Wow, its been decades. Got my password right on the first try. Good thing this isn't one ov those forums that deletes users if they dont post every day...
Insured my lil rat bag last week. 76 MPG no-option trunk with a 2.3 and a stick. My little science experiment... code (re)-name: Rat Bag. Sucker got parked in the mid-2000's when i tried to be a normal person and got a loan and bought a 96 Mustang GT. Life sucks and now, i'm no longer normal again, and i'm back in a Pinto. Life doesn't zoop because i'm back in a Pinto... but because i'm back in MY Pinto. Sitting never does a car good... but THIS one made its desire to rust and die readily apparent when it popped a frost plug BEHIND the tranny, with NO water in the damn engine. That was just to piss me off. So i can either insure my 68 Caddy hearse and enjoy 8MPG, or i can pay some guy to fix my Pinto, which i did, which now involved a new clutch, carb rebuild, AND some lovely gas tank/sender Mickey-Mousing... and well now... THATS apparently just the beginning.
Oh yes. Come for a ride to work with me...
My daily commute now entails: popping the hood to completely refill the rad before EVERY trip (water pump sprung a leak while sitting), it will leak dry in 20 minutes, popping the air cleaner lid off to pour gas down the carb... the REBUILT carb... because it somehow completely drains ov gas if it sits for more than an HOUR. Then i start it up, which immediately wings the RPM's up to a fuel-efficient 3000 or so... because the choke has two settings: 3000 or stall. Tie the choke shut and it will NOT warm up... E-V-E-R. Then i can pretty much either automatic it (3000rpm, just drive with the brake) all the way to work, or i can three-foot it for the first 5 miles till things start getting normal. Thats fun... sailing into traffic, throw it into neutral, two-foot brake and gas to keep it from stalling. Hopefully its not raining (i live in the rainforest) because while (miracle ov miracles!) the wipers work... the blades are pretty much metal-on-glass. The heater is doing SOMETHING... we haven't figured out exactly what yet. I'm told its pretty dramatic to watch... seeing as because WHILE SITTING... the steering rag joint FELL OFF... and its pretty much metal on (unconnected) metal down there. Probably a good thing i dont have responsive steering though... as unlikely as it may seem... also while sitting i think all the front end bushings either fell out, rusted out, or were stolen by gypsy vagabonds. Those wagons you see in old spaghetti-westerns rode nicer and quieter than this rig. SLLLLAM!!!ka-rattlerattle-POW! every bump... Good thing i have those 9" wide Z-rated 17" tires up front! Oh wait... got enough dry-rot in those from sitting (okay, i'll allow that one) that they look like they've got more siping than they came with. Those WERE good Dunlops. Back tires were always bald and cheap, so no loss there. I have some nice Dunlops for the back, but the 235's (yes... taller AND narrower than the front... because you know THAT looks cool...) are already polishing the rust in the inner wells... so i'll need spacers to fit those cool 265's i have. Cause you know... i'm sure you're thinking that this thing NEEEEDS some wicked 17" Z-rated rubber on it...
Back to the drive... again hoping its not raining... those holes in the floor make everything wet when the water falls, even with all the rags i keep for washing my hands after every start-up littering the floor. Oh, and that cranky carb is a DREAM when there's a touch ov humidity in the air as well... Foggy windows now? Oh well... its a narrow car, i can stick my head out the side window if need be. Night is fun, what with all the headlights cutting in and out on me randomly. Shockingly enough, i'm only missing one signal light... WHICH... is pretty much always on because the cancel cam is broken. Got my interior lights back last night too... those 5000rpm clutch-drops to warm the engine up send the lil sucker into some pretty gnarly chassis-wrap and the doors violently whacking against their strikers seem to jar the electrics a bit. Wish they'd jar the fuel gauge to start working again. Even idling around at 3000rpm half the time, then triple-clutching it (to you know... get the thing MOVING) the gimp still gets over 20mpg in town... so you know i get cocky... "Tomorrow... it'll last till tomorrow..." Nope. Out ov gas. Dammit. My start-up jerry can is going to be empty in no time. Which... ov course jammed a hole in my headliner because my seat doesn't move forward or at ALL... aaaaannnd spilled gas all over the bottom back seat half. The top half is ov course collecting bugs and other wildlife in my shed... seeing as it wont stay attached to the car when i stop at lights. Well... i dont actually STOP at lights/signs anymore... battery is too weak to have to re-start it every time. I wonder what the hell is rolling around in the trunk though... key stopped working while it was sitting and the thing hasn't been opened in years.
Always an adventure. Every trip. Its one sexy ride with those 17's and all those cool dents though. As soon as i can find some early bumpers/valences those 700lb rust-planters will be outta there. Hoping they dont actually fall off before i do though... otherwise i'll be fabbing some duct-tape roll-pans. Actually... i bet that'd STILL look better than those stupid fat-lip bumpers.
Man, i REALLY wanted to drive this thing (seriously!). The car however... is on a different page it seems. 8mpg is looking pretty good right now... BUT... gas costs $1.50 a liter here (over $5 a gallon)... so until it dies or i have my friend with his military Humvee (H1) drive over it, i'm back. And i've got a lot ov questions.....