Bulldrek v3.0

This is the general, all-purpose car thread, for talking about your car, asking questions about cars, or whatever the hell else.

I'm going to start us off with the promised pictures of my radiator. But first, some background:

A couple of years ago, I bought a used 1986 BMW 325e from a friend of mine, who had been modifying it for autocross racing. It was in great mechanical condition, but had several strange electrical problems [gas gauge didn't work, speedometer didn't work, a couple other indicators and functions didn't work]. It had what in Michigan, for a 20-year-old car, isn't a lot of rust, but more than most people would like to see on their cars. [I have a picture of the car from when I first bought it, but I forgot to bring that. I'll post it when I get to where it is.]

The previous owner bought it from a friend of his who is a BMW mechanic. [Still my mechanic, actually, when I don't just fix it myself.] Between the two of them, they'd put in a cold-air cone intake, drilled/slotted rotors and grippy pads, a performance chip, and some other miscellania like racing tires and rims. [Kind of "boy racer" rims, which I've never liked.] In short, it's the most fun car I've ever had the joy of driving. While slightly anemic on the power front - maybe 120hp? - it handles like nothing I've ever driven. The limit of speed in a corner is not the car; it's my balls, or lack thereof.

So I babied my car, going through the process of restoring her to mint condition. [And "original condition," as well, from an appearance standpoint: I wanted her to look like she'd just rolled off the factory floor, but drive like a racer.] I fixed the worst of the electrical problems, restored a lot of interior and exterior trim, and looked after her mechanically. I had very few problems: a few engine relays blew once, and I snapped the cable leading from the gas pedal to the engine throttle. I also tore off the exhaust while off-roading: with my winter tires on, the car's a fair imitation of a rally car [no surprise, since BMW raced them as such].

Last fall, though, while driving home in the middle of the night, I hit my first deer ever. [Which, after hundreds of thousands of backroads miles in Michigan, is a miracle and a testament to the teaching of my father.] I barely clipped her, and the damage wasn't extensive. All the damage, thankfully, was cosmetic, and after bending some body panels and doing some touch-ups, I was perfectly satisfied. She lacked her grille, and had a sort of sneer - the damage was all to the passenger-side front corner - but everything worked, and she finally looked like a car someone like me should drive: beaten.

Then I tore off the exhaust, and when I took it to Prestige - my shop - they told me some alarming news: all was not well on the mechanical front. The damage had pushed my radiator up against the engine fan, preventing it from turning, and doing damage to the radiator. They warned that if the fan was able to turn, it would tear the radiator apart. I scoffed: I'd been driving it like this for probably three months; if it was going to break, it would have.

I was wrong.

One day, on the way to work, I heard a horrible grinding noise. Not having learned my lesson from the blown engine in the Cadillac, I kept driving the remaining mile to work. Once there, I looked, and sure enough, there were tiny shards of radiator fin everywhere. The fan had turned, and now there was no stopping it. At least the damage to the radiator wasn't terminal: it didn't leak, and would end up cooling fine.

During the day, I tried various fixes, but with the tools on hand, there was nothing I could do. Flippantly, one of my co-workers suggested I just break the blades off the fan. Struck by this ingenuity, I did just that, and the problem was solved. For a couple of weeks.

Last week, I was driving out to my parents' house to pick up my daughter when my "low coolant" light came on. Having learned my lesson [finally] I stopped immediately. I wasn't worried, though: I leak antifreeze a little bit, and I hadn't added any in a while. So a top-off, and I'd be on my way. I opened my [delightfully reverse-opening] hood, and saw coolant everywhere. This didn't make any sense! I didn't have any leaks this large.

Then I noticed the radiator wasn't bolted to the top frame anymore. It had thus fallen backward...onto the jagged stumps of radiator fan.

Witness. [Different view.] Okay, beginning from the outside, with the "C ring," you can see the broad sweep where the fan blades ran over the surface of the fan, flattening fins but doing no structural damage. Moving inward, we reach the B ring, where the jagged stumps of fanblade, as well as the outer ring of the fan housing, ground into the actual coolant pipes, and within that, the C ring where the fan hub/clutch assembly wore through. I can't tell if it's damage in the B or C ring that actually did her in, but she's dead, Jim.

So I bought a new radiator, which isn't in yet, but in order to make it fit - because the damage bent this radiator, which is why it fit at all - I'll need to totally remove the fan, which means not only two large and expensive tools I don't own, but also that whenever I stop moving, no air will flow over the radiator. Which would be a bigger problem, if I ever stopped moving while driving. I tried to cut it off with a Dremel, but the Germans built her to last: I went through about 20 cutting disks before I gave up.

