What are you working on? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter crawlin40
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Brian I've had Tuffy consoles in all the land cruisers I've ever owned for more than a year or so (ha ha ha!!!) and they're awesome. Perfect fit in a 40. They're the perfect height for use as an arm rest and they hold a ton of stuff. Plus the front of them is a good place to mount things like maybe a satellite fuse box for accessories etc. Only complaint in my 40 is that at times (like today) the driver side seatbelt receptacle slides down between the seat side and the console and is a pain to get up into a useful position. Other than they're great.
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It's way too hot outside to work on the truck ... bleh. Looks like ~90*F every day through the 17th right now. I may never get this thing back together.
Started taking off the exhaust and cats yesterday. Some jobs shouldn't be done without a lift. What a PITA.
Started taking off the exhaust and cats yesterday. Some jobs shouldn't be done without a lift. What a PITA.
For some perspective - you could be laying and tamping crusher run and blocks.
Get back in the garage
Apparently all the cool kids get the brown one
Interested parties have been feeding me auto trader ads for tundras...
I’m going to fix the Mazda for the time being since the engine/trans/clutch is pretty much bomb proof. Ultimately I need a commuter/kid hauler with decent fuel economy. Ideally a crossover or a wagon - but I absolutely refuse to buy an automatic transmission car unless there is absolutely no other option. Unfortunately this means my options are already limited and if I wait too long they’ll be non existent.
I’d love a manual Mazda CX-5 but they’ve been out of production since 2016 and are essentially unicorns with relatively low miles.
Second choice would be a Subaru Forester - not because I like them at all but because that’s all there is.
I’m also tossing around the ideal of a VW Jetta/Golf wagon but the Mazda can barely fit a car seat in it and I expect a Jetta would run into the same issue.
So for now - the Mazda gets fixed - tires are en-route and I’ll need a weekend in the garage to replace all the other parts that ail it, but they’re all sitting in my basement ready to go in.
Looks a little like the family plot.View attachment 2360443
For some perspective - you could be laying and tamping crusher run and blocks.
Get back in the garage
It will become that when I finally succumb to heat exhaustion and die in the pit.
So maybe not the family plot...but potentially mine...
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A) All of us suffer the the ads sent from certain Parties, mentioned, I get Zillow Listings almost daily....
B) Just get the Tundra, there is nothing wrong with getting an automatic. I am not sure what your stigma is with it. I feel it doesn't make you a lesser man, or a pansy or anything like that. And you know how to drive a stick, which is more than can be said for 90% of the current new driver generation. If anything if it is in a daily it just makes it more comfortable.
C) I have had them for years, and besides the 4Runner (which was my own doing, stock gears with heavy 35s.....bad idea) the transmissions in all my cars have been bomb proof, including the SC with 225k that drove 10 miles without fluid in it the first time we brought it home, and now has been flushed and using Castrol Generic Asian Formula ATF, still shifts fine and I feel its still reliable.
D) I love a manual just as much and will eventually swap the 4Runner for it for the trails. After finally towing the 4Runner up to the trails, I will never regret my decision to buy the Tundra, it has already paid for itself (for the payments I have made already at least) for the use it has intended.
E) You mentioned gas mileage..... to hell with it! (says the one driving his Tundra Daily who normally lays a feather on the gas pedal to make it go and to try to get the best mileage I can out of it). Honestly the stigma of good gas mileage has gone the way of the birds for me, I will eventually get that Lexus going on the road again for 'better' mileage and to also keep the Miles off the only 'new' car I have ever bought lol!
Driving stick isn’t at all about “being a man,” nor do I think there’s any particular stigma about driving an automatic. I just love driving manual transmission cars. Automatic cars feel soulless, dead and disconnected to me. More importantly, they all feel exactly the same. I feel like manuals bring out the character in a car. I’ve never had issues with the common manual complaints (traffic, hills, etc.) so there’s nothing really uncomfortable about a manual to me. It’s partially just a strong preference toward loving to drive and having 3 pedals, and a healthy dose of stubbornness and wanting what I can’t have.
