Topic: What did you do to your non-motorcycle vehicle today?

[Terry in Australia]

dont you ever dare select drag mode Terry!the last thing the world needs to see is you in womens undies!

I can assure you that the big T in high heeled moccasins is more than most of you can handle

Ha ha, thanks guys, I didn't think of that! I am looking forward to installing this thing though, if the Exploder's transmission has gone to God (I'll know tomorrow once I do the transmission flush) it'll be towed away, never to be seen again. The plan then, will be to use the Terror for my daily driver, give the wife my 2009 Mitsubishi Outlander and get rid of one, or both of the Hyundais. I've never owned a ute, so I might fill the exploder void with an old ute for picking up bikes and parts.    

[bear]

I can assure you that the big T in high heeled moccasins is more than most of you can handle

Handle? I wouldn't go near that with a barge pole.

[Don R]

 https://photos.app.goo.gl/1RTKgbe3cNCgTirp8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mQwoyDeMvSZPGmb36

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xruWUGdGJKYmvwur5

 I cut in the passenger side frame connector, I made it to taper from the front subframe to the new rear subframe. It eventually gets welded into the new rear floor and will get a couple gussets and maybe some fishplates on the splice.

[Don R]

BeSeeingYou, my brother had a sweet 49 coupe with a 53 motor. It had a 2 carb intake, 4" stroke mercury crank, an alternator, offy heads, harmon collins magneto and tube headers. It was really solid but not enough to withstand the tree that fell on it.  We also built a 50 stock car, the flathead was at a disadvantage to the 302 GMC 6 bangers but we usually beat the hudson hornet that was still running.
 A little marvel mystery oil would keep the lifters from sticking, today's oil probably keeps that from happening. There were actually injector bottles to feed a small amount into the motor.

[Terry in Australia]

I can assure you that the big T in high heeled moccasins is more than most of you can handle

Handle? I wouldn't go near that with a barge pole.

Ha ha, only because you can't outrun me on your mobility scooter Brian!

[70CB750]

Got my '72 CB750 registered today after a total rebuild!

Looking good!   Arrrr!

[MattyBoz]

I wish I had a cool non-moto car. But I did replace my radiator recently and damaged my AC system in the process . Wishing I could still be driving around town with an antifreeze leak so I could have my AC back!

[Stev-o]

Took the 1960 Austin-Healey for a spin! 
My good friend bought it for his collection, I had it delivered to my house for "testing"!   The car was completely restored by a doctor in OK over an eight year period.
Car runs great, has an inline 6, dual SU carbs and a four speed with overdrive. 
However clutch slips a little, I know next to nothin' about British autos, took awhile to get the bonnet open! 
A buddy has offered to help on Tues.

[BeSeeingYou]

Learning the quirks of the Ford Flathead V8 and "three on the tree" after inheriting my Dad's 1951 Ford Custom Tudor this summer.  My Dad bought this car in 1955 and put it in long term storage in 1960 after starting a family.  I remember it mostly being under wraps in the storage shed coming out for short runs now and again.  He did not let any of the kids get their hands on it for our first car.  In the 1980's it came out for good after all the kids were gone.  New interior, new paint, new chrome, and an engine rebuild all took place over a 10 year period. It has lots of the period accessories like the windshield visor, the spotlights, fender skirts, continental wheel kit, side pipes, lots of little chrome touches.  The engine is all stock and my plans are a 12 volt conversion and some bolt on performance upgrades.  A dual Holley 94  intake, headers, and a modern distributor are about the limit  the stock flattie can take without some internal upgrades.  I have no intention of opening up the engine as it runs fine since the rebuild years ago.  My 63 Ford  Galaxie is up on blocks going through a complete brake rebuild and upgrade including all new lines so like old bikes maybe it's good to have two old cars so there is the chance to have a least one of them roadworthy.

Remember riding in my Dad's 49 Ford as a small kid. Dark blue with the sunvisor.  I was standing on the floor behind the back seat and he kept telling me to sit down.  Of course I didn't.  A car pulled out in front of us, he hit the brakes and I hit the back of the passenger seat, which folded down and I ended up finding out what a steel dashboard tasted like.

I am looking into putting seatbelts (lapbelts) into the 51 and also my 63 Galaxie.  I just feel a bit unsafe at highways speeds in these old tubs. 

