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

[Terry in Australia]

those first statesmans were a great car,ya had to have the 350 chev in em though,they could be ordered for some #$%*ing reason with the 202 six banger on real base models,ive seen a 202 equipt one a neighbour had one when i was a kid,since that ive only seen the 350 in them,the hj/x/z were 308s only as the 350 was dropped after hq,and the 253 wasnt offered in them,a lot wouldve got stripped out for the 350/t400 and that front end to put onto panel vans and utes?

Yeah probably Dave, all cars (and bikes) go through a period where they're not worth much, I'm lazily looking at V8 cars from the early 2000's at the moment, and there are plenty of bargains. In another 10 years time, there will be a lot less available, and prices will go up accordingly. If I just had the cars I owned in the 70's-90's, they'd be worth heaps now, but back then, you'd buy one, rip out all the bits you needed to do up your car or van, and send the remains to the wreckers.

[dave500]

we drove an undercoat grey hd premier to the wreckers once and got offered 30 bucks,the tank was still half full.

[RAFster122s]

Hope you drove it home Dave.

[Terry in Australia]

we drove an undercoat grey hd premier to the wreckers once and got offered 30 bucks,the tank was still half full.

I used to knock around with some guys who ran an "El Cheapo" car yard, supplying getaway cars to some of Victoria's more infamous crooks. They used to get some great cars though, I bought my wife's Datsun Bluebird wagon, my HG Monaro and my XY Falcon from them, I used to help them pick up and drop off cars, and they used to loan me cars just so I could drive them.

They traded a HD Prem on something, and offered it to me for 50 bucks. It had a bit of rust (nothing that a can of bog and a roll of flywire wouldn't fix, back in those days) but had lots of nice optional extra's like power brakes, floor shift auto, rear venetian blind and windscreen sun shade, red interior in mint condition, remote oil filter etc. It drove really nice, but back then it was just an old Holden and I wasn't that interested.

Another time they got an XB GT Falcon in, and loaned it to me for the weekend, it went like a rocket, but had a lot of rust again, and I didn't want to take it on as a project. I think they paid $1500 for it, and offered it to me for $1800? I wonder what it'd be worth now?

[spotty]

If my old XC is anything to go by, that rust was terminal and it passed from this world not long after
Mine had a big wide rusted out gap that went from the back bumper all the way under the car to the back corner of the front quarters, I have no idea how the floor didn't fall out
It was however a great dope running car, it had a Christian fish badge on the boot ( trunk ) and s " Welcome To Nhill " sticker on the back window ( Nhill is a very sedate country town where very little except God happens ), never got stopped by the cops no matter how much pot was in the boot or how fcuking stoned we were driving it round, perfect cover

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, how any cars from the 60's and 70's have survived always surprises me, early in our marriage I took the wife's Cortina to the wreckers and watched them chop the front off it to extract the engine, as most of the panels had a 6 inch wide band of rust along the bottom. Great little car though, with it's 1600cc cross flow 4 cylinder engine it'd still do 105 MPH, and handled quite well, but every time I slammed the door shut another piece of the sill panel would fall off.

[scottly]

A girl I knew back in the early '70s had a Ford Falcon that came from "back East", when rust was more of a problem than the Southwest. One day she accelerated from a stop, and the front seat mounts in the floor failed, allowing the seat to tip back. Luckily, she had a death-grip on the steering wheel, or she would have ended up staring at the headliner as she went through the intersection. She managed to get the car stopped safely, but it was declared FUBAR at the time, and never saw the road again..   

[scottly]

yeah what a unit,imagine one in the day brand new?

Starting in 1972, the US muscle cars were neutered by smog laws, and the horsepower of a '73 440 was less than 300. They were dark days for hot rodders, especially in California.

[RAFster122s]

I lived on Columbus Ohio for 19 years and one day driving on the freeway (outerbelt) I saw an old Chevy and noticed there was a car with seat reclining and there was a V shaped protrusion below the floor pan. It was the interior carpet and pad pushed below the rusted out floorpan. Amazed me what people will do...

[Terry in Australia]

I always liked that pic of the car with "Redneck Aircon", i.e., a generator and a house aircon unit bolted to the trunk lid. The guy who owned the car yard, Glenn, was a crook, he had a big sign out the front saying, "Cars bought for cash" so folks who were down on their luck would bring in their $5K cars, and he'd pick a few things wrong with them and offer them $2K. They'd storm off in a huff, then come back later in the day and take the pittance he offered.

