story.

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    4 comments · 167 views
  • 2 weeks
    March Music Monday 1

    This is pretty much what it says on the tin.

    See, ponies like music, I think that's pretty well-established canon. I like music, too, and I thought I'd introduce you to some music you might not have heard before. After all, I've been introduced to music by other people through the years, oftentimes something I'd never have found on my own.

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  • 3 weeks
    MECHANIC: The Most Boring One Yet

    I hesitate to even suggest you grab your favorite beverage, you're just gonna skim this one. But, if you're game:


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    16 comments · 303 views
  • 5 weeks
    MECHANIC: February ('cause I couldn't think of a better title)

    I coulda thought of a better title . . .

    Anyway, you know what to do!


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    28 comments · 340 views
Oct
14th
2020

Dodge. · 1:10am Oct 14th, 2020

It’s gonna be a little while for my epic tale of adventure Up North (and in Gary, IN), so while we wait, let me regale you with the tale of the newest vehicle in my fleet.


For quite some time, I regularly drove pickup trucks. Mostly a clapped-out GMC Sonoma I found on the side of the road for $200 and which I ultimately negotiated down to $75. Wound up costing me $80, ‘cause she didn’t have change for a 20, but whatever. That truck was the first one I owned that actually appreciated (scrap values went up) and that had a negative N.A.D.A value. It was also a truck that even the shady extended warranty people wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole. Between the model year and the zillions of miles it had (not actually zillions, but several hundreds of thousands), they weren’t interested.

The majority of my daily drivers since about 2012 have been Dodge Caravans. They’re comfy and easy to wear cheap, durable, and reliable. In fact, I currently own three of them, one that’s drivable and two that are for spares.

They’re not great at towing things, though, and given the confines of a floor, walls, and a roof, there’s only so much you can get in one. A pickup lacks the roof overhead, so you can fit more things in it, and so I’d been looking here and there for a truck that was in my price range (cheap!) and okayish, and also balancing out the cost of acquiring a new truck versus fixing something like my Jeep to tow a trailer.

The Jeep does have some issues, and when I went to move it recently, I discovered two more issues. The first was that the alternator was locked up. Apparently getting it to turn with a breaker bar might get it going again, and is of course cheaper than replacing it.

More importantly, I also discovered, quite to my surprise that it no longer has brakes. One (or more) of the brake lines rusted through, and I realized this as I was backing down a hill. It made the hill descent and the turn into the garage rather interesting, but I made it unscathed and the Jeep’s okay, too.


On my vacation, there were some things that just seemed to line up perfectly, and so it was with this new truck. I was scrolling through Craigslist, as one does, and came across a bargain.

At a dealership, no less.

Now, I’m not opposed to dealerships, but most of them these days don’t sell the kind of cars I want at the price point I’m looking for. In my old hometown, there used to be one, they had a back row of cars that they took in on trade and if you were an adventurous sort or handy, they had a bargain for you. I got an Olds Cutlass Supreme from them for the princely sum of $150. Once I’d agreed to buy it, I asked the salesman if it was drivable (in my price range, that’s not the first question). He said that he wouldn’t recommend it, because it liked to catch fire. They were so eager to get rid of it, though, that they loaned me a trailer to take it away and even helped me push it on the trailer.

[Said car only ever drove a few hundred feet under its own power and never got used for the project I’d intended to use it for; on the other hand, it served as an excellent lawn ornament for a little over a year, and then I sold it for twice what I’d paid.]

This truck was a little better than that.

On Craigslist, it was $2500, which was on the high end of my price range, but good enough to take a look. So I headed to the big city, and got there a half hour before the dealership closed. Looked it over, kicked the tires, took it on a test drive, and agreed to buy it.

We went back into the office and of course there was paperwork, lots of paperwork. I had to sign a paper saying that there was no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, and they wouldn’t even promise me that it really was a 98 Ram. (if you can’t dodge it, ram it) I also got to sign a paper saying that I was aware that there was a safety recall that hadn’t been done on it. I thought it was the ‘airbags kill you’ recall, but turns out it’s the ‘hood flies open’ recall.

One of these days, I’m gonna get a vehicle with an active recall and actually take it to a dealership and have them fix it. I missed out on the ‘car catches on fire’ recall on my Grand Marquis, which is a shame; I would have loved to show up at a Ford dealership with my winter beater Marquis and its homemade roofrack.