[BeSeeingYou]

BeSeeingYou, my brother had a sweet 49 coupe with a 53 motor. It had a 2 carb intake, 4" stroke mercury crank, an alternator, offy heads, harmon collins magneto and tube headers. It was really solid but not enough to withstand the tree that fell on it.  We also built a 50 stock car, the flathead was at a disadvantage to the 302 GMC 6 bangers but we usually beat the hudson hornet that was still running.
 A little marvel mystery oil would keep the lifters from sticking, today's oil probably keeps that from happening. There were actually injector bottles to feed a small amount into the motor.

I had not realized that the flatheads had become popular again over the last 20 years.  This spring taking the car out of storage the fuel pump was bad.  We had a rebuild kit but found out the pump was a Chinese copy (probably installed sometime in the last 10 years or so).  The inlet and outlet valves are not replaceable on the Chinese pump so a total rebuild is not possible but the pumps are cheap about the cost of the rebuild kit.  Problem was none of the classic car sources  had any pumps anywhere in the US....victims of the trade war.  At first I was surprised as how much demand could there be for an old flathead fuel pump.  The demand is quite high I was told.   Anyway, I found the old Ford pump in box in my dad's garage so we used the rebuild kit on that replacing all the rubber parts that were not replaceable on the Chinese pump.

That Merc crank is a direct fit replacement that bumps up the displacement from 239 to 255 I believe.

[BeSeeingYou]

The drivers door latching was a bit sketchy but my dad just lived with it last year but this summer without him around I did not know about the problem and it popped open when one of my brothers was driving the car.  It broke the small bolt on the check strap so the hinges took the full brunt of the door swinging out bending the lower one enough to make the door sag and not close at all.  There are no adjustments on the hinges.  I have an "old school " service manual and it describes this very situation "as flattening the hinge" and it pulls the lower portion of the door forward causing the sag.  The manual is full of tips using big rubber mallets, crowbars, shims, etc to knock everything back into place...not alot of finesse needed.    Anyway the cure was to "open up the hinge" by putting a little block of wood starting at about 1/4 inch thick in the bottom hinge and forcing, but not too much,  the door partially closed  towards the pillar.  I did this three times each time increasing the thickness of the shim.  The door sag disappeared and after some tweaking and filling on the striker the door latches properly now.  A lot more fun that using a computer to fix your car. 

[ofreen]

I am looking into putting seatbelts (lapbelts) into the 51 and also my 63 Galaxie.  I just feel a bit unsafe at highways speeds in these old tubs. 

I have both a '42 GPW and MB, '73 CJ5, '65 F250, '68 Nova, and someday will have a '51 Merc on the road.  The steering columns on all of them are basically spears aimed at your chest.

[scottly]

Took the 1960 Austin-Healey for a spin! 
My good friend bought it for his collection, I had it delivered to my house for "testing"!   The car was completely restored by a doctor in OK over an eight year period.
Car runs great, has an inline 6, dual SU carbs and a four speed with overdrive. 
However clutch slips a little, I know next to nothin' about British autos, took awhile to get the bonnet open! 
A buddy has offered to help on Tues.

I knew a guy back in the day who had an AH 3000, and he told me the six weighed as much or more than my big-block Mopar engine?!! Lots of Healey's and Jags got small block Chevy motors swapped in; more power and less weight.

[scottly]

I have both a '42 GPW and MB, '73 CJ5, '65 F250, '68 Nova, and someday will have a '51 Merc on the road.  The steering columns on all of them are basically spears aimed at your chest.

Pretty much the same with a VW bus, although a bus once rolled off the cliff overlooking Pirate's Cove, near Avila Beach, CA, which was a nudie beach at the time (someone was too distracted to set the parking brake??). It landed straight on it's nose, and there was very little movement of the front substructure, probably due to landing in the sand, which spread the force out evenly? The column and steering box were salvaged, hauled up the side of the cliff, and are in my bus to this day.    

[BeSeeingYou]

Took the 1960 Austin-Healey for a spin! 
My good friend bought it for his collection, I had it delivered to my house for "testing"!   The car was completely restored by a doctor in OK over an eight year period.
Car runs great, has an inline 6, dual SU carbs and a four speed with overdrive. 
However clutch slips a little, I know next to nothin' about British autos, took awhile to get the bonnet open! 
A buddy has offered to help on Tues.

