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  #241  
Old 11-13-2015, 11:56 AM
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Arcanine Arcanine is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamakiri View Post
After 11 years of ownership, the '85 Chevy van that we called "Patches", burned up in an underhood fire . I owed my whole life to that van. Saw my kids from diapers to teenagers.

My stepson borrowed it to move stuff with, and he couldn't get it started. It was raining sideways over by his place, and I figured something got wet. I got it running, and figured the water would work itself out, which it did. Stopped for gas, and there was an occasional miss, but everything seemed to be okay....until it backfired hard, shot flames out the tailpipe, and stalled at a light, where I saw a wisp of smoke come from under the hood. I told him "GET OUT", popped the hood, and the flames rolled out

As you can see, the damage was extensive, but I decided I was gonna fix it anyway. This van was my baby. I removed the plugs, cleaned out all the debris, removed everything that was melted and burned, then pulled and bench tested the starter and reinstalled it with wiring to roll the engine over.

The engine was locked up solid. With sagging rear springs, rusted brake lines, nonexistent lower control arm bushings, cracked windshield, and a body that was starting to rust badly....it was time to call it done.

This week, I invested $400 into a '96 Grand Caravan with 187K. Runs great and the body's pretty rust free, just a little bruised up. I put some tires on it yesterday, and I'll need to work on a few little issues....but all in all it seems to be a good solid ride. And I won't have to fill my Cadillac DTS with crap at ETF, I'll drive this instead.

It's really hard to let go of Patches, but she's just too far gone. Anyone need any full size van parts?
Did it still have the original Delco stereo in it? And did the fire not damage it? I know the radio is above the dog house on those. I collect car radios!
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  #242  
Old 11-13-2015, 12:41 PM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcanine View Post
Did it still have the original Delco stereo in it? And did the fire not damage it? I know the radio is above the dog house on those. I collect car radios!
Did you see the older Delco car radio, that had the external MPX adaptor. Late 60's, I would estimate!
It was WARCI swap meet last sunday.
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  #243  
Old 11-13-2015, 12:47 PM
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Kamakiri Kamakiri is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcanine View Post
Did it still have the original Delco stereo in it? And did the fire not damage it? I know the radio is above the dog house on those. I collect car radios!
The doghouse did its job, and the fire never touched the interior whatsoever, to my amazement. I think it's an old Pioneer Supertuner or some such in the dash. Or maybe it's a Craig. I've had about half a dozen radios in there and I don't remember off the top of my head.

I have a few aftermarket two knobbers here, you can have em all for the shipping costs, including that one, if you want.
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  #244  
Old 11-13-2015, 11:03 PM
centralradio centralradio is offline
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I drive now a 2002 Subaru Forester and have a 1978 Old's Cutlass Ciera for a backup and over the years I had a 1985 and 1977 Chevy Caprice station wagons a 1974 Plymouth Satellite and a 1969 Pontiac Firebird.

Started with a 6 cyl 3 V8's now 2 4cylinders.

I'm still kicking my a$$ for not keeping the Firebird.I could off fix it up.


I just love those Delco radios.I snatch both out of the Caprice wagons before I got rid of them.Great selectivity and sensitivity and sound.I cant recall if I pulled the AM radio out of the Firebird but recall the days I used a Audiovox FM converter with it.The same with the Plymouth AM radio.
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  #245  
Old 01-14-2016, 12:17 AM
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ZackN920 ZackN920 is offline
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Sucks to read about what happened to your old van, Kamakiri. That body shot didn't look bad.
Hey Arcanine, I've never seen one of them (rebadged) Ford pickups before. The only thing close to that, that I remember is the Chevy Luv pickup. I think dodge had a rebadge little pick up too, but I don't remember the name.