I've also removed the air conditioning, which removes a [non-functional] auxilliary fan and the impedance of the AC radiator, meaning air can now directly pour through, hopefully keeping things cool enough. I don't use the AC, anyway, and it's removal means an extra 3-5hp for not having to drive its compressor, and a major weight savings [probably 40-50lbs, at least, when it's all out.] Plus, the front end now looks...muscle-car-ish. And beaten. I love it.

So that's the story of my car, thus far, as promised. I'm sure I'll be back with more car stuff.

My car recently died. Not quietly, but not gloriously either. It sucks. It was definitely the coolest car I've driven so far. Check the photo's here.

Oh, dude, that sucks. That's a sweet little car. What hit you?!

Come to think of it, that's the same car JP's ex-girlfriend [WONG] was driving when she got in an accident bad enough that we tried sticking magnets to her afterward. [This was pre-Bishop, so a few plates and pins really impressed us.]

3278 wrote:Oh, dude, that sucks. That's a sweet little car. What hit you?!

Nothing that fancy. My father was in the passenger seat, his friend was driving. His friend suffered head trauma, a ruptured spleen, 7 broken ribs, both broken shoulders, puntured lung, etc. My father suffered some broken bones in his face, but nothing else. He wasn't the most beautiful man to begin with so no biggie. His friend is up and running again, so he's cool.

What did they hit? Well, my father's friend wasn't used to driving anything with more than 100 bhp, so he lost control of the car on a wet road and they hit a tree. The side of the car was ripped open and my father's friend was flung out.

Wow. That sucks.

Damn. Did you, like, kick his ass?

3278 wrote:Damn. Did you, like, kick his ass?

No, actually I didn't. I didn't think it appropriate to pummel him into a fine paste while he was strapped to a hospital bed with more tubes coming out of him than the London Underground. Later, when he was ready for an arse-kickin', I had already made a deal with the insurrance company, my father, and the garage that bought the...carcass of my car, that netted me more money than my car was worth.

DV8 wrote:

3278 wrote:Damn. Did you, like, kick his ass?

No, actually I didn't. I didn't think it appropriate to pummel him into a fine paste while he was strapped to a hospital bed with more tubes coming out of him than the London Underground.

It's much easier then...

Dear gods. Deer and trees... I'm staying the hell away from Michigan.

Don't drive. No car.

Daki wrote:

Dear gods. Deer and trees... I'm staying the hell away from Michigan.

I've hit two. The first one did $3,000+ damage to my pickup. (Hooray for full coverage insurance!) The second one didn't hurt the truck at all - I just tapped its hoof.

Word to the wise: Never drive through the upper penninsula on a road trip in the middle of the night in the fall/autumn season. I tried to drive through it between the hours of 2 and 4 AM on my way back from Wisconsin. I lost count about halfway through the U.P. at 51 deer on the side of the road.

Personally? I'm all for Dad having some venison for us at Christmas time.

Having a car in Amsterdam is kind of pointless unless you need it for work or like to spend weekends away. I'm all for the second option so at some point I'll probably look around for a car. Since I moved here I sold mine to my brother. Drive it only a few times a year now when I visit Poland.

I think it's the American in me, but I just can't get used to tiny cars...

jo_alex wrote:Having a car in Amsterdam is kind of pointless unless you need it for work or like to spend weekends away. I'm all for the second option so at some point I'll probably look around for a car. Since I moved here I sold mine to my brother. Drive it only a few times a year now when I visit Poland.

What part of Poland?

Daki wrote:What part of Poland?

Warsaw.

Cash wrote:I think it's the American in me, but I just can't get used to tiny cars...

I like tiny in cars.

*tries to imagine Eva and Deev in a tiny car*

*snicker*

Of course, Deev did have a del Sol...

My project car, a 1962 Austin Healey Sprite with the front sheetmetal from a 1952 Bugeye/Frogeye style Sprite already in place.



It came stock with a 1098 motor, to bad its neither italian nor made by Ducati...Weber is of unknown size, suspected of being a 45DCOE.



Waiting in the wings, still not 100% sure we are going to install it, is a QR25 2.5 litre Nissan DOHC 180hp motor. Caveat, its from a front wheel drive car, having issues finding a transmission with a bellhousing close enough to make an adapter plate for.



This is my wife's car. 1999 Miata. It too needs some work, but the deal was just way to hard to pass up. Since we got it, we have put 15,000 miles on it with multiple road trips.

Cash wrote:Of course, Deev did have a del Sol...

Instead of getting into that car, it was like wearing it. It was tiny without it being tight.

Cash wrote:*tries to imagine Eva and Deev in a tiny car*

Actually, Matiz could be Dutch. It's compact, true, but tall.

