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The Automotive Thread

Discussion in 'Permanent Threads' started by Backroom, Oct 19, 2009.

  1. dixiebandit69

    dixiebandit69
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    I finished the first of my new(ish) sun visors today: I've been driving my Firebird with NO sun visors for about, uh, seven years. The originals were too small, and they wouldn't stay up; every time you would hit a bump in the road, they would drop a little more, until they were in my line of vision. Because the roof-line of this car is so low, and I'm relatively tall (6'0"), I didn't really need them most of the time, anyway.
    But I decided to put them back, but I wanted something better than the originals. I reviewed a bunch of GM cars to find a design/bolt pattern that would work with my car, and I eventually settled on some units from a mid-'90s Suburban: The screw pattern matched, they had a secondary mount (better to keep them in place with), and they had mirrors.
    I cut off the original grey fabric, and glued on some black vinyl with a diamond-tread print (for those of you keeping track at home, black diamond-tread is the motif of my car's interior).
    It was a pain in the ass making it fit around the various curves, but the finished product was worth it. I'll post a picture of them installed in the car when I finish the next one. Sun Visors 1.jpg Sun Visors 2.jpg
     
  2. toytoy88

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  3. rei

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    Occasionally after shifting to neutral my revs will briefly drop substantially (next time it happens I'll look at the tach for a number) - generally sounds/feels like the engine is just-barely avoiding a stall, it's usually just for a quick second and then everything is normal again.

    Any idea what might cause this / whether it's something that needs to absolutely be investigated? 2015 Focus ST
     
  4. Nettdata

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    It was a known issue with the Fords... and they issued a wiring harness recall for the 2014's. (Friend of mine had it happen, and the recall fixed it for him).

    You can go here and see if your car has a recall: https://owner.ford.com/tools/accoun...ame=Owner/Page/RecallsPage&gnav=footer-owners

    Otherwise, this describes the issue: http://jalopnik.com/ford-focus-st-forum-complaints-result-in-wiring-harnes-1622529308

    Might not be your issue, but it sounds very similar.
     
  5. Fiveslide

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    Perhaps someone here, Dixie or another, has run into this little problem with an older 350 engine.

    1988 350 TBI, manual transmission, rebuilt about 45,000 miles ago.

    Only when I'm towing something heavy, and only then when I'm going up a hill with that weight, I get a single, entire-engine misfire . You get what I'm saying? The engine misses real hard, and kinda has a muffled backfire sound. I don't notice any other symptoms and it seems to run fine when not towing.

    It only seems to happen at a specific RPM, I don't have at tach but it is always near certain road speeds in each gear. It's happens in the lower RPMs right when I'm about to downshift to finish pulling up the hill. If I shift earlier and keep the rpms higher, it usually won't do it.

    I already did fuel pump, fuel filter and cleaned the tank. Tune up about 8,000 miles ago. Ran and towed heavy things fine for months after that tune up. The fuel pump and filter were one mechanic's attempt to fix it and it is still doing it. I've talked to other mechanics and they're stumped as well.

    Since I can't recreate the problem without 5,000+ pounds behind it, it's aggravating the fuck out of me.

    If my description is not clear, let me know.
     
  6. Puffman

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  7. Nettdata

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  8. toytoy88

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    Thanks to the Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015, they may start making Cord's again. Not that I would be able to afford one, but still cool.

    http://www.cordrevival.com/

    cord.jpg
     
  9. Nettdata

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    As you may know, I'm doing some work on my 24' enclosed trailer in preparation of my move across the country.

    The floor is almost a perfect 8x24', so it's 3/4" plywood sheets layed out and screwed down. The problem is that 3 of the sheets have rotted out, and all of the screws have rusted out as well. So I spent the day pulling up 3 4x8' sheets of rotting flooring, that was both very rotten and very strong at the same time, surprisingly enough.

    I tried to drill out the screws, pry it up with what tools I had, etc, and it wasn't going anywhere. I was tempted to just torch it or plasma cut the wood out... but I didn't.

    What I did do is go to Home Depot and buy one of these:

    [​IMG]

    It is a fucking beast. It helped, a lot... still couldn't do the job all by itself (I blame operator error), but between using the hydraulic jack under the floor pushing up and then prying with that thing, I finally got it all off.

    Then I spent some time cleaning out all the screws and shit, and 6 hours later I have a clean interior of a trailer ready for paint (once it dries out). That should happen on Monday... I have 5 gallons of John Deere Green tractor/implement paint that I'll be spraying once everything dries out. (I have a 1000 CFM blower in the thing pushing air out to help with that drying).

    But all in all I'm a mess... I don't think I'll be able to move tomorrow, and will probably spend most of the night in the hot tub trying not to die.

