critters

[idrivejunk]

Matt, go ahead and write, get it off your chest. 

I was interested in cars since I was a kid building model cars, then working on cars.  After the Army, I went to an auto tech school to learn more. After graduation, I worked for just a few years before going to a factory to work there for 40 years. Working on cars daily just wasn't for me, I like it better as a hobby.  Not saying factory work is for you, but there might be something else out there that would be better.

Oh how I would love to generate a reply to this. That last part. Or the first. Oh how I would love to enjoy this day off. Just ain't able. Pain, sad, and mad are too thick. Oh, mercy. One thing can fix me that isn't rest. Old car sheetmetal work. Only, and for a long long time starting now. With some fabrication and with some custom. I am not bad or slow at it and don't want anything else.

I had a lot riding on this being a good day, and it is spectacular outside. From inside my carcass though,... ugh. Stare at wall with strong frown and mind on fire. If I could just wash my old ride, man that would help. All my might was left on a slab twenty miles away though. Theres none for me. She gave me a nice willing 2nd gear scratch just now, but failed to raise a smirk. That is bleak, my friends.

I wish there was a +/- sign, a  and  that I could toggle on this thread to indicate current status to spare you folks from clicking on it and having to endure the vaginal undertones on this unkind rollercoaster of mine.   Apologies.

Feeble attempt at my long gone traditional style of photojournalism: This was the scene of the trash Thursday after post-blast SANDING THE ENTIRE BRONCO. 

Best I can do. 

[58 Yeoman]

We used to take the dead animals and drop them along the state highway nearby to feed the turkey vultures, but sometimes there were just too many.  I bought a small used chest freezer and have it in the shop.  I've had as many as four in there. On trash day, they go into the trash bin.

[jaybee]

When I was back in Iowa a couple of weeks ago I stayed at my brother's place in the country. One morning I got up and there was a doe grazing well down in the yard. I kept an eye on it by just taking a peak out the window once in a while. She kept working her way closer and closer until I got a cell phone shot standing about 10' outside the house. That made me smile.

[idrivejunk]

Boss' wife feeds the deer at their place. Rest of the neighborhood might wish she didn't.

The raccoon I once impaled dragged it's guts down the driveway to presumably die off site. I have killed a squirrel or two and made sandwiches. One with my .45 at just a few yards. One eye was gone, the other dangling and no other damage. These grey squirrels ain't worth it. Takes a strip of bacon added to even make a sandwich.

Only ever shot at a deer once. It snuck up on me in foggy brush and was pretty much point blank but no sign of a .308 hit could be found. My rifle is a chinese copy of a US battle rifle with poor accuracy.

Its just as well. Hunting was a younger phase. I wouldn't mind a rural environment at this age but if those still exist you couldn't prove it by me.

[idrivejunk]

This is about as close as I get. (see photo)

Ride the rollercoaster with me  I am on the mend. That 455 is heap strong medicine. The four eyed car likes to go see colors.

Laughter is strongest though, had me a outburst that lasted a quarter mile going up to feed the purple beast. Trying to start calling her Endura instead of Grape now as it seems more fitting in her advanced years...

Anyway pulling into the local megachurch / athletic complex / private school, I spied some boy in a new Camaro that had him a... what is that, a bike or? Oh! Naw, nope thats a wing. As tall as the roof! Maybe more.  Hahaha 

Reckon I'm ready to rip the rest of them dash knobs off at work. Cross your fingers hoping I am a metal guy this week. I talk about mental recovery but its at least half spiritual growth. 

[jaybee]

That looks like a great road for a drive.

[idrivejunk]

Yessir, all the fun a guy can pack in. Under 30 mph and the vigilant eye of a retired trooper shooting video to punish speeders right up the road.

I saw a throttle happy Ram in the rain yesterday lose it because no, Ram, musn't lift gas pedal ever. They got about 80° slideways before the threat of popping the curb and snapping a cast control arm forced the blasphemous raising of right foot. But they looked super cool. To the folks who had to wait for them to just go straight ahead and ditch the theatrics.

[idrivejunk]

More great fortune to report! 

Enterdetained a deputy for a couple minutes this AM. That big blue light Chevy was on me like a hen on a junebug. I had been behind a 40mph loafer hoping they were about to turn. But we turned at the same road which has a little sprint's worth of four lane then I'd be trapped going 38 in a 45 halfway to work.

So I poked it, down only one gear and GTP did her bang zoom thing making 65 or so. So I was caught dead to rights, "definitely speeding" yessir no sir thank you sir. Verbal warning and off I went. The blank rap sheet strikes again and again I count blessings.  

