Oscar - 26 February 2009 03:47 PM

Serious Weapon - 26 February 2009 03:44 PM

Oscar - 26 February 2009 03:28 PM

awgee - 26 February 2009 12:52 PM

I like the looks of the new Challenger much more than the Camaro, but the high end Challenger is much more expensive than the high end Camaro.  We will have to see the comparisons.

IMHO, R/T Hemi over the SRT Hemi unless you have money to burn. Personally, I’d rather put that money in my “legal defense” fund.

Or you can call Hennessey…

Excuse me while I go touch myself inappropriately.

“I got chil-l-ls all multiplyin’,
and I’m lo-o-o-osin’ contro-o-ol.”

This unbelievable vid of a hot lap around Nurburgring is pure performance porn.

I couldn’t find a link to a better/bigger version.

ConsiderAgain - 26 February 2009 06:50 PM

This unbelievable vid of a hot lap around Nurburgring is pure performance porn.

I couldn’t find a link to a better/bigger version.

I want to know what his time was! Balls to the wall!

Serious Weapon - 26 February 2009 07:01 PM

ConsiderAgain - 26 February 2009 06:50 PM

This unbelievable vid of a hot lap around Nurburgring is pure performance porn.

I couldn’t find a link to a better/bigger version.

I want to know what his time was! Balls to the wall!

The vid time says 8:37 and it looks real time.  This run was almost 10 years ago in a factory prepped V8 M3.  Its the straight cut gears in the whine.  I guess someone has likely done it quicker in a production car by now, but this is still righteous.  Glad you enjoyed. 

ConsiderAgain - 26 February 2009 07:14 PM

Serious Weapon - 26 February 2009 07:01 PM

ConsiderAgain - 26 February 2009 06:50 PM

This unbelievable vid of a hot lap around Nurburgring is pure performance porn.

I couldn’t find a link to a better/bigger version.

I want to know what his time was! Balls to the wall!

The vid time says 8:37 and it looks real time.  This run was almost 10 years ago in a factory prepped V8 M3.  Its the straight cut gears in the whine.  I guess someone has likely done it quicker in a production car by now, but this is still righteous.  Glad you enjoyed. 

That couldn’t have been 8:37… But then again 10 years ago… As for the production car, yes. The new Caddy CTS-V did the ‘Ring in 7:59 on street tires and auto.

Thanks again for the vid.

xsocal land merchant - 26 February 2009 12:49 PM

No_Vas

We need pix of your project.

Freshly minted just for you:

Tonight is the first time I had the radiator and the fan installed together.  It’s just mocked up, but I’ve got 3/4” of clearance between the waterpump and the fan.  PHEW!

I want to make note of the alternator.  It cost me $20, the bearings were quiet, but it looked a little rough, so I took it apart to clean it.  The brushes were shot, but the rotor measured good.  I got lucky and Kragen had a Motorcraft 3G rebuild kit WAAAYYYYY in the back under 1” of dust for $16.  Winner.  I had to add a helicoil to the adjustment end (the original application bolts to a bracket).  The helicoil kit was more expensive than the alternator or the rebuild kit!  I never rebuilt an alternator before.  I got two hours into it and three trips to the parts house, but I saved $200 over buying a new one.

I need to buy a KRC power steering pump, some hoses, a new Optima battery and a battery box.  I need to remove the rear end and finish the plumbing, paint it, install the parking brake cables, and change the axle seals.  If it doesn’t rain on Saturday or Sunday I’ll get the steering column rebuilt, installed, and fitted.  Once I get that done, I can install the firewall insulation and perminantly install the pedal box, the clutch cable, the master cylinder, and bleed the brakes.  Then I can put the wiring in, but I won’t be able to start it until I get the power steering pump installed and plumbed because the Canton oil pan had a interference problem with the fuel pump I had and I had to dump the whole mess, change the pump, and replumb it. 

What the hell is wrong with me.  I could of just made payments.

