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

[Terry in Australia]

Well done Dave. I hired the first of the “New” Monaro’s for my youngest boys school formal, there may have been 10 in Melbourne when I hired it from a guy who specialised in hot Holdens (HSV Commodes etc) and even though the function at the Melbourne Aquarium was on the Friday night I had to hire it for the full weekend.

It was a nice car with the LS engine and 6 speed manual gearbox etc, but I’d paid a $5K deposit and shat myself driving in and out of the city on a Friday night as every young hoon wanted to have a drag with me. A young bloke in an old V8 Commode came along beside me in Flinders Street and did a massive burnout and almost lost it as the back of his car slowly edged towards the side of the monaro, but thankfully he didn’t touch me.

The wife was so worried that the cats might climb up on it and scratch the paint when it was parked in the carport that she didn’t let them out until I returned it and got my deposit back.

Today I drove my trusty old $500 Subaru to Puckapunyal and then into the city (145 miles) for a work job. I decided to check the oil when I filled up. Put 1 litre of oil in but nothing showed up on the dipstick so put another litre in, and the oil level just came up to the bottom of the dipstick. I always give it an oil change once a year or every 6000 miles (whichever comes last) so was pretty impressed that it was running so well with maybe 1.5 litres of oil in the engine?

Trouble is, it’s just clicked over 6000 miles so is due for another oil and filter change, but I might have to stretch it out to 9000 miles now that I’ve replaced 50% of its oil capacity today? I suppose the filter should be fine for another 6 months or so…..

[dave500]

dont change the oil Terry,just add as you go,its a self changing system then?

[RAFster122s]

Good on you Dave! Glad you came to the rescue and made their special night special. That pic you should print and post it in your garage to remind you of it from time to time...
Looks like a pretty young girl.
David

[RAFster122s]

Well, the filter would need changed out occasionally Dave, so let's not let him turn it into tar coating the filter media...

Amazing how quick a well maintained car can go down, seen it happen with nicely maintained cars that get a new owner that doesn't maintain them or change oil and filter anything close to a reasonable number and if they put many miles on it,v4 years and it is a car giving them trouble, if not sooner. They bad mouth the car and don't connect it is their care (or lack there of) that put it there.

Subaru makes good cars, by and large, a few models weren't as good as the general lot.

[70CB750]

my mate next door rang me yesterday arvo im at work,its his daughters end of school year 12 formal and the car they had booked(camaro)had cancelled(#$%*s),its a big thing here for school leavers,they gotta make an entrance with photos in a special sort of car and out do each other to a degree etc,he asked can you do it with your premier?i said yeah cool,so i gotta get home and rush wash my old holden after work,clean the inside especially the back seat,i cant remember when anyone sat on them let alone open the rear doors?plus reinstall the trim on one door i had left off until i get new window winder mechanism delivered,had to shower and dress neat,we got it done!mate gave me more than a  few bucks and im happy it all worked out nice,shes a good kid and her escort was a very polite guy,i wasnt out of place in the old holden,was a 40 minute idle queue,was a 68 holden monaro few cars in front,early mustangs and chevys etc,an old very very clean beetle with surfboards on top,too many cars to list,just a light mist of rain hid all my old cars rusty bits!the kids had a great time and all i had to do was drive em there!

Sounds like a nice thing to be part of, Dave.

[Stev-o]

Dave to the rescue!  They do a similar thing here in the states for the formal "prom" dance, and drive all sorts of vehicles including classics, modern sports cars and even limos.

[Stev-o]

Was having the annual inspection done on my vehicle a few weeks ago and inquired about a guy that had worked there, hadnt seen him in awhile. Jack had lived near me and once helped me when I was riding one of my bikes and blew a fuse in front of his house, he had a spare and got me going.  He drove an old truck, a '47 Ford that I admired and actually asked if he wanted to sell, but he didnt.
His co-worker informed me that Jack passed away last Feb.  Was sad to hear this and was told his landlord [and best friend] inherited all of his personal items including the truck and a '80 CX500.  Got in touch with the guy and after a little negotiation, a small stack of bills bought the truck!





It has a modern motor and runs good but currently no brakes. The seller said it just needs fluid [and bleeding] but I just hauled it to my buddies shop for further evaluation.
It is very rough and wont be getting a full restoration, I think the patina is cool! 
Anyone remember the TV show "Sanford & Son"?!!

[RAFster122s]

Neat old truck Steve.

[grcamna2]

Neat old truck Steve.

Yes,Nice 

[dave500]

great truck,the brakes will be an easy fix or replace,dont paint it its perfect!

