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

One time, Mr. Rose was teaching us how to use the tire machine; The wheel/tire combo we were practicing on was clearly from a 1986-1993 Mazda B-series 2WD. I pointed this out, and Mr. Rose said he wasn’t entirely sure what it came off of; It was later confirmed that it had come from an older Mazda pickup. While Mr. Rose is one of the best mechanics I’ve ever met, I quickly gained a reputation in that class for knowing more about specific makes and models of vehicles than the teacher!

 

A lot of the “practice vehicles” we worked on in that class were shitboxes given to the school by private donors for the tax deductions, most of which did not run. I remember two Ford Tauruses and a late 1980s Honda Civic. The dark green Taurus wagon and the Civic did not run; There was also a red 1989 or 1990 Mazda RX-7 convertible we worked on from time to time that was Mr. Rose’s project vehicle (owned by him).

 

The other donor Ford Taurus the shop had did not belong there in my opinion; Unlike the dark green wagon that did not run and had to be pushed in and out of the shop, the Taurus sedan we had ran great...

It was a mint green color with a greenish colored cloth interior (typical grandparent colors). I believe it was either a 1994 or a 1995; I distinctly remember that it used R134a, so it was newer than 1993, but it was a 1st Gen bodystyle, so it was older than 1996.

This Taurus was mint, and for a car that was about ten years old at the time, it had insanely low miles (50K?). It ran great, drove pretty good, and had cold A/C. My guess would be that the original owner passed away, whoever inherited the car couldn’t sell it and wanted it gone, and they ended up donating it for a tax write-off.

 

A little over a week for the bumper - remember? Tried to tackle it myself yesterday after work and determined it’s a 2-person job; Neighbor’s daughter’s seventh birthday is this weekend so it’s obviously not a good time.

As for carpet, I’m on the fence; Replacing the carpet would entail tearing apart the interior (again). The only thing that really bothers me is the hole...

 

The Taurus really was not a bad car; The larger 3.8L V6 had reliability issues if I remember correctly, but there’s a reason Ford sold so many of them and I still see 1993-1995 models on the road from time to time. The Chevrolet Celebrity sold fairly well, but there’s a reason GM stopped making those in 1990 and they are not common on the roads anymore; The X-body cars (Citation, etc) were also a hot seller, but they were humongous pieces of crap and had pretty much vanished from American roads by the time I started first grade.

The Taurus was good, but the Camry and Accord were (and still are) better!

 

@shakerhood

When we lived in North Wales, PA from 1990 to 1996, one of our neighbors had an early 1980s Chevy Malibu station wagon with the taillights in the rear bumper; It also had an open rear...

On at least two occasions, I can remember that neighbor getting his car stuck in the snow during the winter, and my dad would be one of the neighbors who went over and helped push the car free.

 

Last night, I kinda sorta sleepwalked...

I always set the alarm on my phone for 7am (get into work around 8am); Sometimes I wake up right before the alarm goes off.

I got up in the middle of the night, had it in my mind that it was time to get up for work, and felt compelled to take a shower; Without even checking the time, I hopped out of bed and into the shower.

I don’t really remember getting getting in the shower, but all of sudden I started to fall asleep in the shower. I then asked myself, “What time is it?” I finished my shower, toweled off, and ran to my bedroom. I looked at my phone, and to my absolute shock, I saw that it was 1:57am! I’d gone to bed less than two hours earlier!

I went back to turn off the bathroom light, and my dad had come out into the hallway to see what was going on; I explained to him that I believed I’d been sleepwalking and took a shower thinking it was time to wake up. He told me I had several more hours of sleep left and we both went back to bed...

 

I was awake but unaware; My former psychiatrist (she retired) once fell down the stairs while sleepwalking and broke both of her arms! She even brought in the X-rays to show me!

 

Wheel skins are safely in Myrtle Beach, and Uncle Jeff has begun the process of sanding them; I’m hoping my truck will have a new look by the end of the month! My uncle will also be sending me pictures of the wheels throughout the makeover process...

 

@ColoradoTJ
@shakerhood
@Taco critter

Do you think that cruise control is worth it?

 

I know it's possible to add a factory cruise control stalk to my truck but how do I know if my truck is prewired for it?

 

Just pop that little plastic plate on the right side of the steering wheel off, right? Should be plug and play like installing the intermittent wipers?

 

My uncle had one of those too, think it was blue, always thought it was weird having the tail lights down in the bumper.

 

Wow, that's messed up.

 

Probably wouldn't be too hard to install if your truck is already prewired.

 

And the rear windows don't go down! When we were living in Washington, my parents and I took a trip to the town where they filmed the opening scene of An Officer and a Gentleman in either 2001 or 2002; I remember seeing a black or dark blue Malibu wagon that had a factory floor-shift manual transmission (possibly a 3-speed Saginaw) and no A/C parked in town!

 

One time when I was ten, my Grandma was staying over at our house; My Grandma says I came into her room around midnight, clearly not fully awake, and asked if I could play my Monster Truck Madness 2 computer game. I had no memory of this whatsoever and apparently I just went back to bed without saying anything else...

 

Really? Why not?