You guys crack me up. But seriously, it’s nice to know that someone will actually be able to fix something (and understand how it works) in the event of catastrophe. It’s so sad that today we depend on so many things that we haven’t a clue how they work. I’m encouraged to know that some of the tech savvy people here can actually take things apart and put them back together. Maybe I’m being nostalgic since my dad did a lot of that kind of stuff. Kind of sexy, too! 

tmare - 26 February 2009 09:38 PM

You guys crack me up. But seriously, it’s nice to know that someone will actually be able to fix something (and understand how it works) in the event of catastrophe.

This IS a catstrophe.  I had no idea it was possible to take a car this far apart.  You wouldn’t believe how many parts there are!

This is what it looked like this time last year:

Respekt.

No_Vas

My hat is off to you. That, Dude, is a major project and it looks like you will actually complete it.

Nice job on the alternator. Its great to see some real shade tree mechanics rather than checkbook stuff.

How long have you been working on it?

Will you do straight line stuff or open track days at Willow or just cruise?

xsocal land merchant - 28 February 2009 02:33 PM

No_Vas

My hat is off to you. That, Dude, is a major project and it looks like you will actually complete it.

Nice job on the alternator. Its great to see some real shade tree mechanics rather than checkbook stuff.

How long have you been working on it?

Will you do straight line stuff or open track days at Willow or just cruise?

You must have missed all the bracing in the engine compartment.

xsocal land merchant - 28 February 2009 02:33 PM

No_Vas

My hat is off to you. That, Dude, is a major project and it looks like you will actually complete it.

Thank you.

Nice job on the alternator. Its great to see some real shade tree mechanics rather than checkbook stuff.

I’m trying to offset the budget busting $650 set of billet hood hinges (the repo stock style ones suck, the hood won’t close the same way twice).  Seriously, anyone can get their wallet out and buy parts and hang them.  The last time I redid it, I fabbed my own lower control arms!  I did the engine, trans, and rear end.  They are all pretty fresh (less than 200 miles) except for the rear end which has a couple of thousand on it.

How long have you been working on it?

Since 1984.  It’s my first car.  I got it when I was 14.  My dad put me to work when I was 9.  When I turned 12, he gave me a raise and paid me the same as everybody else on the farm, and told me if I wanted a car, I’d have to pay for it.  All of it.  When it got time, I had enough money either the car and the parts, but not enough for much labor.  I’ve always done most of the work on it.  I even painted it the first two times before paint went through the roof.

Drove it through high school, college.  Drove it 200,000 miles with 4 wheel drum brakes of death and no AC.  Redid it, added disc brakes (so I’d quit scaring myself) and AC (so my wife would ride in it in the summer).  Got married in it.  Had a super minor accident in 2001, decided to change the core support and fix a couple of other things. 

It got out of control when my customer called and said “Hey, we’re slow.  Want us to strip it?” quickly followed by “these quarter panels are junk” followed by “it needs a trunk floor and outer wheel houses” followed by “hey, this shock tower is junk” followed by me saying “I got this far, I’m doing the bottom so I can clean it”...........oy.

Will you do straight line stuff or open track days at Willow or just cruise?

I’m going to do one year of car shows with it as a trailer queen, and then I’m going to beat it senseless doing track days and run a couple of open road races with it.  Maybe time trials.  Unless I decide to forego buying a new car and turn it into my daily driver.  At this point, I just want to clean my garage so I can play cards in there.  Can’t do that when it’s full of parts.

