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No new news?
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Nov 8, 2019 05:17
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op remind me, you're getting fitted for a HANS at some point right?
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Nov 8, 2019 05:50
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Gonna turn into the Chevelle of Odysseus. He probably got distracted by sirens.
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Nov 8, 2019 18:03
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kenny powerzzz posted:No new news? I make decent money but I'm not rich, and I swore to not charge anything else on the car. Credit cards are on their way to paid off. After all the bodywork, and by bodywork I mean practically building a car from scratch, cost a fat chunk of change that I did end up charging most of because Danny had a spot open and that doesn't happen often so I had to have him do the work while he was available. Every day when I pull in my garage and park next to it I think it was totally work having him do it. I gave the warning upthread that this was going to be a break , because to be blunt I have to save 42 grand or so in cash to buy the chassis I want outright. That's going to take a bit of time, but that's okay because I am patient and I am in it for the long haul. I would rather take time and do it right. That said I have also had some unforseen expenses that slowed things down, but that was bound to happen. House AC died, In Las Vegas, in summer no less, plumbing issues, taking godkids to Disneyland... You know, nexessary expenses! OMGVBFLOL posted:op remind me, you're getting fitted for a HANS at some point right? I have consulted with a number of people on safety systems since I last posted here, and they universally recommended a roll cage and a harness. Since I actually want to drive this regularly I still have a mental problem with it. This is one of the only really things I'm having a mental problem with. Even in normal traffic A wreck could kill me in this thing without a safety system upgrade. The A pillars in this car terrify me, but they don't terrify me enough to stop I guess. Powershift posted:Gonna turn into the Chevelle of Odysseus. He probably got distracted by sirens. You... aren't entirely wrong but like Odysseus it's eventually going to finish it's journey! I also found a pedal set to match the hood hinges, I'm going to see about getting a polished version. So there's that...  EDIT: One thing of note, this is my first foray into anything related to all this, and it has loving wrecked me in some ways looking at cars. Now when I go to car shows all I see is horrific panel gaps and half rear end bodywork that I straight never would have noticed before. Now I can't unsee it. Even new cars. Uneven gaps stick out like a fly on a wedding cake now and I have become annoyed with things that I never even would have noticed existed. I cringe walking past a new car where the panel gap between the front of the fender and the front fascia/bumper is like 1/3 the width of the gap right next to it between hood and fascia/nose. It's horrible. And There's a brand new Mercedes in the parking lot like that and it costs over 100k, closer to 150 if the owner is to be believed. I mean what even the gently caress?!?! Seems to happen a lot on Mustangs too. BitBasher fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Nov 8, 2019 |
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Nov 8, 2019 21:38
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BitBasher posted:You... aren't entirely wrong but like Odysseus it's eventually going to finish it's journey! Well, as long as you don't piss off any ancient greek gods, it will hopefully be under 20 years. Take your time and do it right, we knew from the get go this was a many year project, and still one of the best projects here. BitBasher posted:EDIT: One thing of note, this is my first foray into anything related to all this, and it has loving wrecked me in some ways looking at cars. Now when I go to car shows all I see is horrific panel gaps and half rear end bodywork that I straight never would have noticed before. Now I can't unsee it. Even new cars. Uneven gaps stick out like a fly on a wedding cake now and I have become annoyed with things that I never even would have noticed existed. I cringe walking past a new car where the panel gap between the front of the fender and the front fascia/bumper is like 1/3 the width of the gap right next to it between hood and fascia/nose. It's horrible. And There's a brand new Mercedes in the parking lot like that and it costs over 100k, closer to 150 if the owner is to be believed. I mean what even the gently caress?!?! Seems to happen a lot on Mustangs too. one of us! one of us! one of us! My favorite thing is bedliner over rust. "full, frame off restoration", yeah, as in the frame fell off, and you glued it back on to flip it.
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Nov 8, 2019 23:06
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What automotive-related thing is nearest to a cyclops? A train locomotive? A Tucker has a center headlight, but also the two normal ones.
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Nov 9, 2019 01:19
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BitBasher posted:In Las Vegas, Oh drat. I forgot you were here. If you ever need anyone to hold the flashlight while you curse, let me know.
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Nov 9, 2019 02:50
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boxen posted:What automotive-related thing is nearest to a cyclops? A train locomotive? A Tucker has a center headlight, but also the two normal ones. Motorbike?
