Tremek posted:

Better yet, willroc7's entire post history in this thread is about his own Audis & VWs. R-envy?

Content: My dad was in the market for something to replace his wife's '05 TSX they bought new that now has 170k miles on it, and in discussion we came up with the idea of a hot-hatch as being a good fit. He wanted something with a little more guts than the TSX (200hp, but not at 6,000 ft. elevation and even then only if you wring its neck at sea level) and as his wife is also prone to backing into things, something even smaller than the TSX would probably be a benefit.

So enter the Kia Forte5 SX, pictured below. 201hp/195tq out of a DI turbo 1.6 I4. Automatic was another requirement.

Why not GTI, you ask? Said Kia below is a '15 with 24k miles on it, and he got it for $17k + TTL. Any comparable GTI was going to be $8-10k more, with Autobahn models going for almost $30k.

Now he's looking into tunes for it, which I count as a personal success.

Tremek posted:

That's a neat van, especially for the money. We have absolutely nothing like that in this market, especially not at that price point. Pickup trucks largely fill that sort of niche here, but the vast majority aren't diesel or manual.

Mariana Horchata posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ5EhrpqxTc

Imperador do Brasil posted:

kimbo305 posted:

Once you've seen a C6 with flared fenders, it's really hard to buy a normal one.

1500quidporsche posted:

I'm pretty much going to gut the entire interior of mine over the winter and go over it with a fine tooth comb, I think the alarm on mine went off when we brought it to McTinkerson's place and we couldn't figure out what the hell caused it. Are these things known for pinching a wiring harness or something?

Seat Safety Switch posted:

That smells like a recap job to me, the RX7 probably had the same Rubycom/Nichicom capacitors that ate poo poo in my Civic earlier this year.

1500quidporsche posted:

I originally thought pinched wire harness but I'm leaning more towards McTinkerson's bad soldering theory now. All the interior electrics are laughably bad and will randomly kick in and out depending on the temperature and whether you've hit a bump or something but the engine ECU has been rock solid and I was expecting 90% of my problems to be on the fuel injection side of things.

It wouldn't surprise me if Mazda bought some cheap solder or something and the engine ECU came from Nippondenso or some random supplier because it would explain the night and day difference. I know in atleast the Bosch side of Jetronic stuff that wasn't uncommon.

And yeah this stupid thing is infected me now. I full on love that loving engine.

Awesometime posted:

Mrs Awesometime bought a van.











It's a 1960 Bedford CA Van, plans include it being a promo vehicle for the business.

The PO wouldn't stop banging on about the amazing patina, no signs of any severe car cancer.

We're picking it up on Sat, can't wait to drive it home and get better pics!

Nodoze posted:

Ken when the hell did you get married

Boaz MacPhereson posted:

I'm sure there's documents and poo poo all over, but those are all done by other people. On the internet. You know, idiots. With you being an EE and having a knowledge of automotive electricals that blows my loving mind, I'd like to see your take on it too .

Imperador do Brasil posted:

I love my (90's) Prelude interior. 20 years and the seats are still like new. No matter what else I have kicking around, I always have to have a Honda in the stable just for driving simplicity and fun, and simple ergonomic interiors.

Achtane posted:

On my off days, I'm responsible for shitbox fleet repair.


'95 Corolla 1.8 bought from a friend for $400. 176k miles, runs well but needs a new clutch soon. I'm 6'7" and it's actually kinda cozy, but I'll lose some height in the event of a crash.
'98 Grand Marquis in its natural habitat. Just hit 100k. The lovely plastic intake manifold finally gave out and vomited coolant everywhere. I couldn't afford the aluminum one Ford should have used from the get-go so it's about to get another overpriced lovely plastic one. Note the 2x2.
Not pictured: My girlfriend's '97 Lumina. It needs a new power steering pump. Working on this car is damaging to the soul.
Between the two of us, we have half a car at any given time.

Seat Safety Switch posted:

Cool find. Those old Dodges are getting harder to find.