I knew a guy back in the day who had an AH 3000, and he told me the six weighed as much or more than my big-block Mopar engine?!! Lots of Healey's and Jags got small block Chevy motors swapped in; more power and less weight.

The Jag guys used to call that "neutering your cat".    I know it was popular at one time but now days it would kill the value on an E Type.

[scottly]

Yeah, no doubt it would kill the value today, but it made for a superior automobile .

[dave500]

english cars always had feeble too small clutches?

[Terry in Australia]

English cars are great for old people who don't flog them mercilessly. My Dad was gonna buy a Toyota Corona in 1977, took it for a test drive and loved it so signed a contract to buy a new one. Being a WW2 vet, he couldn't sleep that night, he'd lost too many mates to the japs, so he rang the dealer (also a mate) and told him he couldn't go thru with it. The dealer told him he'd just traded a 2 year old Triumph TC2500, and did Dad want that?

Dad bought it sight unseen, and drove it for 40 years, without one breakdown. I hated it, so when Dad died I gave it away to a friend at work who took it home, polished it, and who's wife still drives it daily. English cars are just rusty pieces of sh1t, but I do have a soft spot for MG's and Mini's, that can be easily re-powered to make them competitive with modern cars. My mate in Oregon offered me a Healey like Steve's mate's car, his next door neighbour's kid pulled the engine out and lost interest, so it's still sitting in the backyard with the engine in the trunk..... best place for it.

[spotty]

two big problems with pom cars in australia was under resourced cooling systems (designed for uk temps, not the ludicrous stuff we get here, even in the southern states), and suspension designed for british roads, not the goat tracks that pass(ed) for roads here, especially out in the country ( that hasn't changed by the way)

also didn't help that your average australian is somewhat vehemently prejudiced against anything english, despite most of them being descended from the aforementioned inselaffen ( german for island monkeys which is how they refer to the english, a term of which i'm extremely proud)

[RAFster122s]

I have both a '42 GPW and MB, '73 CJ5, '65 F250, '68 Nova, and someday will have a '51 Merc on the road.  The steering columns on all of them are basically spears aimed at your chest.

Pretty much the same with a VW bus, although a bus once rolled off the cliff overlooking Pirate's Cove, near Avila Beach, CA, which was a nudie beach at the time (someone was too distracted to set the parking brake??). It landed straight on it's nose, and there was very little movement of the front substructure, probably due to landing in the sand, which spread the force out evenly? The column and steering box were salvaged, hauled up the side of the cliff, and are in my bus to this day.    

That's interesting you would mention Avila Beach. One of my best friends has a time share there and just returned from his week there. Great place to vacation with the microclimate of the inversion layer providing the ability to grow such a diverse selection of crops and fruit trees in the area and Pismo Beach nearby as well as SLO and Morro Bay and lots of great hiking and good surfing and riding roads. Great place to vacation in my book.
David

[Stev-o]

English cars are great for old people who don't flog them mercilessly.

Agree with you there Terry, especially this Austin Healey.   But it's a 1960 model, not many cars from that year are high performance compared to even say, a 1970 model.  With this car though, it is relatively small and even at 50mph, it's a fun car to drive, the handling is excellent on the twisty, hilly roads around here, so your not going to drive 100mph anyway [if it could even do it?]

I've driven his 1960 Corvette, has a 283 V8 with dual quad carbs, that car is not lightening quick by any means either!  And the Healy may handle better, the C1 with solid real axle arent know to be good handling road cars. But are beautiful to look at!

[BeSeeingYou]

English cars are great for old people who don't flog them mercilessly.

Agree with you there Terry, especially this Austin Healey.   But it's a 1960 model, not many cars from that year are high performance compared to even say, a 1970 model.  With this car though, it is relatively small and even at 50mph, it's a fun car to drive, the handling is excellent on the twisty, hilly roads around here, so your not going to drive 100mph anyway [if it could even do it?]

I've driven his 1960 Corvette, has a 283 V8 with dual quad carbs, that car is not lightening quick by any means either!  And the Healy may handle better, the C1 with solid real axle arent know to be good handling road cars. But are beautiful to look at!