Miscellaneous stuff I’ve done to it:

-  Relocated the seat pans 2” lower to accommodate modern seats
-  Added center console mounted E brake handle from 2003 Mustang
-  Integral boosted power steering box (was manual)
-  Removed all rubber suspension bushings and replaced with spherical bearings to minimize bind
-  Disc brake upgrade from 2003 Cobra (13” front, 11” rear)
-  302 roller cam engine/T5z swap
-  Cable clutch conversion
-  Switched to collapsible steering column
-  Realigned, seam welded, and plate/gusset the shock towers
-  Sub frame connectors
-  Welded a sleeve into the dash so the radio mounts ISO style
-  Painted the undercarriage with black base and semi flat clear (my favorite)
-  20 gallon fuel tank from ’70 mustang to increase range
-  Electric fan w/ fan controller

It makes me tired just writing this.

Great stuff! Lots of history.

My last toy that I sold after moving to Az was 1987 Saleen 5.0 convert. I left it in CA and sold it via internet to a used Saleen dealer in Virginia. Very stock except for the frame stiffeners and 50 state headers I added. I bought it with 52,000 miles on it and added about 5000 in 4 years of “beach cruising”.

My big toy prior to that was a Superformance Cobra Repro with a crate 460 stroked to 522 set up for open track. I ran it for about 5 years at California, Las Vegas, Willow and Streets of Willow plus a few autoXs at Qual Com.

I was one of the guys that the DMV busted for the title problems and was threatened with tax fraud. I got the car registered under SB100 but sold it out of state before leaving Calif.

Open track is next best thing to racing. Turn 9 at Willow and the long straight will get your attention. Unfortunately a friend of mine was killed there last year in his Mini-Cooper. The track doesn’t know if you are a pro or just a weekend warrior.

Go Blue oval!

enjoy!

no_vaseline - 28 February 2009 04:27 PM

It makes me tired just writing this.

I got tired just reading it. I have an old truck rusting away in my garage when you are done with your Mustang. 

Seriously, I’m impressed. My friends and I did a complete teardown and rebuild of a 1969 Pontiac Firebird when we were in our teens, but we left it primer dark grey so we could stealth cruise late at night.

Yesterday was a long, but productive one.

I finished:

- Detailing and installing the AC condensor
- Replaced one ujoint and reinstalled driveshaft (I lost one bearing cup.  Sucks to be me)
- Painted the driveshaft
- Installed and fitted the swaybar and endlinks
- Installed the parking brake cables
- Installed the rear pinion stopper and rear axle bump stops
- Deoxididzed and cleaned the aluminum radiator
- Installed the hood latch, and the grill support
- Cut out the exhaust in front of the x crossover
- Got my shop radio put back together, but discovered I don’t have any speakers anymore.
- Swept the floor for the first time in like six months

In the process of installing the bumpstops, I could only find one.  So I started cleaning the garage.  I took two SUV’s full of trash to a dumpster at my buddy’s work.  I wound up finding my other bumpstop - but man it was a lot of work for a $6 part.  I’m way sore this morning.  The garage looks almost exactly the same. 

:(

^^^  Unfortunatley that is the way it goes.  I’ve just got another storage unit and am slowly moving parts and junk for the cars as it goes.  Otherwise I’m slowly throwing away alot of junk.  My annoyance right now is my comic book collection….  wow, that’s alot of crap.

At least some moneypits can be a lot of fun .  Is you customer doing the paint too?  You have any idea when you think you’ll be done with it?  I don’t know if I’ll ever take it that far, but I’ve only had the car for 9 years, so we’ll see.  It’ll never be a showcar; I just truly enjoy the way it drives.  At 224k I went in to reseal the oil pan and the project grew from there.  This past weekend I got the suspension back on the car.  It’s now on the ground for the first time in years.  The engine is done and I’m working on the tranny now.  Hoping to get it on the road by the end of this year.

Daedalus - 02 March 2009 11:18 PM

At least some moneypits can be a lot of fun .  Is you customer doing the paint too?  You have any idea when you think you’ll be done with it?  I don’t know if I’ll ever take it that far, but I’ve only had the car for 9 years, so we’ll see.  It’ll never be a showcar; I just truly enjoy the way it drives.  At 224k I went in to reseal the oil pan and the project grew from there.  This past weekend I got the suspension back on the car.  It’s now on the ground for the first time in years.  The engine is done and I’m working on the tranny now.  Hoping to get it on the road by the end of this year.

