Quick Bits

[J.S.@SMS]

Yeah, the ford modular engines are junk. It is the only engine I know of that nobody will rebuild at a reasonable price. My grandfather had a '99 grand marquis that had a modular, and that engine had a head gasket blow out.

Funny story, the last car my grandfather bought before his current car was his 1978 Indy 500 Pace car Edition Corvette. That car gave him a fit. The engine blew up once, the dealer rebuilt it. Then it blew up again and the dealer replaced it. The third time it blew up it really blew up, and the dealer told him to go out in the lot and pick out any car out there that wasn't a corvette. And that's how he got his 1985 Camaro Z28, which he put at least 250k on. Then one day he took it to the mechanic for some carb work, and on the way home he stopped for gas. Well, the car was blowing flames out of the a/c, while at the gas pump. The carburetor was ruled as the cause, and the car was a wright off. So the shop he took it to gave him the 99 Grand Marquis, which someone brought in for trans work, but couldn't pay the bill. Then 3 years ago, he traded the vic in on a 1988 corvette that he ended up paying $6,000 for. They were asking 12k, but we found an online ad for 9k for the same car. So he managed to talk them down another 3k with the trade, and got them to buy down the interest rate. The '88 currently has 72k miles on it.

 

[Kartorbust]

I enjoy the Mod engines, but I do wish they were reliable. Every 4.6L had a faulty intake manifold that would leak at some point or another. Only time we had issues with a 2 valve 5.4 spitting plugs, was when my dad had some replaced and the tech didn't get the number 8 all the way in and it backed out. Never had issues with the 2 piece plugs on my dad's current 3 valve 5.4.

They are great when they work, but when the break, you start to question the engineering department and ask why they would ever okay that. We have a "updated" 4.0 SOHC in our 2010 Mountaineer, bit of a dog, but gets the job done. Gas mileage is similar to the 4.6L, even though it has 3.55 LS rear end and our 4.6L had 3.73 LS, go figure. Get 18/19mpg in the winter doing 75mph on I-80. Bet if I dropped it to 65 and it was 70 outside, I could probably see 20/21 highway.

 

[Budget GoKart]

im going out with my gpaw today to put 212 hemis on race kart frames with his buddy. and we are bringing my ken bar d660 because i threw my hemi on it from my pacesetter just for fun. I love streaker stock gearing it makes the karts haul butt!

 

[J.S.@SMS]

Well, I'm having a rough week. My $500 Trek bike, that I just got back from the shop after $100 of new tires and $120 of tune up work, has to go back. They never greased the pedals (which is included in the tune up), one of the fork seals is leaking, and the day before yesterday, I hit a bump while turning and the back tire came off the ground a bit. Well when it landed I heard what almost sounded like a stick bouncing off the spokes. But it was one of the spokes breaking. Also the wheels came un-trued like 5 days after I got it back. The real kicker is that the bike is only 2 years old. I've owned hundred dollar wallyfart bikes that never had these problems.

And I also got the flu.

 

[Budget GoKart]

Your wrong its a 720$ trek bike

 

[Kartorbust]

I've been stocking up on some goods for the Coronavirus that is not even remotely contained. It has similar flu-like symptoms, but you are asymptomatic for about 2 weeks. So in that time you can spread it without even knowing it. So keep yourselves clean and get some basic essentials now. We have a few infected in quarantine at Camp Ashland, but who knows how that will go.

Other than that, been pricing out different CV axles for my buggy project and getting parts lined up for ordering so they can be put in storage until I start building.

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

Yup we've been stocking up around here.


Fun fact!

It's just this particular strain of coronavirus that's so dangerous. Other coronaviruses also cause the common cold!

 

[Kartorbust]

It has infected way more than S.A.R.S did years back and did it in a shorter amount of time. Never thought I'd see a near global pandemic in my lifetime like this.

 

[ezcome-ezgo]

2% fatality rate. No worse than regular flu. This is an example of fear mongering gone wild.

 

[Kartorbust]

That is true and people don't want to see it that way. I figured though, might as well get some stuff just incase fear buying gets insane and shelves are empty. I just rather be set and not have to go to a store if I can help it. Honestly, I hate being around a lot of people, get irritated when they get in my way. Get in and get out.

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

Yeah, it's not that deadly, but like my dad keeps saying, we don't need to fear the virus as much as the public and government reaction.

Stock up and be cautious for sure, you don't want to be that 2%, but don't freak out.

 

[J.S.@SMS]

That's what my family always does. Over the past couple of weeks we've been slowly stocking up on water and some canned goods. Though we already have a couple hundred pounds of canned food, so we're set in that department. We also have a Sam's club generator, and our water comes from a well, so we don't rely on city water. And yeah, people are idiots when they're worried about something like this. I mean seriously, every single person thinks their time is more important than everyone else's. And I won't even start about the drivers around here.

Anyway, my dad just got fired, which means that me and my uncle got fired as well. He's been driving HIS truck for work for the past three and a half years, and it has 86,000 miles on it and it isn't even 4 years old. And up until now he's been getting paid for the gas he burns up driving all over for the boss and the company. This morning the boss calls my dad into his office to tell him that they won't be paying for his gas anymore. Now, he'll end up driving 150 miles each day, and in a truck that gets 9 mpg, that's $40 of gas each day. That's $200 a week. And my dad told him that that's not going to work.

I'm not kidding when I say that the boss has gone absolutely nuts. I'm serious, the dude tried to not pay my dad for all the extra hours he accumulated once. And we're talking 30 hours of regular pay and another 14 of overtime. Now he's saying he's broke. The guy who owns 3 multi million dollar houses, and just went on vacation while staying in a penthouse not two months after going on a cruise. Well now he's going to have to find someone else to put up the christmas lights on his house, while paying them with the company checkbook.

 

[landuse]

2% fatality rate. No worse than regular flu. This is an example of fear mongering gone wild.

2% mortality rate is exactly what the Spanish Flu was in 1918. And an estimated 40-50 million people died from that. While I wouldn't start freaking out about Coronavirus, I would also definitely not write it off. Nature has a way of biting you in the a$$

 

[JTSpeedDemon]

2% mortality rate is exactly what the Spanish Flu was in 1918. And an estimated 40-50 million people died from that. While I wouldn't start freaking out about Coronavirus, I would also definitely not write it off. Nature has a way of biting you in the a$$

Like I said, you don't want to BE that 2%!

 

[Solomonster212]

Let's change the subject away from sickness...

Anybody here also into building cars?

 

[J.S.@SMS]

Yep, I love cars, though I'm still trying to find the right one. My great uncle is giving me an '86 f150, with a '78 Windsor 351 out of a Mercury Cougar. The truck's worthless and has no title, but the engine could definitely be turned into something good, or at least better than the current 140hp. But I'm a Chevy guy myself. And I also like working on atvs, and I need to get our boat running.

 

[Budget GoKart]

My car is worthless in the eyes of others exept for its iron duke engine people see it as a perfect derby car but i aint selling it

 

[Kartorbust]

There's a lot of potential for that Iron Duke engine. Could build a buggy around it and run it on Propane just for fun.

 

[J.S.@SMS]

Which car is it, and how many miles does it have? And yeah, those aren't bad engines.

 

[Budget GoKart]

Its a 1990 oldsmobile cutlass calais sedan i like it and i dont know why. sorry about the bad quality of the picture it was taken on a potato. Dont know how many miles but the plan was to turbo it one day till it blows up and convert it to rwd