Daki wrote:Dear gods. Deer and trees... I'm staying the hell away from Michigan.

I remember a conversation we had once about when it was appropriate to use your high beams, and Caz and Barb said, "Never," which a fair number of people agreed with. My comments were along the lines of, "Y'all are city folk, ain't you?" You drive in Michigan, particularly before deer [hunting] season [when the herds' populations are largest], particularly at dusk or dawn, and you're taking your life into your own hands. I absolutely cannot believe I got off this lightly. At the speed I was going, in the size of car that I have, if I hadn't hit her just right, my car would be a write-off.

People who support total gun bans or total hunting bands always get an earful from me about the number of human lives saved be keeping the deer population under control. We've driven off all their predators, and we have so many of the damned things they wander around the city, from park to park. Only their ludicrous skittishness keeps them from just ruling the state.

jo_alex wrote:Actually, Matiz could be Dutch. It's compact, true, but tall.

Yeah, I suspect the new "extra-tall mini-MPV" segment is specifically targeted to the Dutch: very small in X and Y dimensions, but very large in the Z.

*waggles eyebrows suggestively*

3278 wrote: I remember a conversation we had once about when it was appropriate to use your high beams, and Caz and Barb said, "Never," which a fair number of people agreed with.

....

Never use high beams?

*boggle*

That's the thing: if you only drive in the city, or if your out-of-town excursions are on expressways or heavily-traveled highways, high beams seem inappropriate. But here, in essence, if my headlights won't fall into anyone's line-of-sight, I have the high beams on. I have to.

3278 wrote:That's the thing: if you only drive in the city, or if your out-of-town excursions are on expressways or heavily-traveled highways, high beams seem inappropriate. But here, in essence, if my headlights won't fall into anyone's line-of-sight, I have the high beams on. I have to.

Ditto. It's one of the standard questions on the driver's tests up here.

Instant Cash wrote:Never use high beams?

About a year after I bought my car, I was driving back home from a friend's place around 3-4 am in winter time. It was the first time I was driving that road - through a dense forest. I was really struggling to see the road properly. Only after about 10 minutes or so of careful driving I remembered that there should be something like high beams on my car. It took me another minute or so to figure out how to turn them on... What 3278 said - you don't even think about high beams if you are used to driving in the city only.

Incidentally, do Moose range across that area of the states? My knowledge is lacking in that respect, but you can all count yourselves lucky if you don't have to worry about a two ton behemoth, seven feet at the shoulder, falling through your windshield when you clip its legs.

Down here in the Mitten portion of the state we don't, but I've heard that there are some Moose up North.

Yeah, really only up nort'. We basically just have deer and coyote [and domestic and farm animals] to deal with down here, but up there you've got moose and wolf and wildcats, too.

Szechuan wrote:Incidentally, do Moose range across that area of the states? My knowledge is lacking in that respect, but you can all count yourselves lucky if you don't have to worry about a two ton behemoth, seven feet at the shoulder, falling through your windshield when you clip its legs.

We don't get Moose, but more Elk are hit more then deer starting about an hour north of me, and we have a lot of mule deer, think large dogs with antlers. Then of course there are the jackalopes and coyotes, not to mention the wild pigs that range across the roads locally.

jo_alex wrote:

Daki wrote:What part of Poland?

Warsaw.

Ah, too far south. I just found out last year I still have family in Gdansk and was wondering if they might have been in the same area.

Daki wrote:I just found out last year I still have family in Gdansk and was wondering if they might have been in the same area.

If you have family there, it is really worthwhile to pay them a visit once. It's a beautiful city.

I think I may make the trip then. I have never been anywhere near the coast so I had no idea what it was like.

I'd like to visit Poland, amongst other areas. There are a few sites I'd like to see.

Daki wrote:I think I may make the trip then. I have never been anywhere near the coast so I had no idea what it was like.

The coast varies. Gdansk is quite exceptional, since it was German for so long - with typical German architecture (actually, come to think of it, the old town resembles one of the squares in Amsterdam a bit), an old port (with some medieval elements). It's connected with another city - Gdynia, in which port there are some II WW ships stationed you may go on board of. Close by is Sopot - with the long wooden pier - a typical summer holiday destination. If you go there - spend at least a day in Wladyslawowo - it's one of the most popular seaside resorts with really awesome food stalls next to the beach. And if you feel like travelling furhter away from Gdansk along the coastline (to the west) - I recommend Slowinski National Park. I haven't been there myself, but the dunes are supposed to be something else.

Serious Paul wrote:I'd like to visit Poland, amongst other areas. There are a few sites I'd like to see.

