The Car Thread

No one trusts diesel anymore since "Diesel-Gate", it killed them in Europe which was the main innovation hub for them. Not to mention DEF systems that rob performance and complicate what should be a more straightforward and reliable system.

It's dead tech outside of commercial use.

I'm pretty sure my next truck will be electric, at least hybrid. I was holding out for the hybrid F150, but my Ranger finally gave out after nearly 300k and I wasn't about to use my snow truck for anything else. So I grabbed a 19' F150 with 2.7 and love it. The most I ever haul is a car dolly or stuff to take to the dump/recycling center and still get >20 mpg with a mostly city route.

My snow truck is a 99' F350 regular can with the 7.3, it was already 15 years old and 150k in when I got it but it just won't die. It'll probably need new injectors in another 20k, but by then it'll have rusted to dust.

 

I don't know about the 7.3, but injectors for a Ford 5.4 v8 were like 25 bucks a pop (originals no less!) from walmart.com and took like 2 minutes to install.... so it's not exactly a scary repair

Btw people are still selling old 99 F350s for like $15k, so don't let it rot to shit if you can

 

It's been a snow truck it's whole life, so it's probably more rust than metal at this point. I removed the bed before it rotted off and hard mounted a salt spreader.

No one is buying this thing as I'm taking the snow equipment when it's time to junk.

I didn't mean to imply the work was long or expensive, quite the opposite. All things considered this has been a super low maintenance vehicle after replacing all the hoses and exhaust when I got it.

 

Bodywork rot or frame rot?

If it's just body, swap and sell. Fords are super easy to wrench on.

Although if you need the money or have the time, even frame swaps are doable pretty cheap.... although that would be a hell of a DIY project

 

Everything is rusted out.

I had a buddy who welds professionally work on the frame. He cut out some of the bad spots and boxed everything back in where needed. Definitely added another decade of life.

These things are fairly common out here, so it's not exactly a hot commodity unless I throw in all the outboard gear, which is where the real value is.

 

Speaking of diesels, I’ve been waiting for the Toyota Tundra to come out with one. In 2014 the rumor was 2017 would be the year. Now it looks like it could be the 2022 coming out next fall. I’m very interested.

https://pickuptrucktalk.com/2020/07/2022-toyota-tundra-new-diesel-engine/

 

I'm surprised they never brought over the diesel V8 used in the international (everywhere but here) Land Cruiser 200s. Displacement is just about right, and power figures would let it sit close to other full size diesel pickups. It's probably an emissions problem.

 

This was the original plan back in 2014:

https://www.wardsauto.com/technology/toyota-tundra-set-receive-cummins-diesel

 

Bump

Decent summer for the car, didn't have to do anything to it just to keep it on the road. Just had to fix the fuel rail to delete the pulsation dampener... which was great, because I had already ordered the parts 2 years ago. Love it when that happens! So naturally, I took it out for its final drive, hit a speedbump like I was in my truck and bottomed out the driveshaft so now I need a new one of those.... good excuse to go aluminum, I guess.

Body is starting to look ratty. Here's hoping my stocks go on a great run so I can get a quality refinish done... in this pic you can see the rocker that's gonna need a patch and the paint flaking off the spoiler. Classic cars are so fun

 

Won't bore y'all with the gruesome details, but I managed to get my upgraded OME leaf springs, extra leaves from Supreme Suspensions, and KYB shocks on.

The back end could tow considerably more now, once the hitch is loaded on as well.

Next comes the front torsion bars and keys, and an alignment.




Also, this gonzo shot gives you an idea just how much rust is underneath.

 

Hi everyone. I haven't posted any car stuff here yet. But I spent the last two days upgrading my suspension and brakes for my 1st gen Sequoia. I'm pretty stoked and I had a lot of fun with this project. Here's some before and after pictures. I'll upload a picture of the full vehicle tomorrow since we finished the project around dark tonight.

 

Tested the suspension and started breaking in the new pads. I'm very pleased.

 

Is that a supra? And if so what year? My dad had an 87 when I was a kid that was awesome but blew head gaskets left and right. Sold it the year before I got my driving permit. Still upset about it.

Wait.... Have we had this conversation before? We may have.

 

It's a 10th anniversary RX7.

 

Oh so it is. I'd have recognized it immediately if it were in yellow with a big black spoiler.

Beautiful.

 

Curious to hear opinions on the refreshed BRZ for 2022. I have no doubt it's a better car, engineering-wise, but man I can't say I even remotely like the external styling - but from what I've seen, I think I'm actually in the minority there.

 

A bit hard to decide whether to post this here or the first world problems thread, but here goes anyway:

Goddamned winter tires mess again The law here about using winter tires changed in such a way that you aren't required to use those at all unless the weather requires it. But who decides if the weather is bad enough? I'm a bit worried that it'll be slightly colder one day and then I get pulled over and get a ticket for wrong tires, and then the weather goes back to this 10°C (50°F) and rain bullshit.

Also, wife is driving to Helsinki for the weekend and forecast is showing there might be some snow on the way, but after the weekend it'll just keep raining and be pretty warm. The main issue of course being that the tires are studded, so they make considerably more noise than the normal ones, and I don't want to wear them out more than I have to...

Of course the sensible choice would be to just do it, but ... ... ... I don't know...

 

Is this ‘as well as’ or ‘instead of’ the Performante?

Inquiring minds want to know.