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Nov 9, 2019 03:02
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Awesome, I must have forgotten about you mentioning a lul in work. You have an awesome project going on and I completely understand needing to refill the coffers. I make good money myself and couldn’t imagine footing the bill like you have from start to finish.
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Nov 9, 2019 19:34
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Godholio posted:Oh drat. I forgot you were here. If you ever need anyone to hold the flashlight while you curse, let me know. Sure, but the only thing I may do in the next year or two is learn to weld sheet metal. I have access to a welder, and I was considering going schmuck Binky level and seeing if I could spin up to speed enough welding sheet medal to build a transition panel and console from scratch. Can anyone that welds give me a guestimate of how hard this would be to do? kenny powerzzz posted:Awesome, I must have forgotten about you mentioning a lul in work. You have an awesome project going on and I completely understand needing to refill the coffers. I make good money myself and couldn’t imagine footing the bill like you have from start to finish. That's totally understandable. It helps that I have no kids and as the years went by My lifestyle costs never expanded to fit my income. I still drive an 04 tacoma that I bought new and still runs beautifully, and I never upgraded to a bigger house for no good reason like a lot of folks do. My only real problem is that I like to travel, which costs a bit. EDIT: I do appreciate you keeping the thread alive, I never really post since I don't really have much to say.
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Nov 9, 2019 20:54
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BitBasher posted:Sure, but the only thing I may do in the next year or two is learn to weld sheet metal. I have access to a welder, and I was considering going schmuck Binky level and seeing if I could spin up to speed enough welding sheet medal to build a transition panel and console from scratch. Can anyone that welds give me a guestimate of how hard this would be to do? Welding is a developed skill, but modern MIG/TIG setups can make learning to weld a LOT easier than it is to learn stick welding, as an example. Particularly if you have a bit of guidance from a welder and are starting with stuff that isn’t structurally important and doesn’t have to look nice, you can probably get to the level required for acceptable results in a couple hours of practice.
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Nov 9, 2019 22:14
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Surprise! So, in 4 days it will have been 7 months since my last post, and in 3 days it will have been 20 months since my first post in this thread. I'm not dead and neither is this project! Not a lot of forward progress has happened on the car, but financially it's plodding forward. I'm not rich, so it's taking a while. The current milestone is that as of the 11th of this month, thus upcoming Thursday, all of my credit card bills are paid off. Because of finding the guy that I did for the body work (Danny Gonzalez) and the fact that he has a wait list and is just one guy I ran into debt to get the car done because his work is fantastic. I also ended up replacing a LOT more than I originally intended. What started with this:  Now looks like this (ignore my thumb!):  And more, taken today:    Not bad considering that there's only maybe 200 lbs of original metal there. (For those of you that happen see this thread for the first time I highly recommend reading from the beginning or even just looking at the pictures. For anyone that has ever owned an old car or restored one the sheet metal replacement of the last 15 pages is very cathartic, at least in my opinion.) I should have had the credit cards paid sooner but I realized I'm not getting nay younger so I put some money traveling (nothing major) while I'm still young. On a personal level related to this project I got lucky in early in Feb when through completely random events I ended up with a side job doing site support supporting a relatively small local business here in Vegas and covering all of their PC and network related needs. As it turns out their previous guy screwed up, had a PC die and lost the businesses financial data for a period of time because he hadn't realized that the backup wasn't working. Also people connecting to wifi could ping the registers and the credit card processor. It was a mess. After listening to the GM and DJ tell stories I made a half joking offer that I could support the club. I then realized I maybe shouldn't have been joking, did some research and found that clubs of that nature actually weren't actually on the list of business I am banned from working for, even though I spent a decade thinking they were. I then made a legit offer to support the business, got approval within a week and made an offer for a little less than the company before me was being paid. So now I have a second job for only a few hours a week that's paying straight Chevelle money. COVID-19 is loving with the whole thing, because the club closed immediately afterwards, but the club apparently has the resources available to stick it out until they can reopen. Bottom line is that it will accelerate my saving cash for the chassis which is next. After the chassis things should start moving along much faster. The chassis is still a while off though, it's still looking to be a while. BitBasher fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Jun 6, 2020 |
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Jun 6, 2020 03:14
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BitBasher posted:did some research and found that clubs of that nature actually weren't actually on the list of business I am banned from working for, even though I spent a decade thinking they were. You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but is this some kind of noncompete or something? In any event, congrats on owning the world's most expensive Chevelle.