I’m kind of skipping around a bit--the paperwork signing came after the shrewd negotiations. We all know that the asking price is negotiable; they had this thing for $2500 on Craigslist but I can drive a hard bargain.

Now, this dealership had a row of beat-up trade-ins. There was a Cobalt with a smashed hood and probably a fuel line leak; there was an Aztek, and there was this rusty old Dodge. Each of them had a big yellow tag hanging from the mirror saying that they were gonna go to action in 30 days, and each of them had a price as well.

My Dodge? $1500.

So, when we got to talking about price, the salesman asked, “What’s the price on it?”

In hindsight, that’s an odd question to ask. What’s to stop me from saying $500? Or free?

“It was $2500 on Craigslist,” I said. “But the tag on the mirror says $1500.”

“Well, that’s what we’ll sell it for,” he said, and that was the second-shrewdest negotiation I’ve ever done.


Since I know you’re gonna ask, the first was a 1978 Chevy C10 from the same dealership that sold me the Cutlass that liked to catch on fire (turns out that the C10 did, too). It was stickered at a princely $795, and after a test drive we got to talking price. “I don’t have $800,” I started, and the salesman said, “How about $300?”

I had $300.

And aside from the Sonoma, that truck was the best value for money I ever got.


($300 C10 is on the left; $200 S10 is on the right . . . the S10 came pre-wrecked and with a salvage title.)


Now for the specs.

1998 Dodge Ram SLT, extended cab, 5.2L (318ci), four-speed automatic, two-wheel drive. Came with a topper which is already off in the pictures (the point of a truck is not having a roof, usually, but it’s nice to have when you want it). Air conditioning actually works, less than average Michigan rust, one owner (allegedly) and high mileage. Bumper hitch questionable given condition of bumper; receiver hitch better if you can fit a receiver in past the rust.

How high?

385,000 miles (620,000km).

That does tell me that the previous owner maintained it, since indifferent maintenance won’t get you much past 200k.


I only got a quick look at it in the lot, enough to not throw up any red flags (and given that I’ve daily driven a few vehicles that I intercepted on their way to the junkyard, that’s a low bar).

Since I work at a shop, I had the opportunity after work to toss it up on a hoist and check it over, and it’s honestly slightly better than expected. Tires are shot (we’ve got a used set that’ll fit it), one of the ball joints is squeaky (I’ll grease it and eventually replace it), the front wheel bearings are dangerously loose, brake lines are sketchy, and there’s one spot of critical structural rust, but that’s on the passenger side, and I don’t sit there. Overall, it’s honestly better than expected.

When I got my first car, the second day of ownership I hauled a load of scrap iron in the trunk. This truck, so far, hasn’t earned its keep as quickly, but it’s already hauled two loads of brush and pulled a couple of lawn tractors loose from their moorings. Come next week or the week after, it’s going to be pressed into service dragging a recalcitrant Caravan out of the dirt, and will likely follow with an Impala that’s also doing its best to become one with nature. I’ve got some cleanup work that needs to get done around the yard and driveway . . . with this shiny (debatable) new Dodge, my driveway is at capacity plus one.


(Pre-Dodge file photo)


As the old saying goes, “Put a Dodge in your garage . . . and leave it there.”

Comments ( 56 )
Dan

Whatcha gonna do about the fenders? Angle-grinder and/or wirebrush and then repaint? Chemical rust remover? Full acid dip? Just leave it alone?

Sounds like you got a great deal and your new (to you!) truck is earning its keep.

One of the best things you can have where I come from is a dependable truck. It rarely lets you down and even when it does or it needs some work, you keep it because it helped you when you needed it.

I think there is a Friendship lesson in there somewhere. Wish I still had my first truck.

Glad you had a good trip, Biscuit. I think you made out all the way around.

You have a lot of cars sittin’ there. How expensive would it be to repair the whole fleet?

"Spare parts? No such thing! There are parts I'm using now, and parts I'll use later."
-Sleep deprived words from me to my parts supplier.

Not a bad deal, Admiral. Can't beat "Dealer paid for me to take it" on a 1969 Ford F-500, but it's a good deal... got a 240ci sitting around? Because I need it.

