Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Dr_Grip said:
Did the units change between facelifts or can I just get any model year lights? Remember that "Pony Car" video I sent a few weeks ago? That Sierra shell still sits at a friend's, so I can just grab the lights for (next to) nothing...
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As far as I know, as long as they come from a Mark I Sierra they will work. Looks like the car from the "pony car" video is a Mark II, so I don't think they will work unfortunately.
 
Then I'll ask the guys on Hecktrieb, should not be a problem.
 
Someone said 2.3 turbos? Oh, nevermind...wrong number of cylinders :p
 
Dr_Grip said:
Then I'll ask the guys on Hecktrieb, should not be a problem.
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Thank you very much. They look so much better with the Euro headlights.
Hemily said:
Might not be too hard to get a 302 in a Sierra, there is a V8 version sold in South Africa for some reason.

https://www.olx.co.za/ad/ford-sierra-xr8-ID16eDE5.html
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I think it was a homologation deal. They aren't difficult to get a 302, there's several in the States, just not what I want from a small(ish) Euro hatchback.
_HighVoltage_ said:
Someone said 2.3 turbos? Oh, nevermind...wrong number of cylinders :p
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I thought Volvo was a 4-cylinder as well. There's even guys that have adapted the 16 valve Volvo head into the Ford 2.3.
 
I may have had a semi when I switched on the Hella euro style H4 conversions I allegedly put in the wagon.
 
CraigB said:
I thought Volvo was a 4-cylinder as well. There's even guys that have adapted the 16 valve Volvo head into the Ford 2.3.
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The redblock cars (740, 940) came with a four cylinder 2.3, and very rarely with the 16 valve head. Later cars, like mine, use the whiteblock 2.3 five cylinder.
 
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Oops...that was meant to say four.
 
Hemily said:
Might not be too hard to get a 302 in a Sierra, there is a V8 version sold in South Africa for some reason.

https://www.olx.co.za/ad/ford-sierra-xr8-ID16eDE5.html
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Ford actually offered them for sale that way as homologation for Group A racing at the time.

Not that it would have been all that hard to do anyway. It's a relatively popular swap for XR4Ti owners when the Thunderbird engine in them dies.
 
93Flareside said:
I may have had a semi when I switched on the Hella euro style H4 conversions I allegedly put in the wagon.
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Would you stop playing with your woody?
 
On the weekend, because I found myself in an area with a lot of dealers, I had an old fashioned tire kicking session, checking out some new models that I hadn't seen in the flesh before. I never fails to amaze me the amount of, at least on initial inspection, nice cars that drop the ball in the small percentage stuff.
The worst offenders were:
Holden Astra; Fully loaded car with all the bells and whistles, yet no rear armrest or rear vents. The auto also has no shift paddles. Considering the thing has 200 hp and Holden are talking it up as a bit of a performance hatch, not sure what happened there. The steering wheel is also ugly as sin, the base model in particular a cheap and nasty looking affair.
Suzuki Ignis; Very stylish little car with great use of interior space. Bizzarely, no telescopic adjustment of the steering wheel. The rear seats gain some good will by both sliding and reclining, then piss that all away with an inability to provide a remotely flat surface when folded.

I could go on, but its really strange that there are so many new cars being sent out the door minus really easy to include features that most of their direct competitors offer.
Are auto makers that insular that they are simply not paying enough attention to what else it out there?
 
Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Rex Luther said:
On the weekend, because I found myself in an area with a lot of dealers, I had an old fashioned tire kicking session, checking out some new models that I hadn't seen in the flesh before. I never fails to amaze me the amount of, at least on initial inspection, nice cars that drop the ball in the small percentage stuff.
The worst offenders were:
Holden Astra; Fully loaded car with all the bells and whistles, yet no rear armrest or rear vents. The auto also has no shift paddles. Considering the thing has 200 hp and Holden are talking it up as a bit of a performance hatch, not sure what happened there. The steering wheel is also ugly as sin, the base model in particular a cheap and nasty looking affair.
Suzuki Ignis; Very stylish little car with great use of interior space. Bizzarely, no telescopic adjustment of the steering wheel. The rear seats gain some good will by both sliding and reclining, then piss that all away with an inability to provide a remotely flat surface when folded.

I could go on, but its really strange that there are so many new cars being sent out the door minus really easy to include features that most of their direct competitors offer.
Are auto makers that insular that they are simply not paying enough attention to what else it out there?
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For the Holden, here is your reason:

p77E9be.jpg


I don't know of another car company that so consistently gets like 90% of the way there but phones in or fucks up the rest because they seemingly couldn't be bothered to spend a few bucks more.
 
rickhamilton620 said:
For the Holden, here is your reason:

p77E9be.jpg


I don't know of another car company that so consistently gets like 90% of the way there but phones in or fucks up the rest because they seemingly couldn't be bothered to spend a few bucks more.
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Speaking of which... I'm working on thomas' Caddy, correcting some issues before he gets to DFW later this week. Right now, I'm rebuilding the evaporative emissions system. Basically, the system works by routing vapors from the top of the gas tank through pipes and hoses to a carbon canister in the front right nose of the car. From there, the vapor cycles through the canister, then when a purge solenoid switches engine vacuum to another set of pipes and hoses, the vapor is sucked into the engine and used as additional fuel.

Here's a post I just made to a B and D-body forum.

While rebuilding the evaporative emission system in the front I found something rather odd - just checking to make sure this is what's actually supposed to be there. The metal line that runs from the vapor canister area to back around the rear bolt of the upper control arm along the frame takes 1/4" ID hose at each end. The evaporative emissions system takes 1/4" ID hose at the two junctions from there all the way up to the purge solenoid on the intake manifold.

The problem is the vacuum operated purge solenoid next to the carbon canister takes 5/16" hose for the inlet and outlet. The original one I removed from the car is the same way and I've verified that this is correct for the year of the car. It and everything else related to the evap system seems to be original to the car.

Apparently either on the assembly line or at some point in the distant past, the 5/16" hose was slipped over the 1/4" pipe with the standard 5/16" spring clips and left to rattle around on the too-small hard line. For all I can tell, this car may have never had a sealed purge system and was sucking in mostly air instead of fuel vapor for its entire life.

Can someone verify that this is not what's supposed to be there? Or did GM screw up the assembly of the car?
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I'm reasonably certain that the answer is going to be "GM screwed up". :p
 
Interestingly, my old Astra had a rear armrest AND vents, but no aircon as standard.... #GMlogic
 
It would've been for the better if Opel would have went back to sewing machines in the 80s.
 
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