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Jun 6, 2020 04:08
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KillHour posted:You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but is this some kind of noncompete or something? My primary job is for a local government agency so it's vaguely similar to a noncompete, yes, but a lot broader. I have to have approval every calendar year to work for literally any other business including self employment. I am explicitly excluded from Uber (or similar) Casinos, Security (like a bouncer) or armored car companies, Brothels, Dispensaries, Payday loans, any job where a primary function is serving or selling alcohol, and a list of others. Unlike a noncompete I do IT at my primary job and I am not barred from doing the same IT elsewhere as long as it does not fall under one of those on the list.
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Jun 6, 2020 04:20
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BitBasher posted:My primary job is for a local government agency so it's vaguely similar to a noncompete, yes, but a lot broader. I have to have approval every calendar year to work for literally any other business including self employment. I am explicitly excluded from Uber (or similar) Casinos, Security (like a bouncer) or armored car companies, Brothels, Dispensaries, Payday loans, any job where a primary function is serving or selling alcohol, and a list of others. Unlike a noncompete I do IT at my primary job and I am not barred from doing the same IT elsewhere as long as it does not fall under one of those on the list. So you don't want to be a bouncer for my new armored brothel / payday loan ridesharing app?
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Jun 6, 2020 04:39
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BitBasher posted:Sure, but the only thing I may do in the next year or two is learn to weld sheet metal. I have access to a welder, and I was considering going schmuck Binky level and seeing if I could spin up to speed enough welding sheet medal to build a transition panel and console from scratch. Can anyone that welds give me a guestimate of how hard this would be to do? To answer this bit from forever ago, welding clean new sheet metal isn't really difficult once you set your machine up to do it properly. poo poo like setting the heat, wire speed and gas flow is honestly the difficult bit, knowing what to adjust and when is the dark art, the actual welding technique is little above using a hot glue gun.... just a hot glue gun that can and will vapourise the material you're trying to glue  I learned to (mig) weld from a blacksmith and spent an entire day burning 4mm thick steel together with ease pretty much instantly because he knew the settings that worked well and I was able to concentrate on just working a puddle of molten metal to stick it all together. Thicker metal holds heat better, thin stuff is very easy to burn through so rather than going ham from the outset you need to spread the heat around, cool it or try and back it with blocks of copper to help dissipate the heat. You have a lot more control over the heat going in with a tig setup due to the pedal control over it but in a lot of instances it's impossible to tig something if you're laying on your back under a car... Tig is something I need to try though for sure. The other part of the fun is cutting and bending/forming the metal. If you're doing simple shapes it's not too hard to cut/bend/stick them together but knowing how to shape things and do it well is again, the art.
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Jun 6, 2020 11:49
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This project is pretty incredible, glad I found it and glad you have persevered.
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Jun 7, 2020 02:24
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taqueso posted:This project is pretty incredible, glad I found it and glad you have persevered. Thanks! ...Speaking of which I need to post every so often to keep this thread open, I don't have a lot to meaningfully update. I'm still on a stretch saving money for the rolling chassis and I'm about 30% or so to the chassis, but to be fair the chassis is far and away the single most expensive part in front of me. On the upside, how long this is taking is actually beneficial in some ways. New Raspberry Pis and similar parts make the dash easier to do than when I started this project, as the new PIs handle multiple screens far better. Also, when I started there were generic wiring harness replacements for a 66 Chevelle, but only specific harnesses for 67 or later. Now Classic Autowire makes a full kit for the 66, which makes things a little easier. On the downside, ABC performance used to sell a custom dash that I was going to buy and that's totally gone off their website. I only have my original dash core and it's apparently stupid hard to net another so that doesn't make me happy. So long story short the project is still going, this car will get finished. EDIT: Damnit, there's a dash core in okay shape on Ebay right now for 450 bucks (540 w/shipping) and I'm considering buying it just to have a spare to weld in case poo poo goes badly. It's the only one I've seen. It's an actual auction though with 4 days left, not a click and buy. No sense bidding before the last hour. BitBasher fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Oct 24, 2020 |
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Oct 24, 2020 00:11
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glad to see the 66 c pillar is still chugging along. the finished sheet metal work looks amazing
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Jan 16, 2021 02:07
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OMGVBFLOL posted:glad to see the 66 c pillar is still chugging along. the finished sheet metal work looks amazing Thanks! (Necroreply!) So for a totally not exciting update: I have now officially passed the halfway point for saving cash for the chassis. Conservatively I'll have the full total in 12 months or less unless something catastrophic happens in my world. When I'm within a month or two of the finished total I plan to fly out to Roadstershop and talk to the folks there about options and expectations before I order. It takes 3 months from order to delivery, when I'll get back in contact with Danny, my sheet metal guy and have the chassis delivered to him, haul the car over and mate the body to the chassis. I'll also need to come up with some kind of interim wheels and tires because I'll need wheels big enough to fit over the disk brakes which my current ones will not do. Likely something cheap in 275/35 r18 which is close to the final profile I'm aiming for. I can't buy final wheels because I need to be absolutely sure what will fit properly under it without rubbing, and I can't be 100% sure on that until the body is on the chassis. Danny may also have to do some minor extra work because I'm told in some cases minor alterations need to be made to fit the rear IRS, but not always. He will also likely need to roll the fenders for clearance as that wasn't done before. On a mostly unrelated note, I have a friend and coworker who has had a lifelong dream of buying a classic Mini. He had never in his life sat in or driven a Mini. He just sold his Mercedes S class for a pretty good condition 1980 Mini being sent from Detroit that he won on auction without asking any questions beyond the listing. It's going to be interesting. He is also the guy that volunteered to work on computerization for my Chevelle, and he plans on jumping right in and replacing the dash and gauges in his new (numbers matching, original parts) Mini. I expect a wild ride.