Breakfast Feud posted:

Ever since I started buying and driving old trucks I've lusted after a 4 speed and now that I've got one it's everything I imagined and more The clutch is a mechanical linkage and it's not like any other manual I've driven, it's super picky about RPM which will take some getting used to as there's no working tach. There was an aftermarket one wired to the distributor (what the PO said, anyway), but it has stopped working. Apparently it keeps blowing fuses and electrical stuff is intermittent, it was weird until I saw the state of the wiring. Probably going to rewire the truck in phases, starting with the stuff that controls the vent fan.

ExecuDork posted:

Oh, are we complaining about Chrysler electrical?

I had a 1990 Dodge Grand Caravan. Go ahead, make the jokes, I'll wait. 3.3L V6, "ice blue", and a sliding door that a 2-year-old pulled off one day.

At one point, going down a terrible dirt road on Vancouver Island, I high-centered it very briefly on the trailer hitch receiver, which had the trailer hitch wiring wrapped around it to keep it out of the way. I didn't notice and it wasn't until months later when a fuse in the panel by my left knee burned out spectacularly on the middle of the Granville Bridge in Vancouver - black smoke pouring out of my window in downtown Vancouver rush-hour. $1000 later - and they felt bad for me and stopped charging me after one full day - the terrible, terrible electrical gremlins were traced to that pinch-cut trailer wire. If I remember correctly, replacing the trailer wire (I think a $20 part) fixed the problems I'd been having with the headlights, cold starts, and windshield wipers. The malfunctioning right turn signal was caused by a blown bulb.

Luxrage posted:

This is my current daily driver, and fast becoming a strange blend between restoring and overhauling:

I moved down to Texas last year. My '94 Thunderbird V8 rusted out from living up north, and at the same time I was saving up to buy a fullsize Bronco, so I thought, why not both?



The paint is totally burnt out, but there's no clearcoat so it does polish up nice. However, it is road chipped to hell and back.



One thing that baffles me is the interior is spotless everywhere but in the cargo area. I think it was stored halfway in a carport or something.

I was toying with the idea of the sedan instead. However, when I test drove a craigslist one and discovered the sheer size of the wagon and how well they drove, I was hooked.

This sold me on it:

Boaz MacPhereson posted:

Needs cop steelies, dog dishes, and blackwalls.

Awesome car.

Luxrage posted:

It's baffling to think that in 1987 this thing was sitting next to the Taurus in the showrooms with it's almost unchanged 1979 design. It's a rolling time capsule.

Boaz MacPhereson posted:

Oh my god it's even a coupe...

It's glorious.

As Nero Danced posted:

I'll check when I get home. pretty sure it has the crossmember but I don't remember. And yeah, manual brakes suck- I know that was how it was done back then but screw that.

Current names I'm toying with are the Vomit Comet or Freddie Mercury.

KakerMix posted:

From what I've seen if you want a manual you have to get the 300, otherwise you should always go for the 400 because V8. Or get a 400 and to a manual swap on it.

OneOverZero posted:

I also found out last week that my beater 541,000mi XJ does not appreciate being loaded to the bumpstops with topsoil and cypress mulch.

Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:

I was hoping the UFO would take my Saturn to visit Saturn (and hopefully bring it back in one piece), but I don't think this UFO is going anywhere.



But.. been wanting to get a few pics of this place.

Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:

You're in luck, there's a decent number of them known to exist!


It's one of three known Futuro Houses known to exist in Texas. This is the easiest to access one; it's (barely) in Royse City off of SH 276 (so a long drive for you, about 20 minutes for me), and nobody bothers you so long as you don't look like someone that would hold a can of spray paint - I was out there for about 45 minutes, with my car parked right next to it - nobody ever approached me, and it's on a very well travelled road.

If you just start typing "Futuro House" into Google Maps while you're in Texas, it should be one of the first results.

There's another in Rockwall, but it's next to someone's house and on very private property. The third known is in Austin, and is still in some kind of active use. This one is sitting on a major road and very visible to anyone and everyone going by.

GnarlyCharlie4u posted:

I never managed to take a picture of my Ranger overloaded with anything weight wise. I didn't have a digital camera or smartphone at the time.

I did get this hilarious picture though:

DJ Commie posted:

Sick intake bro!

