1st Gen Lunchtable Thread - General Discussion

I'm 100% disabled now. Somewhere around 10 illnesses now. I do collect SSI which I payed into for over 4 deacdes.
I used to do: fireman and a welder and a plumber in the Navy, then a car audio and car security installer, then a mobile insurance replacement mechanic - replacing everything from complete dashboards to complete interiors to custom intakes and wheels and tires etc... I did the work anywhere which was really cool. The beach, golf courses, multi million dollar homes, and of course in the ghettos on the street. So I had a huge amount of bills that were basically guaranteed by the government to be more than my income so I did a shit ton on the side including: eBay Top Rated Power Seller (2550+ positive transactions and less than 5 negative), buying and selling anything I could make an honest buck on, advertising in multiple venues that I sold others peoples stuff for them, bought and repaired and resold old Honda CB bikes, bold and repaired jet boats and resold them, bought and parted out jet boats, home theater, home security, CCTV, Cat 5 wiring, I also had an investor friend where he would buy fishing boats (only) and I would fix them up and then I would become the sales and marketing guy for the same boat (I sold over $100K in used family sized small fishing boats in less than 9 months by myself with his money)... I did ALL of that stuff during the same timeframe. I worked hard and played hard. The last profession I had was a professional boat mechanic that worked on Yamaha family boats and high end wakeboarding boats. I choose to work on boats because my flexibility was going to shit and boats generally have a lot of room to work on them. Plus your calves get HUGE because of getting in and out of them all day.

Now I sit on the fuckin couch wondering wtf am I going to do now. Idk, maybe become a Big Brother or something.

No worries and I ain't complaining!

 

Toyota trucks will damn near run for days after hitting empty. The needle goes way down there on the gauge. I'm not positive but I believe it has partially to do with the FI fuel.pump is cooled by the fuel and if there isn't any fuel the fuel pump will burn itself up and I'm pretty sure Toyota set up their fuel gauges like that on purpose.

 

So I'm planning on getting the topper painted lunar mist at some point. I don't like the look of the rack with my front rack so I might just run no rear rack unless I'm transporting bikes.

Don't ask about the hook. It's become a meme at the house. People move it around to each other's trucks, I stuck it in one guys front winch receiver, etc.

 

It does if you drink it. Works really well too. Lol

 

Whoops. Lmao

 

Valero had a contract with the city where I grew up and it was stupid expensive vs anywhere else. Never saw a soul at their two stations that wasn't a government, city, military, or fleet truck. Didn't realize it was considered cheap elsewhere.

 

1930 Ford chopped 5 window coupe (didn't finish it), 1931 Chevy 5 window coupe (didn't finish it), 1932 Ford roadster pickup (conversion), 1947 1/2 Chevy 1/2 ton shortbed pickup (decided to strip it and sell the parts instead), 1950 Chevy 1/2 ton shortbed pickup, 1955 Chevy 210 Del Ray 2 door sedan, 1956 Chevy Bel Air 2 door hardtop, 1956 Chevy Bel Air 4 door hardtop, 1956 Ford Victoria 2 door hardtop, 1959 Chevy El Camino, 1965 Chevy Malibu 2 door hardtop, 1967 Camaro, 1969 Dodge Dart GTS 340, 1971 Ford F250, 1972 Ford F100 (long bed ), 1972 Ford F250, 1980 Dodge Ram Charger 4WD, 1982 Chevy civilian Blazer with a factory 6.2 diesel and a 4 speed automatic with overdrive, 1988 Toyota 4WD 22RE SR5 standard cab pickup SAS, 1995 Tacoma 2WD V6 auto, 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser with the bitchin diff lock switches on the dash, 1996 Tacoma 4WD, 1997 Tacoma 2WD, 1998 Toyota 4Runner 2WD, damn I know I'm forgetting some of the cool ones... oh yeah probably about 10 or 15 $500 buckets, gotta love the Dodge Shadow - lol.

I've owned over 30 bikes (Japanese and British) and over 30 boats most of which were just parted out. Maybe 10 finished running useable boats I've owned, including light lay up race boats.

What a pathetic list right? Jk

 

Yeah mine was a former forestry vehicle. Check this out, it was a 1980 and the whole fuel crisis thing. It came with 4WD, 360 V8, 4 barrel carb (1/2 plastic carb body, lol), automatic, and 2.73 !!! gears in the diffs. Yeah it got 35's, 4.56's, 5.5" Softride Superlift, traction/ladder bars a locker in the front and a limited slip in the back - quick. Barely affected the mileage. LOL. Other than the right front Dana 44 leaf spring stud mounting "system", those Dodges can be bad fuckin ass. I don't know if it still is true, but they used to have the most suspension travel of any stock 4WD for decades (proven). I'm guessing longer leaf springs than most but idk.

 

Badass ride for sure, lots of customizability with those and they weren't built shoddy. But that carb... the carter thermoquad, is possible the shittiest invention ever

 

My 1932 Ford Roadster pickup conversion. I bought it literally single piece by single piece. Lots of handbuilt stuff (save$$$) including the frame built by me. Lot's of rust/rot repair. I built most of it, didn't finish it, sold it, the buyer finished it, I bought it back, drove it for 6 months, and sold it and made $100 on the deal of buying it back and reselling.

This is right after I smoked the crap Ford C4 automatic. Even with paying someone else to rebuild the trans I still made that $100 profit. Lol. I built that grill as well.

 

Doing insurance replacement, a small truck us all I needed. I drove the shit out of Toyotas and only Toyotas. I can't even guess how many times I've seen those Toyota pickup fuel gauge needles going waaaay down there. Great damn trucks for what they were designed for. I drove around 30K+ miles a year on that job, plus my home was my office so I was allowed to use the company truck on my off time as long as I was responsible and didn't abuse the situation. Freakin 22RE and a 5 speed and abusive RPM's city - no problem!

 

To be perfectly open. I'm used to having a lot of friends and now I don't which is why I'm fuckin posting on here so much. I'll simmer down eventually.

 

It's just mindless TW rhetoric no need to worry

 

Yea 99% of the time I fill up at Arco. They're usually cheapest of Top Tier stations. I dunno if Top Tier is really worth buying into or not but I do for the peace of mind, since Arcos are everywhere out here it seems ok.

Only issue I've had with them is a couple times over the last several years I've had my debit card compromised, and I'm fairly certain it was from using it at Arco since they only take debit. But supposedly they're changing that soon.

 

I tug on the card reader every single time I use a gas pump to look for skimmers. I've yet to find one.

 

Valeros are few and far between where I live, but usually not too expensive. Chevron, Shell and occasionally 76 are the worst $$ offenders. There's a 76 near my work that charges $4.99 for premium right now and it's almost always empty except for the odd fleet or government vehicle.

 

Diesel civilian Blazer with a 4 speed automatic and a overdrive (700R4). My friend Beyer's has the military model still but the military diesel Blazers come with the TH400, a 3 speed no overdrive trans.

Btw, I wanted it to look old school. I purposely picked those wheels. When I bought it, it had 38"'s and 15" X 12" rims. Same springs, I removed a couple leafs. Rode beautifully.

 

76 is still around? Havent seen one of those or a Texaco in ages. Mobil is the most consistently expensive tiny station in WA

 

I read somewhere a little while back that if you scramble your PIN number when you enter it, it'll make it harder for scammers to get it using whatever equipment they use. I've been doing that regularly now and no issues since.

 

Texaco sounds like a relic to me, I haven't seen one of those since I lived in Texas almost 20 years ago lol. 76 are everywhere out here