How much would it cost for some metal work supplies? Torch, welder, etc?

I can think of several things to do with these vehicles from adding Mad Max grills to converting that trailer in the background to a mobile home.

Also been reading your post to my father.

He gave one more piece of life advice, never take the first settlement from an insurance company. A former car dealer that worked at the trucking terminal dad was at told him the story about how he accidentally hit a car with a grandmother and grandfather, killing them. The insurance company offered them $500,000 (1980's money) to the victims family. The family took the first offer. What the family didn't know was the full amount they could have gotten was $2,000,000. Nobody told these country folk the insurance company was keeping 1.5 million from them.

With that story about going downhill without brakes followed by that C.W. McCall thumbnail, at first I was halfway expecting the last minute and a half or so of this one instead... :derpytongue2:

Looks like it's ending in the middle, but it's not

My last vehicle was also a '98 Dodge Ram 1500, though mine was black. It was my inheritance from my late grandfather. He traded in his '91 Chevrolet K-1500 Silverado for it shortly before he passed, and I kinda wish he hadn't. I miss that old truck. He chose the Ram because the Silverado's V6 engine had proven inadequate for some of the tasks it had been needed for in the past, and it was hoped that the Ram's V8 would do better. He did not take into account the fact that he couldn't do that sort of thing anymore due to his cancer. The Ram's superior hauling capacity was put to the test exactly once, and even then, it was after he passed. A relative's truck (also a Ram, albeit newer and even more powerful) blew its transmission while hauling his boat and he had to borrow it to get the boat home.

It had some aftermarket additions. The bed had a roll-up cover as well as a homemade wooden toolbox. I know it was a farm truck due to all the hay in the bed and I know he was a smoker because I found an empty cigarette carton in the toolbox. Also, moths seemed to love the interior for some reason. Seemed like every time I opened the door, there was a new moth inside. They ranged in size from my pinkie fingernail all the way up to the size of my face. Yeah, that big one was pretty freaky to find.

Why did I trade it in? It was too big for my purposes and its MPG was abysmal, especially in winter when I had to use four-wheel drive a lot. Definitely no more than single digits. I swear, one time I could actually see the needle on the gauge moving.

I now have a Chevy S-10 instead. It's more practical, gets better gas mileage, and it's more comfortable to drive (likely due to me having gotten used to driving a Chevy in my grandpa's old truck). The tradeoff, however, is the maintenance. The S-10 needs to be taken in to the shop more often than the Dodge did. Right now, it needs new brake pads, the steering fluid is leaking, the door has issues, and one of the fuel injectors only works when it feels like it. That's just the obvious stuff. The last one can't be fixed at all, as all of the injectors are part of a single unit and replacing said unit would require disassembling the entire engine just to get to it. Bit of a design flaw there.

Its nice that you have access to the tools you need. Your vehicle collecting reminds me of my own computer collecting. :twilightsmile:

One of these days, I’m gonna get a vehicle with an active recall

Dude, I got the best one for you. Go buy a late 90s/early 2000s Toyota pickup truck with a rusted out frame. They're under recall for that and they will legit replace the ENTIRE frame, including brake lines and the brake proportioning valve that always gets rusted stuck and you can't find new ones of. I've already revived two (of my customers') really beat up rustbuckets like that. They look like your S10, but have shiny new frames underneath.

Matter of fact, they will try to upsell you new gas lines, brake lines, and such, but protip: that's all included. Tell them no thanks, just the recall, please. Besides, you can handle anything else anyway.

Also, for the Dodge, replace the ignition coil. They have a habit of burning the PCM's ignition coil driver transistor. Now I can't say for certain that the coil is responsible and not the computer just having a limited working life, but better safe than sorry for a $20 coil. ($7 actually lol)

Come to think of it, your Caravan(s) might have an active recall for the airbag sensors. My mom's 05 had that recall done along time ago. It didn't last maybe a year before it needed the sensor again. (Never replaced it lol.) They replace sensors and pigtails on both front sensors.

God, I'll never own a Dodge

I'm still waiting for news on the next episode of The Grand Tour, but this will do in the mean time. :twilightsmile:

Suprising how much car you can get, even in leftovers, for lesss price than a midrange cell phone these days.