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Feb 14, 2021 10:01
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Percent to Chassis: 60%
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Apr 27, 2021 04:09
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Apr 28, 2021 00:45
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Apr 28, 2021 00:51
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Apr 28, 2021 01:18
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Apr 28, 2021 01:37
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Compared to the Attex thread and others like it you can pretty much just stop the F5ing! I'm just updating to let people know the project isn't dead! (To be fair, most all project cars to seems to do that after a few years, but I am not those people)
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Apr 28, 2021 03:09
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BitBasher posted:Compared to the Attex thread and others like it you can pretty much just stop the F5ing! I'm just updating to let people know the project isn't dead! (To be fair, most all project cars to seems to do that after a few years, but I am not those people) I gotchu fam. Just stick this in the OP. 
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Apr 28, 2021 03:56
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Now at a little past 75%, The chassis should happen somewhere about March or April. I want to fly down and talk to the Roadstershop before I order it, and that's near Chicago, so specifics may depend on weather. Either way, it's a huge part of the remainder of the car, and by far the most expensive single part.
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Oct 6, 2021 07:48
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Glad to see this is still moving ahead. You should get a parts book, make a list of the interior parts/trim and such you're going to need and start ordering some of them now. on-shelf supplies are drying up/have dried up and a ridiculous amount of stuff is backordered in the automotive aftermarket world.
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Oct 6, 2021 16:15
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Progress is progress, no one says it has to be done this week, month or year. If you're happy with the end product and you aren't burying yourself in debt, that's all that matters. We're just here for the journey. Seconding Powershift - I'm weeks out just to buy an air filter for an old Mazda. I would start that parts list and reach out to the roadster shop to talk timelines.
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Oct 6, 2021 17:40
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the spyder posted:Progress is progress, no one says it has to be done this week, month or year. If you're happy with the end product and you aren't burying yourself in debt, that's all that matters. Powershift posted:Glad to see this is still moving ahead. the spyder posted:Seconding Powershift - I'm weeks out just to buy an air filter for an old Mazda. I would start that parts list and reach out to the roadster shop to talk timelines. Thanks! I had been avoiding spending any money on parts until I had the chassis because I consider the chassis integral to the entire thing and I didn't want to get distracted. That said you are correct and it's not something I had considered. I do have an original parts and assembly manual for the car and spent some time looking for things this morning after I red your replies. As it turns out the delay was lucky in a lot of ways. There are some parts available now that were not when I started this. For example quarter glass and hardware wasn't really available before and they are now, even with new hardware packages. I fortunately had the original quarter window rails, and had them blasted and refinished when some of the car parts were done in the last phase. American Autowire now apparently has a discrete wiring harness from the 66-67 which they did not have previously, they only had a generic one. In the next week or two I'll order the new drivers and passengers window and vent window repro assemblies along with the quarter glass and parts kits for rebuilding those. I'll look up other parts I need like window regulators all around, and electric window conversion kits and door internals when I get some time in the next few days. I wasn't planning on buying anything powered until I had a wiring harness and makeshift battery in place and could at least test things, but it looks like I'll need to change that train of thought. I'll post more later but I'm also having problems mentally with the sequence I have to do some things in order, like right now the interior is primer, and I assume I need some kind of final paint on the entire inside before I Dynamat and run wiring harnesses, and I plan on custom seats needing custom seat brackets which makes it hard to know the correct steering column length, or I can't buy the steering column until I have the seats in but it seems the steering column, seats and dash are all dependent on each other which is complicated for where I am in the build.