[Terry in Australia]

Was having the annual inspection done on my vehicle a few weeks ago and inquired about a guy that had worked there, hadnt seen him in awhile. Jack had lived near me and once helped me when I was riding one of my bikes and blew a fuse in front of his house, he had a spare and got me going.  He drove an old truck, a '47 Ford that I admired and actually asked if he wanted to sell, but he didnt.
His co-worker informed me that Jack passed away last Feb.  Was sad to hear this and was told his landlord [and best friend] inherited all of his personal items including the truck and a '80 CX500.  Got in touch with the guy and after a little negotiation, a small stack of bills bought the truck!





It has a modern motor and runs good but currently no brakes. The seller said it just needs fluid [and bleeding] but I just hauled it to my buddies shop for further evaluation.
It is very rough and wont be getting a full restoration, I think the patina is cool! 
Anyone remember the TV show "Sanford & Son"?!!

That’s a beautiful truck Steve, I nearly bought one that had been souped up with a 351 Cleveland, C6 box and 9 inch diff back in the 80’s, it wasn’t a show car but was nice and clean. The only thing that put me off was the steering and brakes, which as you’d expect, were terrible, even by 1980’s standards. A disc brake conversion, better steering and suspension would turn it into a truck that you could drive every day.

Yep, leave the patina, it looks great. I saw recently that the guy who played Sandford snr had died, it was a good show.

[Terry in Australia]

Well, the filter would need changed out occasionally Dave, so let's not let him turn it into tar coating the filter media...

Amazing how quick a well maintained car can go down, seen it happen with nicely maintained cars that get a new owner that doesn't maintain them or change oil and filter anything close to a reasonable number and if they put many miles on it,v4 years and it is a car giving them trouble, if not sooner. They bad mouth the car and don't connect it is their care (or lack there of) that put it there.

Subaru makes good cars, by and large, a few models weren't as good as the general lot.

I’ve got 3 Subaru’s David, the FWD Liberty (Legacy in the US) that I bought for $400 because the owners had a “Mobile Mechanic” change the timing belts and he fcuked it up and just left them with a non runner. That model engine is “Non interference” so I asked the seller if I could fix it in his driveway, and redid the timing and drove it home.

My sister needed a car so I gave it to her in 2014 and it’s still going well. I then bought another Liberty that someone had converted with a GT twin turbo engine and running gear, but the young bloke who bought it blew a head gasket, so I bought it for $500 and had the engine rebuilt. My youngest son fell in love with it so bought it off me, but a young Asian guy, driving a Merc clobbered him and wrote it off. I’d insured it for $5K, so my boy used the insurance money and a bit more to buy the 2002 B4 GT twin turbo beast, and eventually traded it to me as part payment for my 2015 Ford Territory V6 diesel that I leased, then bought from new.

The old daily driver 1995 Liberty AWD that I use as my daily driver belonged to a little old lady who bought it new, and when her family moved her into a nursing home, she gave it to one of her carers who then advertised it on FB. It’s only needed a windscreen, exhaust, brakes and tyres since I’ve owned it. Great little car, as bland as a Toyota Camry to look at, but handles better than a lot of modern cars. The oil leak is coming from the camshaft end seals, but there’s a bit of work involved in changing them, so I’ll keep putting oil in it, (and a jug of Moreys oil thickener) and will change the oil and filter once the weather warms up again.

[BenelliSEI]

Was having the annual inspection done on my vehicle a few weeks ago and inquired about a guy that had worked there, hadnt seen him in awhile. Jack had lived near me and once helped me when I was riding one of my bikes and blew a fuse in front of his house, he had a spare and got me going.  He drove an old truck, a '47 Ford that I admired and actually asked if he wanted to sell, but he didnt.
His co-worker informed me that Jack passed away last Feb.  Was sad to hear this and was told his landlord [and best friend] inherited all of his personal items including the truck and a '80 CX500.  Got in touch with the guy and after a little negotiation, a small stack of bills bought the truck!





It has a modern motor and runs good but currently no brakes. The seller said it just needs fluid [and bleeding] but I just hauled it to my buddies shop for further evaluation.
It is very rough and wont be getting a full restoration, I think the patina is cool! 
Anyone remember the TV show "Sanford & Son"?!!

Spectacular, I like it!

[BenelliSEI]

Blew it up! Saturday the Lexus ran well, but one of my team mates stuffed it….. we were leading our class, but a 12 minute pit stop to clear the front fender and bumper away from the LF tire put us off the podium. I ran the last two hours and had the satisfaction of setting the fastest lap. Saturday evening we cleaned it up and it ran well for about three hours, until it stopped. I think the camshaft belt tensioner stopped “tensioning” and the belt skipped a tooth…… It’s a “zero clearance” set up, so 12 or 24 bent valves for sure. Back to the shop tonight. Ouch

[RAFster122s]

Sounds like it is gonna be an expensive stop to your racing program…

[BenelliSEI]

We have a local shop that imports low mileage, Japanese motors. That or a cheap used car. We just bolt on the race goodies and use them until they fail……

[jgger]

I think I fixed the reverse camera on my wife's car. Fingers crossed that it was only a dirty ground connection. We will see........or not!