Havent found out yet how much Unc spent on his latest vehicle. a 1985 VW Polo diesel, but I think the fact that during the day, he can have absolutely nothing electrical working on the machine and still drive legally and pass emissions tests in the UK I find rather hilarious. and somewhat sad on the general state of modern vehicle tech. :trixieshiftright:

A little known fact of most of the major auto manufacturer's names are really Acronyms.

Everyone knows Ford & Flat: "Found On Road Dead" and "Fix It Again, Tony" respectively. But less well known are some of the others.

Chevrolet: Cheap Heap Experiences Vehicular Repair Over Little Engine Trouble.

Porsche: Prooves Only Rich Suckers Can Have 'Em

Pontiac: Poor Old Navajo. Thinks It's A Cadillac

Nissan: Needs Improvement So Start Again, Nipponese

Toyota: Too Often, Yankees Overprice This Auto.

And, of course, Dodge: Dem Ol' Dudes Go Everywhere.

Thanks for the story, and glad it sounds like that went well for you. :)

Such truck! Many beater.

Oh wait. You said "Dodge." Never mind.

Congrats on the "new" truck! :pinkiehappy:

5377576

Hyundai: Hope You Understand Nothing's Driveable And Inexpensive
Honda: Had One, Never Did Again
Pinto: Put In Nickle To Operate
Edsel: Every Day Something Else Leaks
Camaro: Can't America Make A Real One?
Oldsmobile: Old Lady Driving Slowly, Makes Others Behind Incredibly Late Everyday
Dodge: Dead On Day Guarantee Expires
GM: Generally Mediocre
VW: Virtually Worthless
Saab: Swedish Automobile, Always Broken
Fiat: Failure In Automotive Technology
Ford: there are a number of these for Ford ranging from 'Found On Road Dead' to 'First On Race Day'

5377414

Whatcha gonna do about the fenders? Angle-grinder and/or wirebrush and then repaint? Chemical rust remover? Full acid dip? Just leave it alone?

Leave ‘em alone. Maybe if I get really frisky I’ll hit them with some rustoleum, but probably not. With that kind of miles, and how I’m going to use it, odds are it won’t look great by the time the engine or transmission finally give up.

5377423

Sounds like you got a great deal and your new (to you!) truck is earning its keep.

I did! The best thing about buying at my price point is that cars are usually better than expected (like, I looked under this thing and the brake lines weren’t as bad as I anticipated . . . there weren’t as many fluid leaks as I anticipated . . . most of the things that have to be fixed before driving it are actually cheap.

One of the best things you can have where I come from is a dependable truck. It rarely lets you down and even when it does or it needs some work, you keep it because it helped you when you needed it.

That’s why I’ve still got my little GMC Sonoma. That thing did so much for so long, I don’t have the heart to haul it off to the junkyard.

I think there is a Friendship lesson in there somewhere. Wish I still had my first truck.

I kinda wish I still had mine, but it needed a frame and a body, so. . . On the plus side, I’ve still got the drivetrain and trim and most of it’s been installed on a 1979 GMC, so in that respect it lives on.

Glad you had a good trip, Biscuit. I think you made out all the way around.

I did! It was a pretty fantastic week, all told.

5377425

You have a lot of cars sittin’ there. How expensive would it be to repair the whole fleet?

Repair to a standard of reasonable safety and reliability? (brakes work, no dangerous exhaust leaks, rarely catches fire, etc.) Probably many thousands and weeks of time. Plus, with 50 or more hours a week at the shop fixing other people’s broken cars, I am less motivated to fix my own. I’d rather be doing anything else, y’know.

5377438

"Spare parts? No such thing! There are parts I'm using now, and parts I'll use later."
-Sleep deprived words from me to my parts supplier.

I do need to thin some of my inventory (when I get around to it, lol), since it’s for vehicles I don’t have any more and likely won’t ever buy again. Or because now that I’m not a broke college student, I can afford to buy new brake pads instead of slapping on a set of mismatched, slightly-used brake pads.

Not a bad deal, Admiral. Can't beat "Dealer paid for me to take it" on a 1969 Ford F-500, but it's a good deal...

I never had a dealer pay me to take it, but I have gotten a few free cars in my time. Most of them were at least worth what I paid for them.

got a 240ci sitting around? Because I need it.

