The gearhead thread.

[hugodrax]

. . . If they ever put a car guy in charge of that place they could be a challenger again.

I nominate FredS for the Inadvertent Pun of the Month award.

I'm pulling for you for Curmudgeon of the Year. You're not only charmingly grumpy, you almost always have a point, Fred. It's delightful.

[FredS]

I think I've posted about this guy before. A racer from my hometown. A few years before my time, Mr Inyard was a schoolmate of my dad.
Imagine, if you will, where Fred's jewels are and what would happen if the rear end or clutch grenaded.


Remember when guys worked on race cars in the dirt next to their house? Remember when boys rode bikes?
The front 'suspension' on this thing looks sketchy as hell.


These cars ran in the AG (Altered Gas) class. Altered? Ya think?

[Hovannes]

Here you go----
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=221&v=aeZ0BUc3kMw

[durangopipe]

I think I've posted about this guy before. A racer from my hometown. A few years before my time, Mr Inyard was a schoolmate of my dad.
Imagine, if you will, where Fred's jewels are and what would happen if the rear end or clutch grenaded.


Remember when guys worked on race cars in the dirt next to their house? Remember when boys rode bikes?
The front 'suspension' on this thing looks sketchy as hell.


These cars ran in the AG (Altered Gas) class. Altered? Ya think?

Love those photos!

Along with admiration and a ton of nostalgia, thoughts about sitting on top of a grenade with the pin pulled and sketchy front suspension . . .

those straight pipes aimed right at the driver’s ears in the days before anyone wore hearing protection - I’m guessing Mr. Inyard was asking, “Say that again?” a lot in his later years. (Like I find myself doing now!)

[durangopipe]

Here you go----
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=221&v=aeZ0BUc3kMw

Oh ya. Dat’s a good one, don’tcha know.

[durangopipe]

I’m not working on a project car these days - haven’t in many, many years - but I do follow this thread religiously, so to speak.

Fred . . .
Have you ever posted a photo of your small block Cobra?
I’d love to see it.

[FredS]

The business office:


This picture is a few years old and it's still in essentially this condition. I don't care for bodywork and I don't really want to pay a shop to finish and paint it, so I'm at a standoff with myself. Every winter I say I'll take it to the paint shop and get it finished next spring. We'll see. It's still in Kansas City but I may drag it out to CO next week if I can find a trailer while I'm back there on business. I'll have to find a local garage to store it though because Mrs FredS would skin me alive if I crowded her out of our garage.


The engine is a mostly stock, fuel injected, 1990 FSB. It's bored a little oversized with new internals, a bumpy cam from Ford Racing, reworked heads with big valves, springs and roller rockers. Dependable as heck.

[FredS]

A funny story:
You can see an aluminum tube over the upper steering shaft to the right side of the engine. I think it's from an old set of volleyball poles I scrounged from the kids crap. It was painted white and it took a while to get the paint stripped and to make some mounts to hold it in place. Mrs FredS said she didn't understand why in the world I was spending so much time on something no one would ever see. I said' What do you mean? It's right there in the open!" She said 'Well yeah, when the hood's open. Who's ever going to look under the hood?"

[Hovannes]

I found a 95 GMC Sonoma short bed 4x4 regular cab 4.3 V-6 with a straight body AC blowing cold and needing an ABS brake actuator and a catalytic converter. An ex county vehicle. I can probably pick it up for a couple of hundred.
I was thinking of a project for my son, plus a 4x4 PU is always handy. Worth pursuing, in your estimation?

[Roadmaster]

I found a 95 GMC Sonoma short bed 4x4 regular cab 4.3 V-6 with a straight body AC blowing cold and needing an ABS brake actuator and a catalytic converter. An ex county vehicle. I can probably pick it up for a couple of hundred.
I was thinking of a project for my son, plus a 4x4 PU is always handy. Worth pursuing, in your estimation?

Around here something like that would probably go for $1000 and up. But around here the catalytic converter and the ABS Actuator would get pitched in the scrap metal pile.

