Shop Time w/T.W. Friends

Haven't been able to sell anything. Just in the wrong area to be able to sell them locally. I have been considering starting an online shop. Maybe etsy or something like that. Otherwise life is good. Just finished planning our camping trips.

 

RE: Poll
Had a bunch of manuals along the way starting with a 65 Rambler, knees give some issues now but the Tacoma isn't my daily.

The most capable was probably a 84-5 Dodge Ramcharger (Ram-clunker) with a compound low 4 speed, 6:1 first gear.
The thing was slow, loud, brutal on fuel (with a 35 gallon tank too), just as maneuverable as the average school bus and absolutely unstoppable in the snow. Looked just like this one except I had plain wheels. (and northeast rust)




It was cold too -- just like every other 70s - 80s Dodge truck I was ever around, I swear you could keep popsicles by your feet.

 

I can rebuild manual gear boxes . If I bought a automatic I would need to buy all the special tools and get a refresher on how to rebuild them.

I was with a friend many years ago (1973) he was driving His Moms car one of those freak ice storms the transmission downshifted the rear axle slowed down in a very abrupt fashion and it got very interesting .

Never again I love having my Clutch to disengage the drive train.

 

I forgot I had a 1986 Ford F250 with a service body on it, it had the 6 cylinder with the 4 speed manual. It was always hard to shift and ground a little changing gears, one day it started grinding in neutral so I took it out. The front bearing was bad. It was one of them old cast iron trans and was heavy. I got a new bearing and put in it, got tired of waiting on my brother to help me reinstall it so I laid it on my chest and slid under the truck and got it back in. After that you could shift it with one finger it was so smooth.

 

Like anything else Easy is defined by what your skills are.

I put a 3.4 into a 92 4Runner

For some that wiring the merging of the New ECM to the vehicle harness is the worst part.

Others building the cross over pipe to move the exhaust to the left side swapping battery with the air intake .

For some easy others fork over big $$$

 

We know a person that could no doubt make those fittings.

Gotta change this to several people Not enough Coffee

Hint hint***

 

I would fall into the pond !!

Every time one reason I quit fishing.

 

The cyclone decal was part of the "Twister" package, an appearance group that gave a similar look of the high performance 340 V8 cars on the more pedestrian slant 6 and 318 cars.

I spent a lot of time in (and under) those A body cars back in the day, good times - you could pick up a running, driving V8 car for $500.
Of course the $500 was kind of hard to come by back then...

 

Remember The Dart 340 6Pack?

 

Stuff like that was way out of our price range -- still is.

The "best" ones we had were poorly thought out 318s "built" with used parts -- single plane manifolds and Holley carbs that were way too large, Cyclone or Blackjack headers that always hit, scraped or leaked and don't forget the cherry bomb header mufflers, Skyjacker air shocks, Lakewood traction bars and Goodyear Power Streak bias ply tires (cheapest available) with the whitewalls turned in.

There was a reason guys sold those parts off, we had to figure it out for ourselves.
(what a bunch of dumb-asses )

 

Going to get the still up and running? If so , put me down for a gallon please.

 

My dad had an old flat bed Chevy with a 350 in it, he knew a guy who had a small track race car and went and seen him, he gave him an old used cam out of one of his engines. Dad put it in, about a month later it was leaking oil. The cam had such big lobes on it the rocker arms rubbed holes in the valve covers, he had to get some taller valve covers

 

An engineer I know through work has a Dart that he dropped a turbo'd 2JZ out of a MKII Supra into. He auto crosses it, its a runner not a show car. I think its pretty creative. I'll dig around and see if I have a pic of it. Pushing 400+whp.

 

Here's a better idea of the size of this beam that holds 40 tons of pressure. Well... held.

 

What is your plan of attack to repair it?

 

A friend had a 68 Dart 4 door that he worked the suspension over in: Front and rear sway bars, poly bushings, stiffer rear springs, etc and fat 60 series tires. It was only a slant 6 car so not really fast but a very nice road car with surprisingly confident handling, it smoothly took curves like it was on rails.

 

Replace it with a new one we had waiting for this exact reason. Apparently we break one every two to three years. They've tried having them welded, but it's cast so it doesn't hold. Giant paperweight now.

 

Well at least it looks more manageable out of the machine.

 

Re poll: have had quite a few manual vehicles during my time driving.
89 Toyota extra cab 4x4
81 Toyota PU 4x4
87 Toyota PU 4x4
87 Toyota PU 2wd
05 tacoma 6spd
07 tacoma 6sp
01 tacoma 4x4
81 ford 4x4 beater wood hauling truck
82 dodge 150 2wd six cylinder and 3 on the tree.
Various flat fender jeeps
Various square body chevys
I’m sure I’m forgetting some in there.
The 2012 tundra I bought was the first thing I ever owned with an auto. Was weird to drive for quite some time.

 

Recycle - Big chunk of cast iron for a new milling project.