You mean like a Cummins 3.9L diesel? Or a different 240 out of something else?

5377443

How much would it cost for some metal work supplies? Torch, welder, etc?

I’ve got a welder and I might have a torch sitting around somewhere. I’m not great at welding (I got the welder for practice; it’s really cheap) but I’m pretty okay at cutting things with a torch.

I can think of several things to do with these vehicles from adding Mad Max grills to converting that trailer in the background to a mobile home.

The trailer in the background is a storage shed. Got it for $300; you can’t build a mostly-watertight shed for that. I could refinish it, but I’d prefer something smaller and more towable if I was going to go that route. And if I want to build a camper, I do have a panel truck that would be a great starting point for such a project.

Also been reading your post to my father.

:heart:

He gave one more piece of life advice, never take the first settlement from an insurance company. A former car dealer that worked at the trucking terminal dad was at told him the story about how he accidentally hit a car with a grandmother and grandfather, killing them. The insurance company offered them $500,000 (1980's money) to the victims family. The family took the first offer. What the family didn't know was the full amount they could have gotten was $2,000,000. Nobody told these country folk the insurance company was keeping 1.5 million from them.

Yeah, they’ll almost always lowball you on a first offer. The only two settlements I got were for vehicles that were so cheap, that the payout was more than I had invested in the vehicle, so it was a win in my book (especially since one of those trucks, I bought it back and kept driving it . . . I paid $300 for it, and the insurance company gave me $800 after it was totalled, and I drove it another year and then took all the good parts and put them in another truck.

5377447

With that story about going downhill without brakes followed by that C.W. McCall thumbnail, at first I was halfway expecting the last minute and a half or so of this one instead... :derpytongue2:

Without clicking on the link, I’m betting it’s Wolf Creek Pass.

(There apparently really is a feed store in downtown Begosa Springs.)

<clicks link>

Yup.

Great song. C.W. McCall is an underappreciated artist. I think I referenced him in Turnpike.

5377452
“Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts.”

I love that theme song. It was practically written for the Ford Excursion.

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/2000-04_Ford_Excursion.jpg

(I think those were also covered in the Ford ‘catches on fire’ recall. :P)

5377461

Its nice that you have access to the tools you need. Your vehicle collecting reminds me of my own computer collecting. :twilightsmile:

It’s funny, sometimes it’s frustrating ‘cause all the tools I need are at the shop, and not all of them are at home, so I’ll get in the middle of a project and need a tool that I have in my toolbox, at the shop, but not at hand.

5377509

Dude, I got the best one for you. Go buy a late 90s/early 2000s Toyota pickup truck with a rusted out frame. They're under recall for that and they will legit replace the ENTIRE frame, including brake lines and the brake proportioning valve that always gets rusted stuck and you can't find new ones of. I've already revived two (of my customers') really beat up rustbuckets like that. They look like your S10, but have shiny new frames underneath.

I thought they were buying back some of them, too (the ones that had too many other rusty parts to be worth saving). Thing is, I don’t really want a Toyota, shiny new frame or not. I’d rather stick to “American” cars . . . heck, aside from the Dodge and the Cherokee, all my trucks were made in Michigan. My Suburban even has a sticker on the door that says “Built Flint Tough,” and that means something.

Also, for the Dodge, replace the ignition coil. They have a habit of burning the PCM's ignition coil driver transistor. Now I can't say for certain that the coil is responsible and not the computer just having a limited working life, but better safe than sorry for a $20 coil. ($7 actually lol)

Huh, I’ve never seen that. I believe you, but I’ve never seen that be a failure mode on any Dodge I’ve worked on.

Just yesterday, I put an IPR solenoid on a Ford 6.0 . . . my boss said that every time he’d thought it was the IPR it was something else, and I said that every time I’d thought it was the IPR it was.

Still got a perfect track record on that front. :heart: Said Ford happily dieseled itself away from the shop.

Come to think of it, your Caravan(s) might have an active recall for the airbag sensors. My mom's 05 had that recall done along time ago. It didn't last maybe a year before it needed the sensor again. (Never replaced it lol.) They replace sensors and pigtails on both front sensors.