[sweetandsour]

Couple of weeks ago I helped three older ladies jump start their car. I opened the hood and after a minute or two looking for a battery, I asked the driver if she happened to know where the battery was. She thought it was in the trunk, so we opened the trunk and had a look around. No battery there, so on a whim I ask the lady sitting in the back seat if she would please get out. I lifted the back seat and there was the battery, right there under the seat big as you please. I still can't believe it.

[FredS]

I found a 95 GMC Sonoma short bed 4x4 regular cab 4.3 V-6 with a straight body AC blowing cold and needing an ABS brake actuator and a catalytic converter. An ex county vehicle. I can probably pick it up for a couple of hundred.
I was thinking of a project for my son, plus a 4x4 PU is always handy. Worth pursuing, in your estimation?

Around here something like that would probably go for $1000 and up. But around here the catalytic converter and the ABS Actuator would get pitched in the scrap metal pile.

Does a '95 have to pass a smog check? If not you can buy a 'test pipe'. For off road use only of course. Even with a new cat, a truck that old is probably so out of tune and worn out that it wouldn't pass the test. The ABS actuators are about $150. Not worth it if you ask me unless it has to pass an inspection. Even then, yellow warning lights don't usually fail an inspection - it's the red ones that you need to worry about.

[FredS]

Couple of weeks ago I helped three older ladies jump start their car. I opened the hood and after a minute or two looking for a battery, I asked the driver if she happened to know where the battery was. She thought it was in the trunk, so we opened the trunk and had a look around. No battery there, so on a whim I ask the lady sitting in the back seat if she would please get out. I lifted the back seat and there was the battery, right there under the seat big as you please. I still can't believe it.

It's the damnedest thing idnit? There's also a second fuse block and probably a computer under there.

[Roadmaster]

I found a 95 GMC Sonoma short bed 4x4 regular cab 4.3 V-6 with a straight body AC blowing cold and needing an ABS brake actuator and a catalytic converter. An ex county vehicle. I can probably pick it up for a couple of hundred.
I was thinking of a project for my son, plus a 4x4 PU is always handy. Worth pursuing, in your estimation?

Around here something like that would probably go for $1000 and up. But around here the catalytic converter and the ABS Actuator would get pitched in the scrap metal pile.

Does a '95 have to pass a smog check? If not you can buy a 'test pipe'. For off road use only of course. Even with a new cat, a truck that old is probably so out of tune and worn out that it wouldn't pass the test. The ABS actuators are about $150. Not worth it if you ask me unless it has to pass an inspection. Even then, yellow warning lights don't usually fail an inspection - it's the red ones that you need to worry about.

Lots of guys want a straight body regular cab and I'm assuming rust free as it's in California for a small block Chevy transplant. As for smog check I have never heard of it. I think cats are required but I don't know of anybody that actually checks for them.

[durangopipe]

A funny story:
You can see an aluminum tube over the upper steering shaft to the right side of the engine. I think it's from an old set of volleyball poles I scrounged from the kids crap. It was painted white and it took a while to get the paint stripped and to make some mounts to hold it in place. Mrs FredS said she didn't understand why in the world I was spending so much time on something no one would ever see. I said' What do you mean? It's right there in the open!" She said 'Well yeah, when the hood's open. Who's ever going to look under the hood?"

Great story, Fred.
Thanks for posting the photos.

I’m drooling as we speak.

[Roadmaster]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoGKG8-9URw

[JimVH]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoGKG8-9URw

'Murica

[Hovannes]

Any thoughts on 2001 Nissan Xterras? My son is considering one listed on Craig's. 150k on the clock, manual trans.
Anything special to look out for?

[Hovannes]

We're bringing the Xterra home tomorrow!
The boy's really jazzed about it!

[FredS]

My friend Randy and I, circa '83. Simpler - and skinnier - times. One of us grew up, one of us didn't. Randy became a hermit, sort of isolated himself from family and friends. He died last month. This ol' world is just a hard place for some.