Holy crap! When I saw the first pic on this post...it brought back memories of a similar scene that I witnessed that involved a Chevy Van with its guts barfed out the front.
Bear in mind that this particular event happened at a service plaza in the middle of nowhere Ohio, on the turnpike.
Actuallly, there is one Fiero still in it. I just talked to one of the drivers from Ponticrap We are Driving Excrement- #102- and they are still running good!
Anybody care to bet a six pack of PBR that at least one of those Fieros is dead due to the Iron Duke munching its fiber timing gear? Happened to my Iron Duke motivated Jeep twice. Shitty little engine.
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was starred
Mike the Dog is sitting by the door with a pair of cow slippers, and a very sad face. was unstarred
@CptSevere: Never really understood the Fiber timing gear, I always guessed it was for noise abatement that needed because of excessive gear lash that resulted from poor manufacturing tolerances; or that just some smart ass wanted to see if it was possible to make a vital engine part from compressed resin injected cardboard.
@Flathead Smith: It's the work of GM's Department of Planned Obtuseness, which is charged with making sure that the cars have as many dumb design and engineering flaws as possible.
@Flathead Smith: Volvo used a fibre timing gear, to. It was for noise reduction, though frankly the B18 sounds like a sewing machine on crack anyway, seems irrelevant. The fibre gears would last for about 80,000 miles- the one in our lemons car worked fine for 3 races. A steel set will set you back about 2 bills, WAAAY out of our budget.
@CptSevere: I've got an '87 with an iron duke that I may try to run in next year's race. I paid $400 for the car, and I've got $110 into a re-main kit, so I'll have to sell off at least $10 worth of parts to get it under budget.
Anyway, I can say with certainty that '87s had iron timing gears. I'm sure it was one of the changes made for the '87 model year, along with serpentine belt, roller lifters, and distributorless ignition.
@smalleyxb122: I wish I knew that when I gutted my Iron Duke like a trout replacing that first timing gear. I'd have gotten the iron one, most definitely.
I love me some beater vans. I've had 5 full size vans from a 77 with a straight 6, mags and shag up to the 94 conversion van I have now.
Rust took most of them and is working pretty hard on this one. I never drove them in the winter but lots of people did before I got them.
Occasionally on the 77 you'd go to slide the side door open and it would keep going right off the side of the van and fall on the ground.
As if that wasn't enough there were good sized rust holes everywhere and going down the highway things would accumulate in the foot well of the sliding door and blow around like balloons in a Sears fan display. Beer cans mostly but once a full bag of potato chips fell over in there and the entire van was filled with airborne potato chips.
My buddy had a 302, 3 on the tree, in high school, Metallic brown and was a Ford by the way...Same slotted mags and ovesize tires and Scare the SHIT out of you goodness... I love my vans like I love my childrens...Wait, What?
RIP Mikey, Thanks for the Corvair, the V8 Vega, the High School drags, and that Goddam V8, 4bbl, headers and sixtys on the the rear van,... w/ 3 on the tree van. I miss you buddy...Ded
This is pretty cool, although it would certainly make the police take notice, especially when parked where children congregate, or directly in front of a tall building, such as a federal building, jail, courthouse, embassy, or other government-related building.
Nothing makes it more complete than a Chinese made Haier Air Conditioner. I can't say much, as one of these is normally hanging outside of my bedroom window during July/Aug/early Sept.
I was so hoping my late 70's Cutlass Cruiser with the old 70's slot car kits in the back would make DOTS today, but man... that thing is just really hard to beat.
I'm wondering how much that generator weighs. You can't actually run it inside the van, can you? And if you set it out on the ground then some crack-head will steal it in the middle of the night while you're sleeping it off inside. Roof rack, maybe? Big dog?
@wkiernan: Rig it so the frame is hot, and set on a sheet of galvanized connected to the ground lug. When the tweakers try to steal the generator, you'll hear the engine come under load.
Perfect. Eightball shifter is the icing on the cake. But the horn, Murilee--it must have something special there, mounted on the roof. I hope it's a train horn like the sleeper Farm Truck....
10/03/09
Holy crap! When I saw the first pic on this post...it brought back memories of a similar scene that I witnessed that involved a Chevy Van with its guts barfed out the front.
Bear in mind that this particular event happened at a service plaza in the middle of nowhere Ohio, on the turnpike.
10/03/09
Oh, wait a minute...
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Anyway, I can say with certainty that '87s had iron timing gears. I'm sure it was one of the changes made for the '87 model year, along with serpentine belt, roller lifters, and distributorless ignition.
10/04/09
10/03/09
I never liked Snoopy. I think he's bad luck.
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09/28/09
Rust took most of them and is working pretty hard on this one. I never drove them in the winter but lots of people did before I got them.
Occasionally on the 77 you'd go to slide the side door open and it would keep going right off the side of the van and fall on the ground.
As if that wasn't enough there were good sized rust holes everywhere and going down the highway things would accumulate in the foot well of the sliding door and blow around like balloons in a Sears fan display. Beer cans mostly but once a full bag of potato chips fell over in there and the entire van was filled with airborne potato chips.
Salt in the eyes kinda stings.
09/28/09
09/27/09
RIP Mikey, Thanks for the Corvair, the V8 Vega, the High School drags, and that Goddam V8, 4bbl, headers and sixtys on the the rear van,... w/ 3 on the tree van. I miss you buddy...Ded
09/27/09
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09/27/09
You win this round, amazing van.
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That IS a sleeper!
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Van than this, from Carolina.
09/27/09