I don’t think that they do, but I could check. The two older ones didn’t AFAIK, and I think I did look on the 07 and found that it had no uncompleted recalls, but I might be wrong.

5377514

God, I'll never own a Dodge

As with most brands, you buy the stuff that they’ve built for a while and gotten good at. Dodge makes pretty good minivans, for example, because they made a lot of them and got good at it. Their trucks are okay IMHO . . . I’d prefer a GM truck, but when I’m shopping at a price point, that tends to be limiting when it comes to selection. I once mentioned that I didn’t really like blue vehicles--while daily driving a blue truck--and someone asked me why I’d gotten a blue one; I said that when you’re looking at vehicles under $500, you don’t get to pick the color.

5377526

I'm still waiting for news on the next episode of The Grand Tour, but this will do in the mean time. :twilightsmile:

Probably won’t be until next week at this point. I’m currently working stupid amounts of overtime at the shop, catching up, and I’ve got weekend commitments.

I can promise you it’ll have lots of interesting pictures and videos.

5377533

Surprising how much car you can get, even in leftovers, for less price than a midrange cell phone these days.

Well, this one was more than my cell phone and so was the last one . . . but back before that, yeah, most of the vehicles I drove were significantly cheaper than a cell phone . . . or one of my current computer monitors . . . or even they keyboard I’m typing on. . . .

Haven't found out yet how much Unc spent on his latest vehicle. a 1985 VW Polo diesel, but I think the fact that during the day, he can have absolutely nothing electrical working on the machine and still drive legally and pass emissions tests in the UK I find rather hilarious. and somewhat sad on the general state of modern vehicle tech.

There’s a lot of advantages to all the electronics, and I prefer them (mostly), but at the same time, especially older diesels didn’t really need much except for a starter and they’d do all the rest on their own with gears and swash plates and specifically-calibrated lengths of fuel pipe.

At the same time, while I don’t know for diesels, for gas engines the better fuel controls have led to better emissions and way better durability. My dad’s old station wagon was completely worn out with 120k on the odometer; my 384k Ram is mechanically better than that car was.

5378002
Yes on the 4BT, but also a Ford 240 inline six. Said F-500 needs a block, and I have an LTD Victoria that would be lovely as a diesel.

5377576 5377958

A little known fact of most of the major auto manufacturer's names are really Acronyms.

Jeep: Just everybody else’s parts
AMC: Another Major Catastrophe
Fiat: Found in a Trashcan
Buick: Big, ugly, indestructible car killer

And of course specific models, such as the Neon (Never ever own a Neon).

Then there’s the ‘misheard’ names, such as the Ford Fiso, the Nissan 24 oz. and 28 oz., and the Pontiac Gooole or the upscale Gooose. (6000 LE and 6000 SE.)

5377761

Such truck! Many beater.

Yup

Oh wait. You said "Dodge." Never mind.

Eh, it was a thousand cheaper than the similar Chevy I considered. I’d have rather had the Chevy, but can think of a thousand reasons why the Dodge was a better deal.

5378020
No Ford engines lying around, I’m afraid. I do have a 4BT kicking around that I don’t know what I’m going to do with. Theoretically, based on what it’s in, it should bolt up to any 80s GM truck and likely any 80s GM RWD car.

If I didn’t hate Camaros so much, an 80s F-body with a 4BT would offend nearly everybody. . . .

5378035
Hmmm... now that's an idea...

5378038
I did some quick googling, it’s already been done with a 69 Camaro.

True fact, the launch was so epic it made my sound stop working. :P

5377958
Dale Dribble ("King Of The Hill") said "Fiat" stood for "Fix It Again, Tony"
My brother owned a Subaru & named it "Gus" for "Gutless Ugly Shitbox"

5377453

My last vehicle was also a '98 Dodge Ram 1500, though mine was black. It was my inheritance from my late grandfather. He traded in his '91 Chevrolet K-1500 Silverado for it shortly before he passed, and I kinda wish he hadn't. I miss that old truck. He chose the Ram because the Silverado's V6 engine had proven inadequate for some of the tasks it had been needed for in the past, and it was hoped that the Ram's V8 would do better. He did not take into account the fact that he couldn't do that sort of thing anymore due to his cancer. The Ram's superior hauling capacity was put to the test exactly once, and even then, it was after he passed. A relative's truck (also a Ram, albeit newer and even more powerful) blew its transmission while hauling his boat and he had to borrow it to get the boat home.