Been working on the Waggy some...When warm enough. Changed brake lines and front calipers, and I got the squishy brakes fixed. Cleaned it inside and out, and did a little work on some of the rust. I've got a carb rebuild, fuel pump replacement, and steering box swap to do next. Then I'll (hopefully) be able to daily drive it, with out having to worry about anything.
Got lots of better pics of it now! Here's a few...
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 101_3691s.jpg (100.8 KB, 15 views)
File Type: jpg 101_3695s.jpg (84.8 KB, 12 views)
File Type: jpg 101_3699s.jpg (109.8 KB, 6 views)
File Type: jpg 101_3706s.jpg (82.6 KB, 10 views)
File Type: jpg 101_3708s.jpg (80.0 KB, 10 views)
File Type: jpg 101_3725s.jpg (120.9 KB, 18 views)
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  #246  
Old 01-14-2016, 02:35 AM
Dude111 Dude111 is offline
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I only drive my bike (When I do -- I havent in along time)
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  #247  
Old 01-15-2016, 09:15 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamakiri View Post
After 11 years of ownership, the '85 Chevy van that we called "Patches", burned up in an underhood fire . I owed my whole life to that van. Saw my kids from diapers to teenagers.

My stepson borrowed it to move stuff with, and he couldn't get it started. It was raining sideways over by his place, and I figured something got wet. I got it running, and figured the water would work itself out, which it did. Stopped for gas, and there was an occasional miss, but everything seemed to be okay....until it backfired hard, shot flames out the tailpipe, and stalled at a light, where I saw a wisp of smoke come from under the hood. I told him "GET OUT", popped the hood, and the flames rolled out

As you can see, the damage was extensive, but I decided I was gonna fix it anyway. This van was my baby. I removed the plugs, cleaned out all the debris, removed everything that was melted and burned, then pulled and bench tested the starter and reinstalled it with wiring to roll the engine over.

The engine was locked up solid. With sagging rear springs, rusted brake lines, nonexistent lower control arm bushings, cracked windshield, and a body that was starting to rust badly....it was time to call it done.
Man, that's rough. I always liked those old cargo vans.

She went with a lion's roar and went down fighting anyway. I wouldn't expect less of good old American iron in the hands of a dedicated owner.
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  #248  
Old 01-15-2016, 09:51 AM
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Kamakiri Kamakiri is offline
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Patches' replacement is doing much better now that I've dumped a bunch of money into it.....I've replaced the driver's side CV axle, oil pan, valve cover gasket, EGR valve and transducer, oil change, tune up, tires (got a great deal on 4 used mounted on rims off CL), brakes, rad hoses, rear shocks, door lock actuators, a couple door seals, and repaired the ABS.

Since I have TV trips coming up and it's snowy and cold out, I took it to a friend's shop to diagnose a coolant leak that I couldn't find, and a transmission leak that I thought was the side gearcase cover. The coolant leak was the water pump, and the transmission leak ended up being a cracked solenoid pack. Total bill on that was just over $500....owch.

It's throwing an intermittent P0420 code for the EGR that replacing the EGR didn't solve, so in the spring I'll have to yank and clean the intake.

One problem though....I was doing the front valve cover and I noticed that one of the intake bolts moved when I grazed it with my knuckle. Someone must have tried to tighten it to clear the code, and the sucker must have snapped off. The previous owner just stuck the rest of the bolt back in the hole, and must have walked away whistling with his hands folded behind his back looking up at the sky.....

Either way, I'll get it done. Done worse

Still, all in all, I now have a touch under $1200 into it. And in the end, it'll be a FAR more reliable vehicle than a $1200 vehicle I would buy elsewhere, because anything in this price range you KNOW will need work of some kind. Some worse, some better.....but in the cheap minivan genre, it's difficult to find one that anyone ever cared about.
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  #249  
Old 01-15-2016, 03:22 PM
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pac.attack76 pac.attack76 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcanine View Post
1992 Ford Ranger Super-Cab

I bought this recently to replace a Saturn that was nearing what I believed to be 450K miles on the engine. I ended up selling it to a nice kid down in Indiana whos fixing it back up. I was tired of driving a small car, and I needed something large. I figure instead of spend more on the Saturn, I sold it and got what I needed instead.

Cost me $950, with some pulling from savings and what have you. I've done some mild work to it already but it seems to be very solid, well taken care of and so far, very reliable. 2.9L Cologne V6, A4LD 4-Speed Auto, 4x4. Seems like a pretty strong little truck to me. It really has a lot of features that resemble a 1994 Ford Explorer I used to own many years ago.

