Last Call: Hog Wild Edition

cat bike
Mr Whiskers doesn’t seem to mind the bugs in the teeth that riding a highway hog ultimately demands. In fact, I’ll bet he thinks they’re delicious.
Last Call indicates the end of Hooniverse’s broadcast day.  It’s meant to be an open forum for anyone and anything. Thread jacking is not only accepted, it’s encouraged.
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29 responses to “Last Call: Hog Wild Edition”

  1. BigRedCaveTroll Avatar
    BigRedCaveTroll

    How much does a good tint job on a four door hatch cost, and does it really help keep interior temps cooler?

    1. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      Good quality film is maybe $40 to do a hatchback. Labor prices are going to vary a bit. A guy working in the back bay of a high-end stereo shop is going to be more expensive than somebody working under a tarp on a vacant lot in a rough part of town. The guy with the tarp can probably do just as good of a job as the high end place, but when it bubbles in a few years, will he still be around to warranty it?
      Maybe $120, plus or minus $40. It helps a lot with interior temps.

    2. theskitter Avatar

      I was always skeptical of tint.
      It helped to have meat-locker quality A/C.
      Now I have the thermal capacity of a battery powered fan on a spray bottle.
      And I can safely say that tint makes a big difference.
      Especially the largest-legal 100% across the top of the windshield.

  2. Alff Avatar
    Alff

    I gotta whiz. Take the helm, Toonces.

    1. wunno sev Avatar
      wunno sev

      my two cars broke about six months ago and left me stranded, relying on coworkers and neighbors to bum rides around Central Texas for a week.
      no more. as soon as i had both cars fixed up, i sold one, officially turned the other into a project, and bought a brand-new, five-mile car from an honest-to-god dealership. what i found is that i’m happy to wrench on cars as a hobby, but as a necessity it’s emotionally taxing and i ain’t tryna stress out over some hunks of metal. i had been relying on the redundancy of two old cars, but when one is working there’s very little motivation to fix the other until they’re both broken, and then you’re hosed.
      of course, your situation may be very different from mine, but i’ll throw this out there: cheap cars these days are very good. you can have a lot of fun for not a lot of money, and you’ll still get to work on time in the morning.

      1. Alff Avatar
        Alff

        I … just … can’t … do … it.

        1. wunno sev Avatar
          wunno sev

          well, there’s also no shame in going to a mechanic.
          either way it comes down to acknowledging that your time is worth money. if you’re in a tight spot financially, i guess that could be tuff, but if you can afford it…like, i figured, i’d pay for a vacation, right? making a car payment, or taking the car to a mechanic once in a while, isn’t much different. i spend probably a similar amount of time or even more working on my project car now as before, but i spend much less time stressing out about it. and you don’t have to go with a zero-mile car to achieve that end, either.
          life is easier now and i can dream (comparatively) big for my Volvo. or maybe i’m just trying to justify the biggest monetary outlay of my life. who knows.

  3. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    So, I got to see a talk with Giorgetto Giugiaro tonight (well, through a translator), which was cool. It was mostly a retrospective of his work (including some of the non-automotive stuff), with little details about the significance of each project, or the inspiration, or just some inside baseball stuff. But for all the phenomenally cool sports cars he’s done, he got most visibly excited talking about how aerodynamic the Lancia Medusa concept was, or with his New York Taxi vision, and Lancia Megagamma concepts, everyone asked him why he built a plumber’s car, and now we all drive them (so, he roughly took credit for the crossoverification of the market, but I’ll let that slide because of the original Esprit).
    http://www.italdesign.it/media/thumbnails/projectgalleryimage/2014/06/25/2ee0b_coverimage.jpg.0x497_q85_detail.jpg
    http://www.italdesign.it/media/thumbnails/projectgalleryimage/2014/06/25/1dac0_coverimage.jpg.0x497_q85_detail.jpg

    1. JayP Avatar
      JayP

      That is awesome.

    2. jim Avatar
      jim

      There is a nice series of english interviews on Giugiaro YT channel.

    3. Van_Sarockin Avatar
      Van_Sarockin

      The MoMA Taxi project was pretty awesome. Still, it’s hard to improve on the Checker.

