The Automotive (& other mechanized vehicles) thread

[Achtane]

There's an awesome coffee table book (aptly titled Bosozoku) where one side is photos of riders with their bikes and the other is old photos of gang stuff.

[BetterOffShred]

I did the brakes on my Girlfriends moms 2010 Honda Civic, and let me say first of all, I hate the rear brake design. You basically have to remove the emergency brake cables to compress the caliper pistons, and it's just a pain in the ass. She was happy and got me a ticket to the Cougars (WSU) football game this Saturday as payment. Plus her daughter is rad, so that's a win.

[lordgalvar]

I saw that vice doc when it first came out...it was pretty good. I much prefer the bikes too.

Can't trick out this mustang too much...it's my wife's hahaha. She's already kinda pissed about the side drafts. However, anything is an improvement on the looks of those fox bodies. There was a 1960s Ford mustang Japanese model...probably 10 exist. Same a California one with Japanese reflectors and stuff (mustangs....same car, same year, 4 different carbs, maybe has power brakes, different steering geometries, and many close (but not) sharing suspension parts with all those falcon unibodies). Weird the things that Ford saved money on.

Those DKW bikes are weird....piston supercharged 2 strokes with 6 pistons for a 2 cylinder. Fuck Nazis though. Glad their racing history is forgotten (I thought some of the statements in that article about the history was strange...like how Britain demonized the riders....I mean, they were riding bikes made with forced labor...seems like a good reason to not want to be associated)


Honda brakes. Yea, they can be a pain. I had to do something like that with my friend's Accord (like a 2002 or something). I remember having to completely remove the front calipers and the freaking pistons were near impossible to compress. Got it though....I went in like, "oh disc brakes...like an hour max". Haha.

My other friend wanted my help figuring out if a quote was legit on his Volvo c30....the CV joints are bad. They are only like 130 each, but they are like expected to go bad withing 100 k miles. Screw that. His power steering and alternator are on a separate v belt I think away from his main serpentine too. He has had like 2 clutches already...he only had like 60 k miles (to be fair, he ain't that good at shifting). But, dang, makes me not even look at newer Volvo's.

[Achtane]

A '97 Lumina update:
I tried for several hours to reach the power steering pressure line fitting that connects to the steering box. The work area is too small to reach my hand into and too recessed to reach a wrench/crow's foot into with any dexterity. Oh, plus the nut is facing away from you at a weird angle. I almost got it using a ridiculous Voltron of extensions and a U-joint, but no luck. Doesn't look like it's any easier to reach from above without disconnecting a bunch of shit. And I'm not dropping the subframe and moving the exhaust just to replace this stupid line.

My plan was to get a crappy, long 18mm wrench and heat/hammer it into the perfect shape. If I knew how to weld, I could make the perfect tool no problem. Hmm.
But I'll just buy a long, flex head ratchet and try again. The rear tires are toast now. Been sitting too long. Well, they were on the way out anyway, but still.

Seems like every time I work on this car, I start out energetic and fueled by hatred of this stupid thing. Eventually, I just wish I was dead instead. Then I lay under the car for a while, defeated, in an existential pattern of thought.
It's oddly relaxing in a way, just chilling under the car thinking about stuff...

[Chankgeez]

Just don't follow this dude's example:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULVfW1uOW6E

[Achtane]

The comments in that video are something.

I got cut off by a late 80's Skyline in traffic. He didn't have his lights on and it was raining. But his car is still nice, until it gets wrecked at least.

[bigchiefbc]

I'm not up enough on the current market to begin making suggestions.

Which are the cars you're looking at so far?

Cars I've found so far that are around my price range that are at least mildly interesting:

Keep in mind I haven't test driven any of these yet, and I haven't tried to shove my son in the back seat of any of them yet.

2002-2012 Mazda RX-8 6M 9-15K (I've seen a few low mileage ones)
2010-2017 Chevy Camaro SS/Z28 17-25K (meh, not a muscle car guy, really)
2008-2014 Infiniti G37 Coupe 17-21K
2009-2014 Mini Cooper JCW 13-20K (skeptical about this one, but I've heard they're fun to drive)
2013-2017 Honda Accord Coupe EX-L V6/6M 18-22K (boring, but I've heard they're quicker than you'd think)
2013-2016 Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 16-20K (ditto)

Seems like a good size list, but honestly very few of these move the needle for me at ALL. I'm trying to see if there are any fun options I forgot. I also considered the BMW 3/4-series coupe and the Audi A5, but haven't found any in my price range unless they have like 90K miles.

Update time! After going on at least a dozen test drives and enduring hours of dealing with scummy dealers, I have my next car! It's a 2008 RX-8 40th Anniversary Edition. It's in pretty close to mint condition and it has about 50K miles. This is uber exciting to me since I had an FD RX-7 for a few years right after college, and I always loved the sound of the rotary. I also got a 5yr/60K-mile powertrain warranty on it just in case the rotary decides to take a dump on me at some point. I'm freaking pumped!

[Chankgeez]

Yes, that is a nice looking automobile.

(Not crazy about the red upholstery though.)

[bigchiefbc]

:love: Yes, that is a nice looking automobile.

(Not crazy about the red upholstery though.)

It's a brownish-red, not as red as it looks in that picture, but anyways, I dig it.

[Chankgeez]

That's the important thing. Glad you were able to find something you're really into.

[Achtane]

Is pretty!
Not used to seeing 4-person bucket seats. Or 4 in that kinda car at all

[excane]

Love that interior

[bigchiefbc]

The 4-person capacity was actually one of the things that sold me on it. The picture above actually has the driver seat all the way back, which is not how I actually drive. We took our first hour+ drive together as a family in it today and fit perfectly in it. I love this freakin car so much already. It's going in Wednesday for a stereo swap, because the stock doesn't have bluetooth and fuck that I need the bluetooth. Other than that it's freakin perfect for me.

[Achtane]

I watched a person drop their car onto its rotor while changing tires in a parking lot today.
The people around them all backed up, faces covered by their hands, in a collective cringe.

[comesect2.0]

Sooo I've been driving for a few weeks and been trying to find music for driving...I found the idea behind Gary numans "cars" is very real...like if I'm super stressed I can lock all my doors and park lol so far throbbing gristles "splitting sky" and roky ericksons "the wind and more" has been the only thing to rock my car speakers...what yall like to drive to?