I had to laugh one day, a guy brought in a pretty straight looking GTR Torana and Glenn (the owner) offered him $2500, which was cheap, even then. He took the cash and left. Glenn told Alan, the car cleaner/detailer to take it around the back and give it a good clean, Alan came back a few minutes later and said, "You better come take a look at the Torana", so we all went for a look, under the carpet was a thin sheet of plywood, and under the plywood was a very large rust hole.

We lifted the carpet on the other side, same story, the whole floor was rotten, along with the sills, boot (trunk) floor, etc. It was like it had been dipped in an acid bath. I can't remember whether Glenn got it fixed, or just sold it on for parts, but he wouldn't have made a profit on that one......

[Stev-o]

yeah what a unit,imagine one in the day brand new?

Starting in 1972, the US muscle cars were neutered by smog laws, and the horsepower of a '73 440 was less than 300. They were dark days for hot rodders, especially in California.

Hey Scott...although the auto makers were "de-tuning" the muscle car motors for fuel economy, there is more to the story.

Starting in '72, the published horsepower ratings were now in "net horsepower" and no longer in "gross horsepower". This article explains it pretty good...

https://www.chevyhardcore.com/news/horsepower-ratings-gross-versus-net/

There is a lot of discussion on this over in the Corvette forum, a lot of us guys dont have much interest in the Vettes manufactured after '72 for various reasons [including chrome bumpers were gone]

PS.  Not sure where you got the 440 info but in '73, there were two 440 motor options, one had 350hp and the other had 380.

In '74 they took a dive!

http://www.mymopar.com/enginespecs.htm

[scottly]

Stev-o, one of my sources is Peterson's Complete Book of Plymouth Dodge Chrysler, published in 1973. There are some errors in the chart you linked, including the 1972 data. The last year of both the 340 and 440 six-pack was 1971; the 440 was rated at 385 HP, and the 340 at 290 HP. The hottest single four barrel 440 that year had 370 HP, with a compression ratio of 9.5:1, while the "hottest" 440 in '72 was rated at 280, with a compression ratio of 8.2:1. The '73 had the same rating.
There was a lot done to reduce the power output of the '72 motors beyond the change from gross to net ratings, such as reduced compression and milder cam timing, and the changes were for smog reduction, NOT improved economy. A salesman that regularly called at our family store was given a brand new Chevy Nova with the two-barrel 307 to use on his route, and he said it only got 10-11 MPG, while his old Chevy would get 19-20; we all thought it odd that a motor that was supposed to be cleaner burnt so much extra fuel.
BTW, the optional 454 Corvette engine in '73 was rated at 275 HP.. 

[mrbreeze]

This post got me wondering so I went out to the garage and got out my trusty Chiltons for  68-75 auto repair. As far as Corvette goes they listed the highest HP as a 427 tri-power at 435HP. There were 4 427 options. That was 1969 and was last year of 427. In 1970 they listed 3 454 options with 460HP being the highest. !971- 2 options....425 HP the highest. 1972....nosedive to 270 HP. For Dodge in 1969 they had a 426 Hemi with 2 4 barrels at 425 HP. There were 2 440's with the highest at 375 HP. In 1970 they show the same except they added a 440 with tri power at 390 HP. By 72 I don't see anymore Hemi's and the top 440 went down to 290 HP. It kept going down from there.
I agree with you guys...Those were some dark days and I did live in California back then. I didn't get my license till 73 but still remember all the muscle out on the road. Got to make my first car a 69 Chevelle SS396 although that 396 turned out to be an oil burning pig after I got through with it!

[BenelliSEI]

Oil and filter on the Craftsman Lawn Tractor and same for my ‘63 Massey Ferguson 135 (Perkins 3 cyl. diesel). Also topped up the oil on the 6’ finishing mower gearbox, that goes on the back of the 135. Changed out the 20 year old, 6’ drive belts too. They weren’t that bad, but had new ones hanging in the shed since 2018. Changed out 100 cc’s of oil in my 4-stroke weed whacker, so ready for Spring (if it ever get’s here). Snowing lightly this morning when I got up!

[Terry in Australia]

My son't 2002 Ford Explorer has been sitting neglected in my back yard for 8 years. It used to fire right up every few months when I remembered to jump start it, and it seemed to thrive on the stale fuel that I gave it, drained from one or more of my many bikes. Last time I tried to start it, it appeared that the fuel pump had gone to God.

He pulled the battery out a couple of days ago, and I've been feeding it electricity, and Epsom Salts, and I was surprised to see that it appears to be holding a charge. He reckons that he's checked all the fuses and the only one missing is the one for the fuel pump, but I don't remember removing it, and I couldn't imagine someone jumping the fence to steal a fuse, but we'll see. I still think it'll need a fuel pump before we can resurrect it, but we'll try the battery and see if a good battery and a fresh fuse will fix it.