The 4.3 was a decent engine in terms of reliability (minus a few issues), but it wasn’t great, and it wasn’t much of a hauling engine IMHO. Certainly not at speed . . . I’ve owned a few GM vehicles with that design idea, the base model engine being capable if you don’t mind going slow and taking breaks every now and then. I got an old truck with a straight-six that’s great for stump-pulling torque, but doesn’t really do acceleration or highway speeds (it’ll haul anything you want, so long as you’re happy with staying under 35 mph).

My own grandfather’s last vehicle was an Astro van with the 4.3L, the second one he owned. I don’t know what came of it; no one in the family really had any sentimental connections to it. His boat did get saved; I took it first and held it for years, and then my parents took it to my brother who’s fixing it up.

Also, moths seemed to love the interior for some reason. Seemed like every time I opened the door, there was a new moth inside. They ranged in size from my pinkie fingernail all the way up to the size of my face. Yeah, that big one was pretty freaky to find.

Huh. All I ever get is mice, and they’re not my friends. Mice love wires, and I don’t love mice who love wires.

Why did I trade it in? It was too big for my purposes and its MPG was abysmal, especially in winter when I had to use four-wheel drive a lot. Definitely no more than single digits. I swear, one time I could actually see the needle on the gauge moving.

Some trucks are built that way (for better or worse). My old 78 got 10 MPG no matter what. Nice when you were towing, not so nice when running empty. And I have turned down vehicles based on fuel economy, so I get it. Dunno what the Dodge is gonna get, but it probably won’t be great . . . still, for what I need it for, it’ll be okay. Probably no worse than the Cherokee (which doesn’t have brakes).

I now have a Chevy S-10 instead. It's more practical, gets better gas mileage, and it's more comfortable to drive (likely due to me having gotten used to driving a Chevy in my grandpa's old truck). The tradeoff, however, is the maintenance. The S-10 needs to be taken in to the shop more often than the Dodge did. Right now, it needs new brake pads, the steering fluid is leaking, the door has issues, and one of the fuel injectors only works when it feels like it. That's just the obvious stuff. The last one can't be fixed at all, as all of the injectors are part of a single unit and replacing said unit would require disassembling the entire engine just to get to it. Bit of a design flaw there.

S-10s are very okay compact trucks. I put a quarter million miles on one and it was okay with indifferent maintenance, which was a plus. The cabs are bigger than Rangers as well (in terms of subjective feel; no idea on actual measurements). Fluid leaks are a feature with GM products; GM never made a hose that didn’t leak . . . or a gasket. . . . When it comes to oil-type fluids, that was a feature; as the truck got older, it’d leak enough oil-based products to rust-proof itself.

The injectors can be replaced singly, they’re available aftermarket. Said aftermarket replacement injector sucks (IMHO) and I’d rather replace the whole spider rather than just one injector. And you don’t have to take apart the whole engine to get at it, just the top half. Someday I’ll post pictures of putting a cam in a GM 5.3; that’s one where you do have to take it mostly apart to repair it (everything on the top down to the block, plus the front cover and oil pan, I think 20+ hours book time) . . . I filled the bed of the truck with engine parts that came off.

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Alright... new plan; Cummins powered Mustang.

So, way out of left field... I've got a 1991 Toyota MR2 that's got a blown engine. I was planning on a 2GR-FE swap, but had some other things come up. I don't suppose you have any thoughts on what the next best thing to get 'er going might be?

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The Fiso's always a favorite. Just like the good ol' 710 cap. Available at fine retailers that also stock the similarly difficult to find blinker fluid. The 24 & 28 ounces are new to me, but I already know who I can torment share this new knowledge with. Of course, with Ford, at least they circled the problem.

Like the one for Jeep, AMC can also be All Makes Combined (makes sense considering AMC owned Jeep until the Chrysler takeover and they weren't above raiding the corporate parts bins of the Big Three for their cars or Jeeps)

Tucker: Trumped Up Charges Killed Early, Regrettably

Nash: No American Should Have

Hudson: Hopped Up Dominate Sedan Of NASCAR

And if we go even further back...