I'm curious. Which ones?

The Weiliczka Mines, Auschwitz of course, and more.

I just got a newer car. Went from a 2000 Subaru outback sport to a 2003 RSX Acura.
Love this car. The subie had some issues and close to 100k on it. Plus, I was just sick of that car. So after testing car after car I bought this one.
In the background you can see my husband and his Ep3 hatch.

That's a nice jump up!

jo_alex wrote:

Daki wrote:I think I may make the trip then. I have never been anywhere near the coast so I had no idea what it was like.

The coast varies. Gdansk is quite exceptional, since it was German for so long - with typical German architecture (actually, come to think of it, the old town resembles one of the squares in Amsterdam a bit), an old port (with some medieval elements). It's connected with another city - Gdynia, in which port there are some II WW ships stationed you may go on board of. Close by is Sopot - with the long wooden pier - a typical summer holiday destination. If you go there - spend at least a day in Wladyslawowo - it's one of the most popular seaside resorts with really awesome food stalls next to the beach. And if you feel like travelling furhter away from Gdansk along the coastline (to the west) - I recommend Slowinski National Park. I haven't been there myself, but the dunes are supposed to be something else.

*Makes note of this all* Thank you! Should make planning the trip that much easier.

Szechuan wrote:Incidentally, do Moose range across that area of the states? My knowledge is lacking in that respect, but you can all count yourselves lucky if you don't have to worry about a two ton behemoth, seven feet at the shoulder, falling through your windshield when you clip its legs.

Moose down here tend to be in the western states (North Dakota and going west) and they love Minnesota for some reason (apparently, the moose are big Prairie Home Companion fans) and parts of upper Michigan.

Huh...Never thought I'd remember information I learned in the Boys Scouts and use it while sitting in my living room instead of in the wilderness...

I have been in 5 car vs. deer accidents. 3 in my personal vehicles, and 2 in a patrol car.

My lineup of cars, in order, since I was 16 years old:

1983 Chevrolet Caprice Classic with a 305ci, 4 bbl (still my favorite car to date)

1984 Chevrolet Celebrity (absolute worst car I've ever owned...had it for only 8 months

1992 Buick Regal GS 2-door, 3800 V-6 (one of the best cars I've ever owned)

2000 Pontiac Firebird Formula, LS-1 V8 6-speed Hurst, 340 horsepower (by far the fastest car I've ever owned) Modified (by me) with a Fast Toys ram air package and a Granatelli Racing mass air-flow senor. I sold it so I could afford airplanes, but wish I could have kept it.

2003 Chevrolet Impala LS (great car too)

2006 Ford F-150 SuperCab truck, 5.4L Triton V8 with Class 4 towing package (current vehicle)

My fiancee just traded in her 2003 Pontiac Sunfire, and now drives a 2007 Pontiac G6 Sport. I also had a 1967 Chevrolet Corvair project car, but sold it due to extensive body and structural rust. I will obtain another Corvair some time in the future as my primary daily driver.

Serious Paul wrote:The Weiliczka Mines, Auschwitz of course, and more.

Wieliczka is something else. One of the coolest places I've ever been to.

Daki wrote:*Makes note of this all* Thank you! Should make planning the trip that much easier.

If you have any questions later on, I'd be happy to help. I know that it's not always easy to find info in English about various sights in Poland.

3278 wrote:That's a nice jump up!

Thanks!

I want to make sweet, sweet love to that vehicle.

Bloody hell. My fan clutch wrench and counter holder [and bottle of Water Wetter] just shipped today...from California. I won't have it until Saturday, and that's if FedEx will deliver on the weekend. I am so tired of being without my car.

FedEx doesn't deliver on Saturday unless you pay for weekend service, so probably Monday.

I would rather spend the weekend without my legs. I would rather spend the weekend without my penis.

Haha! My first new post on the new Bulldrek, and it's about cars. Funny, because I never had a car while posting on the previous incarnations of BD.

I wrecked my old car (02 Civic Si Hatch) when I lost it on some wet gravel in a corner that is usually very clean. In fact, it was a dry day out. Not the most fun experience. I have some pictures of it somewhere, but not on this computer.

So, long story short, because of how well I treated the old car it ended up being worth more than I owed, plus Honda bought back their service plan, so I had enough for an upgrade to an 06 Si. It's a fun car for where I am right now, and will eventually be passed on to my fiance - if all goes well - so I can get an Evo or S2000. I'm not planning on doing any engine work until I decide what I'm doing with regards to autocross, but I am buying new wheels and better tires as soon as I feel comfortable enough financially that I can start buying car parts.

Sorry for the shitty pic; I'll try and take better ones after I detail it next week.