Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

[_HighVoltage_]

Holy crap!

 

[BerserkerCatSplat]

I wondered whose bike that was when Spectre posted it before. Cool!

 

[Spectre]

It might be a little more impressive if you look closely at the pics.

Hint: It started out the day as an 88 Kawasaki EX250.

 

[The_Finn]

so it's 2010 and per my calculations 15 years ago was the year 1995... why is no one importing RS2 Avants to Canada. I mean production started in 1994 whats the deal guys?

 

[syncview]

Well, you know, sometimes secret societies just gotta use radioactive taggants to protect their stuff. Or you gotta get stuff back from Chernobyl, that sort of thing.

(Not where my nickname comes from, though, I assure you. )

Nevermind, James Bond is already after you

 

[Spectre]

A friend of mine just called. Snow pulled down her condo's carport and it landed on 7 out of 8 cars parked in that row. The 8th car was her 99 XJ8, which was one quarter inch too low in the trunk to be hit as the carport was being supported by the other cars on the row. She speculates that the other cars may have thrown themselves in front of the carport to save the Jag. but strange.

 

[Labcoatguy]

A friend of mine just called. Snow pulled down her condo's carport and it landed on 7 out of 8 cars parked in that row. The 8th car was her 99 XJ8, which was one quarter inch too low in the trunk to be hit as the carport was being supported by the other cars on the row. She speculates that the other cars may have thrown themselves in front of the carport to save the Jag. but strange.

I wonder if any of those other cars were Land/Range Rovers. If so, it'd be quite the metaphor for the J-LR unit, financially at least. No word on whether this incident will make it into their ad campaigns, but it certainly affirms my habit of always parking near cars taller than me, or as they're known, "other cars".

 

[argatoga]

Low profile cars for the win.

 

[thevictor390]

Got my car back. Soooooooo nice. You forget how smooth it is until you drive something infinitely more horrid for a while.

It would be nice if everyone didn't point their lights directly through my windshield though.

 

[rickhamilton620]

Low profile cars for the win.

Agreed, although it can be kinda hard for me to find my sort of low riding car in a parking lot thanks for "tall sedans", crossovers, and pickup trucks.

Seriously, i parked next to a Versa and was amazed how high the window sill on the Versa was compared to mine. Minivan hoods look nearly SUV massive when they are parked in front of me.

 

[EyeMWing]

A friend of mine just called. Snow pulled down her condo's carport and it landed on 7 out of 8 cars parked in that row. The 8th car was her 99 XJ8, which was one quarter inch too low in the trunk to be hit as the carport was being supported by the other cars on the row. She speculates that the other cars may have thrown themselves in front of the carport to save the Jag. but strange.

Thanks for reminding me why I park outside in the clear (at least until I can afford a proper garage)

I was seriously considering investing in a fucking carport while digging out today.

Agreed, although it can be kinda hard for me to find my sort of low riding car in a parking lot thanks for "tall sedans", crossovers, and pickup trucks.

Seriously, i parked next to a Versa and was amazed how high the window sill on the Versa was compared to mine. Minivan hoods look nearly SUV massive when they are parked in front of me.

How can you lose an SL1? They're so goddamned ugly. I get the distinct feeling that all these tall cars these days owe it to side impact safety systems.

 

[rickhamilton620]

How can you lose an SL1? They're so goddamned ugly. I get the distinct feeling that all these tall cars these days owe it to side impact safety systems.

It's generic and I'm short. Your probably right about the safety thing, also so they can have a more "SUV esque" seating position. Ford actually used this in their advertising for the Montego/Five Hundred/Freestyle. Sad that cars have to integrate/emulate SUV features to even get people to consider moving down to them..

 

[argatoga]

I get the distinct feeling that all these tall cars these days owe it to side impact safety systems.

Soccer moms like have a commanding view of the word as they obliviously run over people and smash into other cars.

