PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

For Sure! Pegs the Bad-O-Meter.

 

Looks like a cross between a “Botched” patient and fire marshal Bill Burns.

 

Speaking of aging, I remember back in 1987 that Jaguar was about the sexiest new car available on the market. Now it just looks dated as hell.

 

@Plain Jane Taco

The point I'm trying to make is that middle school was probably a bit more miserable for me than it was for the Average Joe (or Jane). I was bullied. I often got in trouble for retaliating against those who bullied me.

One time in 2001 (probably not long after I started 7th grade; we were still living in Oak Harbor), I was waiting out in front of the school for my dad to pick me up. Some random girls were teasing me (don't remember exactly how they were teasing me, but they were hassling me I should say). I tried my absolute damndest to just ignore these girls. At some point the brother of one of these girls, who for some reason attended North Whidbey Middle School (one of two middle schools in Oak Harbor; I went to Oak Harbor Middle School), showed up. I was just standing as far away from these girls as I could without standing in the street, looking down the road for my dad's green Pathfinder. Without warning, one of these girls came up behind me and screamed in my ear. To this day, I don't like being snuck up on and/or startled. Acting purely out of reflex, I swung around and just decked this girl. I did not hurt her, but her asshole brother didn't care. Her asshole brother didn't even seem to give a shit that she and her bitch friend were antagonizing me for quite a while before he showed up. The next thing I know, this punk is screaming at me not to touch his sister and chasing me. I ran for it, but he caught up to me and shoved me into the bushes, saying that if I touched his sister again he'd basically kick my ass. He then went back and hung out with his sister, and I Stayed as far away from them as I possibly could. My dad finally pulls up in his green 1996 Pathfinder a short time later, and I ripped open the front passenger door and said point blank "Dad, those kids tried to beat me up!" My dad put the Pathfinder in park, got out and walked up to these kids. If I were them, I would have been shitting my pants.

From their point of view: A 4x4 SUV with Virginia plates and a DoD sticker in the window, obviously belonging to a military person, pulls up. The kid you just pretty much assaulted tells the driver, who turns out to be his father, that you just tried to beat him up. My dad was 40 years old at the time. He stands 6-foot tall, is very well-built, and keeps his hair well-trimmed in a crew cut. My dad walked right up to these punks, who were sitting on the steps, if they'd hit me or tried to beat me up. Not a word. My dad told me to follow him and we went right to the principal's office. My dad told me I might get in trouble too since I'd freely admitted to pushing/punching the girl who'd been teasing me, and we both told the assistant principal what had happened. Moments later, the father of these kids shows up. He's a sketchy-looking overweight Hispanic guy driving a 1992ish Buick Roadmaster wagon (fake wood paneling and all). I'd never seen this brother and sister in my life, but I'd seen the car in the student pickup/drop-off area numerous times. I was thinking "Great, this does not look like a very nice guy..."

Mr. Buick turned out to be quite friendly and I got a "not again" vibe from him with regards to his son. I have a feeling that the son had been transferred to OHMS from North Whidbey because he was such a hot-tempered troublemaker.

The other kids were ushered inside, and with the assistant principal and both dads present, we basically apologized to each other and buried the hatcher. Nobody got in trouble, and if I remember correctly Mr. Buick apologized to me too.

As pissed as I was at the brother, I do sympathize with him. I do not have any siblings, but if someone shoved or otherwise laid hands on any female I particularly cared about (mom, cousin, boss, future wife, etc), I would probably knock their teeth out. Hell, this one time in the summer 2016 some guy was getting a bit too friendly with my boss at a bar where we were drinking and I would have laid him out if the bouncer hadn't gotten to him first and thrown him out.

However, we were kids, and I had no ill intentions. I acted purely out of reflex, and the assistant principal saw things my way. Needless to say, this did not help my growing distrust of the people I went to school with...

 

One time in 2000 or so (which would have been the beginning of or not long after the start of 6th grade), I picked up a rock and threw it at a girl who was harassing me while I was waiting for my mom to pick me up. I did not hit her, nor did I have any intention of hitting her, but I got the message across. LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE OR ELSE! I was 11 years old and very immature. The girl ran off, my mom picked me up, I told my mom what had happened, and I more or less forgot about it. A day or two later my English teacher, a 27-year old woman I had a bit of a crush on, took me aside and asked me "Why did you throw a rock at Kelly so-and-so?" I'd damn near forgotten about it by then, but I was honest. I told my beloved teacher that Kelly and one other kid had been teasing me, and I just wanted them to leave me alone. I apologized for throwing the rock, my teacher more or less understood, and no disciplinary action was taken.

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@Thunder Fist

I attended my first two years of high school at Centreville High School. Despite it's name, CVHS was actually just outside of Centreville (specifically Clifton, Virginia). This story will focus on school security. The security staff at CVHS were some of the meanest pricks I ever dealt with. I would also like to point out that I was pretty much a model student. I got into arguments with teachers every once in a while, and I got in trouble for petty bullshit, but I was not a troublemaker.

One example of school security being mean pricks:
One time I was walking from lunch to study hall listening to music on my MP3 player through powerful DJ-style headphone. All the other kids listened to music between classes, so I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. I had my music on really loud, and apparently one of the security guys was yelling at me to turn it off and put it away. I simply did not hear him and thus did not even realize he was there, but he thought I was deliberately ignoring him. He ran up behind me and ripped my expensive headphones right off my head, almost breaking them. Startled, I spun around expecting another kid. There was this tall bald guy standing over me. I forget exactly what he said to me, but I put the headphones away until I got to study hall. If it was another kid, I would have given him a bloody nose and claimed self-defense. If my headphones had been damaged, Fairfax County Public Schools would have been paying for it, but they were not and they still worked, My parents sympathized with me on this one.