It's going to be my winter truck to a large degree. I won't drive the Courier after the first measurable snow fall. It get's a cover tossed on it and put away for the winter.


1980 Ford Courier

This is my baby. Hardly any of these left in the world, let alone on the road. This little champ came to me in a trade. I had a 1991 Volkswagen Cabriolet Etienne Aigner edition convertible. I bought it because I thought it was super cool, and it turned out to be a huge pain in the ass. So I tossed it on Craigslist after 6 months of messing with it, and with in a week, an email comes in from a nice fella up in Milwaukee, offering me a "Courier". I was extremely skeptical at first.

I wanted a truck, plain and simple, but I had never heard of a "Courier" so I looked at the pictures and Googled it, and found out, it was Fords little truck before the Ranger. Mazda Built in japan, chicken tax truck. Engine, and bed attached here on the west coast. Packed with a Ford 2.3L and a Mazda 5-Speed manual box. I was all ears.

We talked for over a week and a half over email and I finally went to see it. It was a disaster. It barely ran because of vacuum leaks, and had a lot of "What am I even doing?!" repairs. We traded, I drove it home over 100 miles, after stopping for gas and getting clever with a roll of duct tape, it ran fine.

Never had an issue since!

Never could stand these old trucks, much less their appearance. Neighbors across the street from me have one and you can hear them coming in and leaving. Sounds like a mini tank. Shouldn't be allowed to drive it at night. Too loud. I can't recall how many times I've seen them under the hood of that thing and underneath it working on it. If I were to own another truck, it would have to be a Chevy Silverado up to 1987. Only thing is after some experience, I don't trust them too much due to poor maintenance from previous owners. Bought a 1986 from a guy that said everything was perfect and engine just rebuilt. $2200 and a month later, it overheated and blew.
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  #250  
Old 01-15-2016, 04:00 PM
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[QUOTE=ZackN920;3153943]Sucks to read about what happened to your old van, Kamakiri. That body shot didn't look bad.
Hey Arcanine, I've never seen one of them (rebadged) Ford pickups before. The only thing close to that, that I remember is the Chevy Luv pickup. I think dodge had a rebadge little pick up too, but I don't remember the name.


Chevy Luv=Isuzu
ford Courier=Mazda
dodge d50=Mitsubishi

interestingly enough, all 3 still have ties with these Japanese company's

I always thought AMC vehicles were interesting using different manufacturers parts. Generally the engines were AMC, Automatics were Chrysler, Power seats were GM, Steering column was GM, P/S pumps were Saginaw(GM), ignition systems were Ford duraspark(usually), A/C/heat look GM. Did they use Spicer axles?

I owned a lot of Volvo's over the years. They did the same thing in the 80's. DAna rear axles, Aisin automatics, Saginaw P/S pumps, engine was Volvo, Brakes were ATE or Girling
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  #251  
Old 01-15-2016, 04:10 PM
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pac.attack76 pac.attack76 is offline
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[QUOTE=mstaton;3154074]
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZackN920 View Post
Sucks to read about what happened to your old van, Kamakiri. That body shot didn't look bad.
Hey Arcanine, I've never seen one of them (rebadged) Ford pickups before. The only thing close to that, that I remember is the Chevy Luv pickup. I think dodge had a rebadge little pick up too, but I don't remember the name.


Chevy Luv=Isuzu
ford Courier=Mazda
dodge d50=Mitsubishi

interestingly enough, all 3 still have ties with these Japanese company's

I always thought AMC vehicles were interesting using different manufacturers parts. Generally the engines were AMC, Automatics were Chrysler, Power seats were GM, Steering column was GM, P/S pumps were Saginaw(GM), ignition systems were Ford duraspark(usually), A/C/heat look GM. Did they use Spicer axles?

I owned a lot of Volvo's over the years. They did the same thing in the 80's. DAna rear axles, Aisin automatics, Saginaw P/S pumps, engine was Volvo, Brakes were ATE or Girling
Yeah those amc vehicles were pretty cool. They made some fairly ugly cars too but I always had a thing for the gremlins though. I don't think I'd want a vehicle made of different parts. With so many choices on the road, I have no idea what made them want to combine like that. First time I seen one of those dodge mitsu trucks, I was like wth?
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  #252  
Old 01-16-2016, 10:21 AM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by centralradio View Post
I drive now a 2002 Subaru Forester and have a 1978 Old's Cutlass Ciera for a backup and over the years I had a 1985 and 1977 Chevy Caprice station wagons a 1974 Plymouth Satellite and a 1969 Pontiac Firebird.