Killstick posted:

I had to stop and figure out why i was reading this in Eminems voice.

spog posted:

No airbag deployment?

Looks like something you could bodge back into a very nice cheap runaround

Dannywilson posted:

Well technically I own the auto Starquest, but it's long term down at his place, so yeah, I buy parts and he throws them on, or they wait for the next time I'm down there to drink beer and work on cars.

Tremek posted:

Kind of a poo poo picture and I didn't have anyone else around to put it in reverse while I took a pic - probably not the best thing to try alone - you can see the reverse LEDs to the bottom-right of the license plate and below the spare.

BlackMK4 posted:

dirty af, but I took it out for a non-DD ride.

Colostomy Bag posted:

Did the same guy do the Lagonda since he had a hard on for headlights?

quote:

The Aston Martin Bulldog, styled by William Towns,

quote:

In 1966 he left Rover to join Aston Martin as a seat designer, eventually becoming the force behind the Aston Martin Lagonda.

Raluek posted:

Although your taste in wheels differs from mine, I can say with certainty that you are a fundamentally good person.

post a thread when you start cracking it open, eh?

Powershift posted:

This is why we can't have nice things.

Garage2Roadtrip posted:

Get a GS - I still get ~ 50mpg with this fatty.

ratbert90 posted:

I am averaging over 200mpg with my Volt.

chrisgt posted:

I just bought shitbox number 11 (I think, I've lost count).
It is, however, My First Toyota.

When I bought it the rear hatch wouldn't open, back glass didn't move, the whole thing was disgusting, and 4x4 only worked if you hit the actuator with a hammer...

I figured since it worked at all it was probably something I could fix, took a gamble and talked the guy down to $3000. I had to do some pro-fabricobbling to get the hatch working without buying expensive parts. The 4x4 actuator took a bit of tinkering, but everything works now. Pretty happy none of the repairs cost me any money. I also spent almost 2 hours cleaning the interior... The PO was a family with kids, dude was super meticulous about maintenance, but wife wasn't about interior cleanliness...

Car has 220k miles, new frame, new steering rack, new brake and fuel lines, looks like a new gas tank as well. Good tires, working front/rear AC and heat, and now that I've fixed those problems nothing seems wrong with it.
It starts right up, perfectly smooth, really quiet engine. It actually weirds me out I'm so used to subarus and old diesels. A quiet engine just doesn't seem right...







More tinkering today, the light bar off my last subaru needs to go on. It's kinda bent and dinged up and pretty scorched from the car catching on fire in the crash, but it still works. I also hate running boards, so those are probably going.

Ether Frenzy posted:

Coincidentally enough, I was looking around on TV last night and scrolled into the original Fast & the Furious movie on one of the many Showtimes and seconds later - boom: Brian and Dom at Neptune's. Always get the steamed shrimp, never buy fries (they're a waste of shrimp room), and dip the shrimp in tapatio. Like shown here:

chrisgt posted:

I think it's a 2UZ, actually. I like a quiet daily driver. Loud cars are fun to be obnoxious with, but I don't want to get a headache on a roadtrip or something from noise.
The thing is amazing on the highway, set cruise at 90 and it's quiet and smooth. Spent an hour yesterday not even knowing I was doing 90.

THE BLACK NINJA posted:

Why you would do this is beyond me.

Unless it's Kimbo's old Ferrari or something cool like that, there is no need for the disturbance of loud exhausts.

Especially on a chevy avalanche

Tremek posted:

$26:


... but the catch is it was an Amazon Warehouse order, which may have been a return (tough to say - nothing inside the packaging was open?) - and is probably difficult to repeat. Was at the right place at the right time.

cursedshitbox posted:

You asked me on IRC last night for a list of how to shotgun the issues. Here you are.
If it ran leaded fuel it likely doesn't have hardened valve seats. Pull the casting numbers off the head and verify this. If so cam/head time.

It's a 454, it'll have a TH400, not a 350. Keep the fluid clean and it'll never let you down.

angryrobots posted:

8.1l engines can be found for peanuts, but modifying them is expensive. Good truck motor as-is, though.

Larrymer posted:

You forget he has a CTS-V, he's used to gallons per mile instead of MPG.