That Tahoe was quick. They run the quarter in thirteen and change, right?

Off to purchase lottery tickets

[idrivejunk]

Speaking of the authorities, there were a lot of sirens zooming past the shop yesterday afternoon.

A train hit a truck.

Read on, it gets better.

Half the boonies out yonder past town have their dirt roads paved by now but still use well water.  The big water plant thing down by Coose Hollow has been waiting four months for two nearly $200K water valves so big only two fit on a long flatbed semi trailer. Now they have to wait for new valves all over again. Then theres the small matter of the purchase price. Oh and the rig. I hope our hero has good insurance. He went to the hospital but is OK. Perhaps unfortunately. Ran stop sign, failed to yield.

That ought to make you feel good about your day eh. 


A slight air of vindication may be present there ^^^ because I have heard it said by trucker types that whoever has the most weight has the right of way. No.

What a goober. And boner. In the truck driver's defense, I could make a case about unreasonable infrastructure. Trailer was too long to make the turn at the main road due to angle of intersection so he took this route which, at every crossing in a couple miles, half a dozen of them...

There is not space for a semi between the highway and the tracks. Stop signs are there. But lets see. In that stretch, on the shop's road alongside the tracks and hwy... theres a city recycling center, a horse farm, a scrap metal shredder, metal collector, trash truck base place, an extremely active rock quarry, a Tyson food plant, etc. All require lots of semi traffic but none of the places have room for them or safe access. Because to stop for a train you gotta leave your trailer hanging out into the bloodthirsty highway where my Ventura's nose got wiped off by a redlight runner and where I stopped a distracted dump truck with my GTP.

Pushy push push though. Me first. Mine's taller, so there. Now its well water again this winter for some. Man I don't get it. But it was on the news here.

[idrivejunk]

Three traffic fatalities within a few miles of the house this week. A chicken truck had stopped on the shoulder near a bridge on the highway to Tulsa just before dawn and was pulling back onto the roadway getting up to speed when a box truck at speed rearended the chickens. Then caught fire and driver didn't make it.

In front of the flower shop near downtown, somebody rearended a Camry and drove away (soon caught) but the Camry was knocked head on into a Highlander. Both in Camry were killed and that poor flower shop lady ran out there to help and saw them so her life got changed for the worse seeing that.

I don't reckon anybody wonders why I like to keep my distance. High profile vehicles kill. Not drivers, innocents. Yet many are driven like motorcycles assuming  their brakes stop like one and they push like they want to Ram.

So anyway heres a critter sitting on a high profile vehicle chassis with it's Roots type showing. The Coyote endowed 51 F-1 5.0 job of yesteryear.

[idrivejunk]

Well I spoke too soon. Throw another body on the heap. Last night a Sonata went pinball on the interstate, crossing all lanes and catching death on a concrete barrier.

[kb426]

The chassis looks nice. I'd sure like to drive one of those and see how it compares to my stuff.

[idrivejunk]

That would be neat. Those are sheetmetal frames, yours are mostly tubing right. I'm no engineer but as a crash guy I think I'd prefer tubing for hard use. Curious myself now that you mention it whether RS supports their use for substantial towing / payload capacity. Enough strength is a tough thing to pinpoint by guessing and by trial and error perhaps the powers that be determined that a lighter weight construction is sufficient for what they sell them for. I don't know how thickness of rail metal or total frame weight compares.

That ^^^ is just me talking but I know what you mean. I bet if you asked around theres somebody with one who could oblige ya. The suspension hodge podges you've used might be comparable. At least it would be cool if someone could take you for a ride. The 49 Merc truck at the shop is I believe the same rig.

Personally I wouldn't mind experiencing a blown Coyote to feel modern five liter power. I can't imagine a plain one being GP torquey in my 2-1/4 ton heap, nor an LS, but am probably wrong about that.

I'm trying to think... at the shack yeah I drove the Mach1 and Imp SS I did early on. Very briefly just down the street because I assembled them. Rode in that LS7 or 9 Trans Am clone briefly and it seemed set up for like cannonball run with four gears beyond any legal speed. I truly have no reference experience in improved performance by which to gauge anything.

It'd be neat to do a comparo on ride between one you made vs the high dollar stuff. Yours would likely be the better value. You can always go plow over some cones to quantify autocross behavior.

[kb426]

When I get the 48 completed, I will have a comparison of 3 different suspension setups. I'll try to write a reasonable comparison after I put some miles on it. The Roadster shop stuff is 10 gauge. .134 wall. I have used .125 and .187 wall. I think the bracing on any of them will make the difference. ?

[enjenjo]

For the most part older half ton truck frames were a 6" C  channel about 0.187" thick.