Off-topic thread - talk about anything

[Hirsch]

Oh, I don't have any regrets..

I love my 9-3 and I'm glad I bought the one I did.

But this is twice something like that happened. In late 99 I bought a new 2000 Legacy GT Wagon. 165 naturally aspirated horses. A year(or 2) later Subaru came out with the H-6 and a turbo available in the Legacy.

Right after I bought the car I got a customer survey in the mail. In the comments section I said: "Subaru really needs an H6 or a turbo four to compete with the Accord, Camry, etc. While the Legacy is a fine car, without a bump in power, it will never compete with the main players in the midsize sedan market."

I guess they listened.

[SaabKen]

But this is twice something like that happened. In late 99 I bought a new 2000 Legacy GT Wagon. 165 naturally aspirated horses. A year(or 2) later Subaru came out with the H-6 and a turbo available in the Legacy.

I'll trade ya my '04 Outback H3.0 wagon (212 hp) for your SC Aero !

[Aero]

On a different subject, my motorcycle is 17 years old and the paintwork is beggining to show, so I want to do a complete detail work to get some brightness back.



Notice top case and pannier just painted.

Considering the body is plastic and not metal, will the clay work the same way it does in cars?. Since the clay works only the varnish coat, I assume that it will do the job, but I´d like to be positive before trying anything.

Advices welcomed.

[Fox Cain]

I asked my fiance for a ninja and he told me not until I have over a million in life insurance and a seprate savings fund for ticket and impound fees.

[Hirsch]

I'll trade ya my '04 Outback H3.0 wagon (212 hp) for your SC Aero !

HA!

No.

[J-Rod]

Great story from today. My grandpa is a very old fashioned mechanic. He's mostly into working on American and Japanese (Mostly Toyota and Infinity) cars, and pretty much not a single European car. Well, recently a friend of mine picked up a 1998 Saab 900 SE for dirt cheap. Had an overheating problem that needed addressing. He called me up to get a battery for him cheaply, since he knew my grandpa was a mechanic (we all know how much Saab batteries cost...) So I told him no problem and that I could get it for him for $60 cheaper than if he bought it at a parts store. Then he asked if my grandpa could take a look at the overheating problem, so I told him I was sure he'd look at it, but I doubted he'd work on it. So he brought it over and my grandpa took a look at it, and diagnosed it accurately as having been run too long with a bad head gasket. In other words, coolant+oil+a lot of hard driving+being run hot=dead 2.0t.

Fast forward a few days, and the car is still sitting in my grandpa's driveway. I asked what it was still doing there, and he said "Motor's dead in it. I'm puttin' a new one in." That surprised me. I mean, he's done countless motor swaps, but never in a European car.

So, a few days after that it was in the garage and a tested "junk-yard" motor was on it's way. The day it got there I went to check it out and the thing was perfect. Turbo included with ZERO shaft play, and a good DIC.

All said and done, two weeks later, the car had a new (used) motor, new clutch, new water pump, new alternator, new vac lines, new (used) turbo with the motor, and just about everything else. I spent the last three days of the swap at his shop, helping with it and messing around with my car while I was there. It runs absolutely perfectly. Not a single problem light on the dash or anything, super quiet perfectly smooth idle, and no smoke of any sort.

The car finally got lowered off the stands today and went for it's test drive with my grandpa. (He wont let a car leave his shop unless it's perfect, so he tests them himself.) He takes it around the neighborhood and then out to the highway in front of his shop. About five minutes after he left, I hear a wailing turbo and see a Scarab Green blur fly down the highway. He pulls in and says "That's the fasted damn thing around! That thing f***ing flies in second gear! I let that thing kick down, that turbo kicked in and it surprised the hell outa me!" an hour or so later he was still talking about how surprisingly fast it was and he said it was smoothest running import motor he's ever seen, especially for the mileage it has. (~115k) He said it was quietest 100k+ "junk-yard" motor he has ever seen in 60+ years of working on cars. He also kept commenting on how well-built and good looking the car was.

I think he's hooked.

Sorry for such a long post, but I just wanted to share that story. It was pretty awesome.

[SpecialTool]

Great story J

I wish I had a relative who was a mechanic -- access to a hoist would be amazing.

[Hirsch]

Thats a cool story J-Rod!

I lol'd at "I hear a wailing turbo and see a Scarab Green blur fly down the highway."

Reminds me of the time I let my dad drive my Aero. He'd never driven a FWD car with almost 300lb/ft of torque!

[Fox Cain]

I was a silver bullet down 840 today. I was trying to get home ( four year old had to potty) and we had 22 miles of nothing between us and home. So.... I did 100 down the hwy and omg it was awesome!!!!

[J-Rod]

Great story J

I wish I had a relative who was a mechanic -- access to a hoist would be amazing.

It's great. Especially because he's taught me a lot about cars. I love being able to drive 5 minutes down the road and be able to change my oil myself, or replace something on the Saab to save about $1000. Having access to $15k worth of tools is nice too.

Thats a cool story J-Rod!

I lol'd at "I hear a wailing turbo and see a Scarab Green blur fly down the highway."

Reminds me of the time I let my dad drive my Aero. He'd never driven a FWD car with almost 300lb/ft of torque!

That reminds me of when my dad drove my car shortly after I got it. It was the first turbo car he'd driven, and I was riding along with him in the passenger seat with "Night Panel" on and he looked over at me and said, "What happens when you hit 90?" I said I though the rest of the speedo lit up, but I'd never tested it. He said, "Hmm, okay. What's this turbo really do on this car?" I said "Makes it go fast!" And chuckled. He nodded and a moment later he screamed "TURBO!!!!!!!" and floored it. Once it hit 105 he slowed back down and calmly said, "yep the rest of the gauge lights up."

I laughed for 20 minutes.