A happier story:
Centreville High School was two stories, with an atrium just outside the library. I thought it would be funny to toss a long piece of ribbon over the railing and run away. My friend Tiffany was with me. Unfortunately, one of the few fairly nice security people (and the only woman) saw me do it. I was taken to the security off and chewed out by this woman, and I pretty much killed them with kindness. I apologized and asked if they would like me to to just pull the ribbon down from the wire thing it had gotten caught on. After all, no damage had been done, and there was no specific code on the books saying I'd done anything wrong. The security woman sent me on my way and just told me not to do it again.

 

@Thunder Fist

Kathy doesn't look 65, does she?

 

No way! I would never have guessed that.

 

@Plain Jane Taco
@98tacoma27
@LocoLocal

I love my parents. They bought me a brand new Tacoma when I got my learner's permit, they paid for my college, cosigned on my first credit card and helped me build my credit score, and are very supportive of my hobbies and interests (photography, cars and trucks, writing, etc). I will be forever indebted to my parents. However, my parents are from a different era and are very conservative. No, I don't mean politically conservative (though my dad is politically conservative too). I mean in terms of privacy. If my parents had their way, I wouldn't even be posting pictures of my Tacoma on TW. I black out license plates and take all measures possible to protect the privacy of myself and my family. I recently had to take pictures of their new deck being built off this thread because of their privacy concerned. Quite an argument resulted, and I was an asshole to my parents. I ultimately did take the pictures down, out of respect for their wishes.

My dad doesn't even like me taking pictures of my Tacoma in his driveway, citing privacy concerns, but there are ways of working around this.

FUN FACT: My neighbor, then 34 years old, let me take all the pictures I want when we installed the backup camera in my truck in September 2016. Many of the pictures were taken in his garage and his driveway. He's fine with it. My parents say that once I get my own house, I can take all the pictures I want and post them wherever the hell I want.

I still feel bad for being such a dick to my parents (especially my dad). I really hurt his feelings. I wayyy overreacted with regards to the pictures I posted. I just assumed it was okay to post them because my parents let me put videos of our the deck at our old house being built on YouTube.

I think it's kind of stupid that they're so damn uppity about this, but they're my parents. When I write a successful book about my life and pay off their mortgage, maybe they'll see things my way...

 

Asians tend to age very well! I seriously thought she was like 42-45 when I first met her (she was 63).

 

She also taught me how to say certain "toilet humor" words in Korean, like fart.

 

FUN FACT: I can say Rolls-Royce in Cantonese!

NOTE: I can say it, but not spell it. What you see below is a translation from Google...

Láo sī lái sī

I learned this from an old acquaintance who lives in Hong Kong, who also showed me how to ask for a beer. "Can I have a beer, please?" is probably one of the most important things for a guy my age to learn in different languages.

 

Cantonese and Mandarin are both among the hardest languages to learn, unless you learned it from a young age...

One mispronounced part of the word can really be problematic! If I remember correctly, it is quite easy to screw up "Hi, how are you?" and say "May I tie you up?" instead. That's not something you'd want to ask a hot girl the first time you meet her, unless it turns out she's into some really kinky shit.

 

Reminds me of the time I told Mexicans my friends were inside a female crow when they were in a cave. Cuerva and cuava, a mistake anyone could make.
The first useful thing I said in Spanish was "un autra caja de cervza por favor" (another case of beer please) at the store across the house from the house we were staying it.
Cave exploring in Mexico, great fun.

 

I am quite good at asking for a beer in Spanish, but Rolls-Royce is the only thing I can say somewhat well in Chinese...

 

I received the same letter. My truck already had the coating done too, but I have a place large enough to fit three fingers together into, I'm sitting at the dealer right now while they are inspecting it for the new frame coverage. According to the letter, it doesn't matter if the coating has been done or even if your frame has already been replaced, if your truck has a perforation according to the standard, it will be replaced.

 

I need an oil change in 900 miles. I'll have it done then.

 

Ho li Chit dude! Reminds me off my 99's frame! Good times, rock that new frame till the engine fails brother.

 

What we have here is a 2008 Ford F450 XLT 4x4 with a cooked 6.4L Powerstroke.



This truck was NOT maintained very well. It only has 90K on it and the engine is done. Apparently oil and coolant are mixing. It does not run right now. The good news is that the truck is an Arizona truck since new and is in great shape otherwise.

They are going to replace the engine.

What I want suggestions on is how we should outfit the truck once the hard part is done.

My Taco has a Boss double-DIN touch-screen head unit with navigation and Bluetooth built in, in addition to being backup camera-ready. This head unit is only $250 on Crutchfield and I've pretty much sold them on the idea of getting a backup camera.

Depending on how I like the factory speakers, I might but two pairs of Pioneer 6x9s and install them myself just for the hell of it.

Other things I would like to do are:
Banks performance upgrade
Roof spoiler to make truck more aerodynamic
Grill guard
Fog lights
Alcoa rear wheels to match factory Alcoa front wheels

What do the guys and gals of TW think?

IMPORTANT: This is a work truck and not a personal vehicle.