 

[Zesty]

My dad's poor old 'Fridge' (aka '94 Saab 9000) is on it's last legs. It overheated while my brother was driving it last weekend, so he had to shut the aircon off on a swelteringly hot day, because he though that might be causing the problem. It's since been looked at and found to have a broken cooling fan, which has seen been replaced for a princely sum. There's lots of other things that need attention too, and my father's decided that it's no longer worth the expenditure. He's thinking about replacing it with a Volvo X Country, but the one at the local dealer is a bit too steep for his budget. He has found one in Melbourne for 17k AUD, done more km's of course, but it's not bad for its year apparently (which I have now forgotten...d'oh!) he's taking a look at it this weekend.

Oh well, goodbye faithful old Fridge! It'll most likely be parted out, one less Swedish tank on rural Victorian roads.

 

[EyeMWing]

Soccer moms like have a commanding view of the word as they obliviously run over people and smash into other cars.

My favorite is when they try to bully you around when you're driving something substantially bigger than them. I've only ever lost one fight driving a truck, and that was with a front end loader.... One substantially larger than my truck.

 

[shad_68]

It might be a little more impressive if you look closely at the pics.

Hint: It started out the day as an 88 Kawasaki EX250.

So you rebuilt a Kawasaki to be a Honda? I'm a bit a lost... but very curious. Care to shed some more light on what you did there?

 

[Spectre]

It's just funny how long that took; with all the people that looked at this, you're the first person to catch it.

I decided to help CrazyJeeper get a motorcycle. Looked around, found this basketcase (aka taken apart into lots of baskets of parts) 88 Ninja 250, something decent to start out with. Cost: $180. Problem stated: Bike taken apart due to large clouds of oil smoke coming out of the exhausts.

We brought it back to my shop this past weekend, unpacked everything, determined that it was all there and that it really just needed a re-ring and reassembly before it would be runnable, though it really needed bars, some plastics, the usual for a learner bike of this age. However, I decided that it would make more sense to locate another used engine and install it; this would be faster and probably cost as much as the parts cost (gasket set, rings) and my time to reassemble the thing. I then set out to find a local engine and found several candidates in the $200-300 range.

Before deciding on which one to get, my little Craigslist search script came across a rather interesting ad. A local motorcyclist had a VF500 for sale or trade; it was in running condition, clean/clear title, needed the usual maintenance after being in storage and was a little rough around the edges. it was, however, intact, assembled, and it ran. Even more interestingly was what the guy was looking for in trade - 'Ninja bikes or parts, any size'.

I emailed him immediately, he got back to me in a couple of minutes, we exchanged honest pictures and descriptions of what we had and by 6pm the battered and dismantled $180 project Ninja (which was a good deal) and $200 cash had been traded for a running intact 1984 VF500 Interceptor. I'll be installing a throttle limiter on it before it goes back into service.

Total cost for the Interceptor: $380 in cash and trade. We went from a good deal to a screaming one; from a bike that CJ was going to tolerate to one he's wanted for a while. I think it's one of my better tricks - magically converting a pile of Ninja parts into a running Interceptor.

 

[shad_68]

Oh, that makes a lot more sense than the first theories that popped up in my head. :lol:
And less than 500$ for a running bike? Even if it needs some more spending to do it up, that's an insane deal.

 

[Spectre]

It's going to need tires, a battery, a carb overhaul, a petcock overhaul, a little plastic repair and some new mirrors as well as turn signal stalks. I suspect that we'll do the same thing I did with my Nighthawk and fit rear conformal turn signals and mirrors with front turn signals integrated. It may also need a chain and sprockets, but that's it for major labor.

Much easier than dealing with a some-assembly-required Ninja, though.

 

[Spectre]

Carport Snownage

Carport Snownage

A friend of mine just called. Snow pulled down her condo's carport and it landed on 7 out of 8 cars parked in that row. The 8th car was her 99 XJ8, which was one quarter inch too low in the trunk to be hit as the carport was being supported by the other cars on the row. She speculates that the other cars may have thrown themselves in front of the carport to save the Jag. but strange.

Update:

I misunderstood slightly; there were fewer cars than that under this one carport. I'll let her tell the rest of the story.

<Redacted> and <redacted>'s car{s} kept the carport from coming down on the back of my car by 1/4 of an inch...I moved my car forward last night..no damage...