Gotta be nutz to drive a Stutz! -Mercer owners

It's worser in a Mercer! -Stutz owners

I could make car jokes all night. It's one of the few things I'm good at.

Fascinating post. Also kinda scary that your standards for vehicles do not preclude driving an occasional firebomb-waiting-to-happen.

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5378022

You know, I've always wanted to take something demonstrably awful (Think Pontiac Aztek or the Dacia Sandero) and make it into something absurd and wonderful. The problem is I don't have the time, money, or the patience of my wife to make such a thing happen.

5377999 That's probably why I have so many junk computers sitting around at home...

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The Chevy that the Ram replaced was certainly not a stump-pulling truck. My grandfather tried once; all it did was dig a ditch in the front yard. And the side yard. And the neighbor's yard. Thankfully, said neighbors were the forgiving type.

Unless I want to replace the injector unit myself (which I don't know how to do), having the whole thing replaced would cost $900 due to the labor involved. That was a bit of sticker shock. I couldn't afford it. I could, in theory, afford it now, but I'd rather save the money, sell the truck, and finally get my dream car, a Ford Mustang. I've seen some nice ones within my price range before. I should probably get on that soon.

Well, judging from the reference to McCall and the photos I'm seeing, I think you've got yourself a convoy. >^_^<

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So, way out of left field... I've got a 1991 Toyota MR2 that's got a blown engine. I was planning on a 2GR-FE swap, but had some other things come up. I don't suppose you have any thoughts on what the next best thing to get 'er going might be?

Not a clue.

As a professional mechanic, put the thing in that came out. There won’t be any surprises; everything will work as intended. But, if you want an adventure, surely there are a lot of things you can fit in there, things that are better or at least more interesting . . . and which will require some fiddling to get right. If you’re doing it yourself, and if you don’t need the car, you can spend however much time you want stuffing something else in, and doing whatever it takes to get it going. The physical size of the engine package is your only limit, and if you’re good at fabricating, that might not be a limit. With computerized engines, getting the engine computer to do what you want is also a hurdle, but if you are a person who can program or know a person who can program, that’s not a limitation, either.

Professionally, I’ve done a fair number of kind-for-kind swaps; as a hobbyist, I’ve done those and also one drastic change, and the drastic change truck never worked. I don’t know what went wrong; I got frustrated and just gave up on it.

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Like the one for Jeep, AMC can also be All Makes Combined (makes sense considering AMC owned Jeep until the Chrysler takeover and they weren't above raiding the corporate parts bins of the Big Three for their cars or Jeeps)

My dad had an AMC Javelin that said on the air cleaner “keep your GM car all GM”. I bet some guy at the factory was giggling as he slapped the sticker on those before shipping them off.

I also have a S-10 with the 4-tech 2.5L, and it turns out a Briggs and Stratton sticker has nearly the exact same color scheme, so that’s slapped on the air cleaner. If I was ever super frisky, I’d figure out a way to put a pull-start on it . . . that engine’s got so much blow-by, probably a lawnmower mechanism would work. . . .

I also somehow forgot Kia: Keep it away.

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Fascinating post.

Thank you! :heart:

Also kinda scary that your standards for vehicles do not preclude driving an occasional firebomb-waiting-to-happen.

When the majority of them were under $500 and several of those were on their way to the junkyard when I bought them, occasional fires are to be expected. Heck, I got a great deal on a Chevy Truck because it had been on fire before, and one time when I was driving it, it decided it was time for a repeat. Luckily, that fire put itself out, and with a bit of creativity and some electrical tape, I got it running again and got the rest of the way home.

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You know, I've always wanted to take something demonstrably awful (Think Pontiac Aztek or the Dacia Sandero) and make it into something absurd and wonderful. The problem is I don't have the time, money, or the patience of my wife to make such a thing happen.

Yeah, one of my money-is-no-object fun conversions would be taking a bog-standard Caravan (like the three I have) and repowering it with whatever could be fit in the space behind the driver’s seat. Given how much space there is in there, nearly anything is possible, and you’d have a complete sleeper. Air intakes could be on the roof, hidden by the roofracks (or a huge pipe into the engine compartment), you could tub it as far as you wanted and nobody would see, the exhaust could also go out the roof or be hidden in front of the factory muffler/tailpipe combo.

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