    I'll be glad when this shit is finally done and I can start loading my stuff into it.
     
  10. Nettdata

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    I also have to weld in a better winch plate to the trailer frame while the flooring is out... I tried to use the winch and it was just attached to some rotten wood with a metal plate... no bueno.

    IMG_3799.JPG
     
  11. Nettdata

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    Trailer floor is all cut and screwed into place, and the gaps all spray-foamed. On track for painting the interior tomorrow.

    IMG_3802.jpg

    Bought an infra-red patio heater that I'll mount to the wall after paint. I've temporarily hung it to help dry out the interior 100% (tough to do in 6°C and rainy weather), and it's doing way better than I thought it would.

    It'll be hooked up into a baseboard thermostat and run off shore and battery power while parked, and truck alternator power while driving. By my calculations it should be able to run off my deep cycle battery for 48 straight hours.

    IMG_3804.jpg
     
  12. toytoy88

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  13. Puffman

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    Not possible. The Highway Patrol was using the same standard as Marijuana with a street value of 5 million dollars, or High School Football teams height and weight of players. They are inflating the truth to make it seem more dangerous and justify their existence. I would bet the car never went over 140, 150 tops and that is more than too fast for American Interstates.

    Just my opinion.
     
  14. Nettdata

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    Agreed. In our purpose-built race car (Porsche 997 Cup), with killer aero and custom gearing, we could only max out at 194mph on the back straight at Daytona.

    No fucking way that a street-legal Mustang broke 200. If it did, I'd love to see a picture of it.
     
  15. toytoy88

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    They're having a yuck about the whole thing on an SVT forum.

    This is the car that allegedly did 200+ (The blue one), supposedly it has a shot of nitrous. 200 mph...Yeah, right.

    Screenshot_20161115-132940.jpg
     
  16. GTE

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    Obviously the blue Mustang isn't a Shelby GT500, but the 2013/2014 Shelby's would do 202 mph bone stock. Different blower pulley, some bolt ons and a tune and they're 800hp+ all day.

    LMR sells a kit for $1599 that will put a GT500 into the 700+ hp range at the tire.
     
  17. jdoogie

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    176 I can possibly believe; I had one of those exact year Mustang GT's (It was the first year they brought back the 5.0) and on more than one occasion was able to easily get it up to 150 on a long deserted stretch of highway. 208 though? No fucking way. Even the 850+HP Super Snake tops out at 202-206.
     
  18. Nettdata

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    What a long, long day.

    Started early this morning doing the final prep on the trailer for paint, and then started spraying. And spraying. And more spraying. I didn't go nuts on the prep because in the end, it's just going to be a coat of paint that will be covered with insulation and panelling... probably. Still, there are a bunch of old screws and bits and pieces that were just too much of a PITA to remove given my time frame, so they were just sprayed over.

    2 degrees over freezing and snowy/slush... just perfect conditions for painting.

    IMG_3818.jpg

    I'll tell you what... that pressurized paint can was a fucking godsend. Bought an empty gallon paint can, cut a hole into the lid for the siphon, poured the John Deere Green enamel paint and thinner into the can, mixed it up, and then put the whole thing into that pressurized vessel. Then hook that up to a standard HVLP gun with a paint hose, and pressurize both tank and gun to around 35 psi, some knob twiddling, and then you're off to the races. Nowhere near as messy or "spraying fucking everywhere" as I was fearing, and I went through just under 3 gallons of paint to paint the walls and ceiling of the trailer. I put it on in a single coat, really thick, because I don't have time to do a second coat. The ceiling was a bit tricky, and I ended up coming away with it with a bit of green spray all over my face, in my beard, and in my hair. Fun times!


    But, at least it's painted, the rust and mold is now covered and somewhat inhibited, and now I can get a bunch of other shit done for the move while it cures. I'm hoping it'll be done within a week when I'll start building out some of the interior stuff (electrics/battery/lights/heat/etc).

    IMG_3820.jpg

    But yeah... that's a fuckload of green right there. (The white thing on the left is a door that opens that has been masked off with some plastic and tape that I didn't want to paint, so it's staying white).
     
    #1918 Nettdata, Nov 20, 2016
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2016
  19. Revengeofthenerds

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    Out of curiosity, any particular reason you chose Deere Green?
     
  20. Nettdata

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    My dad.

    He grew up on a farm, and was a die-hard Deere fan. He used to use 2 milk crates zip-tied to each other as stools everywhere in his shop and in the garage, and they were all painted JD Green.

    Considering that the paint will be covered over eventually with insulation and panelling, and the green is the same price as any other colour, I figured, "why not?"

    Besides... I like green. It's not a Viper Green, but JD Green is close enough for me.