[Tintop]

Blew it up! Saturday the Lexus ran well, but one of my team mates stuffed it….. we were leading our class, but a 12 minute pit stop to clear the front fender and bumper away from the LF tire put us off the podium. I ran the last two hours and had the satisfaction of setting the fastest lap. Saturday evening we cleaned it up and it ran well for about three hours, until it stopped. I think the camshaft belt tensioner stopped “tensioning” and the belt skipped a tooth…… It’s a “zero clearance” set up, so 12 or 24 bent valves for sure. Back to the shop tonight. Ouch

What lap times does the Lexus turn?

[BenelliSEI]

Blew it up! Saturday the Lexus ran well, but one of my team mates stuffed it….. we were leading our class, but a 12 minute pit stop to clear the front fender and bumper away from the LF tire put us off the podium. I ran the last two hours and had the satisfaction of setting the fastest lap. Saturday evening we cleaned it up and it ran well for about three hours, until it stopped. I think the camshaft belt tensioner stopped “tensioning” and the belt skipped a tooth…… It’s a “zero clearance” set up, so 12 or 24 bent valves for sure. Back to the shop tonight. Ouch

What lap times does the Lexus turn?

On street tires (Firestone Indy 500), Calabogie is low 2:35. Mosport at 1:40.

[Tintop]

Blew it up! Saturday the Lexus ran well, but one of my team mates stuffed it….. we were leading our class, but a 12 minute pit stop to clear the front fender and bumper away from the LF tire put us off the podium. I ran the last two hours and had the satisfaction of setting the fastest lap. Saturday evening we cleaned it up and it ran well for about three hours, until it stopped. I think the camshaft belt tensioner stopped “tensioning” and the belt skipped a tooth…… It’s a “zero clearance” set up, so 12 or 24 bent valves for sure. Back to the shop tonight. Ouch

What lap times does the Lexus turn?

On street tires (Firestone Indy 500), Calabogie is low 2:35. Mosport at 1:40.

Interesting. My best time with my Mk2 Lotus Cortina was a 1:42 on Dunlop treads @ Mosport.  And we all still refer to it as Mosport, much as CTC would like us not to.  I guess now a days that's how you tell the newbys from the old timers. Lol

[Terry in Australia]

That’s a shame about the engine John, my greatest fear with my twin turbo Subaru is blowing it up as they aren’t cheap and I don’t want to ever have to do a rebuild on it. Obviously I’m not a racer but blowing up Subaru’s isn’t uncommon, especially the turbo variants. What’s a good low mileage Lexus engine worth?

[BenelliSEI]

That’s a shame about the engine John, my greatest fear with my twin turbo Subaru is blowing it up as they aren’t cheap and I don’t want to ever have to do a rebuild on it. Obviously I’m not a racer but blowing up Subaru’s isn’t uncommon, especially the turbo variants. What’s a good low mileage Lexus engine worth?

We have a company in Toronto that imports low mileage Japanese motors and transmission (usually the entire front end of the car!). $2000, last time…….

[BenelliSEI]

Blew it up! Saturday the Lexus ran well, but one of my team mates stuffed it….. we were leading our class, but a 12 minute pit stop to clear the front fender and bumper away from the LF tire put us off the podium. I ran the last two hours and had the satisfaction of setting the fastest lap. Saturday evening we cleaned it up and it ran well for about three hours, until it stopped. I think the camshaft belt tensioner stopped “tensioning” and the belt skipped a tooth…… It’s a “zero clearance” set up, so 12 or 24 bent valves for sure. Back to the shop tonight. Ouch

What lap times does the Lexus turn?

On street tires (Firestone Indy 500), Calabogie is low 2:35. Mosport at 1:40.

Interesting. My best time with my Mk2 Lotus Cortina was a 1:42 on Dunlop treads @ Mosport.  And we all still refer to it as Mosport, much as CTC would like us not to.  I guess now a days that's how you tell the newbys from the old timers. Lol

The Lexus is about +200 bhp and a bit porkier than the Lotus, so not surprising! J.

[BenelliSEI]

Sold the “rent a racer”. Guy in Quebec runs a small race school and collects ex-Echo Cup cars. Offered me more than I have in it so far and we have no plans for it. Sweet!

More space in the shed….. Looking at an old Suzuki RM80 (?) for my g’son.

[dave500]

i got those aftermarket window winder mechanisms delivered,i fitted the passenger one already,spent time getting all the clumbsy adjustments done so it all works neat n square and spurted graphite powder in the glass channels,for cheap these are a good looking unit!i wound one up n down with no load and was slick,also feeling and looking at its construction in detail it has no burrs etc,genuine used units are anywhere from the same price to more as these anyway?im happy with em.