My neighbor inherited 6 Corvettes along with several other cars from his long time friend from high school.  Two were project cars a 58 and a 60. and were sold right away.  The other 4 were all nice condition driver quality and he brought them home one at a time for a short time before selling those also.  One was a 54 which while nice looking was not really a great riding car.  Maybe the build quality was not great on the early ones as I work with an old gent who had a 54 back in the 60's and said it was a horrible car as a daily driver.  The other was a 60 and the last two were a 63 split window and a 63 roadster.  He kept the split window for about a year but sold that too.  That was a sweet car. The other cars were a 56 Chevy Nomad which he gave to his son.  A 40 Ford pickup which he kept, a 72 Jag XJ6 coupe which had been neutered  and he kept that.  And a 55 Chevy hardtop which he kept. The Jag XJ Series 1 coupe is pretty rare and I looked at one years ago to buy but it had the V12  and that complex monster scared me off.  He also has a Triumph TR6 which he has owned for many years.  When I first meet him 20 years ago he owned an V12 E type but sold that about 10 years ago.

Another neighbor, an 80 year old lady, has a 65 Corvette roadster in her garage.  It belongs to here son who does not seem to have the ambition or money to do anything with it but is not interested in selling it.  I am not a Corvette guy so have not pursued it but it is interesting in what can be lurking in the garages around your neighborhood.

[Don R]

The drivers door latching was a bit sketchy but my dad just lived with it last year but this summer without him around I did not know about the problem and it popped open when one of my brothers was driving the car.  It broke the small bolt on the check strap so the hinges took the full brunt of the door swinging out bending the lower one enough to make the door sag and not close at all.  There are no adjustments on the hinges.  I have an "old school " service manual and it describes this very situation "as flattening the hinge" and it pulls the lower portion of the door forward causing the sag.  The manual is full of tips using big rubber mallets, crowbars, shims, etc to knock everything back into place...not alot of finesse needed.    Anyway the cure was to "open up the hinge" by putting a little block of wood starting at about 1/4 inch thick in the bottom hinge and forcing, but not too much,  the door partially closed  towards the pillar.  I did this three times each time increasing the thickness of the shim.  The door sag disappeared and after some tweaking and filling on the striker the door latches properly now.  A lot more fun that using a computer to fix your car. 

 Wow that story caused a flashback, I had the same thing happen to my 40 chevy coupe's passenger door. I got lucky and a guy 45 miles from here had a stock of old chevy parts. He sold me new latches for both doors. I sold him my mor drop front beam axle after I put in a mustang 2 front end. I have some regrets over that.

[BeSeeingYou]

The drivers door latching was a bit sketchy but my dad just lived with it last year but this summer without him around I did not know about the problem and it popped open when one of my brothers was driving the car.  It broke the small bolt on the check strap so the hinges took the full brunt of the door swinging out bending the lower one enough to make the door sag and not close at all.  There are no adjustments on the hinges.  I have an "old school " service manual and it describes this very situation "as flattening the hinge" and it pulls the lower portion of the door forward causing the sag.  The manual is full of tips using big rubber mallets, crowbars, shims, etc to knock everything back into place...not alot of finesse needed.    Anyway the cure was to "open up the hinge" by putting a little block of wood starting at about 1/4 inch thick in the bottom hinge and forcing, but not too much,  the door partially closed  towards the pillar.  I did this three times each time increasing the thickness of the shim.  The door sag disappeared and after some tweaking and filling on the striker the door latches properly now.  A lot more fun that using a computer to fix your car. 

 Wow that story caused a flashback, I had the same thing happen to my 40 chevy coupe's passenger door. I got lucky and a guy 45 miles from here had a stock of old chevy parts. He sold me new latches for both doors. I sold him my mor drop front beam axle after I put in a mustang 2 front end. I have some regrets over that.

When the shoebox style came out in 49 they still had old fashion ineffective door latches but by 51 they had the more modern type.  The shoebox Fords where an important design series as they were the transition between the old fashion style of the 30's and 40's to more modern cars of the 50's and 60's.

[BeSeeingYou]

The car is at my mom's house for some time as I don't yet have room for it.  The brakes are squishy so this weekend I may try bleeding them as the whole family is getting together...we will see if I have time.  With these transitional models you can find a combination of old and new.  The brake pedal is one of those thru the floor mounts so the master cylinder is located on the inside of the frame rail under your feet.