Builds Mike's disaster of a landcruiser project, 1992 "big red" (1 Viewer)

[Marine7]

I've heard people say it's to keep the rear window clear of dirt and others say aerodynamics. I'm not sure what it's officially for though.

It IS to keep the rear window clean, and believe me, they DO work.
Nice looking Cruiser! How you liking Cali? A lot different than Wi.....isn’t it?

 

[Technician1985]

It IS to keep the rear window clean, and believe me, they DO work.
Nice looking Cruiser! How you liking Cali? A lot different than Wi.....isn’t it?

WA actually but still, definitely different. So far I mostly like SoCal but there are definite drawbacks. Obviously the traffic is bad here almost all the time but it goes farther than that - I've seen the most shockingly bad driving in my life down here hands down. It's amazing really. People just drive like s*** down here lol. On top of that, the traffic lights are the absolute worst. There are some that turn green and are yellow again before I'm even through the intersection. The lights are not timed at all, you can be going 50mph down a busy arterial and one car will pull up at a cross street, and as soon as they set off the sensor the light will turn. Every turn lane is protected so light cycles are extremely long.
The state itself is ridiculously restrictive in some ways, half the stuff you buy is required to tell you it will give you cancer on the packaging (things like bike parts, it's ridiculous). Fees everywhere, emissions restrictions, toll lanes that are $10 for one trip, microbrews cost twice as much as in WA, all the coffee here sucks. High energy bills. Insurance costs way more. Everything is on fire in the summer. Did I mention it gets really hot in the summer?

On the other hand when traffic is good you can cruise at 90+ on the freeway. The weather is good in the winter, for cycling it's been a boon. The economy is strong down here so there's a lot going on. Location wise - there's a lot to see and do. Beaches, the desert, Joshua tree, stuff in LA, the list goes on. Hard to get bored when you can get away to a different cool place every weekend. There's a definite widespread appreciation for cars down here too, more so than back home. All in all it's a nice place to be in spite of the cons - which I feel like I'm being honest about. On paper it might seem like it's not worth setting foot in the state but there's something about it that is hard to explain and makes you not hate it once you're there.

Despite all the drawbacks I listed I'd still rather live here than a lot of places, but I can definitely see why the place gets so much criticism.

I don't plan on living down here forever, but I'm trying to make the most of it for now.

 

[Technician1985]

Changed the oil and filter, flushed the coolant, put air in the tires, cleaned out the interior. Going for a weekend trip. My radiator seems to have a small leak from one of the seams so that’s disappointing, I’ll have to do something about that once I dig into the AC situation.

 

[Technician1985]

I'm re-posting these pics I took here for posterity. Went to AZ and got to see the salton sea, dunes at Glamis, Anza-Borrego, and more.

The exhaust really took a beating trying to find the cacti. It was really rough and rocky up there. The bracket near the cat is snapped in half so now the whole thing has a heinous rattle. The plan now is to finally break down and buy my own welder. I will be able to fix that issue and begin exploring other possibilities.

One of the main goals was to ride MTB. That happened a little bit at least but a lot more time ended up being spent driving.

 

[Technician1985]

Too long since an Update.

It still runs and drives. Gone through slight radiator and electrical system drama. Bought some tacoma wheels and tires off craigslist for $300 for road trips. Working on putting the A/C back in and keeping up on basic maintenance.

Drove from SoCal to WA and back for Xmas (averaged 16mpg)

 

[moclakens]

Love the brown interior!