Started with a 6 cyl 3 V8's now 2 4cylinders.

I'm still kicking my a$$ for not keeping the Firebird.I could off fix it up.


I just love those Delco radios.I snatch both out of the Caprice wagons before I got rid of them.Great selectivity and sensitivity and sound.I cant recall if I pulled the AM radio out of the Firebird but recall the days I used a Audiovox FM converter with it.The same with the Plymouth AM radio.
I use an Audiovox FM converter to provide FM on my big old RCA V301 console radio. That model RCA was the second most expensive 1941 RCA radio. I just run it through the AM antenna input, to take advantage of the variable bandpass IF. The radio has a real impressive audio and tone control circuit and that big red 15" speaker.
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  #253  
Old 01-17-2016, 10:39 AM
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ZackN920 ZackN920 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mstaton View Post
Chevy Luv=Isuzu
ford Courier=Mazda
dodge d50=Mitsubishi

interestingly enough, all 3 still have ties with these Japanese company's

I always thought AMC vehicles were interesting using different manufacturers parts. Generally the engines were AMC, Automatics were Chrysler, Power seats were GM, Steering column was GM, P/S pumps were Saginaw(GM), ignition systems were Ford duraspark(usually), A/C/heat look GM. Did they use Spicer axles?

I owned a lot of Volvo's over the years. They did the same thing in the 80's. DAna rear axles, Aisin automatics, Saginaw P/S pumps, engine was Volvo, Brakes were ATE or Girling
Somehow I'm not surprised they still have ties with them.
Well, you have everything pretty much listed out that the Wag uses!
But before 1980, at least on the FSJ's, they were using GM auto's. As for the axles, They had a few of there own and they also used Dana axles. Wag's got the 44 front and back. The AC in the full size jeeps is one of the stupidest set up's(to me). It looks like an after thought(add on) and is set up to cool your knee's. What the hell's good/luxury about that?! They should have redesigned the dash at some point and put the vents in it, where air vents belong!!

Hmm, you know, the Cherokee's used Aisin/Borg Warner trannies too! Believe they used the AW4 model, very good auto, pretty reliable too! My XJ's currently got 173K and it shifts pretty good. Ive seen them at 3-400K miles and still going with no rebuild. Same with the 4.0 engine's.

Quote:
Originally Posted by pac.attack76 View Post
Yeah those amc vehicles were pretty cool. They made some fairly ugly cars too but I always had a thing for the gremlins though. I don't think I'd want a vehicle made of different parts. With so many choices on the road, I have no idea what made them want to combine like that. First time I seen one of those dodge mitsu trucks, I was like wth?
Ha! everybody pretty much had there share of ugly cars. The most interesting car though, (and kinda ugly in a lot of peoples view) that AMC built would have to be the Pacer.
I like the Gremlins too. We've got 1 in town that I know of, and believe it or not, it's the guy's plow truck! He put the body on a small 4X4 chassis! It's a pretty cool set up! It don't even sit much higher than stock either!
Well, with there name being American Motors Corp. It's no surprise there made from other American manufacturer's parts. And general parts aren't too hard to find either, because of that!
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  #254  
Old 01-30-2016, 11:56 AM
Tom9589 Tom9589 is offline
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I've got quite a menagerie. Here goes:

1981 300SD Mercedes (292K miles) The 588th car to roll off the assembly line of this series.
1982 300SD Mercedes (311K miles)
2002 Chevrolet Suburban (164K miles) Gotta have something to haul TVs in!
2007 Ford Explorer (95k miles) Its electronics keeps me on my toes

We have owned a total of seven Mercedes, six of which were diesel. We have also owned a 6.2L GMC diesel Suburban. That's a whole different story!
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  #255  
Old 02-05-2016, 04:06 AM
Dude111 Dude111 is offline
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Very nice
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