  4. salguod Avatar

    I pulled the sunroof outer panel on the ti this weekend to see if I could figure out why it was scraping when it opens. I discovered a broken plastic linkage and that the inner panel isn’t tracking properly with the outer. That means the outer can’t drop all the way, hence it scrapes.
    I ordered the little plastic bit, it’ll be here Friday. It’s unclear if the two problems are related. I hope so, because if there’s an issue with how the inner attaches to the cables, the entire sunroof cassette and headliner has to be dropped to access it.

  5. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Should I pay for a $700 (including labor) timing belt on a car that originally cost $1600?

    It’s for the SHO, which has hit 150000 miles, and as far as I can tell, it’s never been replaced.

    It is a non-interference engine, but the car is also going into the shop for other work.

    So, what do you guys think, should it be done?

    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Do you want to keep it? Then, yes. Timing belt is essential, sort of a mandatory bit of the A to B stuff. I discovered a radiator leak the other day, which, luckily, is only the AC radiator. That would be about 1200$ to fix (the whole thing is shot), about 25% of the car’s value. Not going to happen. But all the mandatory bits I need to pass tech inspection will be done soon.

      1. Guest Avatar
        Guest

        That’s just it. This is my first car, and so far, it’s been a very good one. I like the amount of power, and the overall size, but it’s also pretty old.

        If I had the money, and accepting parents, I’d keep it forever, but I’m also a Hoon, one who wants to experience as many vehicles as possible. I also want to get something with 4×4, as I live in a rural area, and would like to be able to go across some of our fields.

        I know I really should do it, but it’s hard to do spend the money without knowing the future.

        Ahh, fun with budget cars. I have make a choice today, so I’ll let you all know how it turns out.

        1. Sjalabais Avatar
          Sjalabais

          You know, with my first car, a mechanic told me that I really, really need to change the timing belt. I waited until I found a backyard guy who did the job in exchange for me helping him with his firewood. I understand how it is hard to spend money on such a thing…if you can afford to switch to a new car if the belt fails, it’s possible to gamble.

          1. Guest Avatar
            Guest

            I guess. I definitely won’t be stranded if if it fails, as I have a bit of money saved up, and my family a pretty good selection of vehicles, such as the Honda Odyssey I’m driving while the other repairs are being done.

        2. CruisinTime Avatar
          CruisinTime

          If your belt broke while driving you may need much more the a belt.

          1. Guest Avatar
            Guest

            Actually, shouldn’t be too much more. It’s a non-interference engine, so it’d just be an annoyance.

          2. CruisinTime Avatar
            CruisinTime

            I recall tales of bent valves.

          3. texpat Avatar
            texpat

            You’d sort of think this, but when the belt on my Miata snapped, it presaged a $800 bill to fix the stuff that had been torn up by the flailing belt.

    2. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      If it is an original timing belt with 150,000 miles on it, then it should be replaced. Better to do it when it is convenient than be out of commission in freeway traffic.
      What would it take for you to replace the belt DIY?

      1. Guest Avatar
        Guest

        I really have no idea if it’s original or not, since I have no maintenance records…

        According to the internet, it will require a lift, removing the right front wheel, and removing the water pump, alternator, and just about everything else on that side of the engine.

        It doesn’t look to hard, be don’t we have a lift, or really, the time to do it in a reasonable amount of time.

        1. wunno sev Avatar
          wunno sev

          you probably don’t need a lift. a jack and jack stand will let you remove the wheel. i’m assuming the purpose of lifting the car and removing the wheel is to access the crank pulley, which by no means requires a lift.

  6. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Somebody tried to hide in the silver utilitarian unity at the local beach yesterday. Find one fault gem:
    http://s26.postimg.org/cmyiicd7t/IMG_20160601_085841.jpg

      1. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        That’s a fabulous photo! How do people react to the 66 when you show it off?

        1. mdharrell Avatar

          You can see for yourself the enormous crowds keeping a polite distance, many with their backs turned, no doubt out of respect.
          In truth I’ve only taken it to that one show so far. As one would expect, most people were simply oblivious or at best puzzled, but a few were genuinely startled and interested. One guy excitedly recounted his experiences with DAFs from his years of living in the Netherlands, so that was fun. A mechanic from the local Saab shop said he figured it was mine before he even saw me with it, so I suppose I’m getting to be a bit predictable.

          1. Sjalabais Avatar
            Sjalabais

            Let me just reiterate that this is the good kind of predictable. Somebody has to take care of cars/four-wheeled-automobile-contraptions that have a tendency to disappear unloved, unremembered.