As for gas mileage - right now, it’s irrelevant - gas is cheap, I have a company car, and I work from home (95% of the time since covid). I put a collective 4000 miles on the land cruiser and Mazda last year. If I ever quit the sales gig though, I live in a rural county with an almost guaranteed 50+mi commute to any job in my field. At that point, fuel economy will be critical. Plus, pickups are so godawful expensive that I wouldn’t want to load up the miles on them commuting in one. I’d much rather hold onto a series of reliable beaters and use the truck for “truck stuff.” The trick is scraping up the cash to have both - which I haven’t figure out yet (thus the 12 year old Mazda).
A small truck (Tacoma, Ranger, Colorado, etc.) would meet 95% of my needs - the one I’d miss out on is using it as a tow rig for the 40...but then I’d have to get a trailer too - and find somewhere to store it, etc. It’s a slippery slope!
I wouldn’t totally rule out an automatic in a pickup, though. Stick is much preferred but 1. My wife wants a horse trailer and she’s the exact opposite - refuses to learn to drive stick. 2. I’ll agree, for towing, be it a FJ40 or a horse trailer, an auto makes a lot more sense.
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That's the slippery slope where you have to throttle it an go for it!.
I have to park my trailer's' in the driveway per my HOA. My little utility trailer will stay in the back yard but a car trailer is too wide to fit through my gate, so already planning out to level the area next to my house and out gravel down to park the car trailer there.
If you don't plan to tow the 40 then those pickups are good options, but if you plan to tow the 40 you'll feel more at ease is a full-size
Boy oh boy Rick that looks like too hard a project for an old guy like me, those big block are HEAVY!!!!
My 33 year old daughter just bought a new Forester with the auto trans- traded in her specially ordered 5 speed manual 2012 Impreza on it. Before the Impreza she drove a five speed Civic. She was torn in buying an automatic but after a month behind the wheel finds that she likes it. Certainly easier to drive in the Richmond VA commute she traverses every day. I believe she'll have another manual shift car some day, maybe when her financial situation improves she'll be able to get the WRX she always wanted.
My 33 year old daughter just bought a new Forester with the auto trans- traded in her specially ordered 5 speed manual 2012 Impreza on it. Before the Impreza she drove a five speed Civic. She was torn in buying an automatic but after a month behind the wheel finds that she likes it. Certainly easier to drive in the Richmond VA commute she traverses every day. I believe she'll have another manual shift car some day, maybe when her financial situation improves she'll be able to get the WRX she always wanted.
Yeah I could see my tune changing in the DC/Richmond corridor. I drive it all the time for work and it’s rough. That said, where I live “traffic” means sitting through 2 red light cycles at an intersection so way less of an issue!
I actually think for Forester offers the best combination of space availability (for car seat and hauling kid stuff). My concern is the ever present head-gasket and oil consumption issues on the Boxer engine. I’m certain a certain degree of oil past the rings is to be expected in a flat 4 but I know they were replacing long blocks in 09-14 models.
I’m sure the issue affects something like 1-2% of Subaru’s so it’s probably overblown.
It’s the same concern with VW - TDI Jettas are SO cheap right now due to the diesel emissions scandal, they are hard to pass up. I also drove a friend’s before he sold it back and it was really a lot of fun to drive. BUT they have a litany of severe issues around the high-pressure fuel pump failing, and the intercooler collecting water and freezing over that I’m not sure I could take the plunge.
CX-5 seems a bit smaller than the Forester but, frankly, Mazda just makes a good car, all around. Nothing tech-forward or fancy, just solidly reliable and fun to drive. I’m ALMOST as much a Mazda Fanboy as I am for Land Cruisers.
Long story short I’ll probably end up buying NOTHING and fixing the junk I have. When I buy a car, it is with the intent of keeping, paying it down, and driving it until the body rusts off so oil the issues above make me nervous...
With basement done, cruiser engine got moved into the garage this morning. Now to make a short block into a long block and get it into the truck.....
So fresh and so cleaaannn
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Drivers side needed more cutting I guess the two sides are different from the factory. Also, let it be known I am only a tool gopher, bolt turner, paint grinder, and interior bouncing Betty fire preventer all the heavy fab and cutting is being done by my good mechanic buddy Greg.
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On this side we started at the bottom and worked our way up.
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Getting there.
