Anybody on this site into working on cars?
 

As the subject stated.

Not exactly.
But I do know a bit about the term"penny-rig".
My first car was a 1980 BMW 320i,I bought it for $2000.
The accelerator pedal cable was held in place with a bended paper clip.
The electrical wire connectors for the headlights was held together with those plastic ties.
One of the battery cables had electrical tape keeping it connecting to the battery.
The list goes on.
I could have let the BMW mechanics fix it for $13,000,and they told me that my car was going to blow up if I kept fixing it myself:D
When I traded it in,they gave me $300 for it.I was amazed it got even that:)

heheh nice. I love stories like that. My parents, when they first got married bought an old school VW beetle that had a hole in the floor. It was "ala-flinstone style"

had to be careful not to put your foot down in th wrong spot while the car was in motion.haha

*Sigh* Almost 20 years under the hood of cars. Currently at a Kia/VW/Isuzu dealer.

I have my own little hobbies.

91 Chevy Blazer body muddragster 383 cu in 500+ horse

69 Vw Sandrail dragster 1641cc engine

49 Chevrolet styleline, work in progress. When she is done I am going to call her the Charlotte Creeper.

Charlotte is the town I live in and well its me.

Car stories, I have an assload. Will post some when I get time.

Re: Anybody on this site into working on cars?
 

I pretty much know the in's 'n out's of all the cars I've owned. It's handy knowing what goes on with a car.... If I leave any big messy job for a paid mechanic to do, I can quite often go and check what he's done, then know the job's not been bodged on the sly before I hand over my cc.

niceee creeper!.

i was thinking about buying a c3 vette and working on it. But not for muscle. For reliability. You know.. a summer car to enjoy without having it breakdown on me.

Any history with those?

Im not familiar with american cars. I customize Japanese cars. The celica was my last car. Now im going for something more mature (The fast and the furious ruined it for import tuners).

My mechanic is a probe specialist, and his probes come out amazing. Totally exotic.

So once i save the money, the probe i own now will go under heavy construction.

My Celica<tear>(although i cant see myself driving in that anymore..so its a good thing i sold it):


http://pic10.picturetrail.com:80/VOL...8/55073661.jpg
http://pic10.picturetrail.com:80/VOL...8/55078798.jpg http://pic10.picturetrail.com:80/VOL...8/61995998.jpg
AudioX Probe collection:
http://pic10.picturetrail.com:80/VOL...8/53616668.jpg http://members.aol.com/gmavz/images/model3web.jpg


So creeper,
like i said. Any info on the c3's and their stability? If i pick one up with 70k original miles, would an engine rebuild keep it running for another 100? Problem free?

Must be me being boring, but I hate over modded cars... in my eyes your Celica just doesn't do it for me.... maybe it's the American origin to do exterior mods on cars, something of which has become poplular here in the Uk now.

Fair play to you though, It must have taken many dedicated hours in the garage, to achieve the exterior and interior mods. :)

I prefer leaving a car the way it should be, not saying minor mods, such as uprated lowered suspension, or different alloys can't be done when engine tuning or componant upgrades have been fitted, but thats all I'll consider doing if a car needed it.

If all goes to plan with the new house purchase in the new year (think I must have said that last year... lol) A car change will be on the cards, providing the funds are still avialable, then I'll be off down the garage to view a few BMW E39's. :)

like stated above, the cellie doesnt do it for me either these days. Thats why i sold it. But i still love working on cars. I cant waitttt to do the probe.
Those cars are much more "mature" looking.

But at the time (4 years ago), the celica was great. The car shows, the meets, going to the tracks, etc. BUT THAT STUPID MOVIE HAD TO RUIN IT!!..hahah

but eh, tastes change, i was younger then and that style of modding i loved.

I actually owned a couple of Corvettes. A 1979 L82 and an 86 C4.

The 70s vettes were kool, if you can find an early 70s one I believe before 74' are the best. They didnt have all the federal emmisions crap on them. The 79 I had only put out about 225 horse which isnt bad for a light car but compared to things nowadays its actually pretty tame. One thing about Vettes is the wiring is a little goofy because the body is fiberglass but its not too bad.

If you do buy a Chevy muscle car especially a Vette stick with one that has a 350 cu in eng. They are easy to work on, and are even easier to hop up the engine. Plus performance stuff is dirt ass cheap for a 350. I built a 500 hp engine for my BLazer for just over 3 grand. Plus almost anyone can tinker with this engine without a butload of knowledge about cars.

The chevy small block is also much more versatile and take higher revs and more of beating than most GM big blocks.

Keeping any vehicle running for 100k isnt a problem, as long as it was maintained. My ladies Cherokee has 230000 plus miles on it. All I do is change the oil regularly. I have had several cars go way over 100k without problems.

I wouldnt tear an engine down unless it had a problem. Most 350s burn a little oil because of the valve guide seals are worn but its not a huge deal to change them.

I thought tuners were kool until I started seeing these jackasses running around with bleachers on the rear deck lid. I mean down force doesnt become a faactor until your over 100 mph + anyway.

For now I am sticking with old skool stuff. My 49 chevy. I want to build a 32 Ford 5 window coupe like the car from american graffiti. I guess it makes me a recycler.

By the way that Celica is kool.

No, what ruins it are these assholes that act like they're Paul Fuckin Walker runnin around in parking lots at high rates of speed for that look-I'm-so-cool effect. As for a Vette's condition, that's hard to say. You can easily find early to late 1970's Vettes for around $20,000 in really good/great condition. If it has a ripped interior, shabby looking and leaking fluids everywhere, leave it! Most likely been beaten to shit and isn't worth the money to fix it. Also, your age has a lot to do with the insurance rate. If you're married with kids or around 35 to 40, it shouldn't be too bad. But if you're in your early 20's and go to the insurance agent with a Corvette, it's gonna be kinda steep. That's why I have a 1999 Trans Am. Pretty much the "poor man's" Vette. :D
I don't generally care for cars that are "all show" and "no go". I'd rather see cars, be it import or domestic, with true performance upgrades like intake, exhaust, turbos, superchargers, chassis and suspension upgrades that actually enhances the cars handling rather than the looks-so-cool type crap that doesn't do shit for the car but look good. Also, fuck those crappy fart-can mufflers. Have you ever looked inside one of those fucking things? There's so many loops, louvers, and notched holes inside of it that they probably create more back pressure than the stock muffler it was replaced with.
Actually, the 350 does rev higher, but you're forgetting one thing.... those big blocks are sheer torque monsters. I have seen horsepower comparisons of stroker packages all the way up to a small block 427 without engine reliablity issues. The stroker might make as much horsepower as a big block, but the big block could easily have an extra 150 foot pounds on it. I have seen some radically designed big blocks with multiport, not throttlebody, fuel injection that belted out like 650 HP and over 700 foot pounds on pump gas!
As for myself, I have a 1999 Trans Am, long tube headers, high flow cats, SLP Loudmouth cat-back, dynoed at 310/327. Since then, an SLP lid/smooth bellow/K&N, subframe connectors and a BMR strut brace. Body-wise, it's all stock except for polished calipers, A/C freon canister and MAF senseor which I did myself. As for the other stuff, I just decided to let a shop do it, especially for the exhaust. Installing headers on an F4 LS1 is no easy task, and I would've needed to rent a plasma cutter and welder which would've cost me twice as much and 5 times longer to do the install which as only $400 for the whole entire exhaust system. The dynotune was $450 and gave me almost 30 extra ponies. :) Probably an extra 15 to 20 with the lid, bellow and K&N. ;)