Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

IceBone said:
And just what car isn't? :p

*glances at your X's budget*
Click to expand...

Modifications like armor are beyond normal operating costs, the U joint issue is only half Nissan's fault. Everyone I know with an X who are not serious off roaders have had no problems, I take my machine to the limit of its capability and it shows in wear and tear. You might as well complain about tire wear on a trackday car.
 
Last edited:
Blind_Io said:
My uncle had one, trust me, you had better have more than "a little" cash lying around. Those things are money pits.
Click to expand...

My mum had the only non money pit Fiat 124 it seems. It only went away because when the brake lines did gave up the ghost we couldn't find a spare.
 
93Flareside said:
I need to do that some day. There's still a lot of vacant land out here. :)
Click to expand...

If I can find something LeMons-worthy around here, I might join you. Of course, I'd have to park it outside (one-car garage and all), and I don't think the complex managers would like that. Although given the lemon-yellow Camaro that a former occupant of my sub-unit had...
 
Found another Saab 900 online. There wasn't much info available and no pictures and on the surface the description looked awesome - and for a decent price too. And then I saw the transmission listing and it was :(

http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/carsforsale/saab/900/1373601.html

A limited edition 900 Turbo convertible. In yellow. That would've been fun.
I'm imagining it looked something like this
dbMdI.jpg
 
Last edited:
D-Fence said:
KARMA!

That very dealer cost my mum a lot of money when returning her leased 3 series.

- the heated seats actually discoloured the seat in the shape of the heating coil "that's dirt we need to upholster the seats again"

- "because of this huge scratch we need to repaint the whole side"



- "there is a huge scratch in the headlight, we need to replace the whole unit"




I laughed hard when I saw the pic yesterday and forwarded it to my parents. Mum: "Well look who got a Karma boomerang into their faces. Assholes."
Click to expand...

The scratch on the door looks so small it most likely could have been rubbed away, IF! and i say IF, they'd need to paint it, it'd be the door and the front fender, as not to get difference in color tone, so they'd spray a patch on the door, slightly on the front fender maybe, then clear coat both the door and fender, and the patch having been faded into the original paint, would not be visible... but whole side? nope...
Though... it is Germany.. they might not be able to make it look nice without painting the whole side :p
worst jobs we took, were imported cars from Germany, what is said to be a good paint job there, looks like something done in a garage with a rattlecan to paint shops here.
Norwegian customers will only accept results worthy of the finest kings, or so it feels like, nothing is good enough, so the overall quality goes up as a result.
 
CrazyRussian540 said:
Found another Saab 900 online. There wasn't much info available and no pictures and on the surface the description looked awesome - and for a decent price too. And then I saw the transmission listing and it was :(
Click to expand...

Before reading the listing I thought you meant the transmission was b?rked. Seems that every C900 has to have a transmission replacement fund on top of the purchase price.
 
Labcoatguy said:
Before reading the listing I thought you meant the transmission was b?rked. Seems that every C900 has to have a transmission replacement fund on top of the purchase price.
Click to expand...

When I first started my quest for a C900, I spoke to a family friend who has owned nothing but Saabs since the early 80s (he also bought non-running Saabs for all his kids' first cars and fixed them up with them). He said that the auto 900 transmission was failtastic, but the manual ones are bulletproof- but he may be a little bit biased :lol:.
 
CrazyRussian540 said:
When I first started my quest for a C900, I spoke to a family friend who has owned nothing but Saabs since the early 80s (he also bought non-running Saabs for all his kids' first cars and fixed them up with them). He said that the auto 900 transmission was failtastic, but the manual ones are bulletproof- but he may be a little bit biased :lol:.
Click to expand...

Given the 900s reputation for rust problems it can't be that hard to source a manual gearbox to stick into the yellow one.
 
To be fair, most rusty Saab 900s tend to have very high chassis mileages and have spent most of their lives in areas with brutal winters. It's hard to imagine any car remaining free of rust in those conditions.
 
I saw a right hand drive Subaru Impreza WRX STI...GC generation! Looked nice. Could have been a 22B, I'm not an expert though so I don't know.
 
Last edited:
Rule #1 of building a "racing" transmission indoors at night:
The power will go out in the middle of drilling a hole.
 
*sigh*
Friday I'll be given a new (temporary) company car, due to my current one being too old to be serviced :S
Aargh, why can't those leasingmonkeys just let me order a new one, as I'm supposed to
 
It seems that over the past few years we've had a lot more members join this site with some seriously awesome machines. Exotics, classics, sportscars, etc etc. I'm not sure if its the "kids" growing up after so many years of loving Top Gear and starting to make money or the larger and larger appeal of Top Gear around the world. Probably a combination of both but either way, it is fantastic!
 
Got the X back from the shop. The driveline fabricator cut the CV joint off the back of my existing drive shaft and installed a standard u-joint a flange from a Titan (my Off Road edition has a Titan rear axle). There was no need for a slip-yolk as the old driveline didn't have one, the coupling to the transmission incorporates the slip yolk already.

In about an hour I take it in for an alignment since I had the rear end off.

When I asked my mechanic about the lubrication interval for the u-joints (now that I can do that), he recommended every 10K. I asked if that was enough given how much I'm out in the dirt and he said, "Usually it's 30K, but for you: three times as often." Honestly, I might do it myself even more often than that just to keep those joints in good shape.
 
Blind_Io said:
Got the X back from the shop. The driveline fabricator cut the CV joint off the back of my existing drive shaft and installed a standard u-joint a flange from a Titan (my Off Road edition has a Titan rear axle). There was no need for a slip-yolk as the old driveline didn't have one, the coupling to the transmission incorporates the slip yolk already.

In about an hour I take it in for an alignment since I had the rear end off.

When I asked my mechanic about the lubrication interval for the u-joints (now that I can do that), he recommended every 10K. I asked if that was enough given how much I'm out in the dirt and he said, "Usually it's 30K, but for you: three times as often." Honestly, I might do it myself even more often than that just to keep those joints in good shape.
Click to expand...
Glad to hear you got the X back!
 
I'm getting lots of silly ideas, that's just normal for me :p
But lately... i've been getting the urge to get the hood of my Volvo foiled/vinyled or whichever word is used in English :p
I want a tiger patterned hood! :p
 
I finally crashed my car.

3mph shunt into the back of a parked James May spec Fiat Panda, because I'm a genius and misjudged my clutch height. I shat myself and then went to inspect the damage, I managed to transfer a fly from my number plate on to the Fiat's bumper but other than that there was nothing.

Well, there we go, that was a crash, I'm sure of it. Glad that's over and done with... :unsure:
 
captain_70s said:
I finally crashed my car.

3mph shunt into the back of a parked James May spec Fiat Panda, because I'm a genius and misjudged my clutch height. I shat myself and then went to inspect the damage, I managed to transfer a fly from my number plate on to the Fiat's bumper but other than that there was nothing.

Well, there we go, that was a crash, I'm sure of it. Glad that's over and done with... :unsure:
Click to expand...

They say everyone will crash their first car. :nod: I though I got away with murder for not crashing sir failturn in the 5 years I owned it (and moved on to my second car no less!) but nope. Weeks after getting the Taurus I crashed the Failturn.

And that's why insurance for our age bracket/gender is so high! :lol:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top