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Oct 6, 2021 20:14
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Working on an old car where you have to modify parts or customize things isn't like building a model car or even a house. It won't be a straight line, often you will find yourself taking parts out that you just put in so you can find the right clearances, or correct a mistake, or add a feature you learned about. Or in my case just to move it out of the way or reposition it. Cars are just a collection of bolts and parts, taking them on and off isn't a loss. Once you internalize that fact, you can pick up some speed and actually make more progress. My example was the center console of my Galaxie. I was keeping it out until I learned it supports the shifter, and I couldn't really operate the car without it. I could have moved the car on dolly's and shorted the NSS, but by hooking it up I was able to test it properly and fill the transmission and find a leaky gasket. Had I left it out my car would have ended up painted and then sidelined by a transmission leak.
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Oct 7, 2021 16:48
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Same situation with the Grand Prix, parts are either unavailable, junk with a 4 figure price tag or modified aftermarket items that sort of work. It comes down to buying the most complete car you can. I need to figure out if the standard shifter can be modified to work the TH400 so I don't need to bodge in an aftermarket one. All part of the fun.
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Oct 7, 2021 20:06
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BigPaddy posted:It comes down to buying the most complete car you can I kind of have to assume you didn't actually read the thread? (Which is fine!) But saying "buying the most complete car you can" is the absolute height of irony, and that ship has long since sailed for this project! TL;DR My "car" didn't come with very much "car" in the equation. On the other hand, I am lucky that parts for my car aren't nearly as bad as others and that's one of the reasons I picked this model to start with. Instead of say, a Corvair Monza which I also considered.
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Oct 7, 2021 20:28
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BitBasher posted:I kind of have to assume you didn't actually read the thread? (Which is fine!) But saying "buying the most complete car you can" is the absolute height of irony, and that ship has long since sailed for this project! I have read the thread and it was a general statement about working on old cars. You are undertaking a restoration of the car you wanted regardless of condition because you wanted that car.
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Oct 7, 2021 20:47
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BigPaddy posted:I have read the thread and it was a general statement about working on old cars. You are undertaking a restoration of the car you wanted regardless of condition because you wanted that car. That's absolutely true and I have almost undoubtedly made this whole thing harder on myself because of how I am doing it. Sorry if I came off as hostile.
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Oct 7, 2021 22:05
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good to hear this is moving along e: looks like the SSCC had both their events this year. were you able go go spectate? those races have become a bucket item for me thanks to this thread Cactus Ghost fucked around with this message at 08:32 on Oct 24, 2021 |
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Oct 24, 2021 08:28
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OMGVBFLOL posted:good to hear this is moving along I haven't been to one this year. The people I go with have had some issues, but we just talked about running a checkpoint for future events. Be aware you can't really spectate the race itself because the road is closed for the event proper. It's 90 miles long and there aren't stands or anything. You can see the cars pre run in Ely the day before, which is neat as hell, and you can be at the start or finish line but unless you are working a checkpoint or standing behind a closed road barricade (because you are trapped there for the duration of the event) you can't really see the cars running by at stupid speeds. I think you can be at the finish line, but I've never been there to know for sure. You can participate though! The first run has a max speed of I believe 95 mph and you can run it in most street legal cars as long as it passes a safety inspection. I mean people are running 50s and 60s Impalas and such occasionally. It's not too difficult!
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Oct 26, 2021 01:48
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BitBasher posted:You can participate though! The first run has a max speed of I believe 95 mph and you can run it in most street legal cars as long as it passes a safety inspection. I mean people are running 50s and 60s Impalas and such occasionally. It's not too difficult! oh yeah, deffo want to participate. i looked it up and the euro model of the prius is exactly the same as the US one, and people cruise at 90 and 100 on the autobahn in them without issue. plus it's just fun to do motorsports poo poo in a prius for the troll factor lol
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Nov 15, 2021 21:16
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OMGVBFLOL posted:plus it's just fun to do motorsports poo poo in a prius for the troll factor lol https://youtu.be/Rm9le3Y0F6s
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Nov 16, 2021 04:32
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