[scunny]

what's this "electricity and Epsom Salts" Terry
I'm always keen to try something on a buggered battery.

[Terry in Australia]

what's this "electricity and Epsom Salts" Terry
I'm always keen to try something on a buggered battery.

Well I remembered my father in law (RIP) used to drop some carb soda in the battery in his old XP Falcon whenever the battery was feeling it's age, and up until a few years ago you could buy a little bottle of "Battery Reconditioner" which probably did the same thing in theory, i.e., ate away the sulphation from the lead plates.

I did some youtubing recently and Epsom Salts came up quite regularly. One guy was flushing his old battery out with a slurry of ES and demineralised water, which looked a bit too labour intensive for me, because I couldn't see that he got his battery back up over 13 volts, but other guys were just dumping teaspoons (as many as you'd like, I don't know if there's a magic ratio or not) of ES in as they were hooked up to the charger.

I did the latter, and have been rewarded with the son's battery bubbling away as it's charging, like a good one? I've got a battery tester that puts a load on the battery and usually mine discharge very quickly under load, but not in this case, it appears to be (borderline) good? Not bad for what must be at least 10 years old, and has sat, totally flat, for the last 8? And it's not even a "Quality" brand, it's a "Supercheap Auto" battery, which is even more surprising.

We'll see what happens, but I'm so impressed with this one, I'm shovelling ES into a couple of other bike batteries in the hope that, like Jesus, they'll somehow come back to life. I'm not sure what I'll do with them if they do, because I've already replaced them, maybe I'll have to buy some more bikes that those batteries will fit, so I don't waste them?    

[BenelliSEI]

Terry........ I tried the Ep. Salts on a battery a few years ago. 2WD pick up that got parkedfor the winter and my son didn’t bother to charge the battery or take it out. Semi dry and totally flat in the Spring. Tried the salts and it charged up really well. Ran all summer and Fall. We took it out, stored it correctly the following winter........... had to replace it next time. Got an extra year, but that was it.

[Terry in Australia]

Terry........ I tried the Ep. Salts on a battery a few years ago. 2WD pick up that got parkedfor the winter and my son didn’t bother to charge the battery or take it out. Semi dry and totally flat in the Spring. Tried the salts and it charged up really well. Ran all summer and Fall. We took it out, stored it correctly the following winter........... had to replace it next time. Got an extra year, but that was it.

Thanks mate, well a year of extra service is still good, so for the price of a packet of Epsom's Salts, still good value, and good fun to see it come back to life.

[BenelliSEI]

Agreed! Have fun with it!

[Kelly E]

I spent the day installing the rest of the recessed mounts in the new trailer and replacing the trailer plug. The outer sheath was cut too short and all the wires showed. It is a nice American made 20' aluminium flatbed and they used an ultra cheap Chinese made molded on plug and 20' cable. I will be rewiring most of it.

[onepieceatatime]

I installed the new hedman headers, battery, front wheel bearings, brake rotors, brake pads, and calipers on my 1988 Chevy Cheyenne 3500. I bought all the parts (except the battery) shortly before I parked it, but never got around to doing the work. The truck has been off the road for close to two years, and the 16 year old battery died in that time, since I bought my 1994 F-350. I am hoping to trade the Chevy for work on the 1977 Ranger F-150 XLT that my Dad left me. The '77 hasn't been on the road in a couple years either, and a good mechanic is a family friend. I am hoping he will make the F-150 roadworthy (or make sure that it is) in exchange for the Chevy. Once I have the Chevy going and passed inspection, I will call him to see if he will bite on my offer. It would make it easier on me to just drive one truck from PA to MI, and the other back, than if I have to find a trailer to borrow, drive my F-350 up and haul the F-150 back.

[bear]

Oil and filter on the Craftsman Lawn Tractor and same for my ‘63 Massey Ferguson 135 (Perkins 3 cyl. diesel).

I have that Fergy with the pommy 4 cyl........you've got the better tractor believe me.

[WhyNot2]

Tried the epson salt thingie with a few batteries.......cb350f battery didn't take.

Riding mower battery seems to have taken, first time it has charged in a year..

Am in process of doing the battery in the Mighty Max sitting out back with a dead one forever.

We'll see.

[Don R]

 I sold the rear axle from my firebird, got enough to pay for the new strange 31 spline ford 9" rear axles. Probably worth more but I buy high and sell low.  Did a lot of cleaning and picture sending.
  The parts arrived to rebuild the trac loc posi unit that's going in.  I'm thinking I'll go out and soak the clutches in ATF since I don't have any posi lube.