If I can keep plugging away on it at this pace and I don’t run out of money, I can have it ready to spray by Easter.  After that, I gotta see where I’m at from a budget perspective.  I need to buy all new window glass which may or may not be $$$, and then the interior.

Different guy (but the same customer shop) sprayed it.  The bodyman primed it, the prep guy painted the bottom, and the painter did the jambs.  I’d toss them a prop, but like they kept telling me “We don’t do this kind of work.”

tmare - 26 February 2009 09:38 PM

You guys crack me up. But seriously, it’s nice to know that someone will actually be able to fix something (and understand how it works) in the event of catastrophe. It’s so sad that today we depend on so many things that we haven’t a clue how they work. I’m encouraged to know that some of the tech savvy people here can actually take things apart and put them back together. Maybe I’m being nostalgic since my dad did a lot of that kind of stuff. Kind of sexy, too! 

I agree.  Thank goodness there are some real men left!  We have 6 vehicles (one 1986 and one 1973!) and hubby works on all of them.  This saves us a bundle of $$$.  So funny to watch other “men” call Auto Club when they need to change a tire!!

I went on the Hennessey website, but it does not show prices.  Any idea how much a 600hp Challenger costs?

awgee - 03 March 2009 11:10 AM

I went on the Hennessey website, but it does not show prices.  Any idea how much a 600hp Challenger costs?

My tech is a little light on this one, but he has a HORRIBLE reputation for taking customers money and, um, not delivering.

no_vaseline - 03 March 2009 12:24 PM

awgee - 03 March 2009 11:10 AM

I went on the Hennessey website, but it does not show prices.  Any idea how much a 600hp Challenger costs?

My tech is a little light on this one, but he has a HORRIBLE reputation for taking customers money and, um, not delivering.

Depending upon engine and what type of body color.  My first SWAG would be about 100k.  The engine would probably be 20-30k alone and not include transmission upgrades, suspension upgrades, rear end upgrades, tuning, painting… etc. etc. etc.

If you were really up for it, i’d purchase one and upgrade it yourself.  Save yourself a TON as well as sharpen your skills.  Although painting a show car IS expensive and takes forever.

-bix

awgee - 03 March 2009 11:10 AM

I went on the Hennessey website, but it does not show prices.  Any idea how much a 600hp Challenger costs?

Supercharged or turbo version? The equipment lists are extensive, but I seem to remember the website showing $25k + car for the minimum engine only upgrades. Of course, now that I am looking for proof, everything has been changed to “call for price”.

SoOCOwner - 03 March 2009 09:42 AM

We have 6 vehicles (one 1986 and one 1973!) and hubby works on all of them.  This saves us a bundle of $$$.  So funny to watch other “men” call Auto Club when they need to change a tire!!

Lord have mercy.  I had 6 cars up until about a year ago.  Getting rid of my college wheels was bittersweet.  Sad to see it go, but glad I no longer had the responsibility.  I know hubby’s tools weren’t cheap, but I bet they hold their value better than most things over the next few years. 

Oscar - 03 March 2009 05:01 PM

now that I am looking for proof, everything has been changed to “call for price”.

Doesn’t anyone else use Google?

Daedalus - 03 March 2009 08:48 PM

Oscar - 03 March 2009 05:01 PM

now that I am looking for proof, everything has been changed to “call for price”.

Doesn’t anyone else use Google?

Thanks… I sprained my googlefu finger while searching for pictures of Eliza Dushku in a position so compromising and embarassing for Fox that they have to cancel her stupid show and spare the world another “hot chick in tight clothes” show. Unfortunately, I was sidetracked by a blog dedicated to forniphilia that warped my perception of women, spraining my finger as